This is why I love my job

I returned home to my Aneddfa home in Cardigan today after a few days away to find the usual pile of post waiting for me. Most of it was junk mail, some of it was Council paperwork for future committee meetings.

One piece of post stood out - a card shaped envelope with my name and home address hand-written on the front.

I opened it to find a lovely 'Thank You' card inside from a local resident who I helped recently with a housing problem. Without naming names (caswork confidentiality of course), this lady got in touch with me a few months ago asking for help in her quest for a housing transfer. Her current flat was not suitable for her as the neighbouring tenants were causing her much trouble and she was at her wits end.

I receive a number of housing requests for support and write in to the housing list officer in the Council giving my support but ultimately the final say rests with the officials and not myself.

I bumped into this lady a few weeks ago in the middle of town and was delighted to here her tell me excitedly that she had been offered a transfer and she was moving the next day.

A few weeks later, she has gone to the effort to send me this thank you card. Today, I received it in the post.

A part of it read as follows...

"Thank you lots Mark.

"Without your help I would never have moved from the hell I was living. I no longer have to wear ear plugs on a daily basis. I love my new home and the people are lovely and friendly"

"Wishing you well and look forward to you popping in".

It's a lovely gesture because whilst it's my job to help residents like her in their dealings with the Council, it really is incredibly uplifting to receive a card like this. There's always a difficult and problematic issue to deal with and not everything runs as we would like in local government. It often feels like a case of banging my head against a brick wall. But then that's bureaucracy for you.

But this is what it's all about. It's a simple gesture that reminds me why I entered local government in the first place 7 years ago and why I hope to continue doing this job for more years to come.

It's a basic matter of helping people to live their lives as happily and as comfortably as possible.

If I were to be run over by a bus tomorrow, it could at least be said of me that I have helped improve the quality of life of local residents by doing my job as a local Councillor.

What job could be more rewarding and fulfilling than that?

Where were you on September 11th 2001?

As a historian, I'd be interested to read your answer to the question posed in the title.

Why? Because it was 102 minutes that changed the World.

At 8.46am local time, Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
At 10.28am local time, the North Tower collapsed.

Those 102 minutes signalled the beginning and the end of a chain of events that have gone down in infamy, and turned the world upside down.

In between, the south Tower had also been struck and had collapsed and the heart of the US Defense - The Pentagon - had also been infiltrated. A 4th plane was grounded by brave citizens before it arrived at its supposed target of the White House or Capitol Hill.

A Game-Changer
It was that epoch-making, era-defining day in history that heralded in a decade of fear as the Cold War that had ended a decade earlier was now replaced by the War on Terror. The attacks in Bali, Madrid and London were to follow and a whole new level of counter-terrorism legislation the world over would take centre stage.

The war in Afghanistan began barely a month later on October 7th 2001 and continues to this day. Likewise, the second Iraqi War begun on March 20th 2003 and is also still on-going. Thousands of allied and civilian lives lost, billions of pounds squandered. All in the name of security. All with its origins in that fateful blue September day.

Where was I?
September 11th 2001 was a seminal moment and day in history for my generation.

For older generations such as that of my mother, it can be asked 'Where were you when JFK was assassinated?' For those of this modern era, the question asked of us by our children and grandchildren will likely be 'Where were you on 9/11?'

It is scarcely believable that it has been a decade since those horrific pictures of 10 years ago. My memory of that day is still vivid - still etched in detail in my mind.

For us here in the UK, it was early afternoon. The timing of the first impact was 1.46pm BST. I recall sitting alone in my bedroom in the Preseli Hills of north Pembrokeshire at my computer, playing Championship Manager. It was coming to the end of the summer holidays and I was just weeks away from starting my second year in University. I had just turned 19.

By the computer was a TV and I was watching ITV at the time whilst playing on the computer. It was I'm sure, an episode of Crossroads which at about 2pm had gone to the mid-programme interval. But instead of returning to the second half, the transmission was broken by breaking news from ITN.

I vividly remember being taken aback at this break from normality and my immediate thought was 'The Queen Mother has died'. She had just turned 101 and it was only a matter of time and in that split second I recall thinking that that time had come. But no, she would outlive her own daughter Princess Margaret who died on 9th February 2002. Queen Elizabeth passed away on March 30th that same year.

The 21s Century's Pearl Harbour
Suddenly what transpired in front of me on that small TV was an awful accident in New York.

A plane had apparently flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. It was a bewildering sight and event to take in. Then came the second impact as the South Tower was hit. Again, such was my utter confusion, I couldn't consider is as anything else than just a horrific coincidence. I don't recall that second impact as clearly as the one that was to follow but that third impact is as clear as day in my mind. When the reports came in that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon, the gravity of the event suddenly struck me in all of its horrific reality.



This, was not an accident. This, was an orchestrated attack on the US mainland, not seen since the attack on Pearl Harbour during WWII.

The rest of the day became a blur from there on in as I no doubt found myself glued to watching the unfolding events.

It was a day of horror that, due to modern technology, was all captured live on camera as it happened. Looking back, it made the event so much more real in the minds of those of us watching it at the time. It wasn't being told that JFK had been assassinated, it was akin to actually seeing the act occur with your own eyes. Here we were, watching this inconceivable act unfold as it happened in real-time.

A New World - A Darker World
I just so happened to be watching a TV at the time that the news broke. Had that not have been the case, the scarring images of the initial impacts would not have lived on with me as they have. But a decade on, the recollection is still fresh in the mind.

It's a haunting feeling. A feeling of a loss of innocence. I had only just began to grow-up having left school to attend University the year before. Here was an added sense that the world in which I now lived was not the one of my childhood. It was a much darker, scarier world. Over the past 10 years, it has remained thus.

