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

The latest Clay Shaw Butler Money Matters column from the Carmarthenshire Herald and the Llanelli Herald. By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants. Being thorough comes as second nature to us chartered accountants. Which is why the Money Matters column is continuing to dissect the Government’s most recent Budget changes. This week, we take a look at the complicated world of Capital Taxes. Here are some of the key areas where the Government has taken action – Capital gains tax (CGT) rates The current rates of CGT are 18% to the extent that any income tax basic rate band is available and 28% thereafter. The government is to reduce the higher rate of CGT from 28% to 20% and the basic rate from 18% to 10%. The trust CGT rate will also reduce from 28% to 20%. The 28% and 18% rates will continue to apply for carried interest and for chargeable gains on residential property that do not qualify for private residence relief. I...

The latest Phil Evans column from the South Wales Evening Post. Comedian Phil Evans is from Ammanford. He is known as the man who puts the ‘cwtsh’ into comedy. www.philevans.co.uk ------------------------------------------ IF YOU HAVEN’T ANY REGRETS, YOU HAVEN’T LIVED Sinatra’s “New York, New York” is a really stupid song. Take the line... “Regrets? I’ve had a few. But then again...too few to mention.” If they’re too few to mention, Frankie baby, why bother to mention them? Yes, you’re right. I’m feeling grumpy. I’ve been wondering whether I’ve always made the right decisions in my life, whilst secretly knowing I haven’t. Because nobody goes through life without making wrong decisions. That’s what makes us human. Well, that and staring out of our front room window on rainy autumn afternoons, jangling the loose change in our pockets while commenting on the shoddy job the neighbours across the road made of trimming their front hedge. I regret the time I was distracted by a telepho...

The latest 'On Song' column (about the choral scene in and around Llanelli) from the Llanelli Star - Chwarae Teg . . . fair play. You’ve got to take your hat off to the ladies of the inspirational Llanelli choir Côr Curiad. They believe in going for gold with their charity concerts. Côr Curiad’s choristers will be welcoming Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro to Llanelli’s Ffwrnes Theatre on Saturday, May 14. And the event has been a ‘full-house’ sell-out for months, with proceeds from the event going towards one of Llanelli’s most popular charitable causes, the Ty Bryngwyn Hospice adjacent to Prince Philip Hospital. Côr Curiad, formed in 1995, is led by Alex Esney-Davies, supported by accompanist Jane Jewell. The aim of the choir is to enjoy singing together, give pleasure to audiences and raise money for charity. The choir’s biggest achievement to date was in 2012, when, with the support of Rhydian Roberts (TV’s X Factor), a sell-out concert raised £16,500 for the Teenage C...

Members of Llanelli Rotary Club staged a right Royal tea party to mark The Queen’s 90th. The event was held at Furnace Community Hall and attended by many Llanelli people who share The Queen’s 90th birthday year. “The Queen’s Tea was a marvellous celebration,” said Llanelli Rotary Club President Susan Roberts. “Rotarians joined with members of the community who are celebrating their 90th birthday this year. “We liased with Llanelli residential homes, care services and the community at large to get as many 90-year-olds as possible at the tea. “Some had to attend with their carers and some needed transport help to attend. But Rotarians rallied to the cause and helped create a memorable occasion which was hugely enjoyed by one and all. “We had a magician and entertainer on duty to keep the party spirit going and we had a great trip down memory land with songs from the past from a troupe led by Maxine Walters. “We also had a special Queen’s birthday cake gifted to us by the t...

Laugharne will be home to a host of events celebrating International Dylan Thomas Day later this week. The festivities will take place across the town including at the Boathouse, the Castle and the Tin Shed. Dylan Day was set up last year to celebrate the life and work of the Welsh poet, and will be held each year on May 14 – the date Under Milk Wood was first read on stage at 92Y The Poetry Center in New York in 1953. Across the country, events are taking place to have fun with the magic of Dylan’s words through activities such as creative writing workshops, literary tours, educational resources and readings in unusual places. In Laugharne, the fun starts at the Castle from 10.30am to 11.30am with storytelling for children and adults. Storyteller Daniel Morden, and actor and writer Mark Montinaro, will tell terrific tall tales at the event, which is supported by Literature Wales and CADW. A spokesman said: “Action and adventure loom large in the acclaimed Morden’s fantastic fairy st...

Day One of the prestigious Carmarthen Bay Film Festival kicked off in Llanelli with the exclusive world premiere of a move set in Llanelli. There was a spontaneous round of applause at the end of the screening of The Shadow Of The Missing at the Stradey Park Hotel, Llanelli, on Monday night. And cast and crew delighted members of the appreciative audience with an impromptu Question and Answer session on the film. Shadow Of The Missing mixes comedy with ‘found footage’ horror as it tells the story of a group of filmmakers who go to an abandoned Llanelli church one night. Filming took place in the summer of 2015, but, since then, Park Church in Murray Street has been decimated by fire. The blaze has been incorporated into the film – and plot lines were tweaked to make it add to the mystery. Jamie Lee Smith, the American film producer behind the project, said: "We have built a story for our movie around the history and mythology of this region. It made sense to hold our very fir...

