Light up a life
It was a real pleasure to attend St David’s Hospice Care Light Up A Life remembrance service at St Martin’s Church in Caerphilly last week.
I’ve been going to this annual service since 1999 and I was delighted to be asked to deliver a reading by working class poet Idris Davies.
Rhymney-born Idris is perhaps best known for the verse, The Bells of Rhymney, which were later turned into a folk standard by Pete Seeger and was also recorded American folk rock legends, The Byrds. He died from cancer at the age of just 48.
There was a huge turnout – the biggest I can remember – and it gave people an opportunity to remember and celebrate the lives of loved ones.
A collection was taken for the Newport-based hospice during the service.
From those early days more than 30 years ago, the work of the St David’s Hospice has grown remarkably. They are now the UK’s largest provider of hospice at home care, caring for more than 2,600 patients and families annually, and do a fantastic job.
They have 33 charity shops and the income they generate is vital to the work of the hospice. But there is a serious threat to these shops if the Welsh Government cut the business rate relief from 80% to 50%. It would not only lead to wholesale closures but plenty of empty shops in our high streets.
Christmas
This will be my final column before Christmas so I wanted to appeal to Caerphilly Observer readers to think about those who are on their own, often the elderly, during the festive period.
If you have a neighbour, who does not have family, then perhaps consider inviting them in your home, something I’ve done in the past. It’s a gesture I’m sure would be really appreciated.
There are half-a-dozen foodbanks in the Gwent area. They do a great job in providing emergency food for families and individuals who cannot afford to eat.
Many people are suffering badly because of the economic crisis and the rise in food prices, so if you’re able to help by donating food you can get information on where foodbanks are located through www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects. I’m sure they would be delighted to hear from you.
Lindsay Whittle
Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales East
If Lindsay was not the genuine person he is, and he is genuine through and through, you could almost see the patronising, platitudes, jumping out of the page from his comments. I would not question every word he writes here.
However, he fails to ask us all to spare a thought for the 20 or so Senior Officers employed by the council, of which he is a member, Caerphilly Borough Council, who will be sitting down to their Christmas dinner, with copious amounts of festive food and drink, during their extended, paid, holidays, feet up in front of a roaring fire, ( or an overworking central heating system) whilst picking up a recent pay rise of upwards of £400 a week, on top of the over generous salaries they already receive, most of them over £2,200 a week, ( total? £2,00).
So the citizens of Caerphilly really should spare a thought, during this season of goodwill, for these special people, who are judged by our Caerphilly Councillors, to need more money than makes sense to the rest of the population, and particularly the mental anguish this additional wealth will give them, where to put it, what to do with it, how to spend it, where to invest it, God, will this misery never end????
Bit of a back handed compliment Trefor.You are questioning my words by accusing me of being patronising.No need for that in my opinion.Ah well.
Please do not associate me with the new Labour administrations decision to increase the salary of very well paid officers.It is now up to those councillors to answer the electorate.
It did not happen when I was Leader of the Council.
By the way 20 officers are involved in this increase but not all as high salary as the C.E.
Eloquently put by Trefor Bond, pay rises of this kind, in a recession, in a time of budget cuts, in a time when many are losing jobs and homes are incredible.
All this apparently decided by a meeting of four Labour and one Plaid councillor who took just 40 minutes to award these unjustified, in my opinion, rises. I have had many questions from angry residents on how this can be done in a democracy. It seems that the Supreme Soviet still live in their Dachas when the rest of us worry about how the cold weather may make their fuel bill unaffordable.
I apologise to Lindsay, for offending his sensitivities, that was totally contrary to my intentions, For clarity, what I said was, if the remarks and comments, he expressed, had been made by a less genuine and community dedicated individual, one who had a less proven and genuine personal record of public service than Lindsay, they would easily pass for being worthless platitudes and patronising comments read by those people who already, year on year, and throughout the year, apply the same principals of community concern, and, concern for those people in the communities in which we live.
On the comment Lindsay makes of some of the 20 or so people employed by the Caerphilly who have had this unbelievable hike in their pay, given to them by Caerphilly Councilors, and, who do not earn as much as the Chief Executive Officer,I would remind him that they DO earn an average of over £90,000 a year, so a hike in pay of over 20% for them still aquates to a basic pension for at least five old age pensioners.
Trefor,apology fully accepted.I really do agree with all comments on the increses to these officers at a time when so many are suffering.No councillor can justify this.The public are angry and so are the bulk of the councillors.
There will be interesting times in the council meeting in the new year.Watch this space.
Every thing the Labour Party touches turns rotten, but this salary increase in nothing compard to the millions the last Labour Administration wasted on destroying the Miners and building that white elephant in Ystrad.