Where were you?
So where were you on September 11th 2001? As a piece of social and oral history, I'd be interested to hear your remembrances of this tragic day, 10 years on.

Reflections on A-Level Results Day

It's a scary time.

No matter how old you may get and no matter how distant the years feel from when it was my turn to face that excruciating wait, the memories remain.

It annoys me slightly to see some good people commenting on how they don't care about today's A-Level results. The more the years pile on, the more results days we witness and the more we hear of the 'dumbing down' of our educational standards to ensure that high standards are achieved.

Well, let's not forget here that whilst many of us will have seen this day come and go many times, there was a time when it was we that were trembling with trepidation at what those sealed envelopes had to say for our effort and for our future aspirations.

A-Level Results Day 2000
It was 11 years ago now since it was my turn. The day arrived and the anxious build-up came to a head. If you thought GCSE results day was a nervous affair, it had nothing on this! Because the results this time round could mean the difference between going to Aberystwyth University as I hoped or an uncertain future that lay ahead through the Clearing system.

Our results were given to us by our form tutor Pauline Brind-Davies (who I met for the first time since that momentous day only last week and which I commented upon here) and if I remember correctly, our Head of 6th Form Mr Jarvis and quite possibly in fact, the Headteacher Dr Davies himself.

The year 2000 was the last but one to sit the old fashioned A-Levels which were the culmination of 2 years work in Years 12 and 13. That autumn, the first intake began the AS-Levels and were to sit the new A-Levels in 2002.

I was particularly nervous because my results were far from certain. The required score for me to attend Aberystwyth University to study Modern History and Politrics was 18 points. This equated to a 3 C average across my A-Levels of History, English and Business Studies. It didn't matter how they were achieved as long as the total matched that average or more.

I was particularly worried as I mentioned in the related blog post above that I may only get an E in Business Studies. This meant that I would need a BB average in my stronger subjects of History and English to get the 18 points needed. But I was expected to only achieve a C in English and I had undergone extra out-of-school tuition in Robeston Wathen to improve my English language in readiness for my finals.

So it was all I felt, on a bit of a knife-edge doing into the dreaded results day itself. My relief at finding that I had achieved a D in Business and a B in English to go with my B in History was therefore clear for anyone who knew me. I had in fact in the final analysis, 20 points.

Panic!
But do you think that this was enough to calm my nerves? Not a jot! A gang of us went down to the Station Arms in Whitland for a celebratory or comiseratory drink that lunchtime. I was still technically underage as I didn't turn 18 until a week later (being the youngest in the year was always a pain up until that point!). But never fear, I had no time for drinking for I was still worrying that Aberystwyth University would not accept me for some unfathonable reason!

Such was my mild state of panic that I found myself at the public call 'phone in the pub searching through a Yellow Pages for the number of the History Department in the University. On finding the number and placing the call, I was asked on the other line for my name, the amount of points on my conditional offer and the number of points achieved. When my answer given made clear that I'd achieved more than the conditional amount I was met with a brief silence. Then the rather curt response "Yes, you're fine". As if to say 'stop wasting my time, there's students here who have underachieved and who have genuine reason to worry'! It goes without saying that I was mightily relieved to know for sure that my place was secure!

Good Luck!
So you can say, I sympathise entirely with those experiencing these mixtures of emotions today.

It is not just another day of spewed out statistics of 97% of students nation-wide achieving an A*-E grade. It is much more than mere figures. It is the hopes, dreams and aspirations of thousands of our youngest and brightest - all hoping that the future that they have tentatively mapped out can be realised.

I was greatly fortunate that my results day brought me the results that I required to realise my dreams of studying up the road from my Pembrokeshire home at Aberystwyth University. As an earlier blog post that I wrote here about my time there demonstrates, it was a venue and a period of study and living that changed my life.

It all started on that results day in August 2000 at Ysgol Dyffryn Taf, Whitland, Carmarthenshire.

I sincerely hope that all of my friends receiving their results today and indeed all students in this position at thisd moment in time are as fortunate as I was and achieve everything that they desire in thire futures that lie ahead.

A School Reunion...with a Difference!

It's a funny old world - but at times, a very pleasant one.

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to be able to meet up with my Ysgol Dyffryn Taf 6th Form Class Teacher Pauline Brind, who I haven't seen in that whole 11 year gap since A-Level results day back in August 2000. We met up for a cup of tea and a snack in Cardigan's Pendre Art and caught up on old times!

Catching up with my 6th Form Teacher
Pauline Brind 11 years after leaving school!

She wasn't only my form tutor for the entirety of those Years 12 and 13, but she also taught one half of my A-Level Business Studies course alongside Mrs Atkins having previously taught me Business Studies for my GSCEs. I only got a 'D' for my A-Level Business Studies in the end but my 'BB' scores in English and History more than made up for it for me and helped me get the 18 required points for a place in Aberystwyth University. I vividly recall my relief though at that Business Studies result as I had been worrying that I may only get an E. This I can clearly recall was in contrast to the disappointed expression of Pauline Brind-Davies (as we knew her at the time) who said she expected a C from me! She said to me yesterday that remembering back, she thought I'd have an A! I was never that clever!

The teacher/pupil relationship is a special one and it lasts. I find it very difficult to call a teacher by his or her first name because in school, they were either 'Sir' or 'Miss' or Mr or Mrs Bloggs - never to be called by their christian name! But I helped Ms Brind with some casework recently which is how we got back in touch so with personalised e-mails going back and forth, it felt more natural now to just call her Pauline (plus, I've never really been the formal type!).

