Welcome to my online diary, enjoy your stay!
In November 2005 whilst home recovering from an operation I decided to try and design a web page for White Springs Fisheries in Pontarddulais I added an info page on the fishery website page, but as I got more and more involved in community projects, I decided to start this blog in order to keep my community activities and involvement seperate to the fishing. You can email me with comments at slloydjanes@aol.com
Info about me
I am involved in the Llanelli CAB
I am the current secretary of the Hendy Pool and Parks Committee
I am also a member of the Pontarddulais and Hendy District Carnival Committee. Which will be celebrating its 40th year this year.
I have been a member of USDAW since 1989 and I am the Llanelli Usdaw Union Branch Secretary, I have done a lot of campaigning with Usdaw and I often appear in the quarterly magazine that gets published and sent to Usdaw Members, here's just one example
I have also been Hendy community councillor on Llanedi Community Council since 2004 and as a councillor, I also represent the council as a member of the Hendy School Govenoring Body.
The contents of this site is written and published by Stephen Lloyd-Janes of Iscoed Road Hendy who will be a Labour and Co-op candidate for the local County Council elections on May 1st 2008
Llanedi Community Council
Llanedi Community Council held its Annual AGM at Tycroes Hall, the ceremony is held to appoint the new chair of the council for the forthcoming year, and the new councillors were first called upon to sign the declaration and acceptance of their new office. Alun Wyn Richards then addressed the room and after 21years and a third term of office as the chair of Llanedi Community Council he asked the room for nominations for a new chair for the forthcoming year. Cllr Buddeg Thomas was nominated and voted in as chair of the council. The chair then signed a declaration accepting the office and then addressed the AGM. She then presented the retiring chair with his medallion, a token of recognition as past chair. There was a call for nominations for vice chair for the year and Councillor Lynne Griffiths of Tycroes was voted into office. The reverend W.G.M Roberts then gave a service delivering a blessing for the new council for the forthcoming year. The AGM was closed and adjourned until the following Wednesday
The coat of arms for the Lanedi Community Council shows the old church, a plough and a mining pulley, to represent its links with farming, mining and the church within the community. When Betws Colliery was closed a Dancing Genny was saved from the scrap yard and donated to the community council, this equipment was the wheel which kept the tension on the cables that worked the trams and lifts used in the mine, it was decided to restore this equipment and to use as a monument in the local park to help promote the community councils coat of arms. And the plough was donated by Alun Wyn Richards and his family, who had used this plough for more than forty years at Lletynewydd Farm Tycroes. This plough was a prize in a raffle, supplied to launch the new Ford Tractor in the Royal Welsh Show in the 1960’s which his grandfather had entered and won. The park in Tycroes comprising of just over 2 acres and was donated by the mining company in the 1920’s to the parish council for them to help build a mining welfare hall, sadly before this happened the two mines in the Tycroes area were closed and the hall was never built, in the late 1930’s there was talk and plans to building an open air lido on the site but with world war 2 breaking out this plan was also shelved and the field lay barren for many years, until the more recent times, when Llanedi Community Council were successful in obtaining funding to develop the park and to landscape it, after a local company recently restored the Dancing Gemmy and the plough they were placed in the centre of the park along with benches and a path way, there is also one of the last Gas lanterns that was used in Tycroes before electric lights took over standing near the monuments and the park has also been supplied with two of the first rocks that were taken out of the local open cast site and set near the new monument. After the unveiling ceremony of the Dancing Genny, the community council and guests retired to the near by mountain gate for light refreshments where Vivian Preece the former clerk to the community council continued with the very informative history lesson from his twenty year service as clerk to the community council.
Pontarddulais walking club
After their annual pilgrimage to the Snowdonia region of
Photograph competition
Invites are now being except for the annual photographic competition held by the local carnival committee, photos can be black and white or colour and must be un-mounted no larger than A4, digital enteries are accepted, the photo can be on any subject and it is a maximum of 3 photos per person, There are cash prizes to be won ranging from £20 for 1st prize to £10 for 3rd prize. Please send your enteries to Mrs E Evans,
Learning new skills
The carnival committee recently won a lottery grant to help promote the 40th year of the carnival, this funding has helped set up various workshops in the village for people to learn new skills, there will be African Drummers who will teach anyone that wants to learn how to play the African Drums, these drop in sessions are absolutely free and are held on Monday evenings in Hendy and Pontarddulais, Mon 19th May in the Mechanics Institute Pontarddulais and then June 2nd and 16th they will be in Urdd Hall in Hendy and then finally in the Pontarddulais Rugby club Monday 23rd June, The African Drummers will be performing live at the carnival field on the carnival field and anyone that has attended the classes will be invited if they wish to also show off their new skills.
