PERHAPS you must be of a certain age? Perhaps you must be a fan of innuendo? Perhaps you have to shun all forms of political correctness?

But . . . if I throw a few film quotes at you, it won’t take you long to guess the franchise.

For example –

• ‘Infamy, infamy! They’ve all got it infamy!’
• ‘I’m Camembert! I’m the big cheese!’
• ‘Matron, take them away!’
• “You’ve stood on my Indian dress”. “Sari”. “Don’t mention it”.

If you guessed the Carry On films, then award yourself a gold star.

A total of 31 Carry On films were produced between 1958 and 1992.

For many, there’s a Marmite Factor – you either love them or hate them.

Kidwelly author Dave Ainsworth is in the ‘love them’ club.

He’s just released a new book called When The Carry On Stopped.

It puts the spotlight on a little-known but important period of Carry On history.

It’s a critical study of the interplay between the well-known Carry On actors during a three-year period.

It reveals the truth behind an acrimonious move from film company Anglo-Amalgamated to Rank.

The book is also a study of relationships between the Carry On actors and the film franchise producer.

It also exposes stories such as Terry Scott’s row with Mick Jagger; Kenneth Connor’s hatred for Frankie Howerd; Bernard Bresslaw’s first stage disaster and how Terry Scott scuppered Hugh Lloyd’s This is Your Life.

Dave looks at the Anglo-Amalgamated story, highlighted through the success of its owners, partners Stuart Levy and Nat Cohen.

Levy’s sudden death in 1966 encouraged Cohen to ditch the Carry Ons in favour of more ‘prestigious’ feature films.

Without a film distributor, the series’ producer Peter Rogers, was forced to search for another, eventually finding a new home at Rank.

However, Rank was unwilling to endorse the work of a rival and so dropped the ‘Carry On’ title. The Carry On series looked doomed.

When The Carry On Stopped sheds new light on the careers of the Carry On stars at this critical time.

We learn of Barbara Windsor’s involvement in the stage disaster Twang!!, of Jim Dale’s stage success, Sid James’s first heart attack and Charles Hawtrey losing his mother.

The book calls out the fat shaming of Joan Sims as one of the many injustices shown to her by the producer.

The book is essential reading for Carry On fans.

Author Dave Ainsworth taught acting at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David for many years.

He wrote the award-winning play Oh Hello about the Carry On star Charles Hawtrey, which was chosen as a ‘Pick of the Fringe’ at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It also won the Laurel Award for Best Play.

Other works by the former stand-up comic and actor include Who’s Afraid of Rachel Roberts? and Greville’s Whore.

When The Carry On Stopped is for sale in hardback at £22. It is published by White Owl.

You can follow Dave Ainsworth on Twitter on the handle @daveainsworth63

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EVERY cloud has a silver lining, so the idiom goes – and this week has proved the point.

On Sunday night, the gas boiler at my daughter’s house went into meltdown.

This weather has been warmer this week, but there’s still enough of a nip in the air for it to be a problem for daughter, hubby and two children, one aged three and one just three months.

Predictably, even the gas company ‘priority response for a young family’ couldn’t provide for an immediate fix for the hot water and central heating.

The engineers are due to arrive today to instal a new boiler.

Meanwhile, my daughter’s family has temporarily moved to our house to take advantage of our central heating and hot water.

As I write, negotiations about room rental charges are taking place! These talks may be protracted as they are taking place against the backdrop of a £3,500 (estimated) bill for the new boiler.

Grey clouds, indeed, for daughter’s family.

But, on the flip side, a week of having two young children in our ‘empty nest’ house has been a delight.

It’s been nought to 60 in terms of rediscovering parenting skills and dealing with sleep deprivation.

The retraining course has been completed on nappy changing – reminding me why I still cannot stomach chicken korma.

We’ve rediscovered the delights of honey nut loops for breakfast and spaghetti hoops for lunch.

And, along the way, the algorithm which controls which shows I’d like to watch on Netflix has been turned upside down.

Apparently, Paw Patrol and Bluey are now my favourite programmes.

On the school run, I remarked to a similarly stressed grandparent that having young children in the house was more demanding than a full-time job.

“The pay is rubbish,” they replied. “But you should always remember the rewards – you get paid in smiles!”

True words indeed. The cloud of a malfunctioning boiler has turned into the silver lining of spending more quality time with our grandchildren.