It was a lovely 90 minutes of catching up on school life - remembering the characters be it the excitable students or the mischievious teachers! In particular, Pauline reminded me of our unique farewell to our Head of 6th Form, Mr Jarvis before we all left that summer in 2000. I'd forgotten about it but then how could I?! Had a Dyffryn Taf Head of 6th Form up until then, ever had as a farewell present in the final gathering in the Drama room, a police clad strip-o-gram? I can't recall who it was amongst us that had orchestrated it but in all fairness, he saw the funny side!

A lovely gift - the 2000 School Photo and Box which
Pauline Brind gave me yesterday.

Pauline had brought with her, the all-school photograph taken early that 2000 which brought back memories of old faces. It was only the second all school photograph that we'd had in the 7 years that I was in Dyffryn Taf and whilst I have the 1994 picture here with me, though I'm sure I paid for that 2000 version, I never recall ever receiving it. But Pauline offered hers to me and it was a lovely gesture. It came in a lovely box with a Dyffryn Taf embossed logo on the front.

It was great to catch up and we've decided to not leave it so long next time!

Pauline said that she reads this blog so when you read this Pauline, when we meet up next time, bring that map of Thailand with you and we'll compare notes!

Memories of my Father

It's been a great Sunday.

I've spent much of this quiet day re-living my youth but more so than that, doing so in the company of my father.

Dad died over 8 years ago back in June 2003 and it goes without saying that life has never been the same since. As with any family bereavement, the memories that you have of a lost loved one stays with you and helps them to live on even after death.

A Man of Photography
With Dad, we also had the added bonus of having not just those memories in our mind, but also down on film as photography and recording was one of his life-long hobbies and passions.

In his youth, Dad used to have his own dark room on our Hungerford Farm home where he would develop his own photographs. He also took photos on the old fashioned slides and every Christmas without fail as a child I would wait in anticipation for him to set up the screen and the projector in the living room to show us these slides with photos from the 1960s and 1970s.

As technology developed, Dad didn't hesitate to move with the times. By the late 1980s, the 'You've Been Framed' generation had arrived with the fashionable coming of the hand-held video recorder and Dad took to this new form of photography and filming like a duck to water.

My Memories of that Hand-Held Recorder
This is the period of his life that I recall vividly as a child growing up at that time. If he wasn't out on the farm milking the cows or bringing in the silage, he would be in his bedroom, playing with his editing suite as he put the music and the words to the images that he had taken.

Dad was an artistic man. Though he left school as soon as he could due to a dislike of the formal structures of a formal education, aged 14 in around 1950, he always had an eye for the moment.

From around 1988-1995, he filmed almost anything that moved. I have been reminded of this today by watching his video from 1993 and also his 'Official' Dyfed Shire Horse Farm video which he compiled to showcase the work of a traditional farm for visitors to watch on our open farm. In those two reams of film, there stands an example of all of the weird and wonderful things that Dad enjoyed filming. Be it life at home on the farm with the filming of the cattle going out onto grass for the first time in spring, or holidays in North Wales and Windsor and the Wye Valley with me and mum (and all of the farm visits that went with them!), or of my sister's graduation in Bath University, or of live Truck Racing (Dad's other big passion was motorsport) or of local events like Narbeth's Winter Carnival, Dad was interested and would be there with his camera to capture the moment.

Just watching these two tapes today, they spoke of a man who had an interest in human nature and in nature itself. In particular, I can always recall those videos that he would edit and put together of quiet natural moments. In the video from 1993 alone he quietly filmed the sunsets over Landshipping and Lawrenny and the Eastern Cleddau river meandering its way down through Gelli, Llawhaden, Canaston Bridge and Blackpool Mill. Nothing exciting to watch in itself you may think? But this was nature and it was clearly something that Dad enjoyed greatly.

The Music
What also resonates with me down the years and which struck home again today was the music that he would put to the footage. There would be some pieces of filming that would have no background sound but in the vast majority of cases, as well as including a written description of the event being shown, he would add a layer of fitting music that would add to the scene.

This had its greatest impact in those moments when he was filming nature. A scene of the River Teifi flowing over Cenarth Falls with the background music of a Strauss Waltz was entirely fitting for that moment. This was Dad's way. I've often said that my eclectic and wide ranging taste in music is due in large part to my Father and that can be seen in the musical pieces that he used for his home-made videos. Why do I love classical music? How come that Strauss is a particular favourite of mine? Why have I got a soft spot for pan-pipe music? Why does the Wurlitzer sound resonate so much with me? Why does ABBA'S instrumental 'Arrival' mean so much to me? Simply because these and more were the sounds that I heard throughout my childhood as my father would use them to go with his works of art.

The irony of this is that very rarely would my Dad make an appearance on film during this period because invariably it would be he who would be filming behind the camera. He did however make more of an appearance in the 'official' farm video and his commentary over it all was informative for the viewer who may have had no understanding of the farming, rural way of life. But what they captured were a glimpse into the world of my father - his interests, his passions, his loves.

VHS to DVD
It is one of my greatest frustrations that with the on-set of my busy political life over the past 8 years or so since Dad died, I have never got around to converting these VHS recordings onto DVD for posterity. Over the years, some of the videos have deteriorated and will need some work done to them before they can be converted. Some are worse than others although on the whole, they're not in bad shape. There are some like the videos I watched today that on watching them, seem as if they were only put together by my father yesterday and not 20 years ago, such is the clear quality of the picture.

So having dusted them off and reminded myself of this crucial link to my father, it's now time to guarantee that future generations can enjoy these sounds and sights of the late 1980s and early 1990s well into the 21st century.