An Associate Medical Director at Hywel Dda University Health Board is urging people to vote for his design for a new light-weight lifting device to aid those who fall, in a competition run by business tycoon Sir Richard Branson. Dr Mark Barnard and a team of engineers at Nemein Health Care Solutions have been busy designing a special ‘Kinisi’ chair, which is aimed at lifting elderly, frail and disabled patients in a dignified manner. Dr Barnard – who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis as a medical student, and subsequently experienced difficulty getting back up after he broke his leg in a fall – said his team had entered the chair into the #VOOM competition in the hope of winning prize money to market the chair. The chair consists of flat canvas that can be placed under someone who has fallen, or who is able to shuffle onto it. A lightweight frame is then attached to the canvas, enabling the individual to be lifted safely and with dignity from the floor to a seated position, f...

Dafydd Llywelyn (Plaid Cymru) has been elected Dyfed Powys Police & Crime Commissioner. The results from across the region are as follows: First preference: CHURCH, Richard Wilfred – Welsh Liberal Democrats: 20,725 DAVIES, William Edmund Vincent John – Independent: 11,561 LLYWELYN, Dafydd – Plaid Cymru: 52,469 MADGE, Kevin – Welsh Labour: 34,799 PARKINSON, Desmond Cecil – UKIP Wales: 20,870 SALMON, Christopher Tangye Robert – Welsh Conservative Party: 47,093 Second preference: LLYWELYN, Dafydd – Plaid Cymru: 22,689 SALMON, Christopher Tangye Robert – Welsh Conservative Party: 12,209 Total votes: LLYWELYN, Dafydd – Plaid Cymru: 75,158 SALMON, Christopher Tangye Robert – Welsh Conservative Party: 59,302 Results from: Carmarthen East & Dinefwr, Llanelli, Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire, Preseli Pembrokeshire, Brecon & Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire, and Ceredigion The provisional turnout was 51.5%.

A Pembrokeshire pharmacy has been recognised for its ongoing commitment to providing appropriate support and consideration to its customers who are carers. Boots Pharmacy in Haverfordwest has been awarded the Investors in Carers bronze level award by Hywel Dda University Health Board. The scheme, originally designed to help GP practices across the Hywel Dda area focus on and improve their carer awareness, is now being rolled out to pharmacies and selected hospital wards across the region. Sian-Marie James, Vice Chair for Hywel Dda UHB recently met with store manager Stephanie James and Claire Setford, Carers Lead for the pharmacy, to present their award and find out about the pharmacy’s work to support carers. Mrs James said: “It was a great pleasure to award the pharmacy in Boots Haverfordwest with the bronze Investors in Carers award. I was particularly pleased to meet Claire, who is a nominated Carers Lead for the store. I am certain that her passion for helping carers is making a...

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Adam Morgan has been appointed to the post of Independent Member (Trade Unions representative) for a period of two years with Hywel Dda University Health Board. Adam joined the Board as an Independent Member from 1 April 2016. Adam qualified from Cardiff University in 2011 and has been employed by the Health Board for the past 4½ years as a specialist acute inpatient physiotherapist. In his time with the Health Board he has completed a post graduate qualification and, more recently, an advanced practice module. Adam has served as a union representative for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy for the past three years and has extensive knowledge of trade union duties, policies, processes, representing members and of nationwide issues and is a regular participant at the staff partnership forum. He is also a keen promoter ofpartnership working and actively involves himself in driving services forward. University Health Board Chair, Bernardine Rees, OBE, said: “Adam's appointment a...

Following winning the Best Actress award for her role in By Any Name (2016) at this year’s North Wales International Film Festival, Samira Mohamed Ali has just been cast to play co-lead in the powerful feature film Crushed Wings. Principal photography will take place in July 2016 where the team will film in the UK, India and Nepal. In an interview today, the Writer and Director of Crushed Wings Lalit Bhusal of Cam Buddha Films said: “We are extremely excited to have Samira as part of the lead cast for this film, which will highlight issues of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Asian countries, which include India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and many more countries. Crushed Wings will be the voice of those who have suffered, and for those who are presently suffering unknowingly. It will also bring issues affecting FGM to the wider audience. FGM causes physical and emotional pain, and our research shows that the issues have been raised in the past by media and governments, but th...

RNIB Cymru (Royal National Institute of Blind People) is calling on people in Wales to give up a few hours of their time to help blind and partially sighted people get online. According to the findings of new research about volunteering by RNIB, 80 per cent of people who volunteer say it makes them feel happier. Another 47 per cent of respondents in the UK who do not volunteer said they want to in the future, with more than one in 10 people most keen to share their technology skills. The research was commissioned to mark the start of RNIB’s initiative to recruit more volunteers for its Online Today project to help 6000 people with sensory loss across Wales get online. Since its launch in 2015, Online Today events throughout Wales and the UK have helped thousands of people with sight and hearing loss get online. Now RNIB is appealing to local people to commit a few hours a month to visit blind and partially sighted people in their own homes and help them develop digital skills like bro...

A Ceredigion pharmacy has been recognised for its ongoing commitment to providing appropriate support and consideration to its customers who are carers. Well Pharmacy in Cardigan has become the second pharmacy in the town to be awarded the Investors in Carers bronze level award by Hywel Dda University Health Board. The scheme, originally designed to help GP practices across the Hywel Dda area focus on and improve their carer awareness, is now being rolled out to pharmacies and selected hospital wards across the region. Pennie Muir, Regional Project Support Manager for the Investors in Carers scheme was delighted to award Well Pharmacy with their award: "The work of the pharmacies, GP surgeries and outpatients department in Cardigan means that carers in the area can get some support and help if they need it. “Pharmacies are busy places so it is good to see that the staff at Well Pharmacy are committed to helping carers." For more information about the Investors in Carers sch...