Truth be told, I’m not that bothered about the boiler getting fixed. The grandchildren can stay another week – such is joy they have brought to life at Lloyd Towers.

Timing is everything. It’s probably just as well that the boiler packed in this week, rather than the previous week.

Last week we ‘had the builders in’. There was drilling, banging and industrial quantities of dust.

When the pneumatic drill started up, I had to tell Mrs L to leave the house; her nerves were in shreds.

That left me in charge of tea-making duties for the hard-working builders.

And it’s amazing the lessons you learn in the presence of three craftsmen and an apprentice.

One: It’s the law that every cup of builder’s tea (or coffee) needs at least three sugars.

Two: Don’t talk politics. They will only try and convert you to vote Reform.

Three: A glass of ‘council pop’ means a pint of water.

PS: They did a splendid job on the shower room revamp.

IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that an elderly man in possession of a mobile phone will get himself into deep trouble.

Jane Austen never had trouble with predictive text and baffling text abbreviations when she was writing Pride and Prejudice.

And I hate to think how her masterpiece would have turned out if she’d had the ‘help’ of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

At my senior age, I’m hoping someone invents a mobile phone that just does voice calls and allows for a spellchecker that stops me making stupid mistakes in messages.

The tech giant Apple updated my phone with AI this week. Did I ask for it? No. Will it help me? I have no idea.

It’s a fair bet that my three-year-old grand-daughter will have a better idea of how it all works.

Meanwhile, I am saddled with a phone which bleeps six times an hour with ‘notifications’ and which still doesn’t stop me from putting a totally inappropriate ‘x’ at the end of messages to my plumber!

There is, of course, some comfort to be taken in the fact that I am not alone in being confused by my fruit-based device.

Back in 2012 we heard how the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, was all fingers and thumbs when sending text messages.

Former Sun and News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry which, embarrassingly, revealed that Mr Cameron was fond of sending messages which ended with the acronym LOL.

The journalist added that the PM stopped this when he discovered the text shorthand stood for ‘laugh out loud’ and not ‘lots of love’.

In an effort to stop me committing mobile phone blunders, my daughter has printed (and laminated) a handy A4 sheet of paper which she has pinned to the noticeboard above my desk.

It includes helpful explanations for the current mobile phone lingo.

For example, I now understand what the following abbreviations mean –

OMG: Oh my God

TTYL: Talk to you later

FYI: For your information

BFF: Best friends forever

TMI: Too much information

TL;DR: Too long; didn’t read

Worryingly, the above-mentioned daughter has taken to using the last bit of text-speak when messaging on a Friday morning about my latest column in this newspaper.

But, ICYMI (in case you missed it), there is some good news this week for those of us who are often baffled by the jargon/ initialisms/ acronyms/ abbreviations (delete as appropriate) currently in vogue on various messaging services.

On X (please read this as a reference to the old Twitter platform, rather than a big kiss), there is an account (VeryBritishProblems) which helps us oldies understand what’s going on in the world.

This week, they published a list of acronyms designed for us ‘seniors’ to use – and they asked for other suggestions.

The initial list pitched the following suggestions –

ASSOA: A sad state of affairs

FTM: Fair to middling

WTHAS: Worse things happen at sea

NMCOT: Not my cup of tea

GMAS: Give me a second

BUTW: Bit under the weather

CWBAFT: Chance would be a fine thing

BT: Bloody typical

So far this week, the BT abbreviation has been the most-played card.

Meanwhile, other helpful suggested abbreviations have poured in to the X account.

For example –

DYTTW: Do you think that’s wise? (said in the voice of Sgt Wilson in Dad’s Army)

INTEOTW: It’s not the end of the world

IBYP: I beg your pardon?

JPTTL: Just popping to the loo

BIAJ: Back in a jiffy

WMTSO: Without meaning to sound old

WMG: Where’s my glasses?

ICHMT: I can’t hear myself think

LSS: Long story short

BTSSB: Best thing since sliced bread

INRS: It’s not rocket science

GB: Gordon Bennett

OMGA: Oh my giddy aunt

BFF: Best friend fell

ATD: At the doctors

BTW: Bring the wheelchair

FWI: Forgot where I was

ILBIIH: It’s like Blackpool illuminations in here

YTTPLAH: You treat this place like a hotel

WYBIAB: Were you born in a barn?

DYPTBO: Did you put the bins out?

PTKO: Put the kettle on

MG: Mustn’t grumble

There’s hundreds more out there on the steam-powered internet thingy. Let me know ASAP if you spot any good ones!