The Great Debate: iPhone, Samsung Galaxy or HTC?

I'm at a mobile 'phone crossroads in my life.

When I first went to University in Aberystwyth back in 2000, I borrowed my mother's mobile to regularly keep in touch with home. It was a brick with an ariel but was very much of its time I suppose.

My first personal mobile 'phone was bought probably a year or so later - a good decade back. I'm pretty sure that my mobile number now is the same number that I had with my first mobile. Certainly since I was elected to local government in 2004, I've had no desire to change my number as it has become well used by friends and work colleagues alike. Over the years, they have been upgraded one-by-one and as technology has moved on, have become more advanced in their functions.

I have always been with Orange as the signal over here in the west is best served with them and particularly now with the addition of the T-mobile network. My current version was purchased 18 months ago and is a Samsung. It was a particular leap forward for me as it was the first touch-screen mobile that I'd ever owned - it certainly took some getting used too!

iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, HTC or other?
But what next? I'm now entitled to a free upgrade but having asked friends for their recommendations, have unsurprisingly found that everyone has a different view.

The Samsung Galaxy 2

I've made a number of enquiries in recent days and have made progress with my view on the matter though as I'm not intending on making the change until next week, thought that this would be one final opportunity to gather views on the back of what I have learned and on the specifications that I desire.

First of all, though there has been some backing for the HTC, I have on the whole heard that it is unreliable and not comparable to the iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy.

My gut instinct was to go for the iPhone and have found that for the £40 or so per month package that I'd be looking for that I could purchase one for as little as £95 which is not unreasonable as I see it. It is of course, the status symbol mobile to own and I gather that on financial functions, it is the business. However, an android such as the Samsung Galaxy will be a free upgrade for me and has comparable if not better entertainment functions than the iPhone. It is also more accident friendly as it is more shatter-proof than the glass iPhone. I also gather that the iPhone is a killer on the battery. I'm one that has my mobile on me 24/7 and it resembles more of an extra limb for me than an inanimate object. I always charge my mobile at night but I gather that the iPhone if used regularly could need to be charged as often as every 3 to 4 hours which would be hopeless for my usage.

Apple's iPhone 4

There are positives and negatives for all types of course but another small thing that I've learnt is that on the Samsung Galaxy it is possible to watch live TV (I didn't know such a thing were even possible) but that on the iPhone it can only be done so on the iPlayer. Also, I gather that the camera on the Galaxy is 5 megapixels but barely 3 on the iPhone.

So in taking all of this in, I'm clearly edging towards the Galaxy android. But I've got a final few days to mull it over so would welcome comments from those who know about these things.

Have I underestimated the HTC, is the iPhone better than I make out, has the Galaxy got pit-falls and are there any other phones that I'm not even mentioning that should be considered?

It's a world away from my first mobile 'phone a decade ago but in moving into the android era, I want to make sure I make what for me, is the right choice.

My Wonderfully Naïve E-mail to Ted Heath in 2001

For any political historian (of which I enthusiastically count myself as one), BBC Four's documentary this week on the titanic duel at the centre of British politics between 1965-1975 was a 'must watch' event.

I found it absolutely fascinating.

Hearing the accounts of the main players close to both Heath and Wilson at this time, mixed in with the excellent array of political archive footage and the music of the period, brought alive this pivotal period in our history which at its end, began to see the break-down of the consesual style of politics that had marked British political life post-1945.

It can be viewed for the next few days on BBC iPlayer, right here.

Heath, Wilson and I
My University dissertations centred around this period of political history so my views come from much detailed research into a period in which I did not live at first-hand.

My BA dissertation centred around the 1963 Conservative Party leadership crisis and I proudly gathered a First for my efforts (and a 2:1 degree in all). Ted Heath played a minor role in this work whilst Harold Wilson meanwhile, played a central role in my MA dissertation effort which concentrated on the Labour Party's attitude towards Europe between 1964-1983. Admittedly, my effort here was much for the worse of having began gainful employment and I was fortunate to have scraped a 40% pass which also went for my Masters as a whole.

Through these studies, I formed a rather low opinion of Harold Wilson who I've never held in high esteem. For me, his brand of 'personality over politics' marked him out as an early day version of Tony Blair. Much of the credit for the good that came from his time at No.10 (particularly between 1964-1970) I feel belongs to his his Home Secretary and latterly Chancellor of the Exchequer, Roy Jenkins.

Ted Heath meanwhile is a bewilderingly complex character to try and decipher. He certainly lacked Wilson's charisma and common touch and yet he did seem to have a deeper grasp of what he was all about. His singular greatest achievement and one for which I am thankful, was his success in getting Britain into the European Community in the early 1970s.

My E-mail to Ted Heath
It was my admiration for his ability in this arena, if none else, that enticed this young and politically keen though rather green and naïve young 18 year old to send a personal e-mail to him back in 2001.

I was a first year student in Aberystwyth University and I recall sitting in the Pantycelyn Halls of Residence computer room, prior to the 2001 General Election, sending a handful of electronic messages out to politicians both local and national, asking questions to them on various issues. I was only beginning to become politically active (indeed, I only joined the Liberal Democrats the autumn previous and my total effort in the 2001 campaign was to deliver one leaflet for the party around Pantycelyn!) and I was keen to communicate my various political interests to these different politicians.

Specifically, I recall sending an e-mail out to Alec Dauncey who is an Aberystwyth Town Councillor who at that time was standing as the Welsh Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Preseli Pembrokeshire where my parents moved back to from south Pembrokeshire in 1999. He had the good grace to reply to my e-mail and we have struck up a good friendship ever since.

