than £500,000, supporting a range of local and national charities. He’s been a trustee of the Ray Gravell Charitable Foundation, President of Llanelli Male Voice Choir, Cor Dyffryn Tywi Choir, supported Morriston Orpheus Choir and many more local groups and activities. Back in 1981, he organised a Rotary fund raising night for MENCAP and even managed to persuade the then Sec- retary General of MENCAP, Lord Brian Rix to attend as Guest of Honour. He has supported the Urdd for over 15 years, and been a major sponsor of Scarlets Rugby for more than 15 years. For many years David was Chair- man of Llandovery College PTA and established the Tom Gravell Scholarship in honour of his father, allowing a student from Patagonia to study at the college as a full- time student supporting the use of the Welsh language in Patagonia.


helped make the work possible”. The green fingers of Cowbridge Rotary do not stop at the car park. On 6th May the club is sponsoring “Rotary Spring Gardens” to raise funds for the Tenovus “Closer to Home” appeal.


In recognition of his services to Cefn Sidan Rotary over the last 45 years, he has been the recipient of two Paul Harris Sapphire Awards. President John Prickett said “This award


has been long overdue and very well deserved. Along with the other Founder Members they demonstrate vision and hard work to ensure that Rotary remains a community driven charity in this part of Carmarthenshire. David continues to attend meetings and is always happy to give support and guidance in his own inimitable way”


COWBRIDGE


Following major work to tidy up the main car park in Cowbridge last summer, twenty members of Cowbridge Rotary Club were back there this Spring to make further improvements. A number of the ‘island’ beds in the car park were cleared of weeds, dug out and filled with material provided by Cowbridge Compost. The beds were then levelled and seed sown which should result in a display of wild flowers later in the summer. President of Cowbridge Rotary, David Harris, said “The main park in Cowbridge is not a particularly attractive area and yet it is one of the first places seen by many visitors to the town. Members of Rotary therefore welcomed the chance to support the commu- nity and make this area of the town a little more attractive. This is the second year that we have worked there and we plan to repeat it each summer for the foreseeable future. We are particularly grateful for the support of the team from Cowbridge Compost who have


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Cowbridge Rotary held their rescheduled St David’s Day celebration with a traditional supper and entertainment at Ramoth Church. The concert was postponed due to the snow but rearranged later in the month. A capacity audience was treated to homemade ‘cawl’ and ‘bara brith’ in the vestry, before being invited into the church for a concert given by three extremely talented young musicians from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Tenor, Osian Wyn Bowen, who is in the final of the Milford Haven Opera Competition, and is currently singing in the College’s production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, sang Welsh favourites such as David of the White Rock and Ryan Davies’ Pan fo’r Nos yn Hir, and also delighted the audience with his rendition of the classic American ballad Homeward Bound. Two harpists, Elin Kelly and Mared Pugh Evans, already international artists, played solos by John Thomas, Tchaikovsky, York Bowen and a newly commissioned work by former Royal Harpist, Catrin Finch, entitled Môr Arianrhod, depicting the calm sea between Anglesey and the mainland. At the mid point of the programme, Rotary President, David Harris, recited the famous Eli Jenkins’ prayer from Under Milk Wood to harp accompaniment. An enjoyable evening was had by all, and £931 was raised that will go to the charities of Headway and MS.


FISHGUARD & GOODWICK We had an interesting presentation by


District Officer Lieutenant Commander Sue Gittens. Sue, who we knew as the Com- manding Officer of Fishguard Sea Cadets has moved on to dizzy heights in the Sea Cadet hierarchy. Sue gave us an enlightening over- view of the structure of the Sea Cadets. She now has responsibility for all sea cadets in an enormous geographic area and as a volunteer,


the work load and responsibility set a demanding schedule that requires total dedication. Sadly, Sue reported that the number of new recruits into the sea cadets is steadily declining. The club wished to support the Fishguard Folk Festival and agreed to sponsor a concert by the “Flying Toads”. President Richard Richard Goswell met the organising committee at The Royal Oak and presented the organisers with a cheque for £250. The club agreed to help the Fish- guard Sea Cadets raise £600 to pay for berths on the Sea Cadet Training vessel MV Jack Petchey by running a Race Night. The club made up the shortfall on the money raised on the evening. Photo shows President Richard presenting the cheque (below).


KNIGHTON AND DISTRICT We have had a sociable few months, as we


now have our third Wednesday meeting of the month as a flexible venue. As a consequence, we have a number of our members offering to do a “frugal” lunch in their homes, where we pay our usual meal price of £12 plus drinks (supplied by the host) and all money raised (after expenses) goes to charity. So far this year from five lunches we have raised over £800 with £200 going to Rotary Foundation and the remainder to our community-based projects. We also raised £200 at our charity quiz for Tenovus cancer care - we have a num- ber of “Friends of Rotary” who join us for this twice-yearly event. In addition we attended a screening of “Breathe” at the Knighton Com- munity Centre to raise awareness of Rotary’s involvement in polio eradication. Finally we have the Treorchy Male Choir visiting us on July 7th to help us raise money for the Wales and Midland Air Ambulances (both cover our patch) and local charities. This will be our major fundraiser for the 2018-19 Rotary year – a great start after a very satisfying 2017-18 year under President Howard Goslyn. As Rotary and its partners get ever closer to eradicating polio from the world forever, we are trying to spread the word about this achievement. We have only a small rural community with which we are always trying to form closer bonds and bit by bit it is working. One of our newer Rotarians Nick Stimpson, who is passionate about Rotary, has become a member of many community and youth groups in Knighton and is working to improve further our standing in the commu- nity. With the support of club members Nick suggested we have a stall at both the Knighton Community Market and in Brookside Square


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