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THIS week’s brainwave is I’m thinking of starting a podcast.

It will be called How To Find The Time To Listen To Podcasts.

Demand will be high as I’ve realised that, if you listen to constant trailers and promotional material on the TV, radio and online, the average day should be expanded from 24 to 36 hours just to absorb them all.

I’ve started zoning out from most of the BBC offerings, but there are a couple of old favourites which have survived a recent cull of podcast subscriptions. Desert Island Discs and Friday Night Comedy are ‘must haves’ in my book.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of value to be found some local podcasts.

Ambition Is Critical is always good entertainment (although the language can be a bit spicy for some tastes). This week, the spotlight falls on author and sports writer David Brayley.

Good Evening Swansea is also good listening. This week, the podcast features Eirian Wyn, Baptist minister (Seion Newydd Church, Morriston), a member of the Magic Circle and the chaplain at Swansea City Football Club.

Finally, What’s Your Stori? is always taking a positive spin on Welsh life. This week the conversation is with Gerwyn Tumelty, director and founder of Coron Projects.

Check them out . . . if you have time, of course!

SOME of you may suspect this already . . . but today will confirm it as fact. This column is going to the dogs.

Take a deep breath there. Trust me, it’s not a case of a lack of quality.

It’s just that the spotlight is falling on this week’s announcement in The Senedd (Welsh Parliament) that Wales will soon become the first nation in the UK to ban greyhound racing.

At the risk of offending some dear readers, I will try and give my verdict on the ban in what can be described as ‘short form’ and ‘long form’.

Short form first – It’s bonkers.

Long form next – It’s bat-poo bonkers . . . and I’ll explain why.

Call me old-fashioned, but many (probably misguided) folk in Wales have been living under the assumption that the 60 members we elected to The Senedd would concentrate on the important things in Welsh life.

You know the sort of thing . . . fixing the Welsh NHS and (er) giving us an education service which is the envy of the world, to name just two issues which are important to the man (and woman) in the street.

Instead, we get some random bits of policy which appear to be steered by ‘shouty’ minority groups.

As far as the greyhound racing ban goes, Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies made the announcement in the wake of a petition to ban the sport in Wales.

Apparently, the petition received more than 35,000 signatures. Please note, dear readers, that the population of Wales is more than 3.2million, so you can see how it is possible for a community, say, the size of Port Talbot to steer the agenda in The Senedd.

Apparently, the above-mentioned petition resulted in a Welsh Government consultation which received more than 1100 responses (roughly equal to the size of Grovesend near Gorseinon), with two-thirds being in favour of the ban.

Huw Irranca-Davies told colleagues in The Senedd: “I believe that now is the right time to move to ban greyhound racing in Wales.

“There will be work to do in ensuring the dogs, their owners, and those involved in the industry around the racetrack, can wind down from this activity while still protecting the welfare of dogs currently within the industry, the local community and the local economy.”

The Welsh Government consultation, which ran between December 2023 and March 2024, found that around 50 per cent of people supported the idea of banning greyhound racing in Wales.

When asked if they supported the introduction of a phased approach to outlawing greyhound racing:

• 667 (64.69%) were in favour of introducing a phased ban. 375 (36.37%) were individual responses and 292 (28.32%) were from the League Against Cruel Sports.
• 259 (25.12%) were against a phased ban
• 105 (10.18%) were undecided

Those in support of the ban cited reasons of animal welfare and a belief that the industry is ‘unethical’. Key issues included injuries to animals, overbreeding, and a desire to prevent unnecessary suffering and deaths.

Respondents who opposed the ban argued it would have a negative economic and cultural impact, with many worried that this would set the precedent for banning other animal sports, such as horse racing.

Meanwhile, it might be worth considering how much Welsh Government time, effort, paperwork and money has been spent on this issue . . . particularly when you consider that Wales only has one licensed greyhound racing track (a stadium in Ystrad Mynach employing more than 30 people on site).

The Chief Executive of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain, Mark Bird, responded to the Welsh Government announcement as follows –

“This announcement has nothing to do with greyhound welfare and everything to do with pressure from the extreme animal rights movement.

“The Welsh Government’s own summary of consultation responses highlighted the lack of evidence to support the case for a ban on the sport. This summary made clear there has been a coordinated campaign against licensed greyhound racing, seeking to drown out the voice of local people including those whose livelihoods rely on the sport.