I also decided to e-mail Ted Heath. For it was now 2001 and he was retiring from Parliament having been an MP for a remarkable 51 years since the General Election of 1950. I haven't got the text of that e-mail that I sent a decade ago but if I recall correctly, it was in the spirit of grateful thanks for the work that he did with Europe. I also recall rather cheekily asking him, (particularly as the Conservatives were struggling against a popular Tony Blair and New Labour project at the time) why he remained a Conservative and wasn't now alligned with the more moderate and internationalist Liberal Democrats. I must've been in a slightly provocative mood at the time but suffice to say, I never received a reply - which was a great shame!

A Reflection
My sentiments on both Wilson and Heath were summed up neatly at the end of the BBC Four documentary by Lord Donoughue who was Harold Wilson's senior policy advisor between 1974-1976 and remained in that role under Jim Callaghan until his defeat to Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

He therefore had a greater insight into the mind of Harold Wilson than many and yet his startling comment, for one with Labour links, of Wilson was this...

"He wasn't a revolutionary and he wasn't very radical. Ted Heath was much more radical than Harold Willson".

I rest my case.

My Beer Free Lent

I've never attempt a lental 'fast' before.

But this year I decided that I was up for the challenge to test my will power and what way better than to do so by giving up beer?

A more Beer Free than a Free Beer Lent!

I'm a real ale/Guinness drinker. On certain select occasions (like these warm, warm days we're experiencing this week), a nice cold lager also goes down nicely. I don't like cider.

So with the Assembly election campaign reaching it's heightened climax, I thought the best thing to give up would be this beer. I'm glad to say that I have stuck to this challenge! Apart from a 'one-off' pint of Guinness on St Patrick's night, I've kept off the beer and stuck instead to the odd glass of wine here and there and in the main, diet coke!

I've also lost half a stone over the past 40 days. Now that could be down to the additional stomping of the pavements that comes with electioneering but I think the main reason has got to be because I've cut out those social pints of beer that I'll allow myself from time to time after a busy day of work.

So as the clock moved past midnight this morning into Holy Saturday, I drank a well deserved pint of lager to toast a successful 40-day fast.

But I'll also take heed of the fact that I've lost some much needed weight these past 40 days so perhaps in future, I'll stick a bit more to the wine!

The Pressure of Politics

I happened to bump into this blog post by Nick Radford recently which explained his decision to leave front-line politics.

I don't know Nick personally but his name is familiar to me within the Liberal Democrat Party and as he states he is a former Parliamentary candidate for the party in Wiltshire. He explains the many different reasons why he's leaving front-line politics after 5 years. I thought that his deliberations were very honest and thought-provoking and I'm sure he speaks for many people involved in politics for differing parties and at varying levels when he said in conclusion...


Nick Radford



"In all the 5 years that I was in politics, I never met a single person involved who came across as content, peaceful and happy in life. Everyone in politics is strained. I just don't think it is an occupation which puts you at peace. There is constant conflict, drama, hyperbole and everyone is always in a rush. You're always being attacked or attacking someone - it's just not good karma. It leaves you nervous, paranoid, hollow. There was no time for the simple things in life.

These days I feel like a different person. I have a quiet, wholesome happiness right at my core. I know it sounds cliched but I have an "inner peace" which I never had at any point in the last 5 years. I get to read books, go for runs, make good food, research obscure topics that interest me, spend time with my family and with Eeva, dream and make plans for the future – it's like a whole new lease of life".

I can certainly sympathise with his views. Being in politics isn't easy. It is immensly rewarding when you successfully help a resident with one of their concerns or when you have made a positive contribution to a facet of policy-making but living your life in the public eye can sometimes result in some of the emotions above that Nick testifies too.

I've been doing this now for 7 years and as mentioned previously, I intend to stand for re-election to Ceredigion Couny Council next year. I enjoy the drama, the hyperbole and the rush. If I didn't, I wouldn't have lasted as long as I already have.

But I'm only 28. In a way, like Nick, I've gone about it in an unconventional sense. Instead of taking on front-line politics in my latter years as is usually the case with many, I've done so from an early age - being elected originally at the age of 21.

Who's to know how I'll feel in 5, 10, 15, 20 years time. But I know that if the enjoyment of the cut and thrust of being in politics is ever overtaken by that hollow sense of paranoia and nervousness, then the time would come for me to make the same bold decision that Nick has made.

Good luck to you Nick. It's a courageous man that makes a life-changing decision from a life he has known to one he may not.

I wish you the best for your future.

My (Un) Healthy Fight Begins Now

I need to lose weight.


There's no getting around this fact and I'm now starting the fightback. I've done it before so I know I can do it again but that doesn't mean it'll be easy.

The 2004 Model Looking Svelte
(I look pretty good too!)

I now weigh more than I ever have and it shows. I've known this to be the case for a while but it struck me particularly earlier when I happened to fall upon (ok, I admit, I was deliberatly looking for) this S4C BBC iPlayer footage from the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference in Cardiff last weekend. I usually watch back my media performances to pick up pointers on how I can improve but the only thing that I could notice this time was how fat I look in the face.

Well, I've already began to combat this but it needs to be taken up a few more notches. I have now, as of last week, with thanks from the lovely Elizabeth Evans, a cross-trainer in the house which I've started using and which I need to get into the habit of using on a regular basis.

The 2008 Model in Thailand after 6 months in the Gym

The Gym and Me (circa 2007-2008)

I've been here before.

