OFFENDERS have been praised for improving the quality of life for people living in Chirk - and helping to rescue an important community building.
Residents of Chirk are delighted with the "brilliant" contribution of the Community Payback teams under the supervision of Wales Probation.
They've worked on a number of community projects in the town after being ordered by local magistrates to repay their debt to society.
Their latest job is tackling the overgrown grounds of former council offices on the outskirts of the town.
Volunteers.
A team of volunteers are hoping to rescue the disused property, Glyn Wylfa, and convert it for use by the community.
At one stage Wrexham County Borough Council submitted a planning application to demolish the building so the land could be used for housing.
But the council relented after protests by local people and Glyn Wylfa was reprieved.
Mick Ramsey, chair of the Glyn Wylfa Trust, explained that in the meantime it had been empty for five years and the grounds had become completely overgrown. He said: "We need to refurbish the building and we would like to let office accommodation on the first floor and to have a café and tourist information on the ground floor.
"If Wrexham County Borough Council accept our business plan they will give us this site at a peppercorn rent.
"The plan with the Community Payback team is to try and get the site a bit more respectable. First impressions are important. If you bring people round with a view to letting and the place looks a mess, it doesn't create the right impression.
"I don't know how we would have done it without the help of the Community Payback team."
Extremely impressed.
It was a sentiment echoed by fellow Trust member Cllr Jackie Allen who is also a leading light in the Chirk Community Forum.
She said: "We have a long-standing relationship with the probation service and it's brilliant.
"They have worked on a number of projects in Chirk and I think that Community Payback is one of the best things you can do. These things make the community look better and make Chirk a better place to live in. They are definitely making a contribution to improving the quality of life here in Chirk."
The High Sheriff of Clwyd, Lady Janet Jones, was extremely impressed when she saw the Community Payback team in action at Glyn Wylfa.
Lady Janet was accompanied on the visit by David Evans, the vice-chair of the Wales Probation Trust.