“Questions should be asked as to why, despite repeated requests, the minister has failed to meet with the industry in Wales.”

DragonBet co-founder James Lovell, a major bookmaker in Wales, said: “There’s a real concern that this well-intentioned but misguided policy will be the thin end of the wedge in terms of other sports where dogs compete.

“And I find it frightening that such a decision could be made based on optics* and an attempt to appease the extreme animal rights groups, rather than considered and evidential welfare grounds.”

Perhaps the lack of ‘welfare evidence’ is the biggest (and most damning) issue for the Welsh Government as it pursues this piece of legislation.

Indeed, one greyhound racing commentator this week put forward the following view – “There are absolutely no welfare grounds for doing this. In fact, I would say it will have the opposite effect, as without a greyhound industry owners will not be able to afford to feed their greyhounds.”

Of course, the other factor which will worry sports fans throughout the land is, Where will it all end?

A ban on greyhound racing today? Tomorrow, a ban on fishing, shooting, horse racing, showjumping?

Why not go the whole hog and ban anything that involves animals? Dog shows? Agricultural shows?

Some of us are old enough to remember the days when there was greyhound racing at the old Arms Park (the home of Welsh rugby). Others will recall greyhound stadiums at Skewen and two tracks at Fforestfach, Swansea – one at White City and one at Ystrad Road.

As with any sport, the public can vote with their feet when it comes to deciding whether to support it or not.

Perhaps you can see a bigger example of that in declining (and very worrying) attendance figures for rugby in Wales.

Which brings me to my final point – if claims of cruelty and welfare are behind the ban on greyhound racing, surely there must be some appetite in The Senedd to investigate the hardship currently being experienced by the average rugby fan in Wales?

*Optics = the way a situation, action, event, etc is perceived by the public or by a particular group of people.

WORLD exclusive coming up. Just remember you read it here first!

Yes, it’s a ‘No’ from me.

After lengthy deliberation (Mrs L timed it at just under 30 seconds), I will not be applying for the position of head coach with the Wales rugby team.

True, I may not be qualified for the role.

The sum total of my rugby experience (as a player, not a spectator) can be traced on the back of a beermat – sponge bag holder for Llanelli Wanderers Under-11s (unpaid) and record-breaking winger for Nantgaredig RFC in the old Llanelli and District League (the record being Least Number Of Tries Scored By A Winger In A Season – ie one!).

Having said that, the lack of a lengthy rugby career should not be a bar to achievement in the Welsh Rugby Union. Just being a fan should be enough, as WRU chief executive Abi Tierney continues to prove.

And (as Mrs L pointed out before I came to my decision) the money is good.

Departing Welsh coach Warren Gatland was reportedly on more than £600,000 a year. Not bad when you consider the average annual pay in Wales (2024 figures) is reckoned to be £34,000.

Plus, you must also factor in parachute payments should you need to leave the job after (for example) losing 14 consecutive matches in a row.

That wonderful phrase ‘departing by mutual consent’ has so much more meaning when you consider how much negotiation will be going on behind the scenes to arrive at a ‘mutually agreeable’ cash parachute to exit the job.

In my humble opinion (which still counts for something in the privacy of my own home) three things should not be ignored –

• Gatland is both the most successful coach of Wales and the least successful. His first spell in charge saw three Grand Slams and two World Cup semi-finals.
• The old saying, ‘Never go back’, remains true. Gatland should never have returned to Wales. The WRU should have looked at a fresh option.
• Gatland offered his resignation last year after leading Wales to their first Wooden Spoon in 21 years. WRU chief Abi Tierney should have accepted it.

On the streets (and in the rugby clubs and pubs around Wales), Gatland remains a talking point, but there’s a sense people are losing interest in rugby.

Here’s some examples of conversations on the streets of Llanelli this week –

“Do you want a ticket for Wales against Ireland?” “How much are they?” “£130 each.” “Nah, forget it.”

“Watch the Italy game last Saturday?” “Nah, didn’t bother.” “Went to play golf instead.”

“When’s the next home game for the Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets?” “Dunno. Think it’s the end of March, but I couldn’t tell you who we’re playing.”

The cruellest comment of the week?

One rugby wag claimed the WRU chief now has a new nickname – ‘Downturn Abi’.

Perhaps you must be a fan of TV’s Downton Abbey to get the joke.

Cruel, yes, but most of us will have to admit that Welsh rugby is now something of a laughing stock.

