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Llanelli Rotary Club members have made a significant contribution to the town's Food Bank.
And last week they received first-hand news about how the Food Bank is distributing food to the needy in Llanelli.
The Rotary club's guest speaker at their weekly meeting at the Stradey Park Hotel was Food Bank co-ordinator Claire Childs, who explained how the food is distributed from Myrtle House in Llanelli.
The Rotary club members, and staff at Llanelli Rural Council, collected more than 65kg of food for the Myrtle House Food Bank.
Club president Graham Williams said members had been shocked to discover the level of need in Llanelli.
Mr Williams added: "Rotary Club members have been impressed with the way the Myrtle House operation is organised. There are safeguards in place to make sure the food goes to those truly in need and everything works very efficiently.
"I know that members of the Rotary Club were shocked to discover the level of need in Llanelli for the Food Bank service. With the recession biting again, it is more than likely that this level of need will accelerate.
"Fortunately, Llanelli is known for being a 'giving and caring community' and I am sure the people of the town will rally around the Food Bank cause and support it in any way it can, be it through donations of food or people giving their time to help as volunteers."
Last month the Food Bank, which is based in Myrtle Terrace, gave food aid to 163 people.
Now it is appealing for urgent help from the public to meet the need.
Co-ordinator Claire Childs told Rotarians: "The problem is massive. We are hearing from more agencies and more people are becoming involved. But we are running out of food quite quickly. We are really struggling at the moment because the demand has got so big so quickly."
Back in May this year the number of needy people seeking essential food aid had doubled to almost 100 people.
Many had literally nothing in the house at all, said Claire.
She said: "We really need food at the moment. If anybody wants to come and donate food or bring it to the food bank, we are open five days a week, from 10am to 1pm.
"We don't buy food, we rely on food donated by local people. It is a case of the community helping itself."
She said there were many reasons for the crises affecting so many people in Llanelli.
"I think there's a general tightening of belts all round. Everyone, whether or not they are vulnerable in society and even people who are moderately affluent are having to tighten their belts.
"It's just difficult for everyone. A lot of people are having benefit delays because of the financial climate we have."
The service started up in March and is helped by the Elim Church.
Donations of tinned and non-perishable food are being sought.
Claire added: "A lot of the people who come to us for help are very vulnerable. We gave out nearly a tonne of food last month. It's a lot of food. A lot of people who would have gone hungry are being helped."
All food aid donations are gratefully received contact Myrtle House on 01554 756051 or visit http://myrtlehouse.org.uk
Peter and I were in Fishguard this afternoon. Peter and Iwere the only shoppers in Fishguard at all this afternoon. (I use the term 'shoppers' loosely as most of the few shopswere closed.)
In the Pharmacy,Peter bought some gel for his gum, which he'd scraped on a hand-sliced, pan- fried, sea-salted, vacuum-packedhard crisp; ('Don't buy them again, I prefer the ordinary ones', he muttered).
I went to the Cancer Charity shop and bought Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale', which I've already got but can't lay my handson, so at forty pence it was a bargain and saved me hunting.
We should have arrived in Fishguard on horseback, two strangers roughly jerking our mounts to a stop and gazing over the territory around us, pushing our hats to the back of our heads and narrowing our eyes against the dust but this wasn't 'High Noon' so we camethe usualway, in the car, Peter driving. (He wouldhave to be half dead beforesitting in the passenger seat).
Just like in the Hollywood version of things, there was a funeral in the distance, butthere were few mourners there, so it did not have much effecton the paucity of shoppers.
There was plenty of room in the car park, thirty pence for two hours. I decided they should be paying us for coming, not charging.(Some people's minds work differently from mine. A friend complained the charity cards she was selling weren't popular so, although I'd already had one pack, I said I'd have another. 'That will be double what you paid last time', she said, 'because I want to look as though I've made some money'). Mmh.
'Fishguard's like a ghost-town', Peter commented. 'There's nothing here'.
Pembrokeshire relies on its tourist industry, but this year,hotels have not fared too well.(This is true for other places as well.) A recent television programme featured Tenby, a pretty town with Georgian villas anda coastline to rival the Amalfi Coast. Aboat sails to Caldy Island, rather than Capri,in fine weather. The hotels are lovely, overlooking the sea, but there are too many empty rooms.
Pembrokeshire is not lacking in events: there isa 'Fish Week', a three-day County Show, a Classic Car rally, a tractor rally andpleasure flights from Withybush aerodrome, but caravans and self-catering are knocking the hotel trade.
Figures published recently show that despite European funding, Wales's prosperity has dropped. I love Wales and its rural communities and don't want our country to become the 'poor man' of Europe.
