Lord Mayor's Column - 4 March 2020

When most people think about adoption, they imagine babies. The reality is that the majority of children who need adopting across the Western Bay region of Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend are over the age of one, and there is a wide age range. What they all have in common is that they have had unsettled lives and need is a loving, supportive and permanent home.

This afternoon I will be judging an artwork competition for children who have been adopted, based around the theme of ‘family’. The artwork will then be used in future marketing by Western Bay adoption services to ensure more children find loving families in future.

Later this evening I will be hosting a reception at the Mansion House for another group of students from our twin city Mannheim who have spent the past few weeks in Swansea. As I have mentioned in previous columns, student exchanges such as these happen frequently and are a wonderful way of fostering friendships and understanding between different cultures.

In the first of two theatrical performances of the weekend, on Friday I’ll be heading to the Taliesin Theatre at Swansea University’s Singleton Campus for Cockett Amateur Operatic Society’s production of Sister Act – the musical based on the hit 1992 film of the same name which starred Whoopi Goldberg as the lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier, who hides out at a convent as part of witness protection programme.

Then on Saturday I will be visiting ‘HollyWoodLand’ at the Dylan Thomas Theatre. This is the world premiere of the PT Rose play, performed by KSW productions. It is based on the true story of Hedda Hopper, the infamous 1940’s American syndicated gossip columnist, and her friendship with a little remembered Welsh actor and Episcopalian padre named Gareth Hughes.