About Us

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

Friends of the Young Disabled was formed in 1969 by Gordon Moore one of its founding Trustees and its first Chairman.

Prior to obtaining the current centre in 1985, members met weekly at St. Joseph’s Church Hall at Waun Wen. Expert help was given to the Muscular Dystrophy Society on their foreign holidays and this help was subsequently extended to any group that requested it.

In September 1985, FOYD acquired the old Cwmfelyn works office and laboratory building that was due for demolition and with the advantage of an Urban Aid Grant worth £168,000.00 and with extensive help from the community, the current Centre emerged. It is held on a 99 year lease from the City and County of Swansea.

THE PRESENT DAY

We now host a dedicated centre with many facilities catering for the disabled and able bodied alike. We provide these subsidised facilities for a number of local and national charities and welcome new users both organisations and individuals.

We also cater for organisations that, although not directly involved with the disabled, do provide an essential income stream - vital for the operation of the centre.

Some of our users have included – Dyversity, Tuesday Group, Wednesday Group, Rising Stars Theatre Group, Cymuned, The Eli Project, The Enabled Project, Time2meet, Fuseon Fitness, Mencap, NHS Music Therapy, Ostreme Disability Group, Slimming World, Swansea Railway Modellers Group, Swansea Carers, Swansea Home Educators, Swansea Sings, Polestone, Swansea Counselling and Wellbeing Service, U3A, Wallsingham Support, Western Bay Adoption, West Cross Day Centre.

PATRONS

Some of our most famous past Patrons include -

Lord Kinnock (Former MP and Vice-President of the European Commission),

Lord Hooson QC MBE, Lord Parry MP, Sir Harry Secombe CBE, Max Boyce MBE, Prof L. Maunder OBE, Wyn Calvin MBE plus many MPs , Councillors and local dignitaries.

Our Latest Patron:-

We are honoured to have one of Swansea’s foremost musicians, Terry Williams, as our Patron. Terry was born in Swansea and has chosen to retire here after a long and illustrious career. He has been called ‘The world’s greatest drummer’ and has played with some of the most prestigious names in pop history including Cliff Richards, Dave Edmund, Dion, Dire Straits, Everly Brothers, Man, Mark Knopfler, Nick Lowe, Tina Turner, Tracey Ullman. (Courtesy Wikipedia)

Chairman

Our current chairman is Councillor Chris Holley OBE who has been a member and trustee of FOYD for many years.