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‘Excellent achievement’ for social worker

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Top of the class: Sarah Handley and Jonathan Griffiths, Director of Social Services and Leisure

Top of the class: Sarah Handley and Jonathan Griffiths, Director of Social Services and Leisure

A SOCIAL WORKER for Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC) has achieved first-class honours alongside a prestigious award for being the highest-performing student in Wales.

Sarah Handley, 38, of Haverfordwest, achieved this outstanding feat whilst working full-time and balancing family life.

Having completed her three-year course, Sarah was awarded the Andrew Cornwell Prize (Wales) 2015 from the Open University for receiving the highest results of her graduate cohort in the BA Honours in Social Work.

In order to undertake this qualification, the mother-of-two applied for and received an annual bursary from PCC in 2012, without which Sarah says she wouldn’t have been able to do it.

Sarah said: “I’m just very grateful that Pembrokeshire County Council invest in their staff and give them the opportunity to progress in their career. It was the only way I could have studied for a professional qualification without stopping work – which wasn’t possible.”

PCC’s new Director of Social Services and Leisure, Jonathan Griffiths, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for Sarah on a personal level and demonstrates a real commitment to achieving this qualification. The Open University also recognises this excellent achievement by making this award.

“I can also say that Pembrokeshire County Council is very proud of this level of attainment. To be recognised nationally in this way must be a source of great joy to Sarah and her family, making all the effort worthwhile.”

Before becoming a trainee social worker, Sarah worked for five years as an assessment coordinator in the council’s joint discharge team based at Withybush Hospital. Prior to that, she had various roles within healthcare and health promotion.

Sarah said: “I had found a profession I felt passionate about, and with the children getting a bit older, I wanted to do something for myself. I used to start working at 9am and carry on late into the evening, and every weekend. You have to put your life on hold. I missed a lot of telly!

“But I was motivated, and my mindset was to do it properly, or don’t do it at all. And the girls were studying for GCSEs and A-levels at the time, so we just became a studying household.”

She added: “It was completely worth it. Even though it was hard, I loved it.”

As part of her degree, Sarah spent six months with PCC’s social services family intervention team and six months with the mental health team. Her role now is Continuing Health Coordinator specialising in adult care, which includes a substantial amount of work with dementia patients and more complex cases.

Sarah said: “It’s a hugely rewarding career. You work with people when they are at their most vulnerable, when they are going through traumatic experiences. If you can alleviate that and make it easier for them, it’s very rewarding.

“The most important thing is to be very open-minded, very non-judgemental – and honest. People have such varied lives and society is changing so much.”

Sarah said how her family had been incredibly supportive while she was studying and are very proud of her achievement. She is now hopeful that her experience might encourage other young parents to be positive about what the future might hold in terms of their career.

She said: “I didn’t do well in school, and I had my eldest daughter at the age of 19. But you should never write somebody off because they are a young parent. Good things can happen to you.”

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Rugby Weekly – Tenby’s promotion push continues

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It’s crunch time for all rugby clubs around the county, whether promotion is their aim or fighting relegation or even just trying to improve their league position, it’s now or never. 

Last weekend saw an important win for Fishguard in division two west which should put any relegation fears to bed completely. James Griffiths added an impressive 18 points for the Seagulls as they defeated Nantgaredig 33-19. 

Elsewhere in the second division, Milford were beaten 32-8 by a good Lampeter outfit. The Mariners are still a little too close for comfort with the drop zone but should have enough quality to see them safe. 

At the other end of the table Tenby sit in second place and have played fewer games than leaders St Clears and third place Lampeter. They won impressively again last weekend, beating Pontyberem 64-19 at Haywood Lane. Fletcher Broadhurst impressed with two tries as did Hywel Baker who also grabbed himself a brace. Another excellent performance in an outstanding season so far in which promotion would be the absolute icing on the cake. 

In Division Three West, Pembroke were well beaten by Laugharne 74-15 in which the outstanding Liam Price and Nico Setaro both crossed the whitewash 4 teams a piece. The latter also added 7 successful conversions. 