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WHEN the revolution starts, the first part of my grand plan will be to abolish this current trend for forming an orderly queue at pub bars.

For goodness sake, where do you think you are? The bank? The health centre? Morrisons? (As they say on the BBC: please note, other supermarkets are available!)

There’s a place for forming queues – and a pub isn’t one of those places.

Whatever happened to the time-honoured tradition of forming a scrum (or even a ruck in the most desperate of circumstances), developing razor-sharp elbows, adopting that tactical wave of a crisp tenner and trying to catch the barmaid’s eye? (Editor’s note: bit sexist here, please appreciate other genders may be employed on bar work!)

It’s a given that I am something of a dinosaur when it comes to views on how pubs should operate. Create a time warp that puts me back in the ’60s and ’70s and I’ll be quite happy.

For one thing, pubs shouldn’t have televisions. Pubs are for talking. If you want to watch sport, get off your backside and buy a ticket to visit (and support) a local team.

Mobiles phones should be banned.

Music is also out – and you can forget about games on video screens.

The only games allowed should be darts, dominoes and the occasional game of Tippit (Note: If you don’t know what Tippit it is, then you haven’t lived).

Pool tables are also a No-No on the grounds they take up too much space.

When I started work as a cub reporter in Carmarthen, one of our regular haunts was The Queens Hotel.

In those days, it boasted a (men only) public bar, a lounge and a small snug (for courting couples).

When legislation was brought in to prevent bars being labelled men only, the landlord removed the sign from the public bar . . . but left the stencilled outline of ‘Men Only’ on the faded paint.

The forthcoming ‘revolution’ will also see bans being imposed on serving cocktails in pubs. If you want a cocktail, go to a cocktail bar.

Those of us who need to quench our thirst with a pint of bitter do not want to be standing behind someone at the bar who orders “a Strawberry Daiquiri, five Espresso Martinis, an Old Fashioned and two Negronis”.

Finally, don’t get me started on people who order “Six pints of Guinness”.

It’s enough to drive you to drink!

GO on, I dare you! Ask me how I write this weekly column.

To begin, I usually invert the Thomas Edison quotation – “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”

Not being in the genius category, my usual tactic is to rely on 99 percent inspiration and one percent perspiration – economy of effort being a highly-valued ability at my senior age.

The neatest trick for that Thursday morning moment when I come to sit down before that blank page of digital ‘paper’ is to get others to write the column for me.

Some folk (no names mentioned!) have ventured down the road of getting Artificial Intelligence (AI) to scribble their words, but I have a more trusted and valued resource to draw on – reader feedback.

Yes, the one thing guaranteed to cheer me up on a Friday morning is getting messages, emails, phone calls and stop-in-the-street chats about the latest weekly column.

For one thing, it provides welcome reassurance that loyal members of ‘Club Evening Post’ still read what I have to say. For another thing, it provides that ‘ker-ching’ moment when I realise I have stumbled across a rich topical seam which will provide enough material for a follow-up column.

And so it has been with last week’s column, which ventured to put to bed the ticklish (or Turkish?) question of why Llanelli people have been nicknamed Turks.

If you were paying attention to last week’s column, then you’ll appreciate that I skewered all the false so-called ‘historical’ evidence about why Llanelli people are nicknamed Turks.

Rather than trot out the main three theories again, I will simply reiterate that the name ‘Turks’ originated from 1970s media banter over the rivalry between the All Whites of Swansea (The Jacks) and the Scarlets of Llanelli RFC.

David Thomas, once the senior press officer with the old Llanelli Borough Council, agreed with me (breaking a long tradition of press officers never agreeing with journalists).

David wrote – ‘Wynford Vaughan-Thomas (the celebrated Swansea-born broadcaster and journalist) used to say he thought the name Jacks came from the fact that many Cornish people moved to the area with the copper industry.

‘He reckoned that Cornish people were called Jacks but there was no explanation for how they got the name.

‘I moved to Llanelli in 1969 . . . and I never heard the expression Turks until well into the ’70s!’

David Rees, once a senior committeeman with the old Llanelli RFC, wrote – ‘It’s a name I never ever heard in the ’60s or early ’70s and is simply a ‘modern’ media label created for banter.’

Carmarthen-born Hywel Emrys, the Welsh actor (best known for playing the garage owner Derek in the S4C soap opera Pobol y Cwm) also weighed in.

