Wales - Cymru

Carmarthenshire Local Health Board has a new chair.

Janet Hawes, who is also chair of Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire LHBs, has been appointed as the Chair of the current Carmarthenshire LHB until the new Hywel Dda Local Health Board becomes fully operational in October.  Mrs Hawes took over from retiring chair Ken Jones on Wednesday, April 1.

Mrs Hawes, who lives in Llanon, Ceredigion, has spent the last 39 years in the public and voluntary sectors working at local, regional and national levels as both an officer and Board Member.

With 278,655 visits during 2008 and a further 20,237 enquiries by phone and email, this is the busiest of the 63 TICs in Wales, and Cllr Howells was thrown in at the deep end, dealing with enquiries about the best places to visit, selling souvenirs and helping out with left luggage.

The visit was arranged to raise awareness of the range of services offered by TICs and the level of commitment and professionalism of frontline TIC staff, and to highlight the significant contribution tourism makes to the local economy.

At the end of the morning, Cllr Howells said the experience had been enlightening. He said:

"Like many people, I had little idea of the variety of services available at the TIC, nor the vast wealth of knowledge and information the staff have to have at their fingertips. When you've got a visitor standing in front of you or on the other end of the phone waiting for your response, you've really got to have your wits about you and I've learned this morning what a thoroughly professional team we're lucky enough to have here.

"Tourism brings around £575 million annually to Cardiff's economy, and the TIC team is to be given great credit for their part in contributing to that spend."

TIC Manager Cheryl Clarke said Cllr Howells had done very well and the staff had enjoyed working alongside him.

An Equestrian Academy has been set up at the school in conjunction with the Welsh Assembly Government's 5x60 scheme, which is managed by the Sports Council for Wales and run locally by Monmouthshire County Council, in a bid to get secondary school children engaged in physical recreation more often.

Part of the school's academy structure which provides high quality after school hours learning for all the students at the school, young riders are offered the opportunity to participate in bi-weekly horse riding lessons, or coaching on their own horses with Matt and Marie Ryan, with the weeks in between spent in the classroom learning about the essentials of horse management through guest speakers and activities.

Hayley Howells from the Redbrook Equestrian School explains further:
"The riding academy aims to support and develop students seeking to simply gain more equestrian experience or build a career whilst continuing their education. There are a variety of horses and ponies available to suit all abilities and a logical and progressive system of training is provided to give the students realistic stepping stones to achieve their equestrian goals both in the saddle and on the ground."

Understood to be the first of its type in a state school in the UK, the academy also offers the students the chance to obtain nationally recognised qualifications in riding and stable management, which will enhance their opportunities in equestrian or related careers upon leaving school.