Costume Design
There will also be classes to help teach people how to make costumes, fancy entering the 40th carnival this year then why not come along to the costume design classes and learn tips and skills to make a costume, Saturday 7th June at the Urdd Hall Hendy or in the Pontarddulais Mechanics Institute on Saturday 14th June from 1pm till 5pm again classes are free and open to all ages adults and youngsters from 8years and up children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult
I haven't been on the internet much lately due to the fact i've been very busy, standing as a candidate for the county council elections and since winning the seat i've been even busier, attending training sessions every day. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those that went out and voted for me.
On the day of the election i tried to have a lie in, but nerves got the better of me and i was awake at 5am, i did go back to bed and tried to chill out but eventually left the house at 9.30am, I spent almost all of the day around the polling station, at 8.15pm I left with my partner to go and have a meal in the Black Horse, there was six of us having food and I left the other five at 9.30pm to go back to the polling station
The last person of the day that I spoke to was Calfyn Evans who was there at 9.50pm casting his vote. From the polling station Amanda and I went down to the count where they were opening boxes, (I left here at 3.15am) the only counting that was done was for verification and checking, to check that the boxes had the same tally as the actual voting slips that were given out, but as you watched this you could have a guide by looking at how many crosses were on each sheet.
There were three boxes for our ward, and it looked like I had won comfortably in one box, it was very close 50/50 in the second and the third looked like it favoured the opposition.
But the official count would be done the following morning, again I had a sleepless night and was up early (less than 4 hours sleep) to get to the count by 9.30am with Amanda and my agent Vernon.
When they opened our box to be counted the votes were tipped onto a table and there were four counting agents counting, The one that i was watching was depressing i watched about 100 ballet papers being sorted and it was 60/40 in favour to the opposition. Amanda said from her's she felt I was ahead but only by about 13 votes, Vernon said it was looking good on his count but he didn't have any figures nobody had been watching the fourth counter.
Labour had been recieving a hammering and counts that had preceeded ours had revealed big losses, it was clear the election was poor and that national politics was coming into play with long standing labour councillors loosing or just scraping in with small magorities.
I thought I was going to lose and left to go for a coffee and a toilet break, I missed the announcment, as i was talking on my phone outside when they made it, there was a call "quick quick you are wanted, you won you won by more than 200 votes".
I was stunned I thought this is not real I went in to see the result sheets on the wall and then the adreneline kicked in.
I tried to chill at home in the afternoon, because we were attending a party that evening but my landline and mobile never stopped and i had people knocking my door to congratulate us.
We all went out at 7pm to the community councils annual chairmans function a charity dinner held by the chair of the council and almost £1500 was raised at the auction evening. The money was going to the Parkinsons Hospital in Gorseinon.
Any way my feet haven't touched the ground this week, with meetings and training sessions.
I have attended several group meetings of Labour councillors elected, training sessions every day and other meetings as well, I attended the pool committee meeting this week, The local police monthly meeting, I've held a surgery with the local MP and held a local labour party meeting, where election results and all the local issues raised on door step have been discussed and I've attended a carnival committee meeting, June 28th is not long away and its the 4oth year of the carnival this year.
I've got a busy 6 weeks ahead of me with at least 4 training sessions booked in every week, So i can't see me adding a lot of dairy blog enteries, but once the training is over I will be keeping readers informed of my activies
all the best and once again thanks for the support
Llanedi Community Council
Every year the Chairman of the council holds an annual dinner, where they invite the full council to reflect on the previous year, before official holding an AGM the following week to hand over the office of Chair to a new member of the council. Last year it was Alun Wynn Richards who was chair of the council and it was his third term as chair for council, to celebrate this achievement Alun made a presentation to the community council, He stated that when Llanelli Borough Council reformed to become Carmarthen County Council a new community area was also formed which became known as the Llanedi Community Council, Alun said he had decided to celebrate his third term as Chair of the council by donating a Past Chairman’s board to them, which would hold the names and years of every councillor who has held the office of chair and all future chairs can be added year on year out, he had invited all the past chairs of the council to this years chairman’s dinner,. The first clerk of the Llanedi community council Vivian Preece got up and gave a speech followed by Brian Hopkins, the first ever chair of the reformed Llanedi Community Council. The evening was rounded off with Vernon Hicks and Lynne Vonk hosting a number of entertaining fundraising events such as a quiz and a raffle, there was a professional auctioneer present who also held an auction of gifts that had been donated for the dinner. In total more than £1500 was raised on the night for the chairman’s charity which was the Parkinson’s hospital in Gorseinon. During his speech at the dinner Owen Jones the clerk to the council said. With the elections now over he was surprised that the election has seen a big change for the community with several councillors loosing their seats and it will see seven new members join the council, he made a fair well speech to several councillors and stated that he hoped the current councillors re-elected would be looking forward to introducing the new members of the community into the council next week
