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

Llanelli Rotary Club welcomed in its new president at a special dinner. The 'handover dinner' was held at the Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli. Ken Abban, a retired audiologist, was installed as the club's new president. Mr Abban succeeded Alan Owen. Mr Abban (wearing the chain of office) and Mr Owen are pictured with other members of Llanelli Rotary Club and the president of the Cefn Sidan Rotary Club, Les Williams. Website - http://llanellirotary.com/

The guest speaker at the weekly meeting of Llanelli Rotary Club held at the Stradey Park Hotel, Llanelli, was Malcolm Shead from the Shelterbox Response Team. Mr Shead is from Llandeilo and recently visited Burma to help some of the 70,000 people believed to have been displaced by civil unrest. Mr Shead, who works from his home in Bridge Street, Llandeilo, has been working with the ShelterBox project for more than four years. ShelterBox is supported by Rotary clubs worldwide. The UK charity ships out boxes with essential survival kit to countries hit by natural disasters and war. Mr Shead said he was proud to be involved with ShelterBox. "The first time I went away it was the earthquake in Chile," he said. "Two years ago I went to some bad flooding in Colombia, and last year I was in the Peruvian Amazon, which experienced the worst flooding in the Amazon basin for 40 years." ShelterBox cater their aid boxes to the needs of the people on the ground and ...

The Wales manager of Epilepsy Action Cymru was the guest speaker at the weekly meeting of Llanelli Rotary Club held at the Stradey Park Hotel, Llanelli. Ann Sivapatham is pictured with the president of Llanelli Rotary Club Alan Owen.

The public speaking team from St John Lloyd School in Llanelli has won its way through to a prestigious national competition final. The team has been taking part in the Rotary Youth Speaks competition since January. The St John Lloyd trio of speakers won the Llanelli Rotary Club competition staged at Llanelli Town Hall and then went on to win the Intermediate team section at area, district and regional Rotary finals. They will now compete against teams from across Britain and Ireland in the final of the Rotary International Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI) Youth Speaks final at Hull University on Sunday (April 28). The team is made up of - Chair Blaze Roper, Speaker James McMillan and Proposer of Vote of Thanks Greg David. Their chosen topic has been - The Olympic Legacy. This generation is inspired, so what’s next? In the regional final staged at Sully, Cardiff, the St John Lloyd pupils added to the Intermediate team awards with individual prizes for Best Chair and Bes...

Llanelli Rotary Club held a very successful Stroke Awareness Day at the St Elli Shopping Centre, Llanelli. The event was part of a national campaign by the Rotary organisation and the Stroke Association to help save lives. Llanelli Rotary Club President Alan Owen said: "Checking your blood pressure on a regular basis is a very important first step to staying healthy. "Llanelli Rotary Club members were delighted to be joined by trained professional doctors and nurses to give members of the public the chance to have their blood pressure checked during a break from shopping at the St Elli Centre. "It was all part of a bid to raise awareness of the link between high blood pressure and strokes. In total, more than 200 people had their blood pressure checked. Obviously, anyone with high blood pressure was given the appropriate medical advice on the spot and told what steps to take next to combat the problem." More than 400 'Know Your Blood pressure'...

Members of Llanelli Rotary Club enjoyed a civic reception with the chairman of Llanelli Rural Council Councillor Tegwen Devichand at the authority's offices in Vauxhall, Llanelli. Rotary Club president Alan Owen was presented with a plate to commemorate the Llanelli Eisteddfod of 2000. Councillor Devichand praised the Rotary members for their charitable and voluntary work. Mr Owen thanked Councillor Devichand for the rural authority's support for many Rotary causes. Weblinks - http://www.llanelli-rural.gov.uk/ http://llanellirotary.com/

Scarlets coach Simon Easterby was the guest speaker at Llanelli Rotary Club's annual St David's Day dinner held at the Stradey Park Hotel, Llanelli. Mr Easterby gave an excellent talk, recapping on his distinguished playing career with Llanelli RFC, the Scarlets, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions. He also explained the latest innovations in rugby training techniques, with demonstrations of the computer analysis used by the Scarlets. Mr Easterby is pictured with Llanelli Rotary Club President Alan Owen. The vote of thanks to Mr Easterby was given by Past President Robert Lloyd.

Multi-millionaire Kevin Green was the guest of honour and main keynote speaker at Llanelli Rotary Club's annual President's Dinner staged at the Stradey Park Hotel, Llanelli. Mr Green is pictured with Llanelli Rotary Club President Alan Owen. About Kevin Green . . . Multi-millionaire Kevin Green is fast developing a reputation with television producers as a consummate professional. The South Wales businessman is happy to take a 'you throw it and I'll catch it' attitude to the challenges provided by TV companies. Equally at home on reality TV shows, documentaries, news programmes and magazine shows, Green specialises in being his usual relaxed and confident self in front of the camera. He was featured on Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire show, filmed a Devil's Dinner Party for ITV/Sky and recently completed The Secret Interview for Channel 5. In between, he finds time to respond to requests from the major broadcasters for opinions on news stories. An additional st...

There was a VIP visitor for Llanelli Rotary Club today. Rotary International District 1150 Governor Bob Lewis (a Paul Harris Fellow and a member of the Rotary Club of Porthcawl ) was the guest speaker. He was welcomed to the club's meeting at the Stradey Park Hotel, Llanelli, by Llanelli Rotary Club President Alan Owen. The vote of thanks to DG Bob Lewis was given by Rotarian Harry Griffiths, a past president of the Llanelli club. 

Llanelli Rotary Club installed their new president at their annual handover dinner held at the Stradey Park Hotel, Llanelli. Alan Owen, centre, took over the chair from Graham Williams, second from left. The new junior vice-president is Hywel Bassett. The senior vice-president is Ken Abban, who was unable to attend the handover evening. Pictured to the right of Mr Owen are club secretary Anthony Jones and club treasurer Carl Lucas. Mr Owen has been a Rotarian for 10 years. Born in Burry Port, he was educated at Llanelli Grammar School and Staffordshire University. He worked at the Calsonic factory in Llanelli for a number of years as a computer manager. He later ran a computer consultancy. Today, Mr Owen is the postmaster at the Llanelli Docks Post Office in New Dock Road. A Welsh speaker, he is a member of the Cor Baroc choir in Llanelli and a passionate Llanelli Scarlets rugby supporter. Married to Mary, the couple have two children. Rotary website - www.llanellirotary...