Carmarthen boxer Angelo Dragone has it all figured out as he gets ready to start his professional career in the ring.

The 28-year-old milkman has secured sponsorship from Carmarthen-based chartered accountants and business consultants Clay Shaw Butler.

“It’s a big boost for me as I look forward to starting my professional boxing career,” said Angelo, who works for the family business, Nigel’s Dairy.

“David Butler and Mark Jones are big fans of sport and great supporters of local sport and I am very grateful to Clay Shaw Butler for their backing.”

Mark Jones, director at Clay Shaw Butler in Lammas Street, said: “It was great to meet with Angelo at our offices the other day.

“We always try to do our best to support and promote local sporting talent and we are delighted to be one of Angelo’s sponsors.”

Angelo has had 26 amateur fights and two semi-professional bouts.

His last semi-pro bout was an IBA-organised British title fight at the world famous boxing mecca in York Hall, Bethnal Green, London.

“I only lost by a point and that experience was probably the tipping point in my deciding to go fully professional. I thought it was the next logical move for me as a boxer.

“In April, I signed with Swansea-based manager and trainer Richie Garner, who has a fantastic crop of young fighters in his stable.

“My professional debut is August 11 at the Llandarcy Sports Centre, just off the M4 motorway. I will be fighting against a guy from Liverpool, Paul Peers, over four three-minute rounds.”

Lightweight Angelo weighs in at 10 stone and is excited at the prospect of getting into the ring.

“It can’t come too soon for me now. I have been training well and ready for what is a hugely exciting step forward in my career.

“The card at Llandarcy is stacked full of Welsh prospects so it promises to be a great evening’s entertainment.

“I’m fit and raring to go. The great thing about my job as a milkman is that I am up and busy from early in the morning. It also frees up my afternoon for training.

“My regular ring training is with Richie Garner in Swansea. His team has been a great help and I can’t wait now for August 11 to come around.”

Angelo is also grateful to his other sponsors, who include Nigel’s Dairy; D12 fitness gym; CFK kick boxing gym; Celtic Massage; A Poulton, plasterer, Llandeilo; Newcastle Emlyn Premier Stores; the Bridge Inn in Llangennech; Cy Gwyllt Supplements and Toppers in Llanelli.

If you are interested in tickets for Angelo’s professional debut, then give him a ring on 07462 773137.

Tickets are £35 Standard, £60 ringside or £75 VIP ringside. The VIP ticket includes an opportunity to hear guest speaker Enzo Maccarinelli. The Swansea hero is a Welsh former professional boxer who held the WBO cruiserweight title from 2006 to 2008 and the European and British cruiserweight titles between 2010 and 2012.

Photos:

Angelo Dragone.

Angelo Dragone with Clay Shaw Butler director Mark Jones.

About Clay Shaw Butler:

You can find out more about money matters on the Clay Shaw Butler website (under our news for business section) –

http://www.clayshawbutler.com/news/latest-news-for-business

We have a strong and experienced team with great local knowledge all geared-up to helping you get the very best from your finances – whether that is as an individual or as a business.

We stay ahead of the game by putting great store by continual professional development for our staff.

With Investors In People status at Clay Shaw Butler, we care passionately about making sure our staff have all the tools they need to serve you, our customers.

Weblink – http://www.clayshawbutler.com

The team at Clay Shaw Butler can be contacted on 01267 228500.

The team at Clay Shaw Butler are on Twitter. Look for @clayshawbutler.

Advances by researchers at Aberystwyth University in the understanding of one of the world’s deadliest diseases have the potential to bring relief to thousands of sufferers around the world.

Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, affects more than 200 million people world-wide, and causes hundreds of thousands of premature deaths every year.

Caused by a parasitic flatworm found in snails in shallow freshwater, 85% of all cases are found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

People are infected during routine agricultural, domestic, occupational and recreational activities, which expose them to infested water.

Second only to malaria on the scale of devastating parasitic diseases, recent evidence suggests that the disease is moving into parts of Europe with cases reported on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.

Scientists at Aberystwyth University are studying the biology of the schistosome, the flatworm parasite which causes the disease.

