Council tax set to rise 2.5% in Rhondda Cynon Taff as budget sets out to protect frontline services

A BUDGET which aims to protect jobs and frontline services has been put forward by the cabinet of Rhondda Cynon Taf Council for further consultation before a final decision is made in February.

The council agreed to continue its investment in services, to support the creation of a modern apprenticeship scheme and to support first-time buyers.

If the budget is agreed, council tax will rise by 2.5%.

RCT Council received its second worst financial settlement – following its worst last year – with an increase of only 0.42%, which it says is a result of cuts imposed on Welsh public services by the UK Government.

The council says it’s experiencing significant increases in demand for services, particularly in social care, and that there is limited opportunity to increase council tax.

The council states that the proposals agreed set out a balanced budget that:

Does not cut services;

does not require compulsory redundancies;

protects schools;

invests in social care and the environment;

introduces a new apprenticeship scheme for the young unemployed;

invests further in our road infrastructure;

and provides support for first time buyers.

Council leader Russell Roberts said: “Even after having to deal with the major cuts in funding imposed on Wales by the UK government, ever growing service demands, and understanding the financial implications of the council tax on our residents, we have worked to set a budget that is balanced and protects jobs and services as well as investing in the key priorities both we and the public have identified.

“We have been able to do this because as an administration over the last seven years we have put in place strong financial management as a key to taking this council forward.

“We are proposing a council tax increase of just under 2.5% which will bring in an extra £2m to be spent on frontline services. This is the lowest increase in many years and those on benefits will, of course, be fully protected.

“While some councils may set a lower increase, they will be then be needing to cut services and jobs, we will not and we see this small increase as the right thing to do to protect the much needed services in our area.

“During the first phase of our budget consultation we engaged with over 500 people whose views have been fully taken into account, particularly their support for our priorities where we have now looked to target investment in next year's budget, such as road improvements and job creation.

“We will invest heavily in schools, social care, a further £3m in roads, £2m in mortgage support for first-time buyers in our area and introduce a scheme that will provide top class apprenticeship opportunities to young people.

“As leader, I am proud to put forward these proposals and believe that this administration will be one of the few, if not the only council in Wales that will invest rather than cut services, and will not make anyone compulsorily redundant.”

It’s meals on wheels for Pontrhondda Primary on board The Cooking Bus

PUPILS at a Llwynypia primary school found that healthy eating can be a real treat when they hopped onboard a special cooking bus.

Qualified food teachers taught Pontrhondda Primary pupils how to cook healthy and tasty meals including pizzas and fruit kebabs, which pupils were able to take home.

The youngsters were also given a pack of healthy-eating recipes. Parents were also invited to visit the bus, and staff had a special training session on how to teach cookery.

The Cooking Bus which dropped by the school is a specially-built articulated lorry which opens up into a kitchen and classroom, and is part of the Welsh Government’s Healthy Schools initiative.

Headteacher Rhian Rees said: “It was such a lovely experience and the food the children made was of such a high standard.

“They are definitely more interested in cooking as a result.”

Councillor Eudine Hanagan added: “It is so important for children to eat a healthy, balanced diet from an early age, so I am delighted to hear the children at Pontrhondda Primary have thoroughly enjoyed learning more about healthy eating and cooking.

“The council’s catering services department is working hard across the county borough to enhance school menus and provide tasty and affordable meals for school children, improving the range of food and drink available to ensure meals are nutritious and appealing.”

To apply for free school meals or find out more, call 01443 681081 or go to www.rctcbc.gov.uk/whyforkout

‘Give our miners fitting memorial’

FORMER miners are urging businesses to invest in a £25,000 memorial at the site of Rhondda’s first ever pit, marking the double centenary of the industry in the valleys.

The Dinas Pit Memorial Committee, who started their campaign six months ago, are keen to submit a planning application later this year after working closely with Rhondda Cynon Taf Council.

The monument will commemorate the 6,000 men, women and children who died down the 62 mines in the area, with all the colliery opening and closing dates being inscribed on the large memorial. An initial quote from a Rhondda stonemason said the monument would cost around £25,000 to build – a huge amount for the small group.

Committee member Roy Hamer, from Porth, said the monument will be a fitting tribute to those who perished.

But the committee need vast investment to get the project off the ground.

The former Mines Rescue Service worker said: “Miners gave us our communities, our culture and our heritage.

“They also helped to form our characters and gave us something that we should be proud of.

“So let us give our ancestors the credit they deserve with this memorial.”

This year marks both the double centenary of mining in the valleys, as well as the 100-year anniversary of the Mines Rescue Service.

The first shallow pit was sunk in Dinas Rhondda in 1812 thanks to legendary entrepreneur Walter Coffin.

From a tiny population of 975 in 1811, the Rhondda boomed to a whopping 153,000 by 1911 as a direct result of coal mining, with 53 working pits creating thousands of jobs, homes and towns.

