Sunday 23 December 2018
Monday 17 December 2018
St John's Church, Gowerton Festival of Christmas Music
This was an evening that lived up to its name. The church in Gowerton was packed as the audience enjoyed (and participated in) literally a feast of music.
Starting off with a reading of Dylan Thomas's 'A Child's Christmas in Wales', we then heard a couple of solos by some young, up-and-coming local artists, followed by St John's Musical Players, the Excelsior Ladies' Choir, a young Brass Ensemble, the Cancer Challenge Singers, the St John's Sunday School, the Hands Together Signing Choir, who signed a couple of carols using British Sign Language and the Morriston RFC Male Choir.
There is just so much musical talent in the Swansea area, and it seems we are discovering something new at every engagement. The two hours of this festival just flew by and left us wanting more.
This is my last official engagement before Christmas, but I look forward as to what the New Year will bring.
Starting off with a reading of Dylan Thomas's 'A Child's Christmas in Wales', we then heard a couple of solos by some young, up-and-coming local artists, followed by St John's Musical Players, the Excelsior Ladies' Choir, a young Brass Ensemble, the Cancer Challenge Singers, the St John's Sunday School, the Hands Together Signing Choir, who signed a couple of carols using British Sign Language and the Morriston RFC Male Choir.
There is just so much musical talent in the Swansea area, and it seems we are discovering something new at every engagement. The two hours of this festival just flew by and left us wanting more.
This is my last official engagement before Christmas, but I look forward as to what the New Year will bring.
Swansea University Degree and Award Congregation
Yet another pleasant morning spent in the Swansea University Bay Campus Great Hall, watching students receive their degrees.
These are lovely occasions that have been enhanced since my day with a bit of poetry and song, and the innovation of getting the graduates to stand and applaud the families and friends who supported them through the whole degree process.
It was also enhanced by an honorary fellowship for Dame June Clark, an academic of distinction who I had worked with previously on Kirsty Williams Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 and on College Council.
Dame June Clark, DBE FRCN is Professor Emeritus of Community Nursing, at Swansea University in Wales. Before her retirement in 2003 she was responsible for the development of a program of research in community health nursing and primary health care at Swansea University.
Her special interest is the development and use of standardized nomenclatures to describe nursing practice, in particular in primary health care. In 1990, she left the NHS and went into higher education as Professor of Nursing to start a new School of Nursing at Middlesex University. In 1997 she "went home to Wales" as the first professor of nursing at Swansea University.
She has also been heavily involved in nursing at an international level. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union she worked to help develop nursing leadership in Kazakhstan and Romania. She is a visiting professor at the University of Primorska, Slovenia and a frequent speaker at international conferences She has participated in numerous international task groups and workshops, has acted as consultant to WHO and ICN, and has represented the UK on ICN and European Union committees.
Her honorary DSc was well deserved.
These are lovely occasions that have been enhanced since my day with a bit of poetry and song, and the innovation of getting the graduates to stand and applaud the families and friends who supported them through the whole degree process.
It was also enhanced by an honorary fellowship for Dame June Clark, an academic of distinction who I had worked with previously on Kirsty Williams Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 and on College Council.
Dame June Clark, DBE FRCN is Professor Emeritus of Community Nursing, at Swansea University in Wales. Before her retirement in 2003 she was responsible for the development of a program of research in community health nursing and primary health care at Swansea University.
Her special interest is the development and use of standardized nomenclatures to describe nursing practice, in particular in primary health care. In 1990, she left the NHS and went into higher education as Professor of Nursing to start a new School of Nursing at Middlesex University. In 1997 she "went home to Wales" as the first professor of nursing at Swansea University.
She has also been heavily involved in nursing at an international level. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union she worked to help develop nursing leadership in Kazakhstan and Romania. She is a visiting professor at the University of Primorska, Slovenia and a frequent speaker at international conferences She has participated in numerous international task groups and workshops, has acted as consultant to WHO and ICN, and has represented the UK on ICN and European Union committees.
Her honorary DSc was well deserved.
Sunday 16 December 2018
Mumbles Lifeboat Carol Service
Arranged by the Mumbles Ladies Lifeboat Guild, this carol service is an annual event, held in All Saints Church, Oystermouth, where the Canon holds the position of Mumbles Lifeboat Chaplain. In addition to the readings and carols, we also enjoyed a performance of the Lifeboatman's Prayer, from the choir and the current crew.
