Members of a Swansea Valley bowls club who looked on in envy at a club in England are a big step closer to building a new community clubhouse.
Coed Gwilym Bowling Club member David Rooke recalled "cracking facilities" at the club in question and a photo of a National Lottery cheque of around £125,000.
It made him and his team-mates imagine what might be possible back at their home turf in Clydach.
Mr Rooke said: "So we thought, 'Let's go for it.' We called a meeting at The Old Glais pub, lots of people came, and we said what we wanted to do. Then it went from there."
Just over three years on from that meeting the group they formed, Friends of Coed Gwilym Park, is a registered charity and has raised just under £200,000.
It has carried out public surveys, secured planning consent for the new clubhouse, and appointed a contractor.
Now the last piece of the jigsaw is in place after Swansea Council's cabinet agreed to lease the land needed for the clubhouse for 125 years.
Mr Rooke, who is chairman of the friends of group, said he was delighted that it could now move forward with the scheme, subject to some final planning conditions being worked through.
"We are not in it to make a profit," he said. "The objective is to improve all the facilities at Coed Gwilym Park."
Thousands of people visit the park every year. It has two football pitches used by Clydach Sports FC and Clydach FC, two children's play areas, two tennis courts, and a multi-games area.
Clydach Heritage Centre and Swansea Canal Society also have buildings in the park's grounds.
Mr Rooke said all of these clubs and organisations had trustee membership on the friends of group.
The clubhouse will be next to the bowling green and include public toilets, a veranda, cafe, an area for activities like yoga, and what Mr Rooke described as a "dog parking station" outside.
Fans of the printed word will be able to peruse three daily newspapers inside.
The friends of group also plans to upgrade the area around the bowling green to make it easier for people with mobility issues to play the sport, although separate funding will be needed.
Mr Rooke said a team of volunteers would man the clubhouse and that gardening and litter-picking activities would also take place.
He said he was keen to come to an arrangement with the nearby heritage centre, which opens at weekends, whereby the new clubhouse did not impinge on its revenue-raising work.
The 65-year-old, of Glais, said he envisaged Swansea Council upgrading the children's play facilities, as it has been doing throughout the county.
He thanked everyone who had donated to the clubhouse project. Money has come from the National Lottery Community Fund (£89,000), a landfill tax grant (£45,000), and the Mynydd y Gwair wind farm community fund (£25,000).
Mr Rooke said around £40,000 had come in via other donations, including £15,000 from Vale Europe in Clydach, whose name will be on the new clubhouse community room.
The money raised is enough to cover the clubhouse project, which is expected to take around six months to complete, although construction prices are rising.
The group is still waiting to hear from another funding organisation, while a crowd-funding web link has been launched for money towards the area around the bowling green.
Speaking to Mr Rooke, an ex-oil industry worker and former director and part-owner of Neath-based contractor Glamorgan Services, you get the sense of someone in a hurry to make a change.
"I'm one of these stupid people who stands up and wants to get things done," he said with a grin.
Council chiefs praised the group's efforts when they agreed to finalise the lease. It was instrumental in refurbishing the park's football pavilion - a project which finished just before the Covid pandemic.
Councillor Robert Francis-Davies, cabinet member for investment, regeneration and tourism, said: "This is great example of people working together and ensuring they can apply for grants that the council can't."
The Labour administration said it was keen to lease more land to friends of groups in Swansea.
Council leader Rob Stewart, who declared a personal interest in the Friends of Coed Gwilym Park lease discussions - saying he'd had "many discussions with various parties" about it - didn't vote on the matter.
But he said: "It will be brilliant for the people of Clydach to enjoy."
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