Good Neighbours in North Cardiff - GNINC history

Good Neighbours in North Cardiff – GNINC was established in 1981 by Llanishen Churches Together and for most of the time since then were known as “Llanishen Good Neighbours”, becoming a registered charity in 2000. During the early years the organisation was run by volunteers from the Churches Together group with one of the local churches clergy’s representative acting as a chairperson.

In 2015, following the closure of many other good neighbour schemes in Cardiff, we changed our name to “Good Neighbours in North Cardiff” as this more correctly reflected the areas we cover – Thornhill, Llanishen, Lisvane, Heath, Roath Park, Lakeside and west Cyncoed. In 2024 we have expanded to include Rhiwbina in our service area.

Cardiff has grown significantly over the last 25 years. Although, population projections indicate a slowdown in growth over the next 25 years (2018-2043), there is still a projected increase of 24,642 residents, with those aged 65+ seeing the highest growth rate in the North Cardiff area.

Our annual report below gives you an overview of what we do and how we are making a difference.

Annual Report 2023-2024 Good Neighbours in North Cardiff

Final strategic plan document

June 2023 Constitution

What we do

We aim to match our community volunteers with people who need our help in our North Cardiff community. We also support our volunteers by ensuring they have the support and training to carry out the tasks requested.

We are members of the Council for the Third Sector in Cardiff (C3SC) who support voluntary organisations across the city. We also work closely with Age Connects who provide similar services across the rest of the city and into the Vale of Glamorgan. We are now part of the Age Friendly Cardiff Forum; which is hosted by Cardiff Council and chaired by the Older People’s Champion for Cardiff, Cllr Thomson. Consultation, information gathering and sharing is the main purpose of the Forum, with an overall aim of exploring how the lives of older people in Cardiff can be improved.

Transport to appointments or social activities.
Shopping.
Visits and companionship.
Running errands.

How we do it

We do not have any core funding from the statutory bodies, so every penny we spend has to be raised.

We do this through donations from the people receiving our services, through fundraising events like our Christmas Concert and then we apply for money from Trusts who support the work we carry out. More details about our funding can be found in our Annual Report. In 2024 we were successful in receiving a grant to help us modernise the way we work from the Welsh Government administered by WCVA. You can read the diary of how did it by clicking the link https://gninc.org.uk/app/uploads/2025/05/Diary-of-WCVA-Grant-Activity.docx

In 2025/26 we have been lucky to receive a grant from the National Lottery which will help cover two thirds of our running costs.

The charity provides just over 4000 hours of volunteering per year, and the organisation of matching clients and volunteers is carried out by a part time team of three people who are equivalent to 1.25 people working full time.

Senior tourists talking while walk outdoors

Where we operate

In 2015, following the closure of a lot of other good neighbour schemes in Cardiff, we changed our name to Good Neighbours in North Cardiff or GNINC. The areas we cover are Thornhill, Llanishen, Lisvane, Heath, Roath Park, Lakeside and Cyncoed.

In 2024 we received a grant from the Welsh Government administered by WCVA to modernise and expand our services to include Rhiwbina. We have been able to achieve our targets by March 2025 of modernising and expanding our services. We will shortly publish our story of how we did this and what the outcomes were.

Screenshot of a map highlighting the boundaries of the service area with a red border.

Group Of Senior Friends Meeting At Home For Coffee

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“Mae gwirfoddoli'n lleol yn ffordd wych o wneud gwahaniaeth a chysylltu ag eraill yn ein cymuned. Mae'n ymwneud â gwneud gwahaniaeth i fywydau pobl yn fy nghymuned. Maen nhw'n fy ysbrydoli i barhau i wirfoddoli. Ni ddylid tanbrisio'r effaith y mae gwirfoddolwyr yn ei chael ar bobl ac elusennau yn ein cymuned.”

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