The Mumbles Lifeboat Station opened in 1835 with a lifeboat that was funded and managed by Swansea Harbour Trustees and was known as Swansea Lifeboat Station. The station was taken over by the RNLI in 1863 and moved to Mumbles in 1866. The station only officially became The Mumbles Lifeboat Station in 1904.
When the station first opened, it did not have a boathouse and the lifeboat was stored under the cliffs. In 1866 the first boathouse was built and it was then replaced with a larger boathouse when a replacement lifeboat needed more room.
A slipway was constructed for launching the lifeboat in 1888 and in 1897, Mumbles Railway and Pier Company constructed a new slipway for the RNLI at no cost to the institution Today there is a modern boathouse built at the end of the pier as part of the redevelopment of that area.
The choice of All Saints Church for the concert and chaplaincy is also apt. The church itself dates back to the thirteenth century and dominates Mumbles. It also contains a stained glass memorial window for those lifeboatmen who have lost their lives trying to save others and in particular the famous lifeboat disaster of 23rd April 1947, when the Mumbles lifeboat lost its entire crew of eight members while attempting to rescue the crew of the SS Samtampa.
The Mumbles Lifeboat Station opened in 1835 with a lifeboat that was funded and managed by Swansea Harbour Trustees and was known as Swansea Lifeboat Station. The station was taken over by the RNLI in 1863 and moved to Mumbles in 1866. The station only officially became The Mumbles Lifeboat Station in 1904.
When the station first opened, it did not have a boathouse and the lifeboat was stored under the cliffs. In 1866 the first boathouse was built and it was then replaced with a larger boathouse when a replacement lifeboat needed more room.
A slipway was constructed for launching the lifeboat in 1888 and in 1897, Mumbles Railway and Pier Company constructed a new slipway for the RNLI at no cost to the institution Today there is a modern boathouse built at the end of the pier as part of the redevelopment of that area.
The choice of All Saints Church for the concert and chaplaincy is also apt. The church itself dates back to the thirteenth century and dominates Mumbles. It also contains a stained glass memorial window for those lifeboatmen who have lost their lives trying to save others and in particular the famous lifeboat disaster of 23rd April 1947, when the Mumbles lifeboat lost its entire crew of eight members while attempting to rescue the crew of the SS Samtampa.
Sunday 9 December 2018
Thursday 6 December 2018
Tenovus Cancer Care Lovelight Concert
Tonight we were in St Mary's Church for the Tenovus Cancer Care Lovelight Concert. It was an outstanding event starring the Swansea Tenovus Cancer Care Sing With Us Choir, the Hywel Girls Choir and Angelicus Celtis.
Sing with Us Swansea were one of the first Tenovus choirs to be established back in April 2012. Since then, they've gone from strength to strength and now have over 90 members. As the website says, the Sing with Us choirs are fun, uplifting and friendly, and are open to anyone affected by cancer whether they are a patient, survivor, carer or someone who has been bereaved through cancer.
Members don't need to read music or be a great singer to join - every voice counts. The Tenovus Cancer Care choir leaders are all professional musicians who work as part of our Cancer Support Team and are supported by volunteers who make sure all the new members feel welcome.
If the Sing With Us choir was exceptional and fun, the performance of the Hywel Girls Choir and Angelicus Celtis was extraordinary. Some of the girls choir were as young as eight, but they all performed as equals with outstanding voices and ability. The standing ovation at the end of their set was well-deserved.
Early on we all lit a candle to remember a loved one who had been taken from us through cancer. In the 18th anniversary week of the loss of my father from prostrate cancer, this was especially poignant for me. The Lovelight concerts are one of the charity's main fundraising event of the year all over Wales.
Tenovus' Mobile Support Units have been bringing cancer treatment and support closer to home since 2009. Since then, they have treated more than 5,000 patients and delivered nearly 25,000 treatments. Over the years, they have saved patients hundreds of thousands of miles in journeys to hospital.
They have two Units; one specialising in chemotherapy and the other, a Mobile Lymphoedema Clinic, the first in the world. Their Units mean we can treat people in their own communities, saving them long and expensive journeys to hospital but they cost £800 a day to keep on the road.
I hope that they exceeded their target at tonight's concert to help keep these and other services on the road.
Sing with Us Swansea were one of the first Tenovus choirs to be established back in April 2012. Since then, they've gone from strength to strength and now have over 90 members. As the website says, the Sing with Us choirs are fun, uplifting and friendly, and are open to anyone affected by cancer whether they are a patient, survivor, carer or someone who has been bereaved through cancer.
