Nia is campaigning with Town Councillors Mary Wenman and Jean Hire to get improvements for Burry Port Town Park.
As Nia explained
“We really want to see better facilities for the children of Burry Port, and that’s why I am working with local councillors and parents to set up a community group which will enable us to apply for funding for the park. To get grant funding, it is important to show evidence about what people want in the park. That’s why Mary has sent out questionnaires to parents via the local schools, and we would really like to have as many back as possible.”
Many thanks to everyone who supported the Parklife Fun Day on 15th August. It raised £1400 for the Park, which is a fantastic start. Now we have to get on with the hard work of applying for funding to buy new equipment for the park .
Nia’s swift action last summer led to the County Council agreeing to shelve their plans to close the town’s paddling pools, but for one year only.
Nia inspecting Parc Howard Paddling Pool with Town Councillors Carl Lucas, Jan Williams and Bill Thomas.
Then Nia organised public meetings to hear what local people wanted for Crown Park, People’s Park and Parc Howard.
Everyone wanted to keep the facilities and Cllr Carl Lucas, leader of the Labour Group on Llanelli Town Council took up the challenge, and with the support of fellow Labour Councillors, persuaded the Town Council to fund the three pools – in Crown Park, Parc Howard and People’s Park for the next three years.
Nia said “I am delighted that the Town Councillors have found a way to fund the pools for the next three years. They have listened to local residents. All we need now is some good weather so that children can enjoy the pools .”
In his autobiography, the great James Griffiths, MP for Llanelli and the first Secretary of State for Wales, recalls seeing a demonstration of working people in New York. One poster said, “Give us bread – and roses too.” This was taken from a poem written many years earlier, in 1911 by James Oppenheim, on the occasion of a textile workers strike. Part of that poem reads:
Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for — but we fight for roses, too!
For James Griffiths that was what Socialism meant. It was not concerned only with the means of survival – bread. What mattered too was the quality of life, symbolised by roses.
That is why I am glad and proud to be supporting Parc Howard. That’s why when the Park’s funding was under threat, I called a public meeting, from which we were able to re-establish the Parc Howard Association, to speak up for the preservation and enhancement of this precious asset. I am delighted to see that the association is going from strength to strength, and hope we can work together to achieve green flag status in time for the Park’s centenary in 2012.
It is not mere coincidence that Parc Howard was established a year after Oppenheim wrote his poem; it was a time of social reform and vision; following on from Lloyd Geroge’s famous people’s budget in 1909 which introduced progressive taxation, 1911 saw the foundation of the modern welfare state.
Of course, we want jobs for Llanelli and decent housing, high-quality healthcare and good education. We also want our people to be able to enjoy things of beauty whether in the arts or in nature. Parc Howard and its mansion belong to the people of Llanelli. We cherish our inheritance. Long may Parc Howard be an inspiration to the people of Llanelli.
