Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

A dental practice in the north of Carmarthenshire is moving to new premises and creating jobs with support from a grant scheme administered by the county council. Deintyddfa Emlyn in Newcastle Emlyn has been awarded a £128,000 Carmarthenshire Rural Enterprise Fund grant to move from the doctors’ surgery in Lloyds Terrace, Adpar, Newcastle Emlyn to the old day centre in the town’s Church Lane. Dentists Arwel Jones and Neil Jones, who are both from Carmarthenshire, took over the practice in 2011. They now want to expand and are revamping the old day centre to create a state-of-the-art dental practice. The grant will bring the derelict former day centre building back into use and the move will create eight full-time and one part-time job. Deintyddfa Emlyn is the second business to benefit from the £4.4m Carmarthenshire Rural Enterprise Fund. The partners in Deintyddfa Emlyn, Arwel Jones and Neil Jones, said: “We are very pleased to be given the opportunity to relocate and expand Deintyd...

The language of William the Conqueror has received a major boost with the announcement of a further Arts and Humanities Research Council grant for the Anglo-Norman Dictionary based at Aberystwyth University. A form of French brought to Britain following the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon King Harold in 1066, Anglo-Norman was widely used in Britain until the end of the fifteenth century – the late Middle Ages. Such was its influence, more than 50% of English words in use today are derived from Anglo-Norman. Amongst the many culinary English words used today that have an Anglo-Norman origin are ‘soup’, ‘lettuce’, ‘pheasant’, ‘pastry’, ‘ginger’, ‘sauce’, ‘chestnut’ and ‘mustard’. In its heyday it was widely used as a language of literature, trade, law, education and administration, well before Middle English emerged in the thirteenth century. Documents such as the Magna Carta and the laws of William the Conqueror, originally composed in Latin, were translated into Anglo-Norman, and medieval...

Two Carmarthenshire greenspaces are set to be a buzzing haven for bumblebees thanks to lottery funding. Sandy Water Park and Mynydd Mawr will form part of the Bee Wild West Wales project after The Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT) secured £45k from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help protect the fluffy pollinators. Bee Wild West Wales project aims to raise awareness on their importance and what people can do to protect them following a decline in numbers. The UK has already lost two native bumblebee species in the last 80 years. The two-year project will be delivered by BBCT early next year with support from Carmarthenshire County Council, National Botanic Garden of Wales and Keep Wales Tidy. The council’s executive board member for leisure, Cllr Meryl Gravell said: “The dramatic decline in populations of the bumblebee show that something needs to be done. They are great pollinators, and have a vital role in producing much of the food that we eat. If their decline continues, the ext...

Carmarthenshire Council has received a grant of £137,000 for road safety education and training. All 22 local authorities in Wales have had a share of £1,936,741 from Welsh Government’s Road Safety Revenue fund. In Carmarthenshire, the money will help deliver training in four priority areas targeting motorcycle riders, older drivers, younger drivers and primary school pupils in cycling and crossing the road. The council offers a number of free courses throughout the year including older driver refresher courses and Pass Plus Cymru, which is aimed at young drivers aged between 17 and 25 to help improve driving skills and gain extra experience. Motorcyclists can benefit from various training courses including Dragon Rider Cymru, a full day course of enhanced rider skills delivered by experienced and accredited instructors and tailored to meet the needs of the individual; and Biker Down! Cymru, a three-hour course will give participants a better understanding of what to do in an acciden...

Literature Across Frontiers (LAF), an initiative based at Aberystwyth University, has been selected for funding under the New Platforms strand of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union as one of three successful applicants from among 47. The grant of 455,425 Euro will support the first year of the project Literary Europe Live launched by LAF as leader of the 16-member platform. The funding was announced at Aberystwyth Arts Centre prior to the staging of “Words, Words, Words”, a multilingual poetry event organized by the North Wales International Poetry Festival and featuring poets from Wales, Latvia, Slovenia, Croatia and Spain. The project is co-funded by the European Commission’s Creative Europe Programme and by Aberystwyth University, the Arts Council of Wales and the 16 members of the Literature Across Frontiers Platform. The total value of the project is €570,000. Through the Literary Europe Live project the Literature Across Frontiers Platform will: - create a foru...

