News

PM’s flying visit

Published

10 years ago

February 27, 2014

THE FIRST visit to Pembrokeshire by a serving UK Prime Minister since 1991 took place in a mist shrouded Newgale on Wednesday, February 19.

Landing by helicopter, the Prime Minister’s visit included a visit to the Duke of Edinburgh pub, pictures of which, surrounded by flood waters and the remains of sea defences, have become iconic images of the recent storms.

Jasper Slater, the owner of the pub for fourteen years told The Herald: “The Prime Minister arrived by helicopter and landed in the car park. He was greeted at the door of the pub by myself and was shown around the damage by landlord Chris Lugg and his partner. He looked around and spoke with the workmen inside such as plasters and electricians. He was very interested to see how the bad storms had affected the community and offered his concerns.”

The Prime Minister joked to Mr Slater that he may be back to enjoy a pint with him once the reconstruction work was completed.

Later during his visit, the Prime Minister called in at St David’s Assemblies’ plant on Glasfryn Road, St David’s and met with local and national press representatives.

Herald assistant editor, Jon Coles, attended along with representatives of the Western Mail, Western Telegraph, and Radio Pembrokeshire. He writes:The road to St David’s was shrouded in mist as the local press headed to and from the site of St David’s Assemblies Ltd, a leading supplier of parts to the automotive and domestic appliance industries. Stephen Crabb, MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire told the local press pool:

“It’s quite surprising that this type of manufacturing still exists in a place like St David’s. There are high-quality, skilled jobs, employing local people on good wages. The company has partnerships with local colleges to train apprentices and employs over forty people, many of them women. This is a Pembrokeshire success story.”

There was quite a wait to see the Prime Minister, before the four of us were ushered into a small office to ask one question each to David Cameron. He’s significantly less full-faced than he appears on television: dressed down for his visit, as you might expect, he was friendly in the way that professional politicians are friendly and invited us to sit down with him around a low table for what was described as “a huddle”.

He was clear and precise with his answers. On the issue of tackling flooding, David Cameron said:

“Tackling floods is a devolved issue to the Welsh Government. I rang the First Minister to offer military help. Of course, there is the question of insurance, which is not devolved and we shall be speaking to the Welsh Government about that. In terms of offering additional funding, funding for flood defences is a devolved issue and we have the Barnett formula for public funding in Wales. We (the UK government) are always happy to talk with the Welsh Government about needs and problems. That is one of the reasons we have come today”

With roads blocked and railways damaged, the question of what opportunities existed to review and replace existing transport infrastructure:

“In England, there is an annual review of the resilience of our transport infrastructure. In Wales, that process is a devolved area. I think it is sensible, once the flood waters have drained down, to ask how we can better build in resilience to our infrastructure, for example signalling equipment able to withstand flooding. I am sure the Welsh Government will be doing that and we will share expertise and experience with them.”

In relation to “planned withdrawal” from coastal areas, David Cameron was forthright:

“I think we should look at our flood defences and work out how to make them more robust. Where I was this morning (Newgale) was flooded from in front and behind, from the river and the sea. It was flooded twice in one month. We need to make sure that we restore the defences from the sea and clear the river. We shouldn’t feel powerless in the face of these extreme weather events. Of course, across the UK many thousands of homes were flooded, but flood defences protected over a million homes. I am confident in using modern technology and improving our forecasting, we can protect ourselves even better.”

On a change of tack, the Prime Minister took a strongly partisan line to a question about Withybush Hospital:

“Health is a matter for the Welsh Government. I’m very clear that the Welsh Government, controlled by Labour, made a bad decision because they decided to cut the funding to the Health Service. In England, we took the decision to protect the funding for the Health Service. So we’re not making cuts to the health budgets in England, we’re protecting them. Here in Wales, they are being cut; they are being cut by over eight percent and that has had very bad consequences for the NHS in Wales. That was a political decision taken by the Labour Party in Cardiff and I think it was a mistake.”

And that was it, polite exchanges, 5 minutes out of the Prime Minister’s schedule, and he was ushered out to meet the BBC and ITV Wales. While we waited for the camera crews to clear the outside of the building, we took the chance to speak with Stephen Crabb, who praised the efforts of local council workers during the recent floods.

“Today the Prime Minister has paid tribute to the County Council’s workers who helped keep Pembrokeshire open during the recent storms, during which the County Council got a lot of things right. The way in which it used social media to get information quickly to the public was particularly effective.”

Farming

Animal health and welfare workshops help family farm shape future business

Published

10 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Tom Sinclair

AN eagerness to learn new skills and knowledge is helping mother and son Dianna and Iestyn Spary to continually improve their livestock farming enterprise and build a financially sustainable business fit for the future.

Technical expertise and good business sense are not qualities the Sparys lack since embarking on an impressive number of Farming Connect workshops, covering a range of animal health and welfare topics.

“It’s been an amazing opportunity, we have learned so much that we can apply within the day to day running of our farm and herd, and we can draw on that knowledge as we look at developing new enterprises and diversifications,’’ says Dianna.

She is the fifth generation of her family to farm at Goytre Farm at New Church West, Chepstow, Iestyn the sixth.

Together they farm 110 hectares, running a Hereford-cross beef suckler herd and also rearing beef cattle purchased as baby calves, including more recently British Blues, taking these through to slaughter.

Although they have been immersed in agriculture all their lives, they recognise that it is an industry that is constantly changing as new research and ideas are rolled out and applied.

