Press release — for immediate use · Tumble, Carmarthenshire · 21 July 2026

“Membership that pays you back”: Welsh mining village crowdfunds to save its 133-year-old workingmen's club from auction

£900 pledged in the first 72 hours as Tumble fights for the club its colliers built in 1893 — with local businesses giving perks to everyone who helps.

The Great Mountain Workingmen's Club — “the Workies” — has stood opposite the old pit gates in Tumble (Y Tymbl), Carmarthenshire since 1893, built and paid for by the miners of the Great Mountain Colliery. Today it is carrying around £120,000 of debt, and without a rescue the building goes to auction.

Three days ago the village launched savetheworkies.com — monthly pledges from £2, “less than one pint”, with an all-or-nothing guarantee: if the village hasn't pledged £2,500 a month by 1 September, every payment is refunded and every pledge cancelled. In the first 72 hours, more than 1,900 people visited, and 72 households pledged roughly £900 (about £475 a month recurring plus £430 in one-off donations — figures as of 21 July, live totals published openly on the site).

The campaign's twist is a perks wall: local businesses back the club by giving members something in return. Esgidiau'r Cwm, the village shoe shop, gives members 10% off; OLP Accountants of Cross Hands offers discounted accounting to member businesses; and members get free lifetime access to two health apps, ParrotPal and Turtle Method — together worth over £399 — donated by the campaign's founder, local tech founder Scott Flear. “Membership pays you back” is the pitch, and the wall is growing.

The club's history reads like the history of the coalfield itself: an 1896 Inland Revenue sting, a fifteen-year licensing war with hostile breweries, a colliery that took 61 village lives — whose funeral teas were poured in this hall — and a village rugby club, the Magpies, that produced three British & Irish Lions and calls the Workies home. Tumble remains one of Carmarthenshire's Welsh-speaking heartlands, with 57% of the village speaking Welsh.

The timing is national: the Senedd announced a Community Right to Buy Bill this month. The campaign is exploring registering the club as a community benefit society — returning a member-built mutual of 1893 to full community ownership — and the pledge drive is the first step, designed to prove the community backing that unlocks community-asset lending and grants.

“Villages like ours don't get to keep much. The pit went, the banks went — the Workies is what's left of what we built for ourselves. We're not asking anyone for £50; we're asking for the price of a pint a month, from many of us. In three days the village has answered — now we need the rest of Wales to hear about it.”
— Scott Flear, Save the Workies campaign

Nobody has covered this story yet. First interviews are available: campaign founder, committee members, members of fifty years' standing, the rugby and football clubs, and families of the colliers who built the hall. Photography inside the club is welcome by arrangement. Welsh-language interviews can be arranged.

Notes to editors

The club
Great Mountain Workingmen's Club, 1 Heol y Neuadd, Tumble (Y Tymbl), Carmarthenshire SA14 6ER. Founded 1893. Member-owned, volunteer committee.
The campaign
savetheworkies.com — live since 18 July 2026. Pledges from £2/month; milestones £2,500 → £5,000 → £10,000 a month; all-or-nothing refund guarantee at £2,500/month by 1 September 2026. Every pound in and out published openly on the site.
Figures
As of 21 July 2026: 1,900+ unique visitors, 72 supporters, ~£475/month recurring + ~£430 one-off. Live figures on the site homepage. Running-cost figures used by the campaign are estimates: an independent accountant's review of the club's books (true costs and profit & loss) is underway and will set the final scope of the rescue plan.
Perks wall
savetheworkies.com/#perks — Esgidiau'r Cwm (Tumble), OLP Accountants (Cross Hands), ParrotPal, Turtle Method; open to any local business.
Contact
hello@savetheworkies.com · +44 7854 190921 (Scott Flear)

Assets (free to use, credit “Save the Workies”)