The Award winning oat breeding team at IBERS (Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences) has secured new funding from the BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) for research aimed at further improving the nutritional value and economic sustainability of oats. The demand for high quality food grade oats is increasing annually, driven by its proven health benefits and through product innovation by the milling and cereals industries. Despite an expanding market, the oat crop continues to be challenged by the high investments being made in alternative crops and this intensifies competition. This new BBSRC LINK 5 year project will address some of the major challenges facing UK agriculture in terms of the sustainable production of safe and nutritious food. Professor Athole Marshall, Head of Plant Breeding at IBERS said “This new project is strategically important, specifically in enhancing oat crop productivity, quality and nutritional composition, i...

A new football club benefiting 20 youngsters has been set up thanks to a cash boost. Trostre Juniors Football Club formed last September after receiving help from the Community Chest grant £1440 was distributed by Carmarthenshire County Council’s sports and leisure team to support it and help develop two new teams - Under 9s and 10s. The money was also used to train new coaches. Tracy Hall, Junior club secretary said: “The grant has provided the club with all the essentials needed to set up the football team.” The club was created after interest was expressed from parents and forms a natural progression into Trostre Seniors. So far the club has delivered a successful football tournament attracting children from primary schools and other football clubs. Community Chest is funded by Sport Wales and distributed via the council’s sport and leisure section. Youth clubs/groups, sports clubs/organisations and non-sporting organisations with an interest to provide physical activity (eg com...

Locals and holidaymakers can enjoy stunning views of the Teifi Valley with the opening of a new trail. More than 600m of rough path next to the Teifi River in Newcastle Emlyn is being transformed by the council thanks to a £65,800 grant from the Rights of Way Improvement Plan Funding Programme. The new all weather surfaced path will give greater accessibility for all. The beginning of the trail includes a walled entrance; there will be interpretation panels along the path and new seating so that walkers can enjoy the spectacular views of the Teifi Valley. New leaflets are being produced and the Castle Street Picnic area will also benefit with improved access and new benches. The scheme is being delivered by Carmarthenshire County Council and managed by Natural Resources Wales. County executive board member for regeneration and leisure Cllr Meryl Gravell said: “We are delighted that we have been able to secure funding to carry out this project which will improve accessibility to the p...

Footballers in Newtown celebrate after windfall from Dyfed Powys Police incentivisation fund. | Dyfed Powys Police | Heddlu Dyfed Powys Newtown under 9s have new training tops which were bought thanks to a £485 grant from Dyfed Powys Police’s incentivisation fund. Alongside members of the club in the Dyfed Powys Police website photo are the club chairman  Alan Owen, coach Paul Herdman and assistant coach Neil Jarman. “This money is much appreciated by the club and has been put to good use in buying much needed kit for the under 9s,” said Mr Herdman. “We’re grateful to the force for giving us the grant.”

Burry Port Town Band received a very generous donation from the Burry Port Charity Fund of £500. This money has now been put to the purchase of five cornets for young learners and now the band are looking for five young learners who perhaps don’t get the opportunity to learn in the local primary schools and would like to join the enthusiastic Junior Band Club. The Junior Band Club will run from 6:30pm on Tuesdays, at our Bandroom in Morlan Terrace, Burry Port. Each weekly session will be split into three sections, the first 20 minutes will be tuition followed by a break where the use of the band's snooker table will allow the group to socialise and make friends with other brass players from the area, then the final 20 minutes will be a full Junior Band ensemble lead by one of the tutors or a guest conductor. Burry Port Town Junior Band’s Senior Tutor, Tara Smith said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for those children in local schools who don’t benefit from brass tuitio...