On Saturday 29th April, we held a grand concert at the Burry Port Memorial Hall to raise money for the Marie Curie Charity. As we have consistently said, we do a great deal for charity but we have fun at the same time.
We had considerable luck in Burry Port because the local people have 2 groups who are immensely talented. One is the Burry Port Town Band and the other is the Burry Port Male Voice Choir. The final part of the programme was LARS, Loud Applause Rising Stars with 4 amazing singers provided by their impresario ,Cerith Owens. These young people are the best of the youth of Wales. They are; Rhys Hunter, Darcey George, Lauren Williams and James Oakley, who is also a rugby player as well as having a beautiful voice. He reminded me of an experience I had on the last train back to Llanelli one night. Masses of rugby supporters had boarded the train. They were very noisy but not badly behaved.
Suddenly the carriage went completely silent and a beautiful voice sang Nessun Dorma.
It was an amazing experience and when he had finished we all applauded and shouted.
When I tell this story, I always add “Only in Wales”. There is so much talent in Wales and we should be proud of that. Even the town band had many young people playing in it.
Two members of our Rotary were responsible for the organisation of this wonderful concert. Peter Roberts did the main organisation of it and Mark Stephens raised sponsorship for advertising for the programme.
Due to all their hard work, they raised over £2000 for Marie Curie. It was a tremendous achievement and we are sincerely proud of them.
It was a very joyous evening. Of course a great many local people knew each other. The hall was full and there was a great deal of friendly chat and it was clear that people were meeting old friends and catching up on local news. There was laughter and joviality before the show even started, a great atmosphere.
During the performances, the Town Band played music linked to Amelia Earhart and behind them was a film and a story in subtitles about her and explaining why she was linked to Burry Port. This was cleverly put together by a member of the band. It was absolutely fascinating.
Their second performance was linked to film music and finally Sospan Fach.
The male choir did religious works for the first part and then Battle Hymn of the Republic and a medley of songs linked to the theme of diamonds.
The very final song performed by the band, the choir and our four wonderful young singers was the Welsh National Anthem. We, of course, all stood up and joined in. Marvellous!
Bendigedig!
Where do we fit in as Rotary?
As you know from the articles in the Llanelli Standard, we have already shown charity work in all sorts of different ways. This is just a reminder that we are all volunteers and our motto is “Service above self”. This is very important to us when we are carrying out our community work. We meet every Tuesday evening at the Ashburnham Hotel where we enjoy each other’s company and we develop new projects. We welcome new members so come along and see us if you are interested in joining us.
Finally, we would like to add some information about Marie Curie. The Charity started just after the war alongside the wonderful National Health Service set up by the extraordinary Aneurin Bevan. It was there to support people with cancer but it has grown and now supplies care for all sorts of terminal diseases. It is a fantastic charity which does not spend a huge amount on advertising. The money goes to help the families and patients. However, because it does not advertise as much as it could it does need much more support from ordinary people.
Our grand concert was an example of that and managing to raise that amount of more that £2000 is a tribute to two special Rotarians, Peter and Mark. We are a great group and if you are interested in having fun and doing community work with us, we would love to have you. Come along any Tuesday evening to meet us
Diolch Yn Fawr.
In Memoriam
This concert is also a tribute to our fellow Rotarian Les Williams. He was a stalwart of the club and was helping to organise this event but suddenly passed away. He is sadly missed by all our members.