Led by Professor Karl Hoffmann at the University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, the team are looking for targets that may lead to the development new treatments.

Writing in the science journal PLoS Pathogens, Professor Hoffmann and colleagues report on a series of experiments that focus on the activity of proteins that are influential in the parasite’s ability to reproduce, once it has infected a person.

Professor Hoffmann said: “Not so long ago, human diseases caused by parasitic worms were thought to be confined to resource poor communities throughout Africa, Asia and South America. However, in this age of global travel and altering climate, parasitic worms are slowly, but surely, moving into parts of Europe and North America. The long term consequences of increased parasitic worm distributions are difficult to predict, but the harm that infection causes highlights the need for developing control strategies that can mitigate this 21st century threat to global health.

“We have spent the last two decades studying schistosome biology in order to identify parasite processes and targets that may lead to the development of new drugs or other treatments.

“Schistosomiasis is currently treated with Praziquantel, a highly effective drug developed in the 1970s, but there is no vaccine. The effectiveness of Praziquantel has meant that drug development has been complacent over the past 20 to 30 years and new treatments are required in case the parasite develops resistance to current treatments.”

Professor Hoffmann’s team has been focusing on DNA methylation where proteins add molecular components called methyl groups to DNA molecules, influencing genetic activity without affecting the underlying DNA sequence (epigenetics).

Their latest findings reveal a potential method for reducing the number of eggs laid by the flatworms in people, and thereby offering the potential for reducing the transmission of the disease.

The paper Methyl-CpG-binding (SmMBD2/3) and chromobox (SmCBX) proteins are required for neoblast proliferation and oviposition in the parasitic blood fluke Schistosoma mansoniwas published on Thursday 28 June 2018 in the journal PloS Pathogens.

Professor Hoffman has also written about the challenges of tacking schistosomiasis in The Conversation: Parasitic flatworms affect millions in developing countries, but new research offers hope.

Photos:

Professor Karl Hoffman.

Schistosomiasis affects over 200 million people world-wide. Eggs (oval) produced by schistosome parasites accumulate in the host liver (pink cells) and induce an inflammatory response (purple cells). This leads to pathological complications associated with schistosomiasis and death.

Links:

Methyl-CpG-binding (SmMBD2/3) and chromobox (SmCBX) proteins are required for neoblast proliferation and oviposition in the parasitic blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni:PloS Pathogens

Parasitic flatworms affect millions in developing countries, but new research offers hope: The Conversation

Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/ibers/

Professor Karl Hoffmann
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/ibers/staff-profiles/listing/profile/krh/

By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants.

Turn on the TV, listen to the radio, or open your tablet computer or newspaper and you’ll find pensions are always in the news.

Pensions are an important consideration for all – and they become much more important the older you get.

But what are the rules?

Employers can help promote retirement benefits for their employees in a number of ways, including occupational schemes.

Occupational pension schemes require the establishment of a trust in order to gain the tax advantages and to ensure that the assets of the pension scheme are kept separate from those of the employer.

The team at Clay Shaw Butler produce regularly-updated factsheets on the main responsibilities of occupational pension scheme trustees.

If your business is in West Wales, we can advise you on the accounting and audit requirements of your scheme.

Many employers offer their staff an opportunity to save for their retirement through an occupational (or company) pension scheme.

Those employees who join the scheme need to have confidence that the scheme is being well run.

The role of pension scheme trustees is very important in ensuring that the scheme is run honestly and efficiently and in the best interests of the members.

The Pensions Act 1995 (the Act) brought about a number of major changes to the way occupational pension schemes are run. The 2004 Pensions Act brought about further change and introduced, in April 2005, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) as the UK regulator of work-based pension schemes.

TPR has an important role in the pension sector.

Its objectives, as set out in legislation, are to:

• protect the benefits of members of work-based pension schemes
• protect the benefits of members of personal pension schemes (where there is a direct payment arrangement)
• promote, and to improve understanding of the good administration of work-based pension schemes
• reduce the risk of situations arising which may lead to claims for compensation being payable from the Pension Protection Fund
• maximise employer compliance with employer duties and the employment safeguards introduced by the Pensions Act 2008
• minimise any adverse impact on the sustainable growth of an employer (in relation to the exercise of the regulator’s functions under Part 3 of the Pension Act 2014).