Members don't need to read music or be a great singer to join - every voice counts. The Tenovus Cancer Care choir leaders are all professional musicians who work as part of our Cancer Support Team and are supported by volunteers who make sure all the new members feel welcome.
If the Sing With Us choir was exceptional and fun, the performance of the Hywel Girls Choir and Angelicus Celtis was extraordinary. Some of the girls choir were as young as eight, but they all performed as equals with outstanding voices and ability. The standing ovation at the end of their set was well-deserved.
Early on we all lit a candle to remember a loved one who had been taken from us through cancer. In the 18th anniversary week of the loss of my father from prostrate cancer, this was especially poignant for me. The Lovelight concerts are one of the charity's main fundraising event of the year all over Wales.
Tenovus' Mobile Support Units have been bringing cancer treatment and support closer to home since 2009. Since then, they have treated more than 5,000 patients and delivered nearly 25,000 treatments. Over the years, they have saved patients hundreds of thousands of miles in journeys to hospital.
They have two Units; one specialising in chemotherapy and the other, a Mobile Lymphoedema Clinic, the first in the world. Their Units mean we can treat people in their own communities, saving them long and expensive journeys to hospital but they cost £800 a day to keep on the road.
I hope that they exceeded their target at tonight's concert to help keep these and other services on the road.
Wednesday 5 December 2018
St John council (West Glamorgan) Carol Concert
For the chain gang, December is the month of carol concerts, so this evening I rejoined the local St John Ambulance for their annual carol service. The event was held at St Catherine's Church in Gorseinon and was led by the incumbent Minister.
This year is also the centenary of St John Cymru. In November 1914, the Welsh Army Corps requested that the St John Ambulance Association's St David's Centre raise a field ambulance for Lloyd George's Welsh Army. The task was undertaken by Herbert Lewis, Deputy Commissioner of St John number XI (South Wales) District.
The unit was predominantly from experienced St John Ambulance trained men from across the South Wales coalfields (the Amman, Garw and Rhondda Valleys, Ogmore Vales and Gwent Western Valleys) and was attested and handed over to the Welsh Army Corps on 12th December 1914.
The 130th was one of three mobile Field Ambulance units raised to support the new 28th Welsh Division but the only one allowed to use the title 'St John' in its name and to wear the St John insignia on its uniform.
The 130th (St John) was a unique unit in the Great War and because of this King George V granted Wales its own priory on 1st March 1918.
St John also help fight the battle to prevent blindness in the Middle East with the continuing work of the Eye Hospital Group in Palestine. The group consist of the main hospital in Jerusalem, the Muristan drop-in clinic in the old part of the City of Jerusalem; on the West Bank the hospital in Hebron and a clinic in Anabta; the hospital in Gaza and the Mobile Outreach units.
The Hospital Group provide ophthalmic care of a high quality to the people of the Holy Land irrespective of race, religion, social class or ability to pay. This evening's collection was for the eye hospital.
This year is also the centenary of St John Cymru. In November 1914, the Welsh Army Corps requested that the St John Ambulance Association's St David's Centre raise a field ambulance for Lloyd George's Welsh Army. The task was undertaken by Herbert Lewis, Deputy Commissioner of St John number XI (South Wales) District.
The unit was predominantly from experienced St John Ambulance trained men from across the South Wales coalfields (the Amman, Garw and Rhondda Valleys, Ogmore Vales and Gwent Western Valleys) and was attested and handed over to the Welsh Army Corps on 12th December 1914.
The 130th was one of three mobile Field Ambulance units raised to support the new 28th Welsh Division but the only one allowed to use the title 'St John' in its name and to wear the St John insignia on its uniform.
The 130th (St John) was a unique unit in the Great War and because of this King George V granted Wales its own priory on 1st March 1918.
St John also help fight the battle to prevent blindness in the Middle East with the continuing work of the Eye Hospital Group in Palestine. The group consist of the main hospital in Jerusalem, the Muristan drop-in clinic in the old part of the City of Jerusalem; on the West Bank the hospital in Hebron and a clinic in Anabta; the hospital in Gaza and the Mobile Outreach units.
The Hospital Group provide ophthalmic care of a high quality to the people of the Holy Land irrespective of race, religion, social class or ability to pay. This evening's collection was for the eye hospital.
Sunday 2 December 2018
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