There was a local derby at Pill Parks where Llangwm hosted Pembroke Dock Quins and it was an exciting clash. The visitors won narrowly 28-23, Craig Barnett and Gethin Bradney both scored two tries for the Quins. The Wasps battled hard and will be proud of their performance, Gethin Thomas impressed for the hosts with two tries of his own but it wasn’t enough to secure the points. 

St David’s hosted the high flying Cardigan outfit and were unable to score in reply to the visitors 20 points, with it ending 20-0. The Saints however won’t be losing too much sleep over it as they have had a great season so far. 

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Stephen Crabb leads inquiry on retaining community bank services  

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PRESELI Pembrokeshire MP, and Chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee Stephen Crabb is leading an inquiry in Parliament that will investigate the closure of high street banks in Wales, as well as access to cash.

In November 2023, Pembrokeshire saw the closure of Lloyds Bank in St Davids, and in the coming months both Barclays Bank and Halifax in Haverfordwest are set to close. In recent years, Wales has experienced a rapid decline in the number of high street banking services available to the public. Already in 2024, 23 high street bank closures have been announced in Wales, while automated teller machines (ATMs) declined by nearly a quarter between 2018 and 2023.

The Committee willconsider how declining high street banking services are impacting vulnerable people and small businesses across Wales, who are often more reliant on cash than digital banking. It will also examine how Wales is being affected by the loss of high street bank services, and whether the problem is worse in Wales than other parts of the UK.

Mr Crabb is a staunch advocate for retaining community banking facilities, especially in rural communities like Pembrokeshire where many local branches remain the only source of face-to-face banking provision for miles.

Recently Mr Crabb challenged Barclays Bank senior management on their decision to close the bank branch in Haverfordwest– a move that will see Barclays not only pull out of the county town, but means they won’t have a branch left anywhere in Pembrokeshire. He has also engaged with LINK – the UK’s largest cash machine network – and continues to campaign on the basis that a Banking Hub is established and that ATM machines should be retained or installed, especially in areas worst affected by the closures.  

Following the launch of the inquiry, MP Crabb added: “It is really sad to see so many banks across Wales closing as online banking grows in popularity. Despite the advantages of online banking, for a rural community with an ageing population like Pembrokeshire, bank branches hold huge importance as they offer face-to-face customer service.”

“I am acutely aware of the inconvenience that the bank closures locally have already caused following hundreds of replies from constituents to my ‘online banking survey’ ”

“I am looking forward to gathering further evidence on this subject through the committee’s inquiry, and will continue to put pressure on the relevant stakeholders to ensure that adequate alternative provisions are made through the establishment of banking hubs as well as the instalment of ATM machines where necessary.”

“In this inquiry, we are particularly keen to hear from those likely to be directly affected by the shift away from cash and physical banks. I encourage anyone with first-hand experience of losing banking services to give evidence to the Committee”

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Trains resume between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock as works end

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TRAIN services resumed this morning (Thursday 28 March) after ten days of essential round-the-clock work to upgrade track and drainage between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock.

The railway was closed from Monday 18 March to Wednesday 27 March to allow Network Rail teams to replace more than 200 metres of track and 300 tonnes of ballast (track stones) between Pembroke station and Pembroke Dock.

Work to improve the drainage between Narbeth and Kilgetty stations was also completed at the same time.

Nick Millington, Network Rail Wales and Borders route director, said: “This essential work in Pembrokeshire demonstrates our commitment to improving the reliability of the service we provide to passengers along our route.

“We know that replacing the track can be disruptive and very noisy, so I would like to thank the residents of Pembroke for their patience while our team carried out this crucial work.”

Colin Lea, Planning and Performance Director at Transport for Wales said: “We’re pleased that our colleagues in Network Rail have completed this essential work and that Transport for Wales rail services resumed today.

“We’d like to thank passengers for their patience while this work has progressed and look forward to welcoming passengers back in time for the Easter weekend.”

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