Pontarddulais Walking Club
Members would like to thank Geraint Owain Price for leading the trek to the border town of
Hendy Pool
The committee met last week to reflect on the final report of the feasibility study, In 1998 the County Council set up the pool committee with a grant of £7,000 per year to run the pool, the committee proved the county wrong by running at a profit, after the county had claimed it would loose as much as £30,000 per year, they run the pool until it was forced to be closed because of a leak and structural damage to the wall of the pool, there has been a very high campaign to keep the county council from bulldozing the pool away which has been ongoing since 2004, the current situation was that the county had clearly stated , that if the committee and local volunteers wanted to save the 75year old historic pool one of the last two oopen air lido's left in Wales, which was built by volunteers of the community, they must buy the pool from the county for £1 and raise the money through grants themselves, The pool committee decided that they would commission a study to help form a business case for any grant application, the report showed that the county would continue its support if the committee chose to buy the pool, however after meeting with the county the consultants who conducted the feasibility study showed that the counties grant would remain unchanged at £7,000 a year, a figure fixed and agreed ten years previous, with inflation and everything rising year on year out the business case presented to the pool committee stated that if the pool was reinstated at today’s prices, it would probably run at a loss. The committee decided given that there has been an election which has seen a big change in new councillors, they would ask the new executive board to reconsider the funding and help that it can offer, Once the new Executive Board has considered this request the pool committee would reflect on the feasibility study and then make a decision about leasing the pool and park and the future of the pool
Photographic Competition
The local carnival committee is holding its usual annual competitions there’s the photographic competition, photo’s must be unmounted, No more than 3 per person can be entered, entries can be black and white or coloured and digital photos are accepted, printed photos must be no larger than A4 Please send entries to Mrs E Evans, 18 Alltiago Road Pontarddulais closing date is June 14th
Walking Club
Members of Pontarddulais Walking club would like to thank father and son, namely Selwyn and Gary Williams for leading last weeks trek. The trek was based in the beautiful
Advice Surgery
Nia Griffith MP will be holding a surgery at Hendy Cricket Club on Friday 9th May between 5pm and 6pm
40th Carnival – Saturday 28th June, 2008.
This year, the community will be celebrating the 40th Pontarddulais & Hendy Carnival. The first carnival, organised by the Festival committee, was held on Saturday 28th June, 1969 to help celebrate the Investiture of Prince Charles, which was held a few days later at
Monday 19th May at Pontarddulais Institute. Followed by similar events on Monday 2nd June, 2008 at Aelwyd Yr Urdd, Hendy 6.30pm to 8.30 pm. The workshops will be open to age 10 and over and the committee hope adults who are welcome will come and have a go, there’s no experience necessary and all equipment will be provided. More workshops will follow at Hendy Aelwydd Yr Urdd on 16th June & Pontarddulais 23rd June at the Rugby Club. The lottery grant has also helped fund, Costume Making workshops to be held at Aelwydd Yr Urdd Hendy on Saturday 7th June & Pontarddulais Institute on Saturday 14th June 1pm till 5 pm. Under 8’s must be accompanied by an adult. Anyone requiring a stall please telephone 01792 883337 stalls start from £15 upwards. Please also telephone this number if you are able to help out in any way on the day itself, stewards are required to help set up the field or collect money on the route or on the gates and the committee would welcome any help especially after last years wettest carnival day in memory which effected the fund raising activities. The theme of the carnival is Forty Years Ago – however, floats and walkers can be on any theme. This year, Braces Bread have sponsored a new carnival shield for Best Float based on the carnival theme. This is a community event, please join in or turn out on the day to watch the event and give a small donation by buying a carnival programme, or putting some small change in the collection boxes. Events such as this cannot survive unless there is public support. Help them to keep this event alive for the next forty years. This event is also supported by Carmarthenshire County Council who have paid for one on the main events for the centre field on the day .
Photo competition
There is the annual carnival photography competition with a 1st Prize of £20, 2nd £15 and 3rd £10. Black & white or coloured on any subject (digital accepted) up to 3 entries per person no larger than A4. Please send entries to Mrs. E. Evans 18 Alltiago Rd, Pontarddulais,
Yr Hen Gapel
Cynhelir Cyrddau Blynyddol Nos Sul, Mai 11eg 2008 (Y Sulgwyn) am 6 o’r gloch Un oedfa yn unig! Disgwylir i wasanaethu Y Parchedig Caradog Evans. Croeso Cynnes I Bawb.