Maerdy, the last surviving pit, closed in 1990.

The 200-year anniversary is hoped to be marked with a special ceremony later in the year if the group find investment for the memorial.

And a Rhondda Cynon Taf Council spokesman said they are keen to help Mr Hamer achieve his goals.

Mr Hamer met with Education Minister Leighton Andrews last year to discuss the plans

Report reveals extent of child poverty levels

NEARLY half of the children in some areas of the Rhondda are living in poverty, according to new figures.

According to a report by the End Child Poverty campaign, 48% of children living in Maerdy and Tylorstown are living in child poverty.

Towns in the Rhondda were recorded as having a much higher child poverty rate than the average calculated of 25% for Rhondda Cynon Taf.

The data was calculated using tax credit data to give the percentage of children on low incomes in local authorities.

Figures for Rhondda towns contrast greatly with those in the Taff Ely area where Llantrisant, Pontyclun and Pontypridd were all measured as having 7% of children in poverty.

Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales Central Leanne Wood said the figures were not surprising.

She said: “Rhondda Cynon Taf is known as one of the most deprived local authorities in Wales but even within this local authority there are huge variations in wealth.

“Under the Conservative/Liberal Democrat austerity programme where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, these disparities in child poverty will only get wider and wider.

“This is why we need bold and proactive policies to stimulate the economy, create jobs and strive to create a more equal society particularly in the communities within the north of the South Wales valleys which are furthest away from Cardiff.

“Places like Maerdy and Tylorstown and the Heads of the Valley area in general are suffering in particular.

“This is a situation I identified and offered a solution to through job creation measures in my Greenprint for the Valleys document from last year.”

End Child Poverty say this is the closest measure of local levels of child poverty available.

Alison Garnham, executive director of the campaign, said: “The Welsh and Westminster governments must act urgently to prevent a rise in child poverty.

“Access to decent jobs for parents in Wales must be a priority and this needs both the public and private sector working to ensure decent employment opportunities are available with access to affordable childcare.”

Love is in the air as farmers’ market returns

IF your partner is partial to a pork pie, then why not pop to Tonyrefail Farmers’ Market this Valentine’s Day.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council is continuing to host its ever-popular market in 2012. And the first of the year comes on the most romantic day of the year – at the rear car park of Tonyrefail Leisure Centre.

The market promises a diverse range of food from local companies, including mouth-watering cakes and savouries. Stalls will be lined up with a variety of home-made and home-grown products. And a number of craft stands will also be set up on the day, offering their own range of unique products.

Free to attend, the Farmers’ Markets proved popular last year, which is why Rhondda Cynon Taf Council is continuing to run them on the second Tuesday of every month, with another one planned on Tuesday, March 13.

Leader of the council and member for Tonyrefail East, Coun Russell Roberts, said: “The Farmers’ Markets are a great asset to Rhondda Cynon Taff and showcase the impressive produce available locally.

“I regularly visit the Farmers’ Market at Tonyrefail and never fail to be overwhelmed by the products on sale.

“I am delighted to see the monthly events so well supported.”

The Farmers’ Market takes place at the rear car park of Tonyrefail Leisure Centre on Tuesday, February 14, from 10am until 2pm.

Rhondda Wives and choristers to join in perfect harmony

A RHONDDA choir which toured the globe is aiming to join forces with the chart-topping Military Wives on their first tour.

Members of the Pendyrus Male Choir – the only group to sing at both the Kremlin and the White House – were deeply impressed with their counterparts’ “poignant” single which reached Christmas number one in December.

After reading our story about a Kelly Leonard – a Cynon Valley member of the “Wives” – the 100-strong Rhondda ensemble decided to contact the group to arrange a joint performance.

Coun Robert Smith, the publicity officer for Pendyrus, said: “What the Military Wives have done is absolutely superb.

“The single was very poignant because it captured their experiences so well.”

Pendyrus Male Choir began singing 85 years ago and has sung in New Zealand, Finland, Canada and most recently at the Lorient Festival in France.

But finding a practice hall big enough to fit the vast group, who rehearse on Mondays and Wednesdays in Rhondda Fach Sports Hall, has been difficult.

Coun Smith said: “There is something about a Welsh male voice choir – and I’m English so I’m allowed to say these things.

“The sound they make gives you goosebumps – it’s such a wonderful feeling.”

“Pendyrus are still the only choir to perform at the White House – when Ronald Regan was President – and the Kremlin.

“People say you should join the navy to see the world, but I think that applies with choirs as well.”

The Rhondda Fach choir sing a mixture of classical, opera and songs from musicals.

“But if we don’t sing classic songs like Myfanwy then we wouldn’t be able to leave the building,” Coun Smith joked.