Back in 2007, having said for years that I'd go to the gym to get fit (more so than to lose weight), I finally bit the bullet and went there for a solid 6 months at least 2 or 3 times a week. I lost weight and it naturally made me eat healthier and gave me more positive energy. It took a while getting going on the bike, treadmill, rowing machine, cross-trainer and the like but once the habit was made, I'd almost go as far to say that I enjoyed it. Then in early 2008, I had a holiday to Thailand and when I came back home to Cardigan, with a shot bank balance, I wasn't able to continue with my membership. I should've of course gone freestyle and gone for runs around the patch but that never happened and gradually over the past 3 years, I've slipped back to where I was back in the summer of 2007.

The 2009/2010 Model - A Hunk of Burning Love
or just on the Way Down?

Being Mayor of Cardigan in 2009-2010 certainly played it's part. The dinners built up but more than that, I never had any time spare to look after myself properly. But since then, over the past 12 months, I haven't rectified that.

So I now find myself needing to get back into the routine that served me so well 3 years ago.

A Matter of Eating Less, But More Often
But what I've learned from speaking to friends over recent weeks is that getting fit in itself won't be enough. Yes I need to eat healthier, that goes without saying, but then I'm confident that that will come naturally as it did 3 years ago.

What I do need to learn to do however it to eat regularly. I have had a propensity, without even realising it, to go long periods without eating and then eating a lot in one go. Because of my on-the-go political workload over the years, perhaps I have unwittingly found myself deciding to avoid some meals to save time for work to be done in the knowledge that I can do all of my 'eating' in one fail swoop later in the day. Certainly, the concept of having a regular breakfast, lunch and supper isn't one that has settled into my psyche for years - probably since I left for University 10 years ago. So my body, under such an onslaught of not knowing how long it will go before the next meal, will store what I do eat to compensate for the hours and hours that I can go without eating.

The 2011 Model - Time for Action

Not exactly a healthy lifestyle is it!

Yet, it's only in recent weeks that this particular fact has resonated with me. So it's now a matter of eating less, but eating more regularly and working that cross-trainer to lose the pounds that I will also save by eating less (sorry, pun intended).

So this post is really a personal 'call to arms' to myself to remind me visually of what can be achieved and what needs to be achieved once again.

It'll also spur me on knowing that I'll have let others read this. Yes, I have no excuses, I know you'll all be watching!

A Day in the (Cardigan) Life of Cllr Mark Cole

Today has been a really good day. One of those 'this is why I do this job' kind of days. There are days when it feels as if I'm banging my head against a brick wall - any elected representative will tell you that they all have them. If they don't, they're lying!

Well today has been one of those that re-inforces in me, the reason why I stood for Council 7 years ago, stood for re-election 3 years and will stand again for re-election again next year.

Yes for Wales

I'd planned to spend today delivering my quota of 'Yes for Wales' A5 flyers around my ward as promised. The referendum is in 14 days and postal ballots fall through letterboxes imminently so time was of the essence. As is my way with these things, having checked the weather forecast last night and found that today was due to be dry if cloudy whilst Friday was due to be wet, I decided that today would be the day when I would blitz my Cardigan Rhyd-Y-Fuwch council ward with this positive message. I therefore went to bed last night running through my head the best way of tackling the delivery of 500+ flyers that I was required to do. I've always done this. If I have a delivery to do, be it for a Focus or my Xmas flyer for example, I'll always plan the night before what I'll do and how depending on how much time I have and what other diary commitments I have to work around.

Well today, the only commitment I had in my diary was a mid-morning meeting at the CAB so I planned around that and took it from there. It does help that my ward is one of the smallest and most concentrated in Ceredigion. It has only around 650 houses in it and the majority are in Cardigan town centre itself. With this in mind, I felt that I could probably deliver the vast majority of it comfortably by 4pm.

7 hours of sunshine, smiles and delivering for Wales

I left the house this morning at 10.30am and set-off down my planned route of Aberystwyth Road, taking in Feidrhenffordd. I then cut inside and delivered Rhos-Y-Dre before delivering half of Maesyrhaf, zig-zagging across the road to deliver all of Napier Gardens and then Napier St. Whilst on Napier St, I bumped into Gary who won the Overall Champion Award in last year's Cardigan Town in Bloom. He totally deserved his achievement last year and he still couldn't believe it - so unassuming was he of his ability to turn a small area into a wonderful visual experience. As a Scot, he also had to bemoan his country's performance last Saturday - his Welsh partner however, rightly had no qualms at the result! It was already turning out to be a much more pleasant and sunnier day than I'd expected and I reached the CAB shortly afterwards at 11.30am. There I had, as Chair of the Trustee Board, a 45 minute meeting with our excellent Bureau Manager Buddig and we went over some paperwork dealing with the on-going merger process with Aberystwyth CAB to form a Ceredigion-wide service. There were a few items that I had to follow-up and promised to do so for her this evening.



Setting off, I delivered Williams Terrace where I bumped into Ben who is a real Cardigan character and who always keeps a watchful eye out for our Bureau for which we are grateful. He was on good form and asked about my nephew who was involved in a road accident on leaving school 2 weeks ago (and is thankfully fine). How had Ben become aware of this I don't know but such is the Cardigan way, word spreads around quickly enough! I then delivered Feidrfair and half of William St before stopping for lunch at 12.30pm at Cardi Cafe which has not long been taken over by budding young chef Matthew. I've often stopped there for a break, to have a snack and read the paper and that was just what was required today. An excellent large breakfast (don't tell Alyson!) whilst reading the weekly news in the Cambrian News and Carmarthen Journal was just what the doctor ordered and feeling refreshed, I set off at 1.30pm for an afternoon of delivery.

