I have lived and travelled around the world and the UK , including a little village in Wales called Cwmdare, where we bought a little house facing the entrance to the Dare Valley Country Park. My mother and I fell in love with the place. The villagers were friendly and our next door neighbour, May, was fabulous to us. We were there for 3 years and we were sad to leave.
So, many many years later, my husband and I were living in Hampshire and I was getting restless again. I had been travelling since the age of three and had no roots at all. He, however, was Portsmouth born and bred. I turned to him and said,”Fancy moving to Wales?” His reply was,”Ooh, I don’t know.” He left the room and came back in five minutes and said,”Yeah, why not.”
We wanted to be in a coastal and market town, not far from the M4 and Cardiff. The M4 so it was easy to visit friends and family and Cardiff because we wanted access to concert halls and theatres. Later we found that Swansea had that too and was closer. We found a house in Tumble which needed a lot of work so for the first five years, all we did was work on the house. John is a very skilled carpenter so he still worked for clients in Hampshire which paid for the work on the house.
As time went on we discovered more and more about Llanelli. We made good friends here and grew to love the place. Wherever I have lived, I have volunteered in the community so I started in Llanelli with Fairtrade. I got to know so many local people and watched the changes that were taking place in Llanelli. Sadly, despite the community’s resilience and achievements, there still seems to be a degree of low self-esteem.
Recently, I became the secretary of the Llanelli Chamber of Trade and Commerce where the President was David Darkin, a local talented architect who is also an inspirational leader of the Chamber. He proposed a bid to designate city status for Llanelli which would hopefully lead to the creation of a strong brand identity and ultimately stimulate the economy.
In North Wales,Wrexham achieved City status on their third attempt under the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. David and the Chamber felt that we, too, should try for this in order to raise the community’s profile, support economic growth and offer improved individual expectations
We started contacting local famous people including politicians. Lord Michael Howard and Sir Robert Buckland were from Llanelli. They were willing to consider supporting us. Sir Robert Buckland even suggested that we apply for city status now as the King has not done anything for his coronation. It was vital to grab the moment.
The Chamber has been researching the History of Llanelli and the celebrities, the sportspeople, the actors etc.
I had no idea how many famous people have come from Llanelli. The more I researched the more I realised how amazing you, the people of Llanelli, are.
Dinas Llanelli City
There does not need to be a cathedral or a university. We can apply for the Charter of the King through the Cabinet Office at Westminster.
Together with the backing of the community we need support from the Colleges, all our amazing businesses, the Health Board, the local Councils, Sports clubs, religious groups and voluntary associations. The Town and Rural Councils have already agreed to support the application and the County Council is considering this at the moment.
Letters from our President will be sent out next week to all these organisations.
HOWEVER, THE MOST IMPORTANT SUPPORTERS WE NEED ARE YOU, THE PEOPLE OF LLANELLI.
All the local groups of volunteers, running local charities, art groups, theatre groups, groups working with disabled people, musicians, groups working with young singers and musicians need to contact us. We do not want to miss any of you. With your help, we can tackle the culture of low expectation, restore local prosperity, civic pride and confidence.
One thing you can help us with is a clear brand identity which can have a global impact.
The County Council support is essential as we would be THE FIRST CITY OF CARMARTHENSHIRE .
We need you to be active and positive.
We cannot guarantee that we will win this time around and most cities do not manage it.
We are, however, setting up our stall and announcing our civic pride to the world. Although I am an outsider, since moving here I feel at home. I learn Welsh every year and gradually I am improving. Llanelli means a great deal to me and I know it means a great deal to you the local people, those born and bred and have their children growing up here.
You have a fantastic record of history, innovation, and industry. Llanelli has fabulous green spaces, a millennium coastal path to die for, a magnificent wildfowl and Wetlands and so much more. Believe me, there really is a great deal more and all that will go on the application form. On top of that, you, the people, are artistic, sporty and ambitious.
We should be proud and shout it out loud.
Barely a town!!