Having received two phone calls plus one email from three residents I attended the public demonstration in the Bont to try and save the Canolfan adult learning centre.

The email I had received is pasted below.

" 

I am writing to ask for your help in saving the closure of our Canolfan.
I am a retired woman living in Hendy and value highly the time I have spent
learning and socializing in the Canolfan and think its closure would be very
detrimental to our community.

1.We do not have this facility in Hendy and would have to travel to
Gorseinon/Llanelli/Ammanford for similar service and many of people in the
community are unable to do this for mobility and other commitments.

2.The Canolfan is more than an Adult Training Centre it is also a social
centre members have made friends there and the friendships endure and
continue long after specific courses have finished, many then join up
together for an alternate course.

3.This cut back is short sighted. The population has now a very high
proportion of elderly people and will eventually be a drain on the social
services. One way to alleviate this is to teach people how to use computers
which can be used to enrich their life style and keep their minds active
which will support their overall health

a. keep in touch with friends family by email
b. using on line banking
c. do their shopping on line as many of the supermarkets now deliver
groceries
d. keep up with the news
e. search the net for various information
f. join on line courses
g. learn to make personalised greeting cards which can involve a lot of
research

Please help as the Canolfan enriches our lives and by association our
family/friends/ community lifestyle. It helps all adults to gain new skills
which in some cases is used to advance in employment.

Please help us in our campaign to keep the Canolfan open


"

As a result of several requests I managed to secure the support of Nia Griffith MP who pledged help to support the campaing. Whilst there bbc wales arrived and conducted a live interview with a local resident, the news bulletin can be seen by clicking the link. They also interviewed Nia in Welsh for a welsh documentry on the campaign.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8016873.stm

Carmarthen County Council had a similar situation which threatened 89 jobs but after campaigning and meetings there was a reprieve, and extra funding made available, hopefully Swansea City Council might get their act together and win some funding to save the Canolfan in Pontarddulais.