Carmarthenshire County Council is once again showing its support for the White Ribbon campaign – which aims to end male violence against women.

White Ribbon Day takes place annually on November 25.

White Ribbons are available to buy at Council reception areas at County Hall; Building 2, St David’s Park; town halls in Ammanford and Llanelli; Ty Elwyn, Llanelli and Spilman Street from Monday, November 19. All donations made will go towards services for local victims and survivors.

This year the local authority has been awarded White Ribbon UK accredited status. Achieving the status shows an organisation’s commitment to The White Ribbon Campaign.

For the first time this year, the council has been working together with partners more to spread the word that you don’t have to suffer in silence, and there is help available. Partners include: Dyfed Powys Police; Mid & West Wales Fire and Rescue service; Wales Ambulance Service; University of Wales Trinity Saint David; Hafan Cymru; Citizens Advice; Threshold Llanelli; Calan Domestic Violence Service (Calan DVS); Women Survivors Support Project; Carmarthen Domestic Abuse Service (CDAS); Carmarthenshire Federation of Women’s Institute and more.

This year residents in the county will be made aware of the campaign in a number of ways, including animation information videos which will be played on screens in locations such as leisure centres, libraries, hospitals and more; posters in licenced premises across the county as well as in leisure centres, sports clubs and within police and fire brigade stations as well as posting information and signposting to help available on the council’s social media pages.
Carmarthenshire County Council staff have been encouraged to wear white on Friday, November 23, in a bid to raise awareness of the White Ribbon Campaign.

A Candlelight Walk will take place in Carmarthen once again on Thursday, November 22. The silent procession by men and women coming together to end violence against women, will leave the Vue cinema in St Catherine’s Walk at 5.15pm. The event will end with refreshments, music and speeches at St Peter’s Civic Hall.

Cllr Cefin Campbell, Carmarthenshire County Council’s Executive Board Member for Community Safety, said: “As a council we have supported the White Ribbon campaign for a number of years, and are proud to have achieved White Ribbon UK accredited status this year. By working with partners our aim is to gain more awareness of the campaign and the help available county-wide.

“I am very proud of my role as a White Ribbon Ambassador for Carmarthenshire County Council and will do my upmost to raise more awareness of the campaign amongst my fellow councillors, council staff and residents in the county.”

Council staff have also been encouraged to sign the online pledge “never to commit, excuse or remain silent about male violence against women.” You can do this by visiting www.whiteribbon.org.uk/pledge

An account from a survivor of domestic abuse who has received support from CDAS:
I was 29 when I met him. I’d just got divorced and I felt raw.

I didn’t stop him moving in and by the time he’d set foot through the door for good I really really wished I had but it was already too late.

I’d only just decorated my house but within a fortnight it was redecorated to his taste. Pictures were removed, furniture thrown and furnishings changed. It didn’t feel like my home anymore.

I had given him the control he wanted.

My family stopped calling and my friends disappeared whilst all the while he said he was the only person I needed.

I was stopped from using the internet, the telephone, writing letters or accessing a post box. We did everything together.

I was told what to eat, wear, watch on TV – everything. He took over my bank account and paid off all of his extensive debts.

We were together for 17 years and in that time I managed to convince myself that it was “normal”. Normal to feel self-hate, disgusting, for someone to be controlled totally.
So 17 years later I found my inner courage and the ability to say “No, No more am I doing this”.

I will honesty tell you I do not know how I managed to get away. Something inside me, somewhere, made it happen.

I found Carmarthen Domestic Abuse Services (CDAS). They saved me to be honest. I found their number and contacted them only to nearly persuade myself I was wasting their time! 
I can honestly say that there are no words that can explain how I got into this situation and no realistic way of saying why you stay in a relationship like I was in. It’s complicated and complex and if you’ve never been in that situation you will never understand how you are tangled and tied up with so many emotional knots that it’s impossible to leave. 
But it can happen to anyone – I mean anyone.

It’s been a long hard stressful journey but I’m getting there….slowly becoming more alive day by day. But I’m free. I’m me and I’m still here.

Although the White Ribbon Campaign aims to end male violence against women, domestic abuse affects both sexes and support is available to everyone.

Local support contact details:
Calan DVS Amman Valley – 01269 597474
Carmarthen Domestic Abuse Services – 01267 238 410
Threshold Domestic Abuse Services, Llanelli – 01554 752 422
National support contact details:
Live Fear Free – confidential 24-hour all Wales telephone helpline 0808 80 10 800
www.livefearfree.gov.wales

The Llandeilo Festival of the Senses attracted record crowds over the weekend.

