Kelly’s on a mission to transform Welshpool!
Kelly Meredith moved to the town in 2010, but it was comments made during a recent visit from family that made her roll up her sleeves and launch a remarkable solo project that is already making a tremendous difference.
“I have always possessed a passion for cleaning and organisation,” Kelly told us. “But, recently, family visited and their opinions were that Welshpool has such potential to attract tourism but sadly the aura is depressing due to the untidiness and bland colours, such as the benches.”
It sparked her into immediate action, launching a crusade on tidying up the town with 11 public sites already covered from removing graffiti at the playground and cleaning road signs to weeding a number of public spots.
She also wants to install a bench at St. Mary’s War Memorial so “people can come and pay respects” and also has the idea of creating a waterproof booklet of biographies of those listed on the memorial.
Kelly strongly believes that Welshpool can become a tourism powerhouse and wants to work with businesses and event organisers to help promote them to visitors.
“I do not belong to any council or organisation, and I do all this voluntary,” she said.
“I use my own funds to purchase items but it would be amazing if others/businesses would like to contribute. I’m on the hunt for benches, paint, plants, rocks, statues, picnic tables, glass cleaner, salt, paving bricks and so on.
“And if anyone wants to assist with weeding, planting, painting then contact me at my Facebook page.”
Incredibly, Kelly does all this despite being a busy working professional with her own live appearance agency that books celebrities for events all over the world including comic cons, stores, libraries and schools. For 2024, she has provided talent to nearly 75 events.
She has also worked as a behind the scenes freelancer for films and TV series since 2009.
But what’s the end game for Kelly? She says she is in it for the long term.
“I want to inspire others to help in improving our town by tidying up and maintaining cleanliness,” she said.
“I want to increase our tourism and businesses foot traffic. We need to not only focus on the physical aspects but the virtual ones as well. Businesses and events need to be virtually listed so those who live outside of Welshpool know about them!”
If you want to get involved, contact Kelly through her Facebook page - Kelly Meredith - Welshpool
Look what Kelly has done to date!
Cleaned Morrisons crosswalk
Removed graffiti on playground - Burgess Road
Cleaned crosswalk by Medical Centre
Cleaned large crosswalk as you go to Tesco
Weeded petrol station brick wall
Bakehouse/PureBeauty crosswalk (pictured above)
Weeded stone wall by the old morgue
Weeded/pruned stone wall across from PureBeauty
Cleaned Severn Farm Industrial road sign
Cleaned Hafen Dreg sign
This is the list of projects Kelly has planned
Cleaning Erw Wen's crosswalk by High School
Fixing the Numark/NFU Mutual planters
Redoing the High Street benches, rubbish bins
Cleaning Tesco's Roundabout
Cleaning Poundland toilet pavement
Redoing the Bench corner at PureBeauty
Cleaning the St Mary’s bus stop
Weeding the Sainsbury's pavement
Weeding stone walls leading to Bron-y-Buckley
Redoing Oldford Estate corner (bench, chains)
Cemetery cleaning at The Croft
Cemetery cleaning at Christ Church
Weeding Union Street by kebab shop
Making Fire Station wntrance sign visible again
Cleaning ALDI's crosswalk
Weed Red Bank pavement
Paint fence at Potters Bridge
Weed back of Poundland
Clean and paint at Powis Car Park
Weeding Funeral Director's Car Park
Weeding footpath by council building
Cutting hedge top so you can see the Police Station sign
Redoing High Street pillars
Fixing the fence at Football Club playground
Removing graffiti off the canal lock brick wall
Weeding Medical Centre yellow bench area
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