‘Trelya’s made a really big impact on my life.’

– A Penzance community hub helping turn people’s lives around.

“It is thanks to our funders that we’re able to do those amazing things and turn these people’s lives around – because that is what we’re doing 100%.” – Julie Simpson, Deputy Manager.

Trelya is an award-winning charity in Penzance helping people to overcome barriers to work, wellbeing and equality. It is using the Good Growth Programme’s £1.35m investment to develop a community skills hub at the charity’s Lescudjack Centre headquarters in the town.

Sharon Rich, Executive Director, says the centre has an NHS dentist, mental health hub and about 30 different organisations delivering services throughout the month. There is also a community café serving healthy food.

Sharon says: “The funding is going to develop this centre into a community skills hub, which will be the real heart, I think, of the community.”

This project has three parts:

• Create a new floor with learning rooms, recording studios and IT equipment as part of the new Gul Community Skills Hub.
• The Gul Skills Project equips people with basic skills to help them move towards employment of further education and training.
• Gul Skills Café prepares people for work in the hospitality and catering industry.

Sharon adds: “We’re a charity, so we rely on trusts and foundations and funding opportunities like Good Growth to deliver everything that we do on a daily basis.”

Lucy Seed, Trelya volunteer, says: “…the funding is a really positive thing for Gul and Trelya.”

Donna Hicks, Service User, says: “It has made a really big impact on my life and my family because without Trelya, I don’t think I would be right here, right now, with this confidence.”

Jack Lynch, Trelya band member, said: “Places like this are like the future.

“There’s a real community spirit here that’s just so fantastic.”

Councillor Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council, says: “A project like Trelya is clearly making a difference, not just to Penzance, but right across the Penwith area.”

To find out more information about Treyla visit the website.

This project is made possible thanks to a £1,355,778 investment from the Good Growth Programme, funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.