Christoph Fisher, of the organising committee, has issued the following thank-you letter –

The festival would like to thank everyone who attended our festival this weekend.

The glorious sunshine drew in record figures. Judging by the Park and Ride attendance it was the biggest yet.

The festival doubled the bus capacity, had to open another Park and Ride location and then upgraded the buses during the day on Saturday to two 70 seaters and it was still running on full capacity at busy times.

Friday town got busy as children watched Santa (Sion Corn) being brought through town on his sleigh by the Round Table of Llandeilo.

The Town Band of Llandeilo then led children from the Llandeilo primary schools carrying lantern through town until they met Santa again on King Street where snow machines added to the magical atmosphere.

Ffion Haf enchanted the crowd with hymns in Welsh and English, until the Mayor Edward Thomas switched on the Christmas Lights.

Local singer / songwriter Harry Luke delighted the crowd with his tunes and also presented his new single “Summer Eighteen” on stage until the Fireworks went off.

Lots of local singers populated the stage on King Street over the weekend, performing both in Welsh and English.

We would like to thank Menter Bro Dinefwr for their support for the Welsh language entertainment.

Local businesses pulled out all the stops with inviting discounts and special offers and called it the best Saturday they have had.

Edward Friend from Carreg Law transformed his office into a Grotto for Santa, who is temporarily homeless while the Shire Hall is being converted into a Heritage Centre.

There are so many individuals and businesses to thank for their contributions to the festival:

The Llandeilo Town Band, the school children, choirs and artists who performed on stage, the Round Table Llandeilo, the Girl Guides, St John’s Ambulance, and LAS Waste for their free or drastically discounted services, the Cawdor Hotel, the Civic Hall and the Ebenezer Chapel for providing such great locations and Carmarthenshire County Council for arranging free parking during the festival and for their advice and support.

Llandeilo Town Council for the financial and other support. The Carmarthenshire Tourism Association for their help with publicity and also for the sound advice they gave us. Ysgol Bro Dinefwr, The Hangout and Tregib Sports Facilities for allowing us to use their car parks for Park and Ride as well as Coracle Coaches who responded so quickly to the increased demand by offering us larger buses within less than half an hour.

The businesses who pledged and / or provided moral support for the festival and showed great community spirit and last but not least the hard working volunteers and the committee members who all worked tirelessly nonstop for free to make the event happen and make it a success.

And a success is was judging by the positive feedback on the social media pages. 

The deadline is approaching for nominations for the popular Carmarthen Town Sports Awards for 2018.

The awards are organised annually by Carmarthen Town Council, with a special presentation evening taking place at the Carmarthen Quins Rugby Club.

The search is on for nominations for the 2018 awards. Monday, November 26, is the closing date for nominations.

If anyone would like a nomination form (individuals can nominate not just via a club), then please e-mail Eleri James at Carmarthen Town Council’s offices at St Peter’s Civic Hall in Carmarthen – eleri@carmarthentowncouncil.gov.uk

Evan Davies (Ifan JCB) and Malcom Morse of J H Morse and Sons Ltd have agreed to sponsor again this year. 

The guest speakers at the 2017 awards were British Lions, Wales and Scarlets hooker Ken Owens and Wales and Scarlets flanker James Davies. The awards were presented by the then Carmarthen Town Mayor, Coun Alun Lenny, and members of the Mayoral party.

The main 11 award categories for 2018 are:

Senior Male

Senior Female

U13s Junior Male

U13s Junior Female

U16s Intermediate Male

U16s Intermediate Female

U19s Youth Male

U19s Youth Female

Junior Team

Senior Team

Coach/Organiser/Volunteer

2017 Carmarthen Town Sports Awards winner of the Special Award was Dr Peter Herbert

Carmarthenshire County Council has actioned contingency plans to continue the care and employment of those affected by Friday’s announcement from Allied Healthcare to transfer its contracts.

Allied Healthcare provides a range of care services to people in need, and is commissioned by the local authority to deliver domiciliary care services to 120 clients in Carmarthenshire.

The company announced earlier this year that it was in financial difficulties and sought a company voluntary arrangement with its creditors.

Carmarthenshire County Council had put early contingency plans in place, which has allowed immediate action to be taken following the company’s most recent announcement.

The council is meeting with the company today (November 19, 2018) and will write letters to the staff and service users affected.

