Blogs
Carmarthen County Council has hit the Beijing headlines and not in a good way, either. And what a PR disaster it's turned out to be.
It's all to do with a lady blogger taking photographs of a councilmeetingand preparing to twitter about it. Described by a councillor as a 'thorn' in theCouncil'sside, she refused to leave the building when asked. Patience andpoliteness might have been employedat this point, but sadly, not.The policewere called andshe was arrested. In no time, the story sped around the globe like wild fire.A lawyer, writing a column ina London newspaper, has asked forall the relevant facts.
After asuggestion thatcamerasbeinstalled to make the meetings 'open',the cost of doing so was queried.Other authoritiesrecord meetings on camera, Parliament and the Welsh Assembly is televised andthe public can judge foritself what happens in debate.It's a smallprice to pay for democracy, surely.
On to minor irritants now.Are we tiring of people rattling collecting boxes when we're out shopping?
MacMillan Breast Cancer charity were selling tickets for a raffle in town this morning.We put some money in thebox, Peter mentioning we makea Direct Debit each month to Cancer Research. '
That's good' replied the collector, not quiteunderstanding that my husband's pointwaswe'd already given, via the bank account.The collector was on to 'goodbye', when I saidI hadn't hadthe raffle ticket. The response was:
'Oh, mostpeople havesaid they don't want the ticket.'
All I can say is, ifit'sa donation they're after, whydo they call it a raffle?
Here is a lovely copy of the Eisteddfod Gorsed Prayer offered at the beginning of the Eisteddfod. It's 16" x 20" (that's 96.5 picas for the newspaper people out there. I don't know centimeters) A lovely design nice to pair with our Phil Evans quote poster. A high resolution, well printed poster is available here, at Wales Ireland Design: http://www.zazzle.com/gorsedd_prayer_poster-228067322901998438
http://www.zazzle.com/gorsedd_prayer_poster-228067322901998438
Kristal Wright, 26, arrives at the spa with an extensive CV which includes working at The Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire, a Five Star Luxury hotel retreat based in Dogmersfield, Hampshire.
We are looking forward to welcoming Kristal to the hotel and spa next month, said Phil Thomas, general manager at the Lamphey Court Hotel & Spa near Pembroke.
The Spa is taking shape in more ways than one. We can see the building developing and now we can see the staffing structure taking shape.
Kristal is qualified in a wide variety of spa and beauty treatments and therapies. She is highly-motivated and a good communicator and Im sure she will prove to be an asset to the team here at the Lamphey Court Hotel & Spa.
The new spa is literally rising like the phoenix from the ashes. It was back in April, 2010, when the old spa at the hotel saw one of the most dramatic fires seen in Pembrokeshire for many years.
Six fire engines and 45 firefighters from all over the county were called to tackle 15-metre-high flames bursting through the roof of the leisure facility.
Mr Thomas added: All the staff here at the hotel and spa are hugely excited about the launch of our brand new facility.
Costing up to 2 million and using exclusive products such as Cinq Mondes and Aromatherapy Associates, Lamphey Court will put Pembrokeshire on the map when it comes to luxury and relaxation.
The facilities at the new spa will include 14-metre Swimming Pool, Fitness Suite, Resistance Gym, Stretch Area, Treatment Rooms, Sauna, Steam Room, Jacuzzi and a Hair Dressing Salon.
New manager Kristal said: My ambition is to offer exquisite treatments and facilities in a friendly, tranquil environment.
The Lamphey Court Hotel & Spa offers a selection of calming and energising experiences. It will be a welcoming oasis of relaxation and an ideal picturesque setting in which to revive, renew and revitalise.
She added: I hope to bring plenty of experience to my work at the spa. Working at the Four Seasons, I made sure that treatments were carried out to the highest standard for spa members, hotel guests and world-renowned celebrities and VIPs.
Website
http://www.lampheycourt.co.uk
More than 300 are expected to attend the event at The Quinnell lounge.
It promises to be one of the must attend events of the year for sports fans, said one of the organisers, Albert Francis.
Dafydd Jones has been a tremendous servant to Llanelli RFC and the Scarlets rugby region. Hes a popular guy with the fans and this testimonial year tribute is well deserved as he has had to retire from rugby because of injury.
Therell be plenty of stars in the audience, including Scarlets rugby heroes from today and from yesteryear.
The MC for the evening will be Scarlets legend Rupert Moon and the entertainment will be provided by comedian Harry Scott.
Dafydd Jones played 201 games for Llanelli and the Scarlets, scoring 24 tries, and earned his first Wales cap against Fiji on 9 November 2002, going on to represent his country on 42 occasions, scoring two tries.
Dinner details: Three course meal. Dress Code: Smart. Time: 7:30 for 8:00 p.m. 35 per head or 350 for a table of 10.