TPR has three core powers that underpin its regulatory approach:

• investigating schemes by gathering information that helps them identify and monitor risks
• putting things right where problems have been identified
• acting against avoidance to ensure that employers do not sidestep their pension obligations.

In fulfilling its role, TPR produces important guidance for those involved with pension schemes including trustees as well as auditors and actuaries. This guidance is available from TPR’s website.

The Pensions Act 2008 introduced a requirement on UK employers to automatically enrol all employees in a ‘qualifying auto-enrolment pension scheme’ and to make contributions to that scheme on their behalf. Enrolment may be either into an occupational pension scheme or a contract based scheme.

Many contract based schemes are group personal pensions where an employer appoints a pension provider, often an insurance company, to run the scheme. The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) is a government backed pension scheme that employers can use for auto enrolling employees.

Compliance with the regulations started from 2012 for the largest employers.

You can find out more about money matters on the Clay Shaw Butler website (under our news for business section) –

http://www.clayshawbutler.com/news/latest-news-for-business

We have a strong and experienced team with great local knowledge all geared-up to helping you get the very best from your finances – whether that is as an individual or as a business.

We stay ahead of the game by putting great store by continual professional development for our staff.

With Investors In People status at Clay Shaw Butler, we care passionately about making sure our staff have all the tools they need to serve you, our customers.

Weblink – http://www.clayshawbutler.com

The team at Clay Shaw Butler can be contacted on 01267 228500.

The team at Clay Shaw Butler are on Twitter. Look for @clayshawbutler.

Construction work on the £40.5m Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus is set to start on 2 July 2018 at Aberystwyth University’s Gogerddan campus near Penrhyncoch.

The Innovation Campus will foster collaboration between business and academia, providing world-leading facilities and expertise for the food and drink, bio-processing and biotechnology sectors.

The construction contract for the ambitious development has been awarded to Willmott Dixon Construction Limited and is expected to take two years to complete.

Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University said: “Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus is an exceptional development that will bring new industry partnerships and jobs to the region. It is an example of the University working collaboratively to ensure that the excellent research carried out here – particularly within our Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) – acts as a catalyst for innovative practice which has an impact on the wider economy.

“We are grateful to the Welsh Government for their support through the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) and to BBSRC, part of UK Research and Innovation, for their support, as well as to Ceredigion County Council who have worked with us on infrastructure improvements for the benefit of the area.”

The University and Ceredigion County Council have worked together to deliver highway improvements to widen the road leading to the Campus from the main A4159 crossroads and these works were successfully completed by the County Council in May 2018.

The County Council’s Cabinet member responsible for Economy and Regeneration, Councillor Rhodri Evans said: “Innovation and enterprise are key factors in supporting Ceredigion’s economy to flourish. The Council has worked closely with Aberystwyth University to enable the development to progress and I am delighted to see work beginning. I hope to see many benefits for the whole county after the Campus is established.”

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government (£20m), BBSRC – part of UK Research and Innovation (£12m) and Aberystwyth University (£8.5m), the Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus will offer a range of high quality facilities to support innovation, enabling commercial enterprises to grow, prosper and drive economic growth in the food and drink, bio-processing and biotechnology sectors throughout Wales and beyond.

Rhian Hayward MBE, Chief Executive Officer for Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus said: “As we move into this construction phase we have already received considerable interest from companies in using the facilities in collaboration with Aberystwyth University experts. The Campus development is already showing early promise of its potential to support economic growth amongst entrepreneurs, start-up companies and large industry partners.”

Ian Jones, Director for Willmott Dixon Wales and West added: “We understand the significance of this project to the region and we are proud to be able to help bring the vision of the Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus to life. The size and scale of the project is impressive, and highlights the University’s commitment to delivering world class research and innovation facilities.”