There is an annual gathering and service at Hen Gapel on Sunday May 11th, at 6 o’clock, all will be welcome
Hendy Disco
Pontarddulais recently held its selection for the carnival queen in the Pontarrddulais rugby club, tonight the Hendy school will hold its annual disco where the Hendy youngsters will be picked to represent Hendy on the carnival queens float.
The 10% tax rate
Here's a copy of an email i recieved this morning of the Llanelli MP, as previous i had already rasied this issue with one of the treasury ministers previously in March
and i had posted my thoughts about the days meeting to this blog and my face book notes, I recieved an email of a letter from the treasury which i have already given to several friends who were concerned last week, Nia makes reference to this letter in her email to me, if you want a copy ask me i'd be happy to provide
From Nia Griffith mp
"
I should like to update you on this issue, as I imagine it is coming up on the doorstep. I first raised this matter with the Treasury in a letter I wrote on 25th April 2007, in which I quoted an example of a constituent who would be worse off.
However, it was only once the issue was already upon us, when I raised it yet again on 31st March this year, this time with the Prime Minister at a meeting of Labour MPs, that that there was more widespread interest both from fellow MPs and the media as people were beginning to realise what this change would mean in reality.
The problem now is of course how to sort this out when new tax codings are already being implemented, but we need it to be sorted out as soon as possible
On Monday evening I attended a meeting of Labour MPs with the Prime Minister at which our concerns were firmly conveyed to him by MP after MP and he did indicate that he was listening
Following our very frank discussions with the Chancellor on Tuesday, he has now sent a letter to the Treasury Committee. I enclose a copy and I would draw your attention in particular to paragraphs 5, 6 and 7, in which the Chancellor explains what he will be doing to ensure that those who would have missed out with the abolition of the 10% tax rate will NOT now miss out.
This is a very clear commitment, but I am not complacent and there is clearly work to be done to identify all those affected. I will certainly be continuing to campaign to restore fully the income levels of all those who have been adversely affected by the abolition of the 10% rate.
You may find that some people THINK they will be affected when in fact other changes such as changes to allowances and tax credits mean that they will not actually be worse off. If anyone wants further information, please tell them that they are welcome to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Nia Griffith MP
Nia Griffith
M.P. for Llanelli
A.S. dros Lanelli
Constituency phone number / Rhif ffôn yn yr etholaeth:
01554 756374
House of Commons phone number / Rhif ffôn yn Nhŷ’r Cyffredin:
02072196102
Constituency office address / Cyfeiriad swyddfa’r etholaeth:
6, Queen Victoria Road, Llanelli, SA15 2TL
"
Hendy Rugby Club
The rugby club committee invited all the ex-players from the past, to a special function to the rugby club to determine whether there would be sufficient interest and support to form an ex-players association. Current chairman of the club Roy Rees welcomed a large gathering and stated he was very pleased with the number of people present and outlined the thoughts of the committee about setting up the ex-players association and his views on the way forward for such a venture. John Maclean president of the club then gave his thoughts on the idea. The next speaker was Howard Jones, Historian and Author of the book “Yr Hendy and the village”, he gave a very informative speech about some of the people that he had interviewed in his research for the book, and recalled some of the early day history of the rugby club. In the early days and after the war, Hendy had no equipment, no jerseys or even a ball and he stated that Luther Thomas who was serving in the Navy at the time succeeded in getting a kit of White Jerseys and sea boot stockings which formed the team kit for a short period. Luther Thomas who is already 90 plus young, was present at the meeting and was the oldest past player in the room and that as an early ex Captain of the Hendy team he had shared a wealth of knowledge for the book with Howard. After the speech there was a showing of some really old film clippings and videos of games, of Hendy winning some silver ware, there were a few old players present at the meeting and they were able to recall some of tries and games that they were stars of, some of these clips were 30 and 40 years old. As the oldest player present Luther Thomas then gave a speech and afterwards Roy Evans the current Chairman then presented him with a belated 90th birthday present, by presenting him with a club tie. The evening was then finished off with some light refreshments and a buffet. The current committee will now review the evenings meeting and will probably discuss how to take the association forward in the near future.
Long serving nurse says goodbye
After 45 years of helping the sick and injured, one of
Pontarddulais Walking Club
Members were grateful to the recent walk and group leader Ann Chalke for the trek to the Brecknock Beacons. Whilst walking the Fforest Fawr range of the Beacons the mists and low cloud descended down from Fan Fawr, and the group where left with virtually zero visibility. Luckily the club were led by the experienced and capable Ann Chalke who led the group down to the safety of the Storey Arms car park. Geraint Owain Price will be the walk and group leader on the clubs trek to the Marcher Borders and Offa’s Dyke in early May.
