About

Community Wales is a professional consultancy service for charities, churches and voluntary groups located in the Greater Gwent valleys. We currently have one full-time resident consultant, Rev Dr Mathew Bartlett, BSc, MA, PhD, with others invited to work with us on an ad-hoc basis.

Mathew comes from Pontypool, and grew up on the council estate of Trevethin in the 1970s, the only child of a single mum who worked taking bets in a betting shop. His early experiences of deep poverty and unemployment have shaped his life’s view that we should all accept responsibility to help each other.

Mathew graduated as a Physicist from Cardiff University in 1995. He then retrained to enter the Christian ministry, obtaining a Masters Degree in Biblical Studies from Chester University and a PhD in New Testament Rhetoric from Roehampton in 2025. Besides his academic achievements and business work as a company director, Mathew has over 30 years experience of working in the community in both faith-based and non-faith based settings. He is a longstanding (25 years) charity trustee, and has co-created and developed numerous projects that have benefited thousands of lives. Most recently he has worked to develop community work in Blaenavon, Crosskeys, and Pontypool, where he worked on the community co-design of the “Hope for the Community” project won the Torfaen and Monmouthshire Business Awards Third Sector Business of the year award in 2024.

If you have an idea about supporting your community, or you wish to take your existing community project to the next level, get in touch. Our first meeting will be to explore what your needs are, and hopefully put you in touch with a huge range of free support which is available here in Wales, as well as with other professional bodies. If you then decide you need additional support you may engage us at the current rates listed on our prices page.

No obligation, contact us today!