A GRANDMOTHER became a tea lady for the day to raise funds for Cwmbran’s Congress Theatre’s £100,000 refurbishment.

With only £3,849 left to go, Cwmbran’s Congress Theatre is pulling out all the stops to reach its fundraising goal before August.

With successful bids of £50,000 from The Arts Council of Wales, £50,000 from the Community Economic Development Programme and £10,000 from The Cwmbran Trust, the dream is a step closer.

But, in order for the theatre to be given the grants, the theatre needs to raise £11,000 independently, and so far it has raised £7,451.

Congress Theatre’s volunteer Joyce Liddle, 69, has been on a campaign to find wacky ways to raise money.

Melin Homes supported the campaign, by asking Mrs Liddle to stage a Twitter Takeover at their headquarters in Pontypool.

Mrs Liddle joined her granddaughter Becky, who works as a digital communications assistant at Melin, to take over the housing association’s Twitter feed for the day.

As part of her fundraising effort, Mrs Liddle took a tea trolley round the office and undertook a news-gathering exercise to learn about the many ways Melin helps the community.

She saw first-hand how the Money Advice team has saved Melin residents over £250,000, and the Melin Energy team and arbed 2 ERDF have fitted 3,500 energy efficiency measures to homes in south Wales.

She was impressed to see that the Melin Works team has helped over 1,300 people back into training or employment.

In return for her hard work, Melin awarded The Congress Theatre £250 from its community grants scheme, The Jump Fund.

Mrs Liddle said: “I had a brilliant time at Melin. I never realised they did so much in the community as well as renting and building homes

“I am so grateful for the donation from Melin.”

Melin Homes Chief Executive Mark Gardner added: “Joyce was a joy to have around.

It was a really fun way to help raise money for The Congress Theatre fund.”