Cllr Jane Tremlett, Executive Board Member for Health and Social Care, said: “Most importantly we want to reassure those people receiving a service, and their families, who are affected by Allied’s announcement that their care will continue.

“We are meeting with the company today with a view to identifying around 80 members of staff who are providing domiciliary care on behalf of Allied to people in Carmarthenshire, and transferring them into the employment of Carmarthenshire County Council.

“We will be writing to staff and service users today to provide the necessary reassurance.”

Jake Morgan, Director for Communities, added: “We have robust contingency plans in place which means we are in an immediate position to offer transfer of employment to our existing in-house provision for any Carmarthenshire staff affected. These are highly valued and experienced members of staff who deliver important services to vulnerable people in our communities and I’d like to offer reassurance that their employment is safe.

“We are also working closely with colleagues in Pembrokeshire to ensure continuity of services across the county border.”

Letters are likely to be issued later today, and a series of information drop-in sessions are also being arranged.

Further communication will be made over the coming days to all those affected.

Staff from Jenkins Bakery shops throughout the area have been doing their bit to support the BBC’s Children In Need appeal.

The staff members dressed up in fancy dress on Friday night and rattled their collection tins for the popular charity television appeal.

Jenkins Bakery operations director Russell Jenkins said: “Our staff really joined in the Pudsey Bear spirit and enjoyed dressing up to raise funds for a great charity appeal. A big thank-you goes to our customers for their support.”

Ice temperatures inside the world’s highest glacier on the slopes of Mount Everest are warmer than expected, according to new research by glaciologists from Aberystwyth, Kathmandu, Leeds and Sheffield universities.

The findings are revealed in a paper published in Nature’s respected open-access journal, Scientific Reports.

Lead author Katie Miles and Professor Bryn Hubbard  from the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University, travelled to Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, in 2017 and 2018 as part of the EverDrill research project.

Working at heights of up to 5,000 m, PhD student Katie Miles and Professor Hubbard used a specially adapted car wash unit to drill deep into the glacial ice.

In May 2017, the team became the first to successfully drill to the base of Khumbu Glacier. They were also the first to record temperatures below the seasonally affected surface layer of the glacier.

Strings of temperature sensors, constructed with the help of Dr Samuel Doyle at Aberystwyth University, were installed into boreholes in the lower-elevation ablation area of the glacier and left to collect data for several months.

The resulting temperature measurements showed a minimum ice temperature of only −3.3 °C, with even the coldest ice being a full 2 °C warmer than the mean annual air temperature.

Katie Miles said: “Our results indicate that high-elevation Himalayan glaciers are vulnerable to even minor atmospheric warming, and there are important implications here for humans as well as the planet. Millions of people in the foothills of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region depend on glacier melt as part of their water resources. Rising surface temperatures could lead to a decrease over the next 30 years in the volume of water melting on the glaciers and contributing to downstream water resources.” 

Professor Bryn Hubbard, Director of the Centre for Glaciology at Aberystwyth University and a holder of the Queen’s Polar Medal, said: “Our work in the Himalaya builds on wider research by the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth where we have been measuring and modelling how glacial ice flows for several decades – in the Arctic and Antarctica as well as the Alps and more recently, Nepal. Understanding what actually happens inside these glaciers is critical to developing computer models to help predict their response to anticipated climate change. 

“A key property of the ‘warm’ ice we have measured within Khumbu Glacier is that any additional energy input, such as from the Sun’s rays and warm air, melts that ice, producing water, which means the glacier will be especially sensitive to future climatic warming. In contrast, further energy input into ‘cold’ ice (which is at any temperature below its melting point) simply heats that ice further towards zero, producing no meltwater.” 

Professor Bryn Hubbard and Miss Katie Miles are collaborating on the EverDrill project with Dr Duncan Quincey (project leader) and Dr Evan Miles from the University of Leeds, and Dr Ann Rowan from the University of Sheffield. Both Dr Quincey and Dr Rowan are alumni of Aberystwyth University’s Department of Geography and Earth Sciences.  

The work is funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council, NERC.

Photos: 

Katie Miles and Professor Bryn Hubbard, picture on the Khumbu glacier in 2017.

Links:

Centre for Glaciology, Aberystwyth University
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/dges/research-groups/centre-glaciology/

Katie Miles – https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/dges/staff-profiles/listing/profile/kam64/

Professor Bryn Hubbard
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/dges/staff-profiles/listing/profile/byh

Scientific Reports – https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-34327-5

EverDrill Project