Civic Engagements Week-ending 3 June 2018

St John's Day Centre

A flying visit this afternoon to St. John's Day Centre, a Social Services establishment in Manselton, in the heart of my ward. The day centre is attached to St John's House, which is a council-run residential home but many of the clients come to it from the surrounding communities. A lot of them have complex needs including dementia, so it is important that they are surrounded by familiar experiences.

It is in this spirit that the day centre has started to develop a community garden, which is also accessible to residents of the nearby home. This is being put together with the help of volunteers, many of them from the Principality Building Society, who have also donated several thousand pounds to help construct and stock the garden.

On my visit I met a number of the volunteers, spoke to staff and to a number of the clients. The garden is a fantastic facility and a credit to all those who have helped to build it.

I will be back there a week tomorrow in my capacity as a ward councillor, when local children have been invited to help design and produce a banner for the centre's fence. This is a school holiday activity being organised by a new group in the area which calls itself Cwmbwrla Community Events, and which I have helped to set up.

An inspirational evening at Gowerton School

My first engagement as Deputy Lord Mayor was in Gowerton School judging presentations from year nine pupils on their charity fundraising work.

The evening was arranged by a charity called First Give, which was set up to help young people give their time and talent to improve their community.

Each class was asked to choose a charity, learn about their work and raise as much money as possible for them. They were then asked to come to tonight's final and make a presentation about what they had done.

I was one of five judges who had the impossible task of deciding which group would win an additional £1,000 for their chosen charity.

The six charities concerned were Gofal Cymru, Golau Cancer Foundation, Make a Wish Foundation, Lawrence's Roundabout Well Appeal, Paul Popham Fund and Swansea Mind. Between them the pupils had raised over £3,000 for these six charities through a variety of events.

The presentations were of a very high standard, making use of videos and other media. The pupils were a credit to themselves and their school, articulate, socially aware, emotionally and intellectually engaged with and committed to their causes.

In the end we chose the Golau Cancer Foundation as the recipient for the £1,000 donation but it could have been any one of them, the presentations were that good.

It was an outstanding start to what could be an eventful year.

Civic Engagements Week-ending 27 May 2018

Inauguration

It was not the most auspicious of starts. I have an ear infection and as a result had hardly slept for the last three nights. It is just as well that I did not have to drive to the Guildhall. I was still in pain and discomfort during the ceremony despite the medication I have been prescribed for the condition. And I have gone deaf in my right ear.

Given my state of tiredness I was also grateful that my role in today's ceremony was as a bit-player. It is next year that I will have to give speeches and play host to the assembled throng. Today was David Phillip's day as Lord Mayor, I was installed as his deputy.

As you can see the robes are fairly traditional. There are in fact two sets of robes for the Deputy Lord Mayor. The older set are lined with ermine. The ones I will be using are lined with artificial fur. The bauble around my neck is the Gower chain, one of seventeen held by the various successor councils in the former West Glamorgan area.

We had a rehearsal last night. All the speeches are reserved for and by the incoming Lord Mayor and outgoing Lord Mayor. I just have to be formally proposed and seconded. After that I left the Council chamber to be robed and then took the oath of office. The robes are quite warm and nobody had warned me that I would have to wear them throughout the reception afterwards.

Nevertheless I enjoyed the day and was pleased that I was able to share the day with some of my friends and neighbours, all of whom seemed to enjoy it.

My first engagement as Deputy Lord Mayor is on Wednesday in Gowerton School. The Lord Mayor starts official life on Monday when he will be receiving a party of Norwegian Druids. Who said the job isn't varied?