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

S4C and BBC Cymru Wales have welcomed the launch of a brand-new award for excellence in the production of Welsh language film.  The Carmarthen Bay Film Festival is to award the Gwobr John Hefin Award for the best Welsh language short film. It can either be a live action narrative fiction or a factual report on a chosen subject or idea. The film’s final running time must be more than two minutes and less than 45 minutes including credits, if any. The entry fee per submission is only £15. Entrants will need to submit their film to the festival, which is to be held in Llanelli in May 2014.  The festival website is at - http://www.carmarthenbayfilmfestival.co.uk/   The deadline is March 14. Festival founder and chief executive Kelvin Guy said: "The aim of this new award is to actively encourage the submission of Welsh language short films amongst up and coming filmmakers and to give them a platform to screen their work to a wider audience. "We’d also lik...

BBC News - BBC Wales poll: Voters back tax power, but not independence Almost two-thirds of voters think the Welsh assembly should have at least some influence over the taxes people pay, according to a poll for BBC Wales. Only about one in three wanted to keep the current system where the assembly has no power to vary taxes. Support for Welsh independence remains weak, with 7% backing it, rising to 12% if Scotland leaves the UK.

Story of our nation unveiled in epic series | This is South Wales A major new television series covering 30,000 years of Welsh history is starting close to home — on Gower. The series — The Story of Wales — uses dramatic reconstructions, computer generated graphics, and location filming, to tell the story of the country and its people through the centuries.

BBC News - Report says Welsh language 'losing 3,000 people a year' The number of fluent Welsh speakers is falling by around 3,000 people a year, a new report suggests. The Welsh Language Board (WLB) said deaths and people moving from Wales are having the biggest impact. The report says that around 6,500 Welsh speakers die annually and 5,200 move away, out-pacing adult learners and children learning or raised in Welsh. It found the number of people who say they speak Welsh fluently is approximately 300,000.

BBC News - Welsh language status needs to be improved, BBC survey suggests Nearly three in five people in Wales believe that there is a need to improve the status of the Welsh language further, a survey suggests. It was commissioned by BBC Radio Cymru to mark 50 years since Tynged yr Iaith (Fate of the Language), seen as Welsh politics' most famous lecture.

BBC News - Oil thefts up 500% across Wales in five years Thefts of heating oil around Wales have increased by over 500% in the past five years, BBC Wales has learned. Figures show the equivalent of a theft of oil every day by the end of 2011.

Sherlock finale – Our verdict | TV Editor's Blog - Yahoo! TV UK Spoiler alert! With 'Sherlock', co-creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have gripped the nation in a way TV shows over the decades have rarely achieved. The perfect blend of contemporary setting, classic characters, brilliant acting, unparalleled fun and cunning smarts have turned this updated take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books into the most compelling screen-version of the character's tales to date.

Two new faces join TV board - Business News - Business - WalesOnline BBC Wales has announced two new appointments to its executive board. Its head of factual and music programmes Adrian Davies will take up the role of head of programmes and services (English language), while managing director of Cardiff & Co Richard Thomas will join as head of marketing and Communications. Mr Davies, originally from Llanelli, will oversee the commissioning of all local television output across in-house production and the independent sector as well as BBC Radio Wales.

BBC News - Row over Carmarthen court portrait of Sir Thomas Picton : 'via Blog this' Red Kite Law lawyer Kate Williams talking on the BBC about the row over Sir Thomas Picton's portrait hanging in a Carmarthen court of law. And the row made the Daily Mail as well - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2065709/Calls-portrait-Waterloo-hero-removed-court-approved-torture-colonial-governor.html?ITO=1490

I am quoted by the BBC in the story about the launch of a new paper in Pembroke Dock - http://ning.it/oJ5S0T

WalesOnline - News - Wales News - Happiness to the Max

Did you see the start of the BBC Wales news tonight at 6.30pm? It was live from Glynneath rugby club. Picture the scene: Drink had been taken. Five men in kilts from Hawick rugby club. And yes, you guessed it, the inevitable happened! Poor old Derek Brockway and Clare Summers will never be the same again. PS: Some clever dick has now posted the item on You Tube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHm-2D9Iyeo