← Back to news 19 September 2026

The launch event was a HUGE success!

Y Wal is feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the incredible, local support at our launch on Thursday night. What a wonderful and talented community we have here around our beautiful county, the motivation and energy we received from everyone who came to the Tabernacle has left us, not only more excited with the project, but with a feeling our journey has been embraced and our pathway is now clearer. 


We introduced the vision for the wall, what we hope it will be, what we think it will cost, and then listened to your ideas around funding, volunteering and more.

Here's a summary of what was presented.

  • We are a community-led, not-for-profit organisation. 
  • We have secured The Old Market Shed in the middle of Cardigan - currently where CCM furniture is. We hope to get the keys very soon! 
  • The aspiration is two or more separate bouldering zones, a ropes wall, a mini-gym, a steep training wall, a kid-specific bouldering / play area, community event space and a mini cafe. 
  • There will be a combination of 24/7 member-only self-access for the bouldering, and staffed open hours to add the ropes capacity, and to be open for the public, events and non-member drop-ins. Events could include corporate team sessions, kid birthdays, social bouldering, film nights, joint events with charities, home ed groups, private coaching and more. 
  • The team will initially be made up of one paid centre manager, and a strong community of committed volunteers. 
  • We gathered a TON of ideas from 80+ attendees, along with volunteering ideas and pledges. We hope to have captured your feedback and put you in the relevant teams, but if you weren’t there or we missed you, log in to your Y Wal account to see what groups you are in or would like to be part of. 
  • We introduced the Community Loan Offer. If you would like to invest in a great cause and get a better rate of return than the typical ISA or savings account - email us directly.
  • We explained our three-level volunteer structure … explained below. 

The Y Wal Expedition 

A big mountaineering expedition needs a lot of people. We’re building our volunteer structure along these lines, with three distinct levels of involvement, so you can see where you might fit.

Porters
Suggest ideas, come to events, share our socials, be advocates, donate.

Base camp teams
One-off short-term tasks such as painting, reaching out for prizes for fund raising, testing our self-access system, event support (doors, catering etc), providing feedback on the membership model and so on.

Summit teams
Longer term roles where you either lead a team, or are a longer term participant that Y Wal can rely on. This includes reception volunteers who will be trained, the fundraising team, the events management team, safeguarding and health and safety officers etc. We’d love even just a couple of hours a week - but ongoing.

What’s next?

September onwards - Building

As soon as we get the keys, we will be running various work parties to fix the roof, paint the outside of the building, and prepare for internal construction. Thank you to everyone who has put their hand up to volunteer for these - you are on a separate mailing list and we’ll be in touch very soon.

Opt in to the buildinG team 

Early October - Crowdfunder

We’re aiming to launch our Crowdfunder campaign at the start of October. The crowdfunder allows us to take donations in a structured, fun way, as well as unlocking various “match funds” who will match each pledge/donation and double the fundraise.

To make the Crowdfunder a success, we need as many people to know about the wall as possible before we launch. This is where you, the community, can help the most. We’re aiming to get our newsletter list over 500 people (we’re just over 300 now). There are two ways to get involved:

  1. Share the survey:
    https://www.cardiganclimbing.org/survey
  2. Join our outreach team

The outreach team will be getting in touch with organisations and groups all over Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and beyond to help spread the word, and to build longer term relationships with Y Wal. Home ed groups, businesses, clubs, charities, PTAs, councils and more. It’s a short term, intensive volunteer role. Jump in!

Join the outreach team

Over winter - events

Starting with an on-site “wall tour” event, we’ll run a series of events through the winter to bring people to the wall and discuss ideas for how it’s going to come together. As soon as the community space is ready, we’ll do a film night. Maybe we’ll send a coffee truck around the counties to raise awareness. If you have ideas and can run events, say so!

Join the events team

How we’ll keep in touch

There’s such a buzz of activity going on. We have so much to share! So you don’t get swamped, we have split our email list into a number of groups. You can choose which groups you receive email for by logging into your Y Wal account. For example, when there’s a building party, we’ll email the building group for you to book a slot in one of the sessions.

View or create my Y Wal account

'Until you step into the unknown, you don't know what you are made of'

Mark & the Y Wal team