The choir is a member of the Welsh Music Guild, the Welsh Amateur Music Federation, and is supported by a Lottery grant from the Arts Council of Wales, the Communities First Trust Fund and Menter Iaith.

Rhondda Eco-friendly pupils shine at green event

TREORCHY Comprehensive pupils have become eco heroes after shining at an environmental event.

On December 19, students made sculptures from recycled materials and performed special plays to promote eco-friendly messages at the school.

They also found out more about the history of the Welsh community in Patagonia and looked at the poverty gap between rich and poor countries.

Year Seven spent time working with UK-wide charity Show Racism the Red Card, developing their skills as global citizens.

To round off the day, pupils visited the interactive Eco Fair in the school hall, where over 20 organisations and school clubs set up stalls to educate pupils on how they can contribute to reducing waste and improve the environment.

Earlier this school year, Year 12 students at the school were presented with training qualifications by the mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taff.

The talented year gained OCN Accredited Work Awareness and Travel Training qualifications.

Iconic banners of the miners’ strike to be reproduced on greeting cards

THEY were the iconic images of the 1984 miners’ strike and now some of the banners made to support the South Wales mining communities have been turned into greetings cards.

Publishing company Past Pixels was set up by Martin Shakeshaft and Dave Mitchell to document important images from the past onto postcards and greetings cards.

The cards feature images by photographer Martin who took pictures in the valleys of the miners strike. Among them are cards with images of the miners’ banners.

South Wales Area of the NUM has given permission for the reproduction of all the banners in their possession and each card provides a short history of the banner and another photograph, often of the banner in use.

The first four to be reproduced are from South Wales Area NUM, Tower Lodge NUM, Maerdy Lodge NUM and Maerdy Women’s Support Group

Help lecturer’s smallpox probe

DO you remember the smallpox epidemic that claimed 19 lives in South Wales back in 1962?

If so, a University of Glamorgan lecturer wants to hear your stories.

Half a century ago, the Penrhys Smallpox Hospital was re-opened to deal with the crisis when the outbreak struck.

Almost one million people in the region were vaccinated in the epidemic, in which 47 people contracted the infectious disease.

Questions were raised about how the deadly virus transferred to people in Rhondda and Bridgend, following apparently no contact with the infected patient, who arrived in Cardiff exactly 50 years ago this week.

Following the outbreak, Penrhys Hospital was burnt to the ground to eradicate all infection, also destroying potentially illuminating medical notes with it.

University of Glamorgan lecturer James Stewart who has maintained a keen interest in the story since producing a documentary a decade ago, has launched an online research project on the epidemic.

He said: “I decided it would be a good idea to get it out where people could access it and also allow people to tell their stories because it affected so many people.

“Anybody who was alive in 1962 over the age of about five will have some memory of it. It was very, very frightening, very scary. It was a terrible disease, the last of the terrible diseases to be eradicated.”

Smallpox first took root in the Midlands after a man flew from Karachi, Pakistan, to London, travelled by taxi to Birmingham, and came to Cardiff by train several days later.

Mr Stewart, who teaches journalism at the university’s Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, said: “He didn’t know he was ill. Because of air travel, people could travel very quickly from one continent to another, in this case from Pakistan to Britain. Previously if he had been on a ship, the smallpox would have shown itself over time and he could have been isolated on the ship, or he could have been isolated or been dead on arrival.”

The infected man, Shuka Mia, stayed with a family in Bridge Street, Cardiff, and was taken ill in an upstairs room of the city’s first Indian restaurant, the Calcutta Café.

Following his diagnosis, the patient was sent to Penrhys Hospital, isolated from the outside world, while news broke that smallpox was in the city and a desperate search began for anyone who may have been in contact with the carrier.

Mr Stewart told BBC Wales: “The amazing thing was that it didn’t break out in Cardiff. There was a vaccination programme in Cardiff at that time, it all seemed to be OK.

“Suddenly and completely unexplained, a doctor working at East Glamorgan Hospital fell very ill. He himself suspected he had smallpox and indeed it turned out he did have smallpox.

“But the mystery was how had he got it? He had nothing to do with the patient who had been in Cardiff.

“It is believed he got it from attending the post-mortem examination of a woman who had died giving birth to a child at East Glamorgan Hospital.”

Another five cases occurred in Rhondda before the disease was diagnosed again – this time among a number of elderly women in Glanrhyd Hospital, a mental institution in Bridgend.

It was on these patients, Mr Stewart discovered, that supplies of an experimental drug for treating smallpox were trialled – previously it had only been tested on mice, but the manufacturers believed it was worth trying if patients seemed certain to die.

He added: “My aim is there will be a lasting archive of this big story in Wales at the time. The international rugby match against Ireland was cancelled.

“There had been a case in London in early January and there had been a case in Birmingham and there had been some details in Bradford. It had gone quiet but then Wales got it.”

Find out more about the epidemic at www.smallpox1962.org.uk