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St Davids Day Means Poetry Day!

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The international Welsh Poetry Competition, 2012, was launched this week in Pontypridd, South Wales.

The annual competition, now in its sixth year, has become an important event on the literary calendar.

Writer and competition organizer Dave Lewis said: The competition has been a huge success and it has become more and more popular each year. We are especially pleased that it has now become a truly international event with entries arriving from around the world.

Many feel the competition is unique because it is truly independent and we do not use filter judges. All our entries are also judged anonymously and so, whether you are an established writer or beginner, everyone has an equal chance. This is important because it allows new talent to be discovered.

This year the competition will be judged by Welsh writer and environmentalist, John Evans .

We are absolutely delighted that John Evans , has agreed to judge this years competition. He has become an internationally respected figure both for his writing and his work campaigning to conserve our wildlife and environment.

The competition has had five great years already and last year we celebrated with an anthology containing all the winning poems from the competition so if anyone also wants to see the standard of work before they enter they can buy a copy from the competition website.

As always, we hope to discover previously unpublished voices alongside the more familiar literary names. We believe good poetry should be raw, passionate, and honest we are less interested in dry, academic, poetry. This is the kind of writing wed like to see bursting onto the creative writing scene in Wales.

The prize money for 2012 is as follows. Prizes are: 1st Prize - 300, 2nd Prize - 150 and 3rd Prize - 75 .

To enter you just need to compose a poem, in English, of less than 50 lines and send to the competition organizers. Entry forms are available by post, can be downloaded from the web site or picked up from c libraries. It is just 4 to enter and the closing date is Sunday 27 ^th May 2012 .

Competition Website - www.welshpoetry.co.uk

Competition Judge www.johnevans.org.uk

Today was St David 's day and also World Book Day, and to help celebrate both, I'd been invited along to the local school to do a turn as Local Author. I'd decided that the thing to do was to invent a story with each class with a Welsh theme.I got there and was hoping to see a flip chart and a selection of colour pens. Instead I was presented with a load of four and five year olds sitting on a carpet watching me look stupid as i did battle with the white board that they mastered on day one.I thought we'd "story board" it and was glad when they decided their first character was a teddy: I can draw teddies. But then they wanted sheep, an owl and a dragon."What's that, Miss?" they asked."It's a dragon.""No it isn't..."They were right of course. There was no way it was a dragon.The next class had me drawing dragons being hit with loaves of bread. The next had dragons fighting with lions (in a Welsh v England rugby match that mutated into the Lions getting their throats ripped out by the brave Welsh dragon - not too easy to stomach when you're English, even on St David's Day)The final class had packs of beavors doing battle with mutant rats underwater. I gave up. By that time everything was a splodge, and a pretty crap one at that; the children didn't hold back.They foolishly asked me back at the end of the day to hear the remains of the stories. The worst part of the day was to enter the hall and see 80 kids holding pieces of paper with my rubbish drawings printed out on them. Seeing your work "improved" by a six year old is humbling...If you liked this blog, why not buy the books!Visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lorraine-Jenkin/e/B0034PL5LG/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 Available on e-book soon!

hhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-17221011ttp://

DYDD GWYL DEWI SANT HAPUS! HAPPY ST. DAVID'S DAY!

Well the winter in Pembrokeshire has been less than ideal for Paragliding, though often we get fantastic flying over winter- this year that was not to be-however things have been getting and better of late, and we've had some cracking days and it's only Febuary! looking forward to the spring thermals and cruising above the coastline dolphin spotting!!

Melin Consultants, the fast-growing South Wales firm of environment and sustainability experts, has played its part in helping to recognise quality builders in Carmarthenshire.
Melin sponsored two categories at Carmarthenshires 2011 Local Authority Building Control Excellence Awards ceremony at the Machynys Peninsula Golf Club in Llanelli.
Working closely with constructors and builders we get to see plenty of examples of excellent work in Carmarthenshire, said Melin managing director Jamie Best.
Sponsoring two award categories was our way of helping to recognise the achievements of excellent building projects in Carmarthenshire.
A total of 12 building projects were recognised at the awards, which were introduced by LABC (Local Authority Building Control) President Mike Sanson.
The county councils director of regeneration, Dave Gilbert, said: It was not too many years ago people used to say buildings and homes to the standard we are achieving in the county now could never happen in Carmarthenshire.
But the quality guidelines laid down by our building control officers are being respected and adhered to by contractors and developers and landmark building of outstanding design and quality are appearing all over the county.
The councils Executive Board member for regeneration and leisure, Councillor Clive Scourfield, said: It is brilliant to see contractors within the county doing such a wonderful job and being recognised with the best of the best. I am so pleased to see the high quality buildings we have here in Carmarthenshire.
The Best Education Building, sponsored by Melin, was won by Kier Western for the construction of a new primary school at Brynsierfel, Llwynhendy, Llanelli.
The school was built on the site of the former Brynsierfel School, which was completely demolished. The site had its own issues being very steeply sloping, which meant the school being built on two levels with the upper section incorporating the hall, kitchen and administration areas and the lower section containing the teaching areas.
The changes in level resulted in features such as steps and stairs being a significant issue which needed consideration, assessment and agreement to ensure safety requirements were not compromised.
A prominent design feature of the project was the curved retaining wall, which swept along the whole length of the school. The main contractor operated a very professional site set up. Together with the on-site Clerk of Works Andrew Thyer, a very good team approach was utilised in all aspects of the project, which helped deliver on time a successful project which fully satisfied the modern design brief.
The award was presented to Kier Western by Melin managing director Jamie Best.
Melin also sponsored the Best Sustainable Project (Residential), which was won by Heritage 2000 for a barn conversion and alterations to a dwelling at Troed Rhiw Gelynin, Rhandirmwyn, Llandovery.
The property is situated in rural countryside to the north of Rhandirmwyn and on a country lane leading to Cwrt Y Cadno with stunning views across the valley.
The main house and attached barn have been converted to a high standard with the main theme of sustainability, ground source heat pump, thermal store, under floor heating, lime render both internally and externally.
A modern kitchen has been incorporated with the existing timber A frames which have been sand blasted and treated to enrich their colour and appearance. The builder was diligent in his methods and always eager to achieve the highest standards of build quality. The award was presented to Heritage 2000 by Melins Mathew John.

