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Latest On Song column – November 06

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  THERE’S a big date in the musical calendar coming up for youngsters in Carmarthenshire. The annual Llanelli Rotary Club Young Musician Competition is on Saturday, November 16. The competition is open to all young people up to the age of 17 on August 31, 2024. There are two categories in the competition: solo instrumental and solo vocal. Llanelli Rotary Club president Cerith Owens said the competition provided an annual platform for budding young musicians and singers. He said: “Music is the international language and Great Britain and Ireland is home to some of the most talented young instrumentalists and vocalists in the world. “We celebrate this talent with a sequence of competitions that offer many young people the chance to demonstrate their musical skills, whether classical or modern. “Participants will get the chance to experience performing on a public stage and receive feedback from experienced adjudicators. “The Rotary Young Musician competition is organised over different s
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The latest Phil Evans column – November 06

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Comedian Phil Evans is from Ammanford. He is known as the man who puts the ‘cwtsh’ into comedy. Website -   www.philevans.co.uk ................................. HOW TO REACT TO A NON-REACTOR… People are funny. I’m not talking ‘funny’ as in ‘they make me laugh’ funny. I’m referring to people’s quirks when they inter-act (or very often don’t) with other people in a normal everyday conversation. As tolerant as you are, I bet you’ve been annoyed by people whose behaviour made you promise to never spend another moment in their company. A friend of mine recently asked me if I knew what a ‘Non-Reactor’ was. I didn’t, but as soon as he explained what he meant, I knew exactly what he was talking about.  A veteran writer and long-time observer of human behaviour, he explained a ‘Non-Reactor’ is someone so wrapped up in themselves they’re incapable of reacting to anything you tell them with a polite “That’s very interesting” or “How awful for you!” “Tell me more!” is, naturally, not in their voc
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Llanelli Rotary Club launch Wrap Up campaign

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IT’S your chance to feel a warm glow – by donating a winter coat to Llanelli Rotary Club’s Wrap Up campaign. This is the third year that Llanelli Rotary has joined in the national Wrap Up campaign to collect warm winter coats. In the first year of the campaign, the club collected more than 700 coats and distributed them to local food banks, refuge centres, churches, Threshold, CYCA and family support groups. Llanelli Rotary Club President Cerith Owens said: “We felt that we made a difference in the community and are excited to do it again. “The response by the local community to our Wrap Up campaign has been wonderful over the last two years. We are hoping for another magnificent response from the people of Llanelli again this year. Everyone we talk to says that they get a nice warm feeling of making a positive contribution to society when they donate a coat to the campaign.” The Wrap Up campaign runs until December 15. The following drop off points have been set up in Llanelli: ·     
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Tributes to Gilmore Jones, local hero

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  TRIBUTES have been paid to the man whose name was synonymous with shopping and business in Llanelli, Mr TH Gilmore (Gil) Jones. Universally known throughout the town as Gil or Gilmore, he died on Sunday, October 20, aged 82. Gilmore won the Llanelli Star’s Community Champion award in 2010 – an honour which reflected his busy life in retail in the town and his wider interests in supporting community life. Gilmore was President of Llanelli Chamber of Trade and Commerce between 2006 and 2009 and played a key role in supporting the Special Olympics Carmarthenshire club and his award-winning daughter Llinos. His good friend Andrew Stephens, who succeeded Gilmore as manager of the St Elli Shopping Centre in 2014, said: “To say he will be missed is an understatement as Gilmore was part of the fabric of community life in Llanelli.” Andrew, who is now a Llanelli Rural councillor, added: “Gilmore wore his heart on his sleeve and was 100 per cent committed to Llanelli and the people of the town
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South Wales Evening Post column, November 01, 2024

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  THEY say every day is a school day. Just when you get to the age when you think you know it all, something new comes along to broaden your horizons. A week ago, I didn’t know a thing about community benefit societies. Today, I well on the way to picking the topic as a Mastermind subject. This bit of ‘fast-track’ education is all down to a random meeting with Dan Staveley, co-founder of Swansea’s Elysium gallery and artists’ studios. We met to discuss a totally separate project in west Wales (more on that in a future column). At the end of the meeting, I was staggered at the progress made on the ‘Elysium project’. The Elysium brand has already made its mark on the Swansea landscape, helping to breathe new life into High Street, in particular. Now, Elysium has become a Community Benefit Society (a type of social enterprise), with big plans for a new city centre location, combining studios, a gallery, cafe, education centre and function rooms. The plans centre on a building which holds
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Latest On Song column, October 23

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  ALL together now! Panto season is coming around. Oh, no, it isn’t! Oh, yes, it is! One of the most eagerly-anticipated pantomimes in west Wales is the show staged by Theatrau Sir Gâr / Carmarthenshire Theatres at The Lyric in Carmarthen. This year, it is the turn of Beauty and the Beast, which will run from December 12-29. The festive favourite promises to be a spectacular show filled with magical moments, plenty of laughs, and all the panto fun that families have come to love. Following on from the success of last year’s pantomime (seen by nearly 8,000 local people), Beauty and the Beast will be produced in-house again by the Theatrau Sir Gâr team, in arrangement with the renowned pantomime producing company, Imagine Theatre. This year’s Beauty and the Beast cast includes three Carmarthenshire-born cast members. The line-up includes - •        Steve Elias as the hilarious and larger-than-life Dame Sylvia Scrub-it. Steve is delighted to be returning to his hometown to take on the leg
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Latest On Song column – October 16

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IT may be 80 years on, but the people of a Dutch city show no signs of ever forgetting the role Welsh soldiers played in their liberation during World War Two. Back in 2011, I was privileged to join the old Côr Meibion Llanelli Male Voice Choir at anniversary liberation celebrations in s’Hertogenbosch in the North Brabant Province, Netherlands. At the time, veterans of 53rd Welsh Division were still able to attend a weekend of liberation commemorations. This year, there will not be any veterans, but the actions of Welsh soldiers will still be remembered by people who call their homes city Den Bosch. Thanks for hard-working folk, both here in west Wales and in the Netherlands, the link between Wales and Den Bosch will still be remembered on the last full weekend in October. One of the key figures in continuing the relationship with Den Bosch is Lieutenant Colonel David Mathias, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed. In recent years, he has been instrumental in securing the services of Welsh c
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