A PROJECT helping older people stay happy, healthy and in their own homes has won an award for its innovative work.

Solva Care a not-for-profit social initiative, set up by Solva Community Council to offer friendly, local support and help to those who need it in the village and surrounding area.

Set up in 2015, it has gone from strength to strength, and One Voice Wales recently named it the best local council service in Wales.

A registered charity, its aims to enable residents to stay in their own homes and remain part of the community, combat loneliness, isolation and social disadvantage, and provide extra support for carers.

With a loyal team of 37 volunteers, who take a number of different roles, the scheme offers home visits, companionship, and runs regular social events such as keep-fit classes, craft sessions and music and dance.

Volunteers also help residents get to GP and hospital appointments, pick up prescriptions, and day-to-day tasks like getting to the shops.

Seventy-eight-year-old dialysis patient Selwyn Prickett started receiving support two years ago, when the pilot project began.

“To know they’re coming has been great,” he said.

“If the volunteers say they’re coming at a certain time, they do, and they don’t leave until they know I’m ok.

“They bend over backwards to help.

“I have Solva Care, and I have friends, it’s been really good for me.”

Said volunteer Robin Tyler, 67, “There’s a sense of satisfaction if I go round to Selwyn’s and we’ve had a laugh or a chat about politics.

“A lot of people have trouble going out and about for one reason or another, so if I can call in and see them or take them out to the shops or the hospital – wherever they need to go – I feel like I’m doing something and helping someone who needs it at no cost to them.”

”It’s a sense of doing something for the community.”

Robin, who moved to the village in 2011, said the scheme reflected Solva’s unique community spirit.

“The village is incredibly active, there’s always something going on,” he said.

Thelma Phillips, 82, said the regular visits and activities on offer had “helped her get her confidence back”.

“I don’t know what I would do without Solva Care,” she said.

“It’s one of the best things to happen to the village.

“If you don’t drive and you can’t walk very well, just getting up the hill to the shop is hard.

“Through their help I’m confident to go out and about now, and it’s wonderful.”

“It’s a tremendous success story,” said Ifor Thomas, vice chairman of Solva Community Council, which “gave birth” to the initial idea.

“It’s shown me just how vibrant and involved with the community we are.

“I talk to other councillors from around Wales, and they can’t believe how much is happening here.”

Lyn Cadwallader, chief executive of One Voice Wales, the national representative body for the community and town council sector, said: "The judging panel unanimously agreed that Solva Community Council's Solva Care initiative deserved to win the Best Local Council Service category.

"They were impressed by the innovative nature of the work - it being a first in terms of its approach within the local council sector and the level of community engagement enabling a number of local issues to be addressed under the scheme.

"The panel felt that this was an initiative that could be replicated in other parts of Wales with similar issues."

The project was funded to the tune of £57,000 from the Welsh Government and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park (PCNPA) Sustainable Development Fund, and has also received almost £20,000 from Hywel Dda University Health Board and Dyfed-Powys Police.

PCNPA is now contributing a further £21,421 over two years.