He wrote – ‘Many of my Cardiffian friends claim that the Turks nickname they give the Scarlets is because of the Welsh language! They said that it sounded like Turkish!’

A more academic view on the subject was provided by John Alban, Honorary Associate Professor at the School of History and Art History at the University of East Anglia.

Many readers will remember John for his work with the Swansea City Archives department and the West Glamorgan Archive Service.

He sent me the following email – ‘I read with great interest and amusement your article about Llanelli Turks in (the) South Wales Evening Post (January 31).

‘I completely agree with everything you said: none of these (‘historical’) theories can be substantiated in any way.

‘As you say, the probability is that the term resulted from fairly recent banter between supporters of Swansea and Llanelli. I don’t think I’d heard it until the 1970s, although I had attended All Whites games throughout the 1960s.

‘You may not want to hear or speak about this subject again, but I thought that you might be interested to learn of another ‘theory’ about the term.

‘Like all the ones you mentioned, this one also doesn’t really hold water, but it goes like this

‘Turk is an anglicisation of the Welsh word twrch (with the primary meaning ‘boar’ or ‘hog’ and the secondary meaning ‘mole’).

‘The person who explained this to me (in a pub, not in an academic setting!) suggested that the boar/hog element was intended to be highly derogatory of people from Llanelli.’

It was somewhat reassuring that I didn’t receive a single piece of feedback supporting any of the three wild ‘historical’ theories about the origin of the Turks nickname.

But . . . just when I thought I was winning the battle to get the Turks nickname consigned to the wastepaper bin, I received another blow to my campaign to get it erased.

It came from the good people who run the Phil Bennett Foundation charity. They staged a fundraising dinner at Llanelli’s Diplomat Hotel on the very day last week’s column was published. Guests included former players from the old Scarlets RFC and the All Whites.

And, yes, you guessed it – they billed the function as ‘Jacks v Turks’.

The suspicion is that trying to stop the Turks nickname now may be like trying to halt a heavy juggernaut from freewheeling down Swansea’s Constitution Hill.

Finally, I closed last week’s column by declaring I want to hear no more on the subject (Turks and Llanelli).

Obviously, my desire to do just that was overtaken by the presentation of a ‘gift horse’ for this week’s column.

I don’t expect to revisit the subject again . . . ever . . . unless, of course, you (my dear readers) tell me different!

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LLANELLI Rotary Club members are embarking on their annual search for candidates for the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA).

The Llanelli club has a long history of selecting candidates for the residential leadership course, usually selecting one student, sometimes two, to take a place on what is regarded as a prestigious programme.

Candidates should be aged 16 or 17 at the time of the course in July.

Youngsters can register their interest by emailing Llanelli Rotary’s RYLA coordinator, Dr Kevin Jones, on k305jones@gmail.com

Dr Jones said: “RYLA is a residential leadership course designed to meet the needs of 16 and17-year-olds.

“The course is basically an outdoor pursuit course which incorporates team building and problem-solving exercises. Our nearest RYLA centre is at Storey Arms in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park.

“The course begins on Sunday afternoon and finishes after lunch on the following Friday. The course is run by Cardiff City Council employees. All employees have the requisite qualifications and the Storey Arms staff are regarded as experts in their field.

“The cost of the RYLA programme is more than £400 per student, but Llanelli Rotary Club happily sponsors one candidate, or perhaps two, every year.”

“There will be a lot of walking and other physical activities, and so the candidate must be reasonably physically fit. They may have to walk up Pen Y Fan. No specialist skills are required. Being able to swim is not a necessity.

“The course is particularly useful for students wishing to add to the Duke of Edinburgh award qualifications.”

Llanelli Rotary President Cerith Owens said: “Each year, we encourage students who have participated on the RYLA course to come back to the club and give members a short talk about their experiences.

“Down the years, we have heard some great stories about how students have embraced the experience and used it as a building block for developing their leadership skills and future careers.

“Our RYLA candidate last year, Ross, gave us a very entertaining talk at The Diplomat Hotel on his experiences on the RYLA course.”

• Interested in joining Rotary? Contact Llanelli Rotary Club’s membership chair, Julie Jones, on 07929 444662 to become part of Llanelli Rotary Club’s continuing story of community service and friendship.

Photos – Ross (no surname), last year’s RYLA student, with Rotary President Cerith Owens – and with Dr Kevin Jones. Logos attached. And illustrations of RYLA poster and students.