Hendy Aelwyd
It's a busy time at Hendy Aelwyd. They are preparing for our annual Eisteddfod which will be held at the school on Saturday May 10. This again promises to be a great day of Welsh entertainment for all. If you can sing or recite come along and compete!
We had a very successful concert at the Pontarddulais school hall on March the 1st, with Ifan Gruffudd, The three tenors, Cor Lleisiau Llan, Sion Ifan and Elin Lewis. Hundreds of people came along to support the event, and enjoyed and excellent evening of entertainment. The concert was helped by funding from the partnership for community action (PACT), a European funded project.
Advice Surgery
Nia Griffith MP will be holding a surgery at Hendy Cricket Club on Friday 9th May between 5pm and 6pm
Hendy Pool Committee
The full report from the recent feasibility study has now been received by the Pool and Parks committee; the next meeting will be Arlan Gwili on Tuesday 6th May at 7pm where the committee will be discussing its content and be making decisions on the next steps based on the report.
Carnival Queen
Two local girls one from Hendy and one from Pontarddulais have both successfully qualified for the Miss Wales Finals and they were invited by the local carnival committee to come and help judge this years Carnival Queen. Thirty eight youngsters attended the disco at Pontarddulais Rugby club where, Kylie Hearne and Zoe Sarah Foster, helped the carnival committee pick the Carnival Queen, the results are as follows, this years Carnival Queen Lauren Foster with Molly Hughes & Chloe Hooper as her attendants. The Pontarddulais Rose Queen will be Hannah Chiappa and her attendants will be Lauren Thomas & Holly Williams, The Fairy Queen will be Kiera Foster and her Attendants will be Thia Bolgiani & Ellie May Roberts. Prince Charming will be Jacob Chiappa. To celebrate the 40th year Both Zoe and Kylie as Miss Wales Finalists will be on float supporting the local Carnival Queen.
St David’s Church
The recent concert by Corglandulais held at the St David’s church was a huge success, with the church funds benefiting by £385, Services are held at St David’s every Sunday at 11am and on Thursday’s at 10am, all are welcome to attend any service
Pontarddulais Walking Club
Members would like to thank Mr Brian Lloyd for leading last weeks trek to the Marcher borders of
Sporting Grants
Members of the community council met with the football club, the rugby club and the cricket club this week to discuss grants and the way that the community council might be able to help the clubs with bigger grant applications, the cricket club and rugby club wanted assistance with drainage to their pitches, whilst the football club requested assistance with equipment to maintain their pitch, there were also other items on the wish list from all of the clubs, After the initial meeting there was a second meeting with the cricket club the following day, where a county officer met the cricket club committee and some of the community council members, there is a drain that takes surface water off the highways and it runs through the cricket ground, this drain has collapsed and been blocked. The water level in this drain is higher than it should be and is holding the water level back in the drainage system on the pitch, the county council agreed to dig up the pipe and hopefully once this blockage is cleared the drainage systems on the pitch might start working more efficiently, to help dry the pitch up before the season starts.
Community Policing Team
On Saturday afternoon a small group of underage youngsters were spoken to on
I have had a very busy start to the week and as May 1st looms closer, I expect it will get busier?
Monday morning the local Labour team, went down to the new photographers, "Image Solutions" St Teilo Street Pontarddulais, to have our photo's taken for our leaflets for the election.
The four of us are all sitting councillors and we are hoping to be re-elected, from left to right
Bill Vonk a member of Llanedi Community Council since 1999 and a former Chair of the council.
Lynne Vonk who has served the same length of time as Bill, during her term in office she unveiled the Rebecca Memorial Stone at Hendy Green, when she was chair of the council.
Vernon Hicks he joined the council in 2006 when there was a bye election called, Vernon is the current treasurer of the Pool Committee and he is a member of the Carnival Committee
and Finally there's myself Steve Lloyd-Janes
After lunch I popped all the photos down to Llanelli to add them to the artwork at the printers, On leaving Llanelli I got stuck in traffic and was 10 minutes late for the site meeting with the Hendy Football club,
The agenda for the evening was meet the football club at the field and adjurn to meet them at the Hendy Rugby Clubhouse,
Then after this meeting we would meet the rugby club officials on their pitch and reconviene in the rugby club house, and then we would do exactly the same for the Cricket Club
Meet on the cricket field before discussing issues and grants in the club house.
All three meetings went well, although late I joined the group at the rugby club house when the football club arrived from their field meeting.
The representatives from the council were Owen Jones clerk to the council, Huw Jones surveyor for the council, Alun Wyn Richards Chairman of Llanedi Community Council, Bill Vonk, Lynne Vonk, Vernon Hicks, Gareth Thomas, Buddug Thomas, myself Steve Lloyd-janes and Tycroes Councillor Meirion Evans who joined the group at the cricket club.
