Oliver and Save the Children Concert
Along with Steve Skivens, chair of the Penyrheol, Trecenydd and Energlyn Community Council, I recently Cwm Ifor School’s production of Oliver.
At Cwm Ifor the production was the first since the reconstruction of the school was completed and very good it was.
I also went to a Save the Children concert at St Helen’s Church
At both events there were tributes to my good friend, Anne Collins, who passed away in May.
Anne was a true champion for her ward and very respected by everyone that she came into contact with. She was a governor at Cwm Ifor.
The Save The Children event saw performances from the choir from Cwrt Rawlins school, where Anne was a governor, and the Aber Valley Male Voice Choir.
Councillor Colin Mann, the Plaid Cymru leader on Caerphilly council, read a lovely eulogy from Caerphilly’s twin town of Lannion in Brittany which sent a £100 donation as a tribute to Anne.
Anne was chair of the Caerphilly Committee of Save the Children in what is its 60th anniversary. Ann Jackson has stepped into the role and the concert was a huge success with £950 raised.
Caerphilly Council
It seems that a week doesn’t go by without another revelation from Caerphilly council.
I was shocked to learn the controversial chief executive salary band of £142,524 to £158,360 is still in existence, although fortunately it is not being used as a basis to pay the interim chief executive.
Lindsay Whittle
Plaid Cymru AM South Wales East
Apparently everyone, except the leadership of Plaid Cymru, knows that the pay awards for top officials at the council has not been rescinded. Councillor Colin Mann has also recently stated that he did not know that the pay structure passed by a group of five councillors, including the deputy leader of the Plaid group, was still in force.
We now have a crazy situation where a pay structure brought into being using a process declared unlawful by the Audit Office is still council policy. This is after the two most senior officers of the council have been arrested for their part in the process.
Instead of issuing statements of mock horror and indignation that the pay structure remains in force the senior Plaid councillors would do better to campaign for the pay structure to be returned to the level it was prior to the meeting of the remuneration committee. If they did so I, as a non-political Caerffili Town Councillor, would support their action whole heartedly. Until they do so I see their comments for what they are; political point scoring during the Penyrheol by-election campaign.
Any Assembly news?