I began by finishing the second half of William St and bumped into Denise who had a concern about improvement works that the Council have been undertaking in the street and in Feidrfair. The improvement works, which have previously taken in North Road, have done a great deal of good in improving the look of the town but in this case, she had a legitimate grievance about the lack of pointing and of some works that had not been done. I promised to contact the Council for her this evening and to raise her concerns with the planning department who authorised the works.



Always Smiling

I then moved up town to deliver North Road when I heard a passing car beep its horn. It was Dai, the secretary of Cardigan Football Club giving a wave, and I waved back. I then completed the second half of Maesyrhaf before moving in to Bro Teifi estate and Heol Hafod. Whilst in Heol Hafod, I bumped into Dennis who was doing some gardening. I hadn't spoken to him in some time and before I knew it, I'd been on his door-step for some 30 minutes - the two of us putting the world to rights on local issues and on wider issues more generally. He spoke very kindly of me and said that we needed more people like me around - a very touching thing for him to say. Muriel was passing by at this time and I said a quick hello to her as she was leaving her house. On finishing Heol Hafod, I moved into the Bro Teifi estate proper and called in to see Ken who I've been helping recently with some casework. He's been having communication problems with the new housing association Tai Ceredigion and I chased them up for him. The good news was that his kitchen will now be re-fitted in its entirety with the work commencing in 11 days time. On leaving, he asked if I could drop a birthday card for him at his former neighbour's new house at the top end of the estate which of course was a pleasure to do on his behalf. I then called in with Chloe who I've also been helping of late with her housing problems and was pleased to hear that positive progress was being made with her case.

I then called into the Bro Teifi sheltered accommodation complex to deliver the 'Yes for Wales' flyers there too and to see the improvement works that have been on-going there in recent weeks. I must admit I was bowled over by the changes made. I had presumed that Tai Ceredigion were just going to give the communal room and warden's office a make-over but they have in fact knocked through walls and have extended the popular warden Louise's office to double its size which was much needed as it was previously little more than a box room. The communal room looked much lighter and more pleasant and they've done a good job fair play. Louise the warden is very well liked by the residents and quite rightly too - she's got a great personality and is a great help to the residents. She's also very kind and helpful to me as the local Councillor and today told me that children from the primary school (of which I'm a Governor) will be visiting the complex on St David's Day (March 1st) to sing Welsh songs for the residents and that I'd be more than welcoming to attend - it's now in the diary! On my walk around the building, I called in with Nikki who I've known for many years as she used to work on our family farm and was a popular addition to the team because of her spinning demonstrations. She's not long moved to Bro Teifi where her mother also lives and it was good to have a chat with her and I muchly appreciated the glass of squash that quenched my thirst in what was a surprisngly warm and spring-like afternoon.

On leaving the estate, I bumped into Michael who informed me that the broken street light which he had notified me of and which I reported to the Council last month had now been fixed - good news. He then told me of another street light which was now needing attention and he said that he'd call me this evening with the specific number for that lamp post so I can report it also. I then went to Brynhafod where I unintentionally bumped into Graham, one of my helpful Lib Dem deliverers who was visiting his mother. We had a chat and I informed him that the next delivery is ready for him so he'll collect his bundle from my house over the next few days - a happy coincidence! I was then called over by Dai who is one of the members of our successful Neighbourhood Watch scheme who wanted to check the date of our next meeting.

By this time it was 5.20pm and the sun was just setting. I finished my round for the day in Maeshenffordd where a resident was just getting out of a Robin's Taxi having done her shopping in Tesco. Her name escapes me but I know her face (I'm getting old) and she called me over and said how nice it was to see me and she asked after me and commended me for my work. Again, a nice gesture which wasn't necessary but which was nevertheless greatly appreciated. I finished by leafletting at 5.40pm (much later than expected!) having delivered over 500 flyers during the previous 7 or so hours.

I walked the short 10 or so minute walk back home here to Aneddfa and on seeing another Robin's Taxi drive past, saw another hand wave in my direction and so I again, happily waved back (I know the Robin's Taxis guys well enough!).

Proud to be a Councillor
It really has been a lovely day. With no evening meetings to worry about (the one I had, had been postponed yesterday), I was in no rush and could amble around at my pace, delivering the flyers through letterboxes whilst chatting to anyone who may be walking by or who may be at their door as I approached. It also gave me the opportunity to catch up with some casework cases and it was pleasing to note positive progress in a number of these.

(I should not that where I mentioned casework cases above, I have changed their names in italic to protect their identies as such specific casework is of course confidential).

It was also a beautiful day - much warmer and sunnier than I'd expected. It put a real spring (pun intended) in my step as it really felt, for the first time, as if winter may finally be on the way out. Finally, having the gestures of goodwill made me feel that my work over the years as a Councillor is appreciated by those I try my best to help and represent. That's what matters. If the goodwill wasn't there, I wouldn't be either.

Call me Mark
Over the past 7 years, I have come to know so many people in Cardigan and in my ward in particular and being a farmer's boy, I like talking to people on first name terms. I'm Mark and that's how I like to be referred too. If a resident prefers to call me Mr Cole or Cllr Cole then that's fine but given the choice I'll always say that it's Mark that is on my birth certificate. Probably 90% of those that I come across call me Mark and this more than anything pleases me greatly. I hope it shows that I'm seen as being an approachable, helpful and positive individual who can always be relied on to have a smile on his face.

It's a real pleasure and an honour to serve as a Councillor in Cardigan and it's days like today that re-emphasises the fact that deciding to put my name forward for election back in 2004 at the then age of 21 was one of the best decision I have ever made.

