Soroptimist International Swansea's 85th Annual lunch

My day started with a very pleasant lunch with the Swansea branch of Soroptimist International, the oldest branch in Wales, having been founded in 1933 at the inaugural dinner in the Hotel Metropole in Wind Street.

This was the 85th annual lunch of this organisation, which is part of a much wider internatiional network, carrying out charitable works across the world. Some of their activity in Swansea includes:

• reading to youngsters in St. Helen's Primary School, 90% of whom are from different ethnic backgrounds and where over 20 languages are spoken;
• putting together emergency toilet bags and other essential items for Swansea Women's Refuge; 
• donating items to the East Side Food Bank, including sanitary products to help tackle period poverty;
• making and collecting baby blankets and jumpers for Africa and Romania;
• Making Twiddlemuffs for dementia patients in Awel y Mor care home and for SENSE for deaf and blind children;
• and helping other charities including Swansea Young Single Homeless, Guide Dogs for the Blind and Alzheimers Swansea.

As I said when proposing the toast to the Soroptimists, organisations such as this and the people who give up their spare time and often their money to support good causes and to help those less fortunate than themselves are the glue that keeps our society together.

They intervene where governments and local councils are unable or unwilling to do so, and the lives of those they assist are enhanced because of the work they do.

Civic engagements week ending 14 October 2018

Glamorgan Harvest Festival

Considering how long I have been in politics I quite surprised myself that tonight was the first time I have attended a harvest festival. It was organised by the Glamorgan branch of the NFU and Young Farmers and was held in the magnificent surroundings of the Margam Abbey Church.

This architectural gem was previously unknown to me and has quite a history. Wikipedia recounts that the abbey was founded in 1147 as a daughter house of Clairvaux by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Early Christian crosses found in the close vicinity and conserved in the nearby Margam Stones Museum suggest the existence of an earlier Celtic monastic community.

The abbey was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1536 and sold to Sir Rice Mansel. From the Mansel family the abbey eventually passed into their descendants in the female line, the Talbot family. In the 19th century, C R M Talbot constructed a mansion at Margam Castle which overlooks the abbey ruins. The nave of the abbey continued in use as the parish church, as it does to this day. It is Anglo-Catholic in its churchmanship.

Margam Abbey now consists of the intact nave and impressive surrounding ruins. Those ruins not belonging to the church are now owned by the County Council.

The service itself included an offering of produce from local farmers which will be donated to a nearby hospice and ended with a very generous buffet.

Civic engagements week ending 7 October 2018

Iolanthe

One of the joys of being Deputy Lord Mayor is the opportunity to see so much local talent, whether it is a Male Voice Choir, young singers or a local Arts group.

Last night my wife and I went to the Taliesin Arts Centre on the Swansea University Singleton Campus to see Uplands Arts perform Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe. It was a highly entertaining evening, made more so by the minor rewriting of some of the lyrics to make them more contemporary.

I very much enjoyed the throwaway line about Nigel Farage, whilst the Fairy Queen's lament about her missed opportunity to snare Prince Harry, her 'ginger prince' was a triumph. Apparently it was all Trump's fault that Megan came over here and got him first.

Uplands Arts is a long-established group who exclusively perform Gilbert and Sullivan operas and have been doing so since 1943, 82 such productions in all. Although they are an amateur group, the shows are professional and full of talented singers and actors. The direction and staging too was also outstanding.

I look forward to next year's production.

WCADA Annual Recovery Event 2018

Although I have had dealings with the Welsh Centre for Action on Dependency and Addiction (WCADA) before when I was an Assembly Member, that was some years ago.

In those days WCADA were exclusively an abstinence organisation, practising the 12 steps to help their clients give up drugs and alcohol. Although that remains the main part of their business, they now also offer some harm reduction programmes, a philosophical change that only occurred after some debate and soul-searching.

Today's afternoon of presentations by staff, volunteers and other workers at their Annual Recovery Event in Baglan was an eye-opener in terms of the work that the organisation does and the huge number of people they help - 19,000 this year, we were told.

According to the annual review distributed at the event, WCADA had over 1,100 referrals to their adult treatment services and delivered more than 600 group sessions last year. They run a needle and syringe programme, and we were told how many of the users of this service are on steroids, an issue that is becoming more prevalent in the work being carried out by the organisation. Indeed they have a dedicated training programme for this area of work.

Switch, their young persons service, supports young people who are using substances on a regular basis or are at risk of doing so, and also those young people affected by a loved ones substance use. This service is also part of the first Kicks project in Wales, which works in partnership with the Swansea City AFC Community Trust, the Premier League and central Kicks team to engage young people who have previously proven difficult to reach and guide them towards a range of healthy and constructive activities.

Family Services provide interventions of one-to-one support and group work to support family members in understanding substance misuse and associated behaviours. Whilst the Domino Project, which has recently lost its funding, but carries on in another guise, seeks to engage people in meaningful activities such as walks, gardening, litter-picks etc to improve health and well-being. It also helps them learn new skills through education and training and provides access to opportunities for volunteering that can improve employment prospects.

There is a peer mentoring service for military veterans, and an out-of-work peer mentoring service called Cyfle Cymru to help people with substance misuse issues and/or mental health conditions into work.

Many of the workers start as volunteers and the organisation relies on this team of dedicated helpers at all levels to keep going. Some of those doing the counselling and providing support have had substance misuse issues themselves and are in recovery.

That is just a snapshot of the work carried out by WCADA and of the presentations we received today. I was delighted to be there, representing Swansea Council alongside the Mayors of Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend  to support them.

Civic engagements week ending 30 September 2018

Civic engagements week ending 23 September 2018

Civic engagements week ending 16 September 2018

Live and Let Dance

It has been over a month since my last engagement as Deputy Lord Mayor, so I was looking forward to last night's event, which was a performance by pupils of Mellin Theatre Arts at Swansea's Grand Theatre.

There are 100 pupils in this school ranging from 3 years old to very late teens, 97 of them are girls. Last night showcased the vast majority, if not all of those pupils. The school is the successor to the Grand Theatre Dance School and is run by Swansea-born Louise Mellin, assisted by a number of other teachers, including her sister, Laura.

Mellin Theatre Arts currently holds a 100% success rate in exams in Ballet, Tap and Modern including vocational grades up to Advanced One in all three genres.

The show itself was a triumph, performed to a professional standard and featuring some outstanding sole performances by youngsters who have a great future in front of them. The costumes were brilliant, as was the stage management. It must have taken months to prepare and it showed.

There was a Can Can, ballet, tap dancing, Acro dance and other modern forms of dance as well as a Cinderella Ballet.

At the end, I had my first experience of being on the Grand Theatre stage, when I was asked to say a few words. I was totally sincere when I described the experience as inspirational and said that it was a privilege to have been invited to see it.

I will certainly be encouraging people to go to the event when it is next staged.

Civic engagements week ending 9 September 2018