A BLAENAU Ffestiniog pensioner is calling on the public to help a local environment project win a National Lottery award.

Y Dref Werdd (The Green Town) project is appealing for votes after reaching the finals of this year’s National Lottery Awards.

The Welsh project beat off stiff competition from over 700 organisations to reach the public voting stage in this year’s awards.

Y Dref Werdd is a community environment project offering advice to help people tackle fuel poverty, reduce food waste, access conservation qualifications and help them find employment and environmental projects to safeguard local habitats.

Blaenau Ffestiniog had no community group working to improve the local environment until Y Dref Werdd was created.

The project received £324,000 of National Lottery-funding through the Big Lottery Fund and works with volunteers to improve the area, creating three community green spaces in three years and removing eight tons of rubbish from three rivers as well as controlling the threat of invasive species to local habitats.

In an area with the highest fuel poverty in Wales, Y Dref Werdd has worked with 400 families to date to implement simple energy saving techniques, helping people to collectively save £200,000.

It is just one of the six Welsh projects competing for votes after reaching the finals of this year’s awards and is the only Welsh project hoping to be named the Best UK Environment Project at this year’s Awards.

One of the people to reap the rewards from the project at Tanygrisiau is 65-year-old Brian Scholes.

Retired electrician Brian was very isolated and in poor health before getting involved with Y Dref Werdd.

His wife passed away in 2004 and he did not know many people, having moved to the area from Lancashire a few years earlier.

After getting involved with the project, Brian quickly became the project manager and chief gardener.

Today, the community green space has been established and is an area the residents of Brian’s estate are very proud of.

There is a large raised bed where Brian is growing a variety of vegetables and herbs to share with other residents, a picnic table for social use, a willow shelter and a range of fruit bushes and trees which have already yielded fruit for the community.

“The condition of the land when we started two years ago was absolutely shocking until we got our hands on it,” said Brian.

To vote for Y Dref Werdd go to lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards, or telephone 0844 836 9690, or use #NLAYDrefWerdd on twitter.