LABC Building Excellence Awards. Left to right: Martyn Osbourne,Ewart Wilson, Carmarthenshire County Council Principal Building Control Surveyor Steven Pound, Jamie Best of Melin and LABC president Mike Sanson.
Pic Jeff Connell, Carmarthenshire County Council

LABC Building Excellence Awards. Left to right: Building Control Surveyor Eifion Jones, Nicole Jones, Michael Parkin, Lucy Parkin, David Somerfield, LABC president Mike Sanson, and Mathew John of Melin.
Pic Jeff Connell, Carmarthenshire County Council
Weblinks:
http://www.melinconsultants.co.uk
http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/English/news/Pages/QualitybuildersinCarmarthenshirerecognised.aspx
http://www.labcbuildingexcellenceawards.uk.com
Twitter: @melinconsult
Facebook: Melin Consultants Ltd
LinkedIn: Melin Consultants
Melin Energy Consultants has been providing SAP & SBEM calculations for local authorities, architects, builders & developers over a number of years.
All Melin technicians have a wealth of experience in dealing with individual requirements.
The company motto is "10% calculation 90% solution".
As a building consultancy specialising in Part L of the Building Regulations and environmental assessing of new buildings, Melin technicians are qualified and accredited to issue certification in all the following fields BREEAM, Code for Sustainable Homes, EPC, SBEM, SAP, air-tightness testing.
Contact details: Melin, Llys Aur, Llanelli Gate, Dafen, Llanelli, SA14 8LQ
t: 0845 094 1593
m: 07800 634804
e: jamie@melinconsultants.co.uk

http://djleekee.wordpress.com/cardiff-st-davids-day-parade

Check out my blog post featuring all the colour and giant puppets from the annual St Davids Day aparede in Cardiff 2012! Here's one for tasters! Yep that's Gethin Jenkins!

ive just watched the bbc new historical tv series the story of wales.the first episode named the making of wales starts by tracing back 30,000 years to the first stoneage settlers in wales.the program was a true insight.very intresting and in deed very entertaining with the cgi spescial effects and re enactments were excellent.and the carrasmatic and passionate Huw Edwards was a great choice to front and present the show. i cant wait to see the rest of the series,and i would urge all to see this excellent portrail of our history.it was lovely to see my local beach dinas dinlle,and the ancient roman fort SEGONTIUM in my home town of Caernarfon,was also amazing to see so much history and interesting places in wales which i hadent really any knowledge of.a great offering by bbc CYMRU.

Tomorrow at 4. a.m. the St David'd Day Special will be broadcast live from St Clears on UStream. Can AC members currently logged in ( or who see this post ) go to:- http://www.ustream.tv/channel/st-clears-tv

and help with testing?

There are two streams, chat and social, need to be sure they are both working.

OH and dont forget....the St Davids Day special is at 12 ( GMT ) 4 am (PST) 5 ( Mountain ) 6 ( Central ) 7 ( Eastern ) tomorrow morning. SO set your alarm clocks and celebrate St David's Day live from St Clears

Leaping Lizards! The Stagecoach Theatre Arts School in Carmarthen is planning a special production this summer.
The popular musical Annie will be the featured show and will take to the stage at The Lyric Theatre in King Street, Carmarthen.
Its the schools third annual production, following on the successes of Billy Elliot and last years production of Oliver.
The annual summer production is always one of the highlights of the year here at Stagecoach, said Stagecoach Carmarthen principal Liane Davies.
Annie is a very popular choice, featuring some great songs such as Maybe, Tomorrow and Its the Hard-Knock Life.
Casting has started already and we will be starting rehearsals next term, which is April.
Pupils joining our new afternoon school will be able to take part in the production, which will see us do three performances at the Lyric (one a matinee) on Friday and Saturday, July 20 and 21.
Every single person in the school gets an opportunity to perform in the show - even the four to six-year-olds get to do their own version of Annie in the studio of the Lyric.
As usual, we get a huge amount of help for the production from parents and the Stagecoach team members are very grateful to have parents of pupils who are so very supportive of the work we do here.
Stagecoach Theatre Arts Carmarthen has its base at the Model Church in Wales School.
The school opened in May 2009 and became an instant success. The school now attracts students from the three counties of Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion.
Principal Liane added: Our aim is always to nurture and develop four to 18-year-olds to fulfil their potential through dance, drama and singing.
If you want to find out more about Stagecoach Carmarthen, contact Principal Liane Davies, phone: 0845 604 1422. Email - carmarthen@stagecoach.co.uk.
Website - http://www.stagecoach.co.uk/carmarthen