Working in the Province of Wales

The first branch of Mothers Union in Wales opened in Llandrindod Wells in 1876. Today there are branches in all six dioceses within the Province of Wales with a total membership of over 10,000.

Although Wales is a small country there is a diversity of population, language, culture, and economy. This diversity is reflected in the range of projects undertaken: these include supporting mothers and children in Womens Aid Refuges by supplying toiletries and groceries; showing care and concern through making hand-knitted garments for premature babies; providing holidays for families who could not otherwise afford a holiday; and training facilitators to run parenting groups. Members throughout Wales also work hard to fundraise and maintain fellowship with members they are linked with throughout the 78 countries Mothers Union work in.

Specific programmes in Wales include:

Bangor: Two child-contact centres, one in Bangor and the other in Porthmadog, have been established and are managed by the Trustee Board of Mothers Union, Bangor Diocese. Members raise funds to help support the centres. Members also collect unwanted spectacles which are taken by an optician to Africa to be fitted on people who would other wise be unable to afford them including teachers and nurses. They also provide packs of essential toiletries for parents who stay in the paediatric department of the local hospital when their child has been admitted as an emergency.

Llandaff: This diocese has had its own holiday caravan at Trecco Bay, Porthcawl for many years, offering free holidays to those whose family life has met with adversity. Some members volunteer at two local child contact centres and others volunteer in Cardiff Prison to run a play area in the visitors room. Recently a volunteer programme also began in Parc Prision, Bridgend. Here members play with children, and offer a hot drink and a listening ear to prisoners relatives, so that visits can have a less stressful effect on families. Llandaff Mothers Union also supports the Board for Social Responsibility in the diocese with gifts for the Welcare parent and child facility in Cardiff.

Monmouth: Members here make clothing for babies and children being helped by Mothers Union programmes in developing countries. They also make the highly effective Trauma Teddies, which go to children in Mothers Union supported orphanages in Africa; often these teddies are the first toy the child has been given. Other members work in prison, taking part in the Eucharist Service held there each Sunday. The biggest diocesan project to date has been the Virtual Babies Project. In 2006 four virtual babies were purchased and are in constant use by the Sexual Health Nurse in one area of the diocese, for use in educating teenagers about the reality of pregnancy and parenthood. These have proved a great success not only among teenage girls but also the boys.

St Asaph: This diocese has a three-year cycle of programmes. In the first year members support a programme which benefits the local community: this year members are putting Books of Comfort into local hospices, including childrens hospices. In the second the emphasis is on providing free holidays for families who would not otherwise be able to have one. In the third year the project helps fellow members in developing countries who are running programmes for their local community.

St Davids: The diocese supports NightStop UK. This organisation provides overnight accommodation for homeless young people. Mothers Union members make up toiletry bags to give to these youngsters when they have no belongings of their own. For the Toys for Tots Project members make toys for childrens wards of the local hospitals. They also support Missions to Seafarers by knitting balaclavas, socks and scarves and by collecting warm garments for the seamen who come into Milford Haven docks from hot countries without any warm clothing.

Swansea &Brecon: Through the Start Up Project members provide basic kitchen materials for young people leaving care and setting up their first home. In a second project over 50 volunteers, mostly Mothers Union members, run a play area in Swansea Prison. A new project, Child Safety in the Home, is being undertaken in partnership with the Diocesan Board of Social Responsibility. Members are being asked to raise money to purchase essential safety equipment for homes where there are vulnerable children living in financially challenged families. At Christmas 2006 members and their families were asked to think of those suffering from famine in their linked dioceses in Africa and to donate at least 20 pence each when having their Christmas lunch and family celebrations. As a result 3,000 has been raised for the Mothers Union Emergency Relief Fund during the last two years.