This is where the Farming Connect workshops have been so incredibly valuable, says Dianna.

“You are never too old to learn, things are changing all the time. If we hadn’t got involved in attending the workshops, we would never have known about some of those new ways of doing things.’’

From learning how to maximise suckler cow productivity and protecting youngstock health to understanding diseases such as Johne’s and bovine TB, the animal health and welfare training workshops have been “enormously valuable’’, she adds.

The pair have tapped into Farming Connect accredited training courses covering areas such as calf management, health and housing, body condition scoring and safe use of veterinary medicines.

“You name it we have done it,’’ says Dianna.

They were announced the winners of the 2023 Farming Connect Animal Health and Welfare Award at the Lantra Cymru Awards in January.

The knowledge gained through Farming Connect workshops and training has helped inform changes in the business.

“We now monitor cattle weights more closely and have introduced different ways of feeding,’’ Dianna explains.

“We have also been revamping all the cattle sheds and have a couple of new ones that will be going up.

“We’ve also invested in calf jackets and if there are any drops in weights, we are more responsive with feed intakes, little things like that.’’

Iestyn has also benefited from a number of sheep-related topics offered through the animal health workshops.

Through the Farming Connect Advisory Service, they have received specialist veterinary advice on their Herd Health Plan with a focus on incoming stock and biosecurity. They have also had guidance on soil health through the soil clinic.

The Sparys largely use traditional farming methods at Goytre Farm where they have several hay meadows.

All feed is produced on-farm. “By doing everything in-house we know exactly what we are feeding and that’s important to us,’’ says Dianna.

That distinctiveness, which sets them apart from some of the more mainstream farming systems, has given them the confidence to consider establishing a diversification into meat box sales, what Dianna describes as a ‘farm to fork’ approach.

Working with a local butcher who has an abattoir licence, they hope to do everything on-site, from slaughter through to hanging the carcass for 28 days, and then selling cuts direct to the consumer.

“We have also spoken to a chef who is going to produce some recipe cards for us to include in the boxes along with a bit of history of where the meat has come from,’’ says Dianna.

Another future project could be converting stone barns in the farmyard to holiday accommodation.

To help focus their minds on their plans, the Sparys will get guidance at a Farming Connect diversification surgery; they have also signed up for a ‘planning a diversification’ training course and will attend a ‘Dos and Don’ts of Diversification’ event in the coming weeks.

For Iestyn, another form of diversification, into agricultural contracting, has provided a secondary income stream.

His customer base is largely farms with smaller acreages with crops that require harvesting or spraying.

Farming Connect has helped with this process too as Iestyn has gained his Level 2 Award in the Safe Use of Pesticides (PA1) and Safe Application of Pesticides Using Vehicle mounted Boom Sprayer Equipment (PA2).

He also offers field maintenance and fencing and works on a neighbouring farm during the lambing season.

This is where Farming Connect has again helped; through the animal health workshops, he has covered modules advising on the prevention of lambing losses and lameness, improving lamb performance post-weaning and parasite controls.

Dianna says the opportunities available through Farming Connect have really helped to drive the family farming business forward.

“We have a good relationship with our local Farming Connect development officer Lisa Powell, she has been brilliant in giving us advice on which courses and workshops are right for us and signing us up for those,’’ she says.

All your achievements, training and knowledge transfer activities are saved within your personal, online Storfa Sgiliau account, the unique, online professional development tool, available for you to view and download at any time from your BOSS (Business Online Support Service) account.

Education

Lib Dem leader meets student union after scrapping of teacher training

Published

13 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Tom Sinclair

Last week, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds visited Aberystwyth University to meet students following the announcement that the University will be scrapping their Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) program.

The announcement comes after the publication of an Estyn inspection report last year, which found that the institution had “been too slow” when it came to prioritising student support.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have now called for the University to produce and implement an action plan that will enable the reintroduction of this course at the earliest opportunity, as well as for the Uni to rectify any similar shortcomings in other training programs.

Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:

“Aberystwyth university has long been seen as a cornerstone of education here in Wales, and its role in shaping the future of Welsh-medium education is pivotal.

However, the decision by the Education Workforce Council to withdraw accreditation for their teacher training program now puts this at risk.

The report published by Estyn rightfully identified several flaws in the Uni’s approach to supporting student teachers, along with requiring the University to make significant improvement.

The decision of the EWC suggest that these improvements have not been made.

We are now calling on the University to get their act together, fix the shortcomings in this program and begin plans to reintroduce the course as soon as possible.

Commenting, a spokesperson for the Welsh Young Liberals said: “There was an overwhelming lack of support, especially for Disabled Students, which has been consistent since 2020.

Previous lecturers were always late, and assignments were marked late and inconsistently.

As a joint honours student my timetable is very erratic, and this has an adverse effect on my wellbeing.

This does not however, mean that the course should be cut, Aberystwyth university should be looking to improve the course and help deliver the next generation of teachers.”

Commenting, the Welsh Liberal Democrat PPC for Ceredigion Mark Williams said: “The reputation of Aberystwyth University as a well-respected centre of education is rightfully a source of pride for many residents here in Ceredigion.

This is why it is so dis-heartening to hear that the Uni have failed to take the recommendations in the 2023 Estyn report seriously, leading them into the embarrassing position of losing their accreditation which risks delivering a severe blow to the future of Welsh-medium education.

The lack of foresight from the Uni in this regard is deeply worrying and I hope that, for the sake of both the students and the wider community, they take all the steps needed to restart the course at the earliest opportunity.”