Before writing this, I ate a pot of 'Rachel's Dairy' organic gooseberry yoghurt.The brand was developed bya farmer's wife in mid-Wales when the milk tanker failed to reach the farm in the snow. Now it is a best-seller.This is thecreative thinking we need if we are to take our placesat the top table again.
That sending off by referee Rolland was totally misjudged -- it changed the complexion of the whole match. It was not a malicious or really dangerous tackle -- Sam pulled out of it when he realised that Clerc was in the air. He was definitely not trying to harm an opponent -- he is not that type of player. Referees need to have empathy with the players and an ability to read a game -- that was one of the most crucial and insensitive decisions I have ever seen.
Raymond Garlick was fond of saying 'Man is the measure of all things'. This popped into my mind today,like an e-mail from the past.
I was in the garden when it happened.I was allowingit to float about when a neighbour stopped to chat. She's always seemed busy and active butsurprised me by saying she often felt a gnawing loneliness. Yes, she had friends, family living away,but she felt an emptiness.
Without talking aboutexistential 'angst', we decided that sometimes life fallsa little flat beforepicking itself up again. When she'd gone, I began mulling.
Writing in the C17th Thomas Hobbesdecidedin 'Leviathan' thatlife was 'solitary . . . brutish and short'.
Most previous generations have not had the luxury ofwondering if theyfelt lonely; they had to do andendure,with no time for introspection.
Although being alone is different from being lonely,large families in the pastmeanta lack of privacy, yet there were compensations. One reportsays that those who move more than fifty miles from where they were born are less secure than people who see their families often.
T.S.Eliot'ssaid that 'Hell is oneself/ Hell is alone'. This could be a problem now that people will have to wait longer for their pensions, but not necessarily. Studies show that many pensioners fade away when they retire. Employment is not just about money butsocial groups andperception, one's own and others people's. Work confers identity.
Retirees havethe unfortunate tag 'pensioner' appended, as though they have reached the final full stop.A seventy year old, in employment, doesnot havethat nomenclature.
The skill is to see life as on-going. Peter Ustinov, oncetold he must feel very satisfied with his life's work,commented he always looked to the next project, hoping for improvement.
Dylan Thomas wrotethat theworld : 'Spins its morning of praise' andit's that vison that gives life its meaning and helps usconnect with what is around us.
Back to Welsh Literature page >
AmeriCymru proudly presents 'To Idris Davies' ,... a poem by Mike Jenkins. Diolch Mike!
TO IDRIS DAVIES
The pits long left your valley,
the bells have ceased to toll,
estates of houses and industry
but faces like punctured balls.
Because most works in the city
far from your one-street town
where shops are wearing shutters
and the postman brings a frown.
Im searching for you on the terrace,
the plaque a word-won medal,
searching also in the Library
where youre cherished, pens nestled.
The desert today is inside many,
those boozers, smokers and druggies
who stagger past the cemetery,
cravings always digging deeper.
And if you could walk to Merthyr
over moors, the way the bus takes me,
youd find a huge hollow in the hills
where seagulls circle like vultures.
But you would still mark them here
from bakery to chippie to caf,
those folk who chat and joke and care,
those selfsame people of Rhymney.
MIKE JENKINS
LINKS
Gaabriel Becket from Welsh-American social network americymru.net interviewed mezzo soprano Megan Morris after her performances at the 2011 North American Festival of Wales in Cleveland, Ohio, USA
The recent success of Swansea City Football Club will go down in history forever thanks to Welsh historian Geraint H. Jenkins who has put pen to paper and published the story of the 2010-11 season in a new book published next week. In the book called The Swans Go Up! Geraint H. Jenkins claims that the Swans success this year is up there with the greatest in the clubs history.
Geraint Jenkins said: By any standards, the 2010-11 season was an unforgettable experience. It showed that playing an attractive passing game, in the Swansea way, can bring rich dividends. The Jack Army has every reason to be proud of the manager and his players."
Geraint, a supporter of the Swans since 1964, and who took his wife to the Vetch on his first date, has only praise for Brendan Rogers and the current crop of players.
The author is also writing the official history of Swansea City Football Club to be published for the centenary next year.
The Swans Go Up! is published by Y Lolfa and includes a foreword by Swansea captain Garry Monk. Garry describes the book as a Must-read book It will bring back wonderful memories for the Jack Army.
The Swans Go Up! presents the full, dramatic story of the 2010-11 season and the story of the club from the crisis of near extinction in May 2003 to the dizzy heights of Premier League football. It includes vivid portraits of the players as well as great photographs of some of the highlights, including that game against Nottingham Forrest and the fantastic trip to Wembley.
The Swans Go Up will be available in bookshops and www.ylolfa.com for 4.95.