At the Cricket Club meeting it was stated that there was another meeting scheduled the following day to look at the drains that run off the main road
This meeting was going to be with a county council officer and Plaid's WIB James who is retiring from council and was not present at the evening meeting,
It was suggested by the surveyor and Alun Wyn Richards the chair of the council that all of the community council present met the following day to discuss the drains from the highways and the drainage of the cricket field.
At 10.30 today when the site meeting took place, some of the councillors including, All of the plaid councillors present yesterday evening, did not show up??
WIB James and the county officer arrived and met Huw Jones surveyor, Alun Wyn Richards Chair of council, Bill Vonk, and myself, along with members of the Hendy cricket committee to discuss drainage issues.
After the meeting I again went to Llanelli because the proof leaflet had an error on it and I spent some time correcting the error, but It has now gone to print below is a copy of the leaflet that the printers has promised will be ready this week
There's a plaid supporter who writes letters on a regular basis, and they get them published weekly in a number of local papers covering the llanelli and Ammanford areas,
in fact this writer has had a letter on the same topic published not once but two weeks on the trot in the local press.
He wrote that Nia Griffith voted to close the local post offices, this is outragous and a total spin of the truth. Yes there was recent motion in parliament about post offices, which was voted on but it was not a motion to close the post offices.
Nia Griffith MP has forwarded a copy of an email between her and the editor of the local paper and a copy of a letter she sent him, which i've posted below,
further to my entry earlier this week, here's an update and the part of the minutes of the police meeting
The police hold the meeting on a monthly basis and it ,roves around their area, which is Hendy, Llangennech, Bryn, Dafen, Llwynhendy, Bynea, Swiss Valley, and Felinfoel
Next month it could be in any one of these areas,
Residents please bare in mind? When local Hendy Plaid cymru councillors come knocking your doors seeking re-elections next month, they've very rarely attend these meetings and they were no show last week when it was actually held in Hendy.
Members of the public actually showed up and asked a number of questions,
i've removed their names as a precaution and i've only included the first 4 pages of the ten page minutes, as this carried more hendy issues than the rest of the meeting, because Hendy residents had the first 15 minutes before leaving the meeting. There were other issues and updates involving Hendy recorded in the minutes.
Hendy and Pontarddulais Carnival Queen Disco
The 40th Pontarddulais & Hendy Carnival Queen (age 11 plus) will be chosen at a disco on Thursday 17th April, 2008 at Pontarddulais Rugby Club commencing 7 pm Admission is £1 per child.
Carnival Stalls
Application forms for stalls at Pontarddulais & Hendy Carnival are now being distributed. Please telephone Celia on 883337 for a form. Stalls are £15 charities and voluntary groups; £20 - craft stalls £30- businesses Miss Wales Finalists Kylie Hearne a Hendy local and valid member of the Hendy Pool Committee and the Both Sides News letter committee, is planning a charity Bric and Brac stall for the Joshua Foundation, for the carnival, Anthony of the Carnival Committee of Iscoed Road is helping her collect items for the stall, She has also recently qualified for the Miss Wales Finals, you can support her by voting for her by sending a text.... wosvote3 28 and sending to 84080 Llwynhendy
Community Police Team
Inspector Bailey holds monthly meetings around the Llwynhendy police team area with his team and other organisations, like the local youth service, local housing officers and local councillors and together the group discuss local issues to try and help solve community problems linked with youth and any anti-sociable behaviour. This month it was Hendy’s turn to host the meeting, local people turned up to the meeting and were given fifteen minutes at the start of the meeting to highlight their concerns and to ask the local police questions. The Scarlets have also offered to help the police with a new scheme, they will be coaching the police and community members how to become tag rugby coaches, once qualified the new coaches will be organising tag rugby matches and a mini tournament that local teenagers can participate in. Hendy has already found two volunteers who have shown interested in learning how to become coaches and are prepared to participate in the Scarlets coaching scheme, they are Calfyn Evans chairman the Pool Committee and Dai Tom of the Wales Scouting Movement. They need more volunteers, if you want to learn a new skill and want to become a coach please contact myself or any member of the local community police team.
Jason Davies
Jason Davies of Llwyn Bedw Hendy, has been successfully picked to play cricket for the South Wales Cricket Association, the team will be touring Antiga and Barbados in February 2009, Team members have to find sponsorship to help fund the tour, so any donations no matter how small would be welcomed, Jason has been a good all-rounder in local sport, he's played for Hendy RFC and was part of the squad when Hendy won the West Wales Cup, but his cricket skills are more impressive, He's represented Hendy in the under 11's, 14's and 16's, he’s played for the Dyfed Schools and the West Wales Schools team, he's even represented Wales in the under 13's,14's,15's,16's and under 19's and he's played for the Glamorgan seconds, Jason currently holds a record for Hendy cricket team with a score of 224 in one game and has a similar record for the under 16's with a score of 220 and in 2004 and 2007 seasons he passed the 1000 run score in a season, I'm sure he will make Hendy proud in February 2009 and we wish him all the luck in finding sponsorship to attend.