Photo: Left to Right:Ian Jones, Director for Wilmott Dixon Wales and West; Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University; Professor Chris Thomas, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Aberystwyth University; Dr Rhian Hayward, Chief Executive Officer at Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus; and Jeff Monks, Head of Estate Operations at BBSRC.

Links:
Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus
www.aberinnovation.co.uk

Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences
www.aber.ac.uk/en/ibers

BBSRC
https://bbsrc.ukri.org

Wales European Funding Office – WEFO
wefo.gov.wales

More than 160 former students and staff will gather in Aberystwyth 29 June – 1 July 2018 to celebrate the centenary of the University’s Department of Geography and Earth Sciences.

From keynote speakers to field trips and old films, a special weekend of events and activities has been organised to mark the department’s 100^thbirthday.

The event will be an opportunity to look back on the Department’s achievements as well as its plans for the future.

Some alumni are travelling from as far away as New Zealand and British Columbia in Canada to attend the celebrations.

It was in the summer of 1918, as the First World War was drawing to a close, that the first students arrived in Aberystwyth to study Geography.

The Old College on the seafront was the original teaching location, with the Department moving to its current home in the Llandinam building on Penglais campus in 1965.

In 1988, Geography merged with the University’s equally distinguished Department of Geology (established in 1910), and introduced new degrees in Environmental Science and Environmental Earth Science.

To date, more than 8,000 students have gained a degree from the Department, with today’s graduates working as lecturers and professors in universities from California to China, and New South Wales to South Africa.

Notable staff through the decades include the first Head of Department Professor Fleure, acknowledged as one of the giants of early twentieth century Geography, and Professor E G Bowen who travelled around Wales in his distinctive yellow Mini giving public lectures on the cultural and historical geography of Wales.

The Department has won many accolades along the way and is ranked among the top 150 Geography Departments in the world (QS World Rankings 2017).

Staff in the Department’s internationally recognised Centre for Glaciology have been awarded the prestigious Polar Medal three times.

Emeritus Professor Michael Hambrey has won the Polar Medal twice, and was also the recipient of the 2018 Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). In 2017, Professor Bryn Hubbard received the Polar Medal and in 2016, Professor Neil Glasser had a glacier named after him.

Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Vice-Chancellor at Aberystwyth University, said: “I would like to congratulate the department – its staff, students and supporters, both past and present – on reaching this landmark birthday. Over the last century, this Department has made an immense contribution to the global understanding of both physical and human geography. Its researchers and graduates will continue to make an impact through its teaching and research, and further build our understanding of climate change and other major issues facing our planet.”

The centenary celebrations are being organised by Professor Michael Woods, who said: “With the QS University Rankings placing Aberystwyth in the Top 150 geography departments in the world, we have plenty to celebrate in 2018. As a Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, we continue to balance arts and science, as well as the local and global, and we remain committed to integrating research and teaching.

“Nowhere is this more evident than on our famous fieldtrips. Generations of graduates from the 1970s and 1980s will still reflect nostalgically on the first year fieldtrip to Tenby, or overseas trips to Paris or Spain. Later, Aberystwyth was one of the first British geography departments to run a fieldtrip to New York, and our New Zealand fieldtrips are still as popular as ever and the envy of students and staff elsewhere.”

Professor Paul Brewer, Head of the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, said: “We look forward to welcoming back former students and staff as we reflect on a hundred years of geography at Aberystwyth. When we started teaching the subject back in 1918, we were the first department of its kind in Wales and one of only three in the UK offering a degree in Geography. Our reputation stems from the breadth of our international research and the quality of our teaching that blends the best traditions with the latest innovations. Our recently refurbished lecture theatres are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, and we look forward now to taking the teaching of Geography in the 21^stcentury to the next level.”

The current President of the Old Students’’ Association, John Frampton, came to study Geology at Aberystwyth in 1958 and will be at the centenary celebrations: “I congratulate the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences on reaching its centenary and wish it well as it moves into the next 100 years. For all who will be returning for the weekend’s celebrations may the weather be fine, the camaraderie enjoyable and may you enjoy Aber and all that it means, and has meant to you, in its wonderful unique way.”

