PEMBROKSEHIRE photographer Gillian Mackay has shot her way to victory after being shortlisted for the highly acclaimed British Photography Awards, 2024.

Her stunning photograph, entitled ‘Ice Cream Please’ displays a wild pony harassing a lady who’s standing in a queue for an ice cream. And it certainly wowed this year’s selectors with the result that it has now been included in the awards’ Street Category section.

“I’m delighted and thrilled to be shortlisted for this, because it was certainly a surreal moment when I saw a wild pony harassing a lady in a queue for ice cream,” said Gillian.

Gillian’s focus has always been to try and catch things from an unusual perspective, which makes street photography her ideal genre. Her photographs sometimes include people in high contrast silhouette and sometimes she exposes the image for the person, and other times for the background. Her photographs often catch people in action, or when they are unaware of her presence, such as when they’re sitting alone on a public bench or, in this instance, queuing for an ice cream.

Street photography was first established by Henri Cartier-Bresson, when his aim was to catch random incidents in public places, rather than posed images. And it goes without saying that street photography can be taken anywhere in a public area, not just on the street.

Gillian, who is a member of the Tenby Camera Club, will be travelling to London for the awards ceremony which takes place in November.

The final winner will be chosen by a panel of judges, however there will also be a people’s award which can be visited on the British Photography Awards website.

PLAID Cymru’s shadow health and social care secretary warned that new Wales-wide standards for commissioning care may be unachievable due to financial pressures.

Mabon ap Gwynfor raised concerns about the national rules for councils and health boards on commissioning care and support, which came into force on September 1.

He welcomed the reform’s overall aims but cautioned that councils, which will primarily be responsible for implementation, are already “hurtling” into an existential crisis.

Mr ap Gwynfor said councils are contending with a 3.8% increase in spending pressures this year compared with a 0.3% rise in funding, with a projected £750m shortfall by 2027.

He told the Senedd: “There remains widespread concern that the principles and standards outlined in this framework, as worthy as they are, will be unachievable in practical terms.”

Mr ap Gwynfor, who represents Dwyfor Meirionnydd, said non-ring-fenced parts of the Welsh budget, which include social care, are facing a £683m real-terms cut over five years.

Dawn Bowden, Wales’ social care minister, argued the bulk of the reforms ask councils and health boards to do things differently rather than to do more.

“It’s about moving away from complexity towards simplicity,” she said in a statement to the Senedd on September 24.

“It’s about moving away from price towards social value and quality, and it’s about moving away from reactive commissioning and towards managing the market.”

Altaf Hussain, the Conservatives’ shadow social care minister, described the new code as a welcome step in ensuring a uniform approach to care commissioning.

But Dr Hussain was concerned that moving away from price-driven contracts could have a detrimental impact on council and health board budgets.

Jane Dodds, the Liberal Democrats’ leader in Wales, broadly backed the reforms but raised concerns about social care recruitment and retention in rural Wales.

She warned: “People in our care sector and our health sector are really overwhelmed at the moment and to pile on them, yet again, another change is a real challenge.”

Labour’s Julie Morgan, who was previously social care minister, described the reforms as a building block towards the vision of a national care service.

She stressed the importance of better pay, saying care workers can get much more to do a similar job in the NHS which makes retention difficult.

Ms Bowden said the new national office for care and support within the Welsh Government, which was established in April, will play a key role in implementing the framework.

Wales-wide commissioning rules form part of a swathe of reforms proposed by the Welsh Government in an effort to tackle the social care crisis.

The ambition, agreed as part of the cooperation deal with Plaid Cymru, is to establish a national care and support service – free at the point of need, similar to the NHS.

An implementation plan was published by the Welsh Government in December, with the reforms expected to take at least ten years.

Phase one includes establishing national commissioning arrangements, a voluntary pay framework, and a national office for care and support.

Political opponents have cautioned of the potential negative consequences of imposing a litany of changes on a sector already struggling to cope.

A lack of funding is the crux of the crisis but it is often the elephant in the room.

The scale of the issue means Wales is reliant on Westminster bringing forward reforms in England, which would result in consequential funding for the Welsh Government.

But, for decades, successive Conservative- and Labour-led governments appear to have kicked social care into the long grass.

Before a u-turn in September 2022, Boris Johnson’s UK Government proposed a health and social care levy which was expected to raise about £13bn a year.

And Carwyn Jones’ Welsh Government, which cut health to protect social care spending, commissioned independent research on paying for Wales’ social care needs.

Gerry Holtham, an economist, proposed a similar levy or tax increase in 2018.

A SCHEME to restore a west Wales town centre fountain, on which a historic carving said to relate to Welsh political activist and one-time leader of the Free Wales Army Julian Cayo-Evans has been discovered, has been submitted to planners.

Lampeter Town Council, in an application to Ceredigion County Council, seeks permission to restore the town’s Grade-II-listed Harford Square fountain after receiving funding from the Transforming Towns scheme.

The 1862-built fountain, a gift from J S Harford of Peterwell to the people of Lampeter, whose family lived at the Falcondale Estate, on the outskirts of the town, was built in 1862, and was previously restored in 1990.

The fountain provided the first drinking water for the people in the town and reduced the need for the local women to collect water from the local rivers, a supporting statement says.

The long list of works sought include cleaning and re-pointing the fountain, together with repairs and retooling of parts, the replacement of fox-mask mouths “removed by persons unknown,” and works to “once more allow the water to flow, bringing the fountain back to life”.

It adds: “The town council has been fortunate to have received funding from the Transforming Towns fund and as a result we are now able to put the restoration of the Harford Square at the top of our agenda. This enables us, to move forward with this project, to ensure that this monument will be preserved for generations to come.”

It says “the community is determined to retain the character of the town and attract vitality, by making full use of its existing assets, by ensuring that our town is attractive, and its resources are accessible to residents and visitors alike,” adding: “During our preparatory examination of the Fountain, a carving has been discovered, of the name of a famous Lampeter character, Julian Cayo-Evans, which is of local and national heritage importance.”

Julian Cayo-Evans, born in nearby Silian, is best known as the leader of the Free Wales Army, which had as its crest Eryr Wen, a stylised white eagle.

The FWA first appeared in public at a 1965 protest against the construction of the Llyn Celyn reservoir and the following year joined Irish celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Dublin Easter Rising.

In the run-up to the 1969 investiture of the-then Prince Charles, Cayo-Evans was convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions and other public order offences.

He died at Silian in 1995.

Detailing the works intended for the fountain the town council has said: “The obelisk is very dirty, due to its proximity to the main road and has evidence of lichen growing on the stonework. The Forest of Dean Stone requires cleaning, and the lime mortar joints on the fountain plinth and obelisk require cleaning out and replacing with the appropriate mortar. There are signs of poor historic repair, in particular, the central marble stone, repaired with a bonded resin, which needs to be removed, this will in turn enable the internal workings to be inspected.

“The lettering of the inscriptions has also worn and is almost illegible. The condition of the spigots is deteriorating and require some restoration, also the four fox-mask mouths which were installed during the 1992 renovation are missing and are no longer attached. It has been noted that the most recent versions were made by a local blacksmith and were not made from the original moulds.”

The application will be considered by county planners at a later date.