Anyone interested in tickets should contact Mrs Dawn Jenkins, the secretary of the Dafydd Jones Testimonial Committee on 07974 381296, or 01554 752277 or 01554 773633.
The Dafydd Jones Testimonial website is at
http://www.dafyddjonestestimonial.co.uk
Even when she was eighty, my grandmother wasable to paper the ceiling, standing on a dining table to do so. She dug potatoes from the garden and prepared vegetables for foureach day.
Her pastry was a mixture of lard and butter and she madeblackcurrant, gooseberry and rhubarb tarts, all fruit she had grown and picked herself.Rice puddings were baked, using a mix offull cream and condensed milk, with rice, syrup and raisins. Fruit cakes had a wine glass of brandy added to them. She took pride in her skills and they were not just practical.I called one evening and she was studying aFrench dictionary. A visitor was calling, from Paris, and shewas revising.
She was not unusual by any means. A lady of eighty three, a one time neighbour of mine, climbed onto her cottage roof and hammered a loose tile back into place, when awindy day had dislodged it.
I say all this becausein Cardiff Royal Infirmary, patients who needed a nurse were told to shake a tambourine. One of the visitors tried the system and he shook for sixteen minutes before someone appeared. ('If the tambourine fails, try the maracas instead', they were told). Sounds like something out of 'Carry on Nurse'. It would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. It's like giving the nursery class a percussion lesson,treating older people likeinfants, teaching Mamgu to suck eggs. It's the sheer effrontery of it.
My grandmother's generation had no labour saving gadgets, yet the chores, though sometimes arduous, gave them a purpose in life.
I have another gripe about some hospitals: themenus.My contention is this: whenpeople are convalescing, theydo not want to be presented with 'healthy' food if they don't like it. I'm talking about a hospital that served brown rice, brown bread, margarine, apples and salad. Food should be appetising to the individual if it is to be enjoyed. This applies to all ages but especially to the elderly, who often won't complain.
No, I haven't got a degree in nursing and Idon't need it to state what should be blindingly obvious.
Hot and VERY sunny here in Folsom CA- in the 100's F this week, dropping to a mere 97 tomorrow ..... I see on my i-phone it's in the 50's F and showery in Aberystwyth. Aaaah! At least it'll be that lovely green colour everywhere, unlike here, where the world is turning browner by the hour.
Now, the help bit. I need to listen to slow, steady audio recordings of Psalms 23 & 121, spoken in Welsh, from the 1588 Bishop Morgan Welsh translation.Does anyone know of such recordings? or perhaps if you are aWelsh speaker, you might just possibly speak theminto your built-in computer mike, and send me the resultant audio file??? Recording quality doesn't matter, as long as the words are audible!
Why ? I hear you ask. Well, I have a perfomance project called 'Songs of God - A Perfomance', consisting in declaiming, for want of a better word, lyrical passages from the Bible (I'm using 3 versions: Tyndale, King James and the Morgan Bible) and poetry inspired by it; and I really, really want to include pieces from the wonderful Welsh translation. Now my mom, Gertie Preece, left Wales when she was three months old, as the family moved to Hereford; and her Welsh mom died young; so she, and consequently her kids, grew up speaking English. I can read Welsh very slowly, and can understand it a little if it's spoken real slow, but I do need help with intonation, stress and pronunciation. Hence the above request!
In return, my saviour will have my undying gratitude, honorable mentions on my Songs of God website and blog*, full credit on my upcoming Songs of God CD, free copy of same, and complimentary admission to my performance, should I ever be appearing in your locality.
That's it, really! Hope you can help!
Regards,
Phil Ryder
email: songsofgod@live.com
* Website: www.songsofgod.net And you can accessmy Songs of God blog via a link on the site.
The last invasion of Britain occurred in the parish of Llanwnda, a few mileswest of Fishguard.
Wednesday, 22 February, 1797,was a fine spring morning. Thomas Williams of Treleddyn, St. David's, amagistrate, farmer and former sailor, noticed three ships of war and a lugger sailingnear the North Bishop Rock. So close to the shore were they that he was able to see the troops on board.
Laws, the historian, says, 'English colours were flying, but the old sea-dog was not to be gulled by that stale device.'
Recognising the boats as being French, Williamsgathered some local men to accompany him to Pencaer, watching the boats all the time.
In the afternoon, the French dropped anchor between Strumble Head and Fishguard. A passing sloop, the 'Britannia', on its way to Fishguard, was ordered to heave to and the sailors on board werecommanded onto the French vessels. Theysuffered no harm and came ashore with the French sailors.
Mr Mortimer, Trehowel Farm, at first believing the invaders wereBritish, prepared an excellent supper for them but,realising his mistake, he quickly retreated.
General Tate sampled the Trehowel beer andwas well pleased with it, butthe fourteen hundred men accompanyinghim soon began looting.
Laws records that 'geese were boiled in butter and washed down with large draughts of port wine'.