The programme for the Centenary Weekend 29 June – 1 July includes:

Friday 29 June 2018

A reception hosted by Vice-Chancellor Professor Elizabeth Treasure for the Department’s alumni and members of the Old Students’ Association in the University’s newly-refurbished Hugh Owen Library followed by a GeoSoc quiz in the Arts Centre.

Saturday 30 June 2018

A series of talks, displays, demonstrations and activities in the Llandinam building, with tours of the department’s facilities including the new Centenary Laboratory and the cutting-edge technology used in Earth Observation and GIS teaching and research. The Centenary Lecture will be given by Professor John Lewin, Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography and former Pro Vice-Chancellor – ‘Geography and Earth Sciences: Past, Present and Future’. A Centenary Dinner will be held in the evening.

Sunday 1 July 2018

A chance to revisit fieldwork sites and find out how the department’s research is helping us to understand the environment and society in Wales, with trips to the Rheidol Valley, Cors Fochno and Ynyslas as well as a walking tour of the town.

Photo: The iconic Llandinam tower, home to Geography since the 1960s.

Links:
Department of Geography and Earth Sciences
www.aber.ac.uk/en/dges

Centenary Celebrations
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/dges/about/centenary

Comedian Phil Evans is from Ammanford. He is known as the man who puts the ‘cwtsh’ into comedy. Website – www.philevans.co.uk

………………………….

As I’ve pointed out many times (and you didn’t take a blind bit of notice!), the world is getting crazier every day.

Long-held attitudes, thoughts and opinions that shaped who we are and kept our lives in some semblance of common sense order for decades are now regularly questioned by individuals we’ve never heard of before.

Having scoured their back gardens looking for bees, they stick one in their bonnets and can’t wait to complain about it.

At the same time, they tell the rest of us we’re all wrong for being out of step with their opinions.

Somehow, they’re allowed a spot on the TV news or current affairs programme to announce that they’re ‘offended’ by something that no-one has ever been offended by before in the history of the worldand demand that “Something must be done about it!”

Of course, the rest of us aren’t allowed to demand ‘Something must be done about them’, like, they shouldn’t be allowed within two miles of a TV or radio studio or a newspaper reporter who’s looking for a ‘controversial’ opinion piece, eagerly licking his pencil ready to jot down their idiotic ideas in his beer-stained notebook.

Just the other day, an extremely articulate woman was given 10 minutes of TV airtime to complain that MEN AT WORK road signs are sexistand out of place in a modern society where men and women should be accepted as equals.

I’ve always accepted that women are equal to men.

Indeed. in many aspects they’re superior.

But, on the rare occasion I’ve seen evidence of men actually at workon the motorway behind MEN AT WORK signs, there was even less evidence that women were digging up the tarmac alongside them.

I’m hoping to be on the telly soon . . .

If I can find something that offends me by then . . .

——————

Up, up and away:

I’m writing this week’s column at 38000 feet, travelling at 550 miles per hour, heading to Los Angeles in California, America’s second biggest city.

We even have an internet connection on board.

How times have changed.

Sitting besides me is my room-mate, Phil Meeks, from Derby, who has organised the itinerary for my entire stay, in military fashion, I might add.

There is going to be very little time for relaxation on this trip.

Yes, it’s a work related trip, with an element of tension built in.

Far from glamorous, but someone has to do it.

Phil’s East Midlands accent and my South Wales accent appear to be an endless source of amusement to neighbouring passengers on the flight.

As many loyal readers and followers already know, people watching is something that I really enjoy and can be considered one of my favourite past-times; I consider myself to be quite good at it.

I’ve never been good at many things.

When I was a schoolboy, I swam for Ireland three times.

Unfortunately, I never got further than the end of the North Pier in Blackpool.

But, on this plane trip, the tables have turned and more than a few of the international passengers are discretely watching and eaves-dropping our conversations – probably not understanding a word and trying to figure out our accents.

I’m reminded that travel broadens the mind.

But, in my case, also the waistline.

Best wishes from this side of the ‘Pond’.

If I see Donald, I’ll give him everyone’s regards . . .

——————-

You can follow Phil Evans on Twitter @philevanswales and www.philevans.co.uk