Hendy Rugby Club
Plans for the Hendy Rugby Club ex players association are now well under-way with the first social evening planned for Friday 18th April (Tomorrow evening) to be held at the Hendy Rugby club, were you a part of the Hendy Squad and a past player? If so contact the Rugby Club or Gareth Mathews on 01792 883039 for details of events and meetings that the association are arranging. The club would also like any old team photographs to extend their current display; if you have any to lend it would be most appreciated.
Local Elections
Llanedi Community Council is made up of sixteen community councillors, eight from Hendy, seven from Tycroes and one from Llanedi, after the recent closing date for nominations there will now be an election in May, because there was eleven nominations for Hendy, two nominations for Llanedi and ten nominations for Tycroes, The two county seats in the Llanedi community area are also both up for re-election with two candidates standing in Hendy and three candidates standing in Tycroes. We wish the current Hendy County Councillor WIB James all the best of health and luck in his retirement, WIB has decided to retire from both the County and Community Councils.
Llanedi Community Council
The community council wrote to all the sporting clubs in the area to ask how could they help the local sports club, Last week the councillors met at Tycroes rugby club to discuss their project, they have applied for grants to drain and improve their rugby pitch, councillors discussed their grant application because the total project is likely to exceed the grant funding that they might receive, once details have been finalised, the community council will consider possibly funding some of the short fall, on leaving the club it was good to see the under nine teams were out training at the Tycroes club, currently the club has six different junior teams training and playing and almost have enough members to form a seventh squad, if the pitch and grounds were improved the club are convinced they would increase more interest in the club from the youth of the village. The council have similar meetings arranged with the other sporting clubs in the community.
Pontarddulais Walking Club
Members would like to thank Mr Denis Sheehan for leading last weeks trek to the Teifi Valley. Highlight of the trek was a visit to the castle of Cilgerran which stands high up on a ridge overlooking the river Teifi. Mr Brian Lloyd will be leading a classic trek shortly to visit the Holy Mountain of Wales namely Ysgyrrid Fawr and will also visit Wales oldest inn and hostelry namely Skirrid Arms in Llanvihangel Crucorney. Members are urged to come out in force to patronise this trek in the most beautiful of settings
the minutes of the last meeting state venue and date to be arranged, because this meeting is held in a different community every month. Over the last twelve months I had only seen WIB James attend one of these meetings, when it was last held in Hendy.
Whilst the meeting is confidential with Police Priorities and Action Plans agreed, with those present at the meeting,
What came out of this meeting.... (that is not confidential)..... is that the Scarlets are going to coach the Police and members of the public (who want to help the community) how to become tag rugby coaches.
and after the coaching has been done there will be a local tournament for youngsters in the Llwynhendy Police Station patch and Hendy's own Calfyn Evans and Dai Tom have agreed to do the coaching training with the Police and the Scarlets team in the near future.
I understand the tournament will probably be made up in the format of "5 a side" with youngsters from each village within the llwynhendy police catchment area. Further updates will be made available as learnt as planning of this event is still ongoing?
Tonight all members of the community council were invited to attend a meeting of the council with Tycroes rugby club and the only councillors that turned up were the labour ones, not one Plaid Cymru Councillor turned up, all four of the Hendy Labour Councillors turned up.
In his defence Plaid's WIB James had put his appologies in, when the community council were setting the date for the meeting at the last community council meeting, as it clashed with a previous engagement, because everybody was aware of the date time and venue, the clerk and councillors that attended, were expecting other councillors to attend and we withheld the start of the meeting by 1/4 of an hour in case they did turn up?
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how the community council could help support local sporting clubs in the community.
All of the clubs in Hendy and Tycroes were written too and when the council discussed the feedback, they decided to meet all the clubs to look at their needs.
Tycroes has 8 junior squads as well as the senior teams and the pitch has no drainage at all, on visiting the site tonight it was in a very poor state with uneven patches and pot holes where water/mud stands after a rainy day all over the pitch.
The club presented three tenders to the group that turned up from contractors that want to put drainage in, and details of a grant application, the grants from the wru and sports council of wales if accepted and passed are not likely to match the full cost of the project, therefore they would be looking to ask the community council to consider helping with some of the short fall.
On coming out of the club house it was good to see about 30 youngsters under 10 already out on the pitch training
We adviced the rugby club of other potential grant sources and will now await for more detailed diagrams of the drainage scheme and copies of grant applications and terms and conditions, before the council can make a decision.