This wine, the cargo of a Portuguese vessel which had come to grief, was pillaged by the locals.
Perhaps this was serendipity, because once the French sailors were inebriated, they were in no condition to resist the Castlemartin Yeomanry under the command of Lord Cawdor.
Legend has it that the women of Fishguard, led by Jemima Nicholas, a cobbler, marched to Pencaer in their stove pipe hats and red shawls and were mistaken for a troop of soldiers by the French.
Any one who had suffered at the hands of the French was compensated by the government. An old lady in the area was still enjoying a pension in 1875.
Inthe early 1960's afriendasked me to callin on her on my way back from shopping, which I did.
We sat inthe living room wherea coal fire burnt. Newly retired from her job as a music teacher, she always had something delicious in the oven and this particular day was no different. I thought she might have been baking, from the sweet smell coming from the kitchen.
We had a cup of teaand after a while there was a knock on the door. She said she was expecting 'DJ'. This was a reference to Dr DJ Williams, the founder of Plaid Cymru, wholivednearby in a pretty lime washed house in the High Street, Fishguard.He was coming to collect the rice pudding she had made for his wife Siani, who had a cold.
I got up to leave, but she insisted I wait and meet him. I had seen DJ in the town many times, alwaysimmaculate in a pale grey suit andhat,but this was the first time our paths hadcrossed.
We wereintroducedin English but I thoughttheleastI could do, when speaking to aleading Welsh language writer, was to use his native tongue and he followed my lead.
Iremember the conversation: I told him I had relatives in Rhydcymerau, where he was born. He was interestedin what I said and very easy to talk to. Inever met him again, though Fishguard is a small place, and he died in 1970.
Apart from short stories, DJWilliams wrote twoautobiographies: 'Hen dy Ffarm' ('The old Farmhouse') and 'Yn chwech ar hugain oed' (Twenty six years old').
Years later, reading 'Storm at Arberth',I discovered Sian James, the novelist,came to Fishguard as a child, to staywith Dr and Mrs Williams, her aunt and uncle.
DJ Williams was educated at Aberystwyth and Jesus College, Oxford. Much of his life was spent teaching English in the old Fishguard Grammar School.
A celebrity golf tournament is being staged at the club as part of his testimonial year. Jones is 32 on Friday and recently announced his retirement as a player after a series of injury blows.
The day is being sponsored by Mark Burch, of the Haverfordwest-based Burch Wealth Management firm, and has been organised by Ashburnham stalwart Albert Francis, who recently received the MBE from The Queen for his charity work.
Mr Francis said: It will be a shotgun start at 1pm at The Ash. The competition is for teams of four and there will be two celebrities per team. Its a great chance for autograph hunters or for someone who wants to help caddy for the day!
Mr Francis added: I am very grateful to everyone who has supported the day as Dafydd has been a great servant for the Scarlets and for Wales. He played 201 games for Llanelli and the Scarlets, scoring 24 tries, and earned his first Wales cap against Fiji on 9 November 2002, going on to represent his country on 42 occasions, scoring two tries.
Despite strong competition from several other clubs, Jack Christopher made the decision to join the Old Gold.
A proven goal scorer in the Welsh Premier League with Haverfordwest County, he will bring added potency to the Town forward line.
Christopher scored 71 goals for Haverfordwest in 114 (+29 subs) appearances.
Manager Tomi Morgan was delighted with his new signing.
Jack has proved himself at this level and will bring something extra into the squad. Despite some very good offers from other clubs we managed to sell Carmarthen Town to him and I was extremely pleased when he put pen to paper.
Town also completed another signing over the weekend when defender Kyle Graves committed himself to the Old Gold.
Graves, a former Swansea City professional, has made 97 appearances in the Welsh Premier League while playing for Neath and Haverfordwest County.
Morgan stated: I have always been impressed with Kyle when he has lined up against us and jumped at the chance to sign a young but experienced defender.
The Executive Chairman Gareth Jones was quick to praise the efforts of his manager:
I know that Tomi worked really hard to get both of the signings which will add to the competition for places in his starting line up. With the quality of players we have attracted it says a lot about the club and the manager and that they want to play for Carmarthen Town.
Jones also praised Haverfordwest County Football Club for the professional way they dealt with the Christopher transfer.
As a club we were kept fully informed by Haverfordwest of any developments and once Jack indicated that he only wanted to join Carmarthen Town the deal was concluded almost immediately without any problems
The E H Factors and Clothing sponsored Carmarthen Town were also very hopeful of completing two further transactions before the end of the week.
With other teams having strengthened their squads in the last few weeks we have waited patiently for players to make decisions concerning their futures and have also, now, made significant signings. This will be a sign to the other teams in the league that we intend to have a very competitive line up for the coming season.
Town will hold their AGM at the Carmarthen Town Football Club Community Centre on Thursday evening commencing at 7pm.
