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

The growing army of older people in our community have so much to offer with an array of skills and talents. This became evident when Carmarthenshire council’s community resource team took to the road visiting Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford on Older Persons Day. They found a golden thread of multi-skilled talent learned over many long lifetimes running through the elder generation who popped along a breakfast in Llanelli, a fruit kebab lunch in Carmarthen and a cream team in Ammanford County Department of Communities locality community coordinator Ed Dewar said Integrated Services in partnership with Spice, were focusing on addressing social isolation and loneliness amongst older people.

Work has started on a new vocational village being developed for secondary schoolchildren in the Llanelli area. The project involves offering new facilities in the area for pupils to learn vocational skills. It means that schoolchildren attending one school could go to another for classes on things like construction skills. Bryngwyn, Coedcae, Glan y Môr, St John Lloyd, Strade, Ysgol Heol Goffa and Coleg Sir Gâr are involved, along with other potential providers. The scheme involves building a new construction skills facility at Bryngwyn, which will be the hub of the village. Local contractors TRJ have started work on the £1.2million development which is expected to be completed by September 2016. There will be a phased move into the new facility following its completion. Other vocational learning facilities will be developed at the other schools through extending or refurbishing the current provision. The aim is to develop a vocational centre of excellence which will include the Cons...

People from Llanelli have been offered the chance to improve their skills with a new scheme. Carmarthenshire Communities First has teamed up Coleg Sir Gar to run a construction course giving unemployed people the skills they need to gain a job in the construction trade. The programme gives unemployed people a 10-week training experience, covering the basic essentials of a career in the construction industry. The course takes place at Trimsaran Family Centre and participants will be taught skills that they can put into practice, including how to tile and grout and how to complete a plumbing project on a tiled area. Communities First Family Learning Worker, Rhian Richards, said: ”This 10-week taster course gives people interested construction the opportunity to have an insight to aspects of construction industry.” Communities First is a community focused programme that supports the Welsh Government's Tackling Poverty programme. The programme supports the most disadvantaged peopl...

An event designed to help people in Carmarthenshire looking for new skills, training and employment was a big hit, attracting more than 300 people. The event at Ffwrnes, Llanelli, was such a success that Carmarthenshire County Council’s Communities First team is considering repeating the event again. The free ‘Have a Go’ event was the idea of Carmarthenshire Communities First and Coleg Sir Gar and involved other organisations from across the county. The event provided expert advice and guidance on topics ranging from engineering courses to advice on writing a CV. Communities First Family Learning Worker Emma Woodsaid: “We are so pleased that the event was able to help so many people, and delighted with the amount of people signing up for training courses.” The Communities First team aims to supports the most disadvantaged people in the most deprived areas with the aim of alleviating persistent poverty. Executive Board Member Regeneration and Leisure, Cllr Meryl Gravell, said: “The s...

Council chiefs in Carmarthenshire are celebrating a £669,400 Lottery windfall to revive the ancient art of heritage skills. A huge training programme is to be put in place to teach young people about lime plastering, stone masonry, roofing, carpentry and joinery. The aim is to ensure that the traditional building skills needed to conserve heritage buildings in the county are not lost. Carmarthenshire County Council has been awarded the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, under the Skills for the Future Programme. Under the project, 30 trainees will be given work based training at genuine heritage construction sites. They will spend a year working towards a heritage qualification under the guidance of a mentor and trainers. Regeneration bosses say they delighted with the grant for the Foundation in Heritage Bursary Programme. It follows the success of the council led Tywi Afon Yr Oesoedd Landscape Partnership Project, which has identified the need for more expert heritage tradespeople...