I recieved via email today a copy of a public consultation that has been put out by the Welsh Assembly.
I've cut and pasted the document so that you can all read, if you have thoughts or views then please go on line and respond to the document, this post is only a small sample as it exceeds the limit of characters i can post to this blog post?
SUMMARY
This Consultation Paper invites comments on proposed changes to the NHS in
The areas for consultation include:
(i) Abolishing the Internal Market in
(ii) Three options for establishing a National Health Service Board for
(iii) A reduction from twenty-two (22) to eight (
Local Health Boards in
(iv) Transferring the management and provision of Community Services from NHS Trusts to Local Health Boards;
(v) The constitution and membership of the new Local Health Boards in
(vi) The constitution and membership of NHS Trusts in
(vii) A possible revised model for providing shared services, such as procurement, certain legal services and estates advice across
Foreword by Mrs Edwina Hart AM MBE, Minister for Health and Social Services
The One Wales
document commits the Welsh Assembly Government to ‘…move purposefully to end the internal market…’, in order to improve services for patients. This Consultation Paper sets out practical proposals for putting this pledge into action. It is aimed at patients and the public, as well as professionals working within the NHS in
Let me make two important points at the outset:
· Firstly, the proposals are designed to follow the changes already underway in the NHS in
· Secondly, the end of the internal market in health is part of the wider Welsh Assembly Government determination to make co-operation, rather than competition, the bedrock of public service delivery in
In the pages that follow, you will find key areas for consultation. In each, my suggested propositions are set out, and areas where I hope to have your views and suggestions are outlined. The main proposals for change are referred to in the Consultation Paper, with additional questions on these proposals provided in Annex D.
One Wales also commits the Welsh Assembly Government ‘…to reinstate democratic engagement at the heart of the Welsh health service…’. This consultation is part of that commitment, and I look forward to twelve weeks of vigorous debate, discussion and engagement in all parts of
Because this paper is deliberately short, and aims to be accessible to the lay reader, the underlying detail has been brought together in a set of supporting papers covering:
(i) Paper 1: The Removal of the Internal Market;
(ii) Paper 2: The Proposed New Planning System;
(iii) Paper 3: Governance in the Health System; and
(iv) Paper 4: NHS Bodies and Organisations in
Any readers wishing to access these papers can find them at: www.wales.gov.uk/consultations, or can obtain copies from Sian-Marie James, Department for Health & Social Services, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ. (Tel: 02920 826747).
Inevitably, a number of very important technical issues lie behind the proposals set out here. A series of specific, technical consultation events will be held over the next 3 months, as part of the general consultation process, to ensure that participation will be possible for those who have a direct interest in shaping the detailed arrangements that will be needed to support our final proposals.
A more general consultation exercise will also be held with patient groups, local leaders, Community Health Councils and voluntary organisations to ensure that local interests are fully engaged in the process.
Following consideration of the responses to this Consultation Paper, and subject to the issues raised, there will be a further consultation on the proposed NHS structure and the composition of NHS Trusts and Local Health Boards, which will include consultation on any secondary legislation that would be required to implement any changes.
1. What does abolishing the Internal Market mean at national level?
In
There are twenty-two (22) Local Health Boards (LHBs) in
Health Commission Wales (Specialist Services) (HCW) is an executive arm of the Welsh Assembly Government. HCW commissions specialist (tertiary) services on an all-Wales basis, and LHBs commission other secondary care (hospital) services and primary care services. LHBs are expected to work with HCW to ensure adequate provision of specialist services for their residents.
From the 1st April 2008, there are ten (10) NHS Trusts in Wales; eight providing both hospital and community health services, with Velindre NHS Trust providing specialist oncology services and a number of other services, and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust providing a clinical emergency and transport service. Most of the secondary and community health services commissioned by LHBs are provided by NHS Trusts at a number of hospital sites and within the community across
Fundamental to abolishing the internal market must be a new way of planning and funding our health services. What is proposed in the future, is that funding for NHS Trust services will no longer flow through LHBs, as ‘purchasers’ of (secondary) hospital and community services. It is proposed that funding will go either directly from the Welsh Assembly Government to NHS Trusts, or via a separately constituted National Board. This funding will be provided within a framework that ensures a fair allocation of NHS resources, reflecting different health needs, and our commitment to reduce inequality in
In order to make that happen, it is proposed that a National Health Service Board for
The National Health Service Board for
There are three options which might be adopted as a model for the National Board:
(i) Special Health Authority – this would be a body corporate directly accountable to Welsh Ministers. It would employ its own staff and would be constituted in a similar way as LHBs and NHS Trusts, in that it would have a Chair and offi
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