School has right idea with cheer trophy
Following the letter from the CEO of Kidscape (“Celebrate friendship, make someone smile”, Western Mail, November 4) your readers may be interested to hear of a local school that is putting this idea into practice.
Last year our society presented a Tommy Cooper Trophy to Bedwas Infants School in memory of Councillor Angus Donaldson, our founder chairman and long-time governor of the school.
The teachers decided to present the trophy every week to the pupil who had made them laugh and generally cheered the school up. The pupil also has the honour of wearing the school fez for a week!
It’s good to know that friendship and kindness are qualities to be encouraged as much as success in examinations and sport.
Tudor Jones
Chairman, Tommy Cooper Society Caerphilly
World Service is a waste of money
There are always people like Julian Ruck who are hostile to the Welsh language, who question the amount of money spent on it. On Y Byd Y Bedwar on S4C on October 30 he complained that far too much money would be spent on the Welsh Government’s initiative to help preserve the language.
What about the amount of money spent by the British government in London on the English language? The grant S4C receives from London – £6.8m a year at the last count – is dwarfed in comparison to the money the British government pours into the BBC’s World Service (£85m a year 17-18). Do people ever question if this service is value for money or a waste of public funds?
England (Britain) is still trying to preserve its global influence from Empire days.
What’s more important, spending money on the living language of one of the nations of the UK, the native language of people who actually live in Britain, or huge amounts on a service for people abroad, the vast majority of whom are not British?
Gareth Rowlands
Machynlleth
Time Royal Family were brought to heel
Mired in controversy over charges of tax dodging, isn’t it high time we jettisoned the parasites who are the Royal Family and their entourage?
Herodotus the historian, writing 2,500 years ago, asked: “How can one fit monarchy into any sound system of ethics, when it allows a man to do whatever he likes without any responsibility or control?”
If we can’t get rid of the royals, then at least they need to be brought to heel.
Ian Brown
Penygraig, Rhondda
Have your valuable say on the Autism Act
Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales has backed my bid to get the Welsh Government to do more for the voluntary sector.
I proposed a motion at the party’s annual conference in Caernarfon that some of the government’s planned £13m spending on autism should go to the voluntary sector.
I am on the autism spectrum, and I have been helped greatly by the Cardiff-based charity, Autism Spectrum Connections Cymru (ASCC), which, I believe, should receive a grant from the Welsh Government to help its work.
There are major issues with the way autism provision is funded in Wales at the moment. The Welsh Government does not seem to recognise the important work autism specialist support providers do when it determines how it spends its money on autism.
I recently drew up and presented a petition calling on the Welsh Government to fund ASCC.
As we know, there is greater awareness of autism now and a great deal of attention is being given to it.
But there is a plan in place to use the £13m to fund a new body. This new organisation, the National Integrated Autism Service, would focus mainly on giving people a diagnosis of autism, but this is only a part of what is needed.
I would like to highlight the importance of the voluntary sector in helping people living with autism. The purpose of the ASCC charity is to advise and support adults with autism. It provides a safe place for people with autism, where they can drop in at any time. Without it, the people living with the syndrome could find it difficult to cope with everyday problems.
The new Plaid Cymru policy states that it is important to recognise the work provided by social groups, post-diagnostic support and, particularly, employment support.
I would like to point members to a consultation about the Autism Act at the Assembly. I urge everyone to respond and make their views known on the Assembly’s website.
Aled Thomas
Penarth
Poet’s talk to be a valuable insight
Is poetry good for you? We often think of poetry as a great smoother of fevered brows – but is it something different for the poet behind the words?
Gwyneth Lewis, the first National Poet of Wales, who wrote the famous six-foot-high words on the front of Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre, will talk about a poet’s life in The Poetic Calling: Does it Strengthen or Poison a Life?
Using examples from the work of poets such as George Herbert, Robert Frost, John Berryman and Lucile Clifton, she will examine how a calling to language in poetic form can both strengthen or poison a life. She will explore the mysteries of metaphor and rhyme – and what both can do to those who enter into them.
Gwyneth has published nine books of poetry in Welsh and English, and several books of prose. She is freelance and lives in Cardiff. For the last three years she has taught at the Bread Loaf School of English in Vermont, USA.
The talk is part of the lecture series of CACEC (Cardiff Adult Christian Education Centre), which serves Cardiff, the Vale and the Valleys. It will be held on Thursday, November 16, at 7.30pm in City United Reformed Church, Windsor Place, Cardiff, CF10 3BZ. All welcome. Entry £5.
Jean Silvan Evans
Peterston-super-Ely
Licensing could solve tax-avoidance issue
There may be a solution to the harmful effects of tax avoidance on societies and national economies.
In a similar way to the licensing of banks, businesses and individuals who wish to sell goods and services to people living in Britain could be licensed too.
Traders could be required to adhere to certain conditions, such as not using tax havens, in order to have an annual licence renewed; online transactions being solely via dedicated national ICT servers.
Geoff Naylor
Winchester, Hampshire
Thank you all for Wearing it Pink
I am writing to thank all of the brilliant fundraisers in Cardiff for joining us and taking part in Wear it Pink on Friday, October 20.
Wear it Pink, Breast Cancer Now’s flagship fundraiser, takes place every year during October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to raise money for vital breast cancer research.
We were so thrilled that 233 fundraisers across Cardiff ditched their everyday colours and pulled on some pink to help Breast Cancer Now achieve its aim that by 2050 nobody will die from breast cancer.
Breast Cancer is a devastating disease. Around 250 women in Cardiff are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and around 48 women in Cardiff lose their lives to the disease.
It was fantastic to see so many fabulous pink events taking place across workplaces, schools and communities in Cardiff – all of us at “Pink HQ” want to say a big thank- you to all those who got involved and we hope to see you Wearing it Pink again next year.
Lottie Barnden,
Wear it Pink senior manager at Breast Cancer Now
How many seek cash to avoid taxation?
I refer to the letter from EO Rogers, Whitchurch, Cardiff, on November 8, and wonder how many odd-jobbers and club entertainers ask for cash payments and not cheques to avoid paying tax.
Gwili Lewis
Northwich, Cheshire