Jeux Sans Frontières on S4C (1991-1994) - Wonderful Memories!

I've been blessed with a happy childhood. I had my ups and downs like any child but on the whole, I look back with great fondness at my formative years.

There are certain things that take you back to those times in the past. Sights, smells, sounds - they can all conjure up a past memory, a sensation, a feeling. We all have them and I've just literally been transported back to a wonderful visual image and audio moment myself from the early 1990s.

From the Crucible Theatr to David Vine to Jeux Sans Frontières
I'd been doing some research earlier on snooker history having been watching the Masters on BBC2. I was reading up on the likes of Kirk Stevens and 'Big' Bill Werbeniuk and then got side-lined and started reading about snooker commentators 'Whispering' Ted Lowe and David Vine. From there, I found myself moving towards the world of It's a Knockout which David Vine used to present before Stuart Hall famously took control of the microphone.

Jeux Sans Frontières on S4C
Now, I'm too young to remember It's a Knockout. It came to an end in its initial form in the year of my birth, 1982. There were a few specials during the 1980's such as the infamous It's a Royal Knockout but I recall the show from it's international revamped 1990s format when Wales competed on behalf of the UK between 1991-1994.

The programmes were shown on Welsh TV channel S4C and were broadcast in Welsh. Not a problem for me, but what it meant was that during this period, British TV regions outside of Wales did not show Jeux Sans Frontières.

I can recall the excitment that grew within me as a 9-12 year old boy each time the opening credits rolled (was it on a Sunday night I seem to recall?!). It was the mixture of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's anthemic opening European Broadcasting Union score (the prelude to Te Deum), followed by the theme tune to Jeux Sans Frontières itself which I absolutely adored. It was the sound that was to usher in a period of enjoyment and escapism in a wonderfully ludicrous context (and it gave me the the opportunity to shout enthusiastically for my country too!).

On my voyage from 'Big' Bill Werbeniuk to Jeux Sans Frontières earlier, I suddenly realised that I had to find 'that' piece of music with 'those' opening credits'.

Well dear reader, I found it! I haven't seen it for probably a full 17 years but when I did just now, the tears of joy were welling up in my eyes! It may be sentimental but then I'm a sentimental kinda guy and being reunited with this happy piece of my childhood was wonderful! The shivers have truly just gone down my spine!

So, here are those opening credits that I gleefully watched on S4C between 1991-1994 and to follow, for visitors to this blog who are older than me and remember It's a Knockout, its famous 'Bean Bag' theme tune by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass.

School Reunion Week

The week between Christmas and New Year has always been a particularly relaxing one for me.

It's the only period of the year when it feels as if everyone is on holiday. The amount of e-mails and 'phone calls I get in this period is a fraction of what I normally receive as everyone is in the festive mood and unless there's an emergency, very rarely consider calling their local Councillor to worry them about their concerns.

As a result, over recent years in particular, I've taken the opportunity of having a quiet few days during this period to catch up with old friends.

Ysgol Dyffryn Taf - the 2004 Reunion
I left my seconday scchool in the summer of 2000. A whole decade ago? Time really does fly.

On going to Aberystwyth University, I quickly lost contact with most of my friends from school. So in 2004, having graduated and become a County Councillor in Cardigan, I decided it was time to try and catch up with some old faces. It worked out well as word spread and we had a night out in Tenby between Xmas in New Year with about 9 or 10 of us present. Nothing too formal, just a few pints and a catch up with old friends.

The 2009 Reunion
But, despite our saying that we wouldn't lose contact again, it has so happened. But last year at this same time, I made an effort to catch up with some more old faces. This time I caught up with my old childhood neighbour Justin Williams. We were always playing in each other's houses but I hadn't see him since my fathe died in 2003 as he had moved out to live in Canada. He's now engaged and doing well but on coming hme to visit his mum Trisha, it gave me a chance to catch up with him, his mother, her partner Nigel and her sister- Justin's auntie. It was great to see them all again and to see that they were still the nice family that they've always been.

I also caught up with the Evans family from Whitland who my family have know since my childhood. Llewellyn was in my class in primary school and though we'd caught up in the 2004 get together, I don't think I'd seen him since. In the meantime, younger brother Ryan happened to be a good friend of Alyson, who I got together with on Boxing Day last year. So with all of these newly re-made connections, a few of us caught up for a meal a the Black Lion in St Clears. It was a Whitland YFC Xmas dinner to be precise but a chance for me to catch up with Llew, Ryan and sister Sioned and their mother Vera who hadn't changed a  bit!

I've told my mum that in bot cases - with Trisha and with Vera, she should find the time to cach up with them also. I hope she does.

Ysgol Dyffryn Taf - the 2010 Reunion
So that brings us to this week. With this growing want to catch up with old friends, I was pleased to get a Facebook message (is there any other way nowadays?!) from another old school friend Alex Forder. Now, we've actaully met more recently than the 2004 get together when we caught up for a drink in Cardiff but now that he lives in Bilbao, Spain, the chances of a catch-up are rare. So he asked whether I wanted to have a curry one night during his Xmas break back home.

Well, why not indeed? So we then decided that we may as well try and see if we could get a group of us together from Dyffryn Taf. Admittedly, the idea was only discussed some 3 weeks ago so we had little time to plan, but it was worth a try.

Despite the short notice and the awful heavy rain last night, we still got 4 of us together for a (bloody fine) Indian and catch-up in Tenby. As I mentioned, I've seen Alex a few times in recent years - most recently in August 2008. As ever he was on good form and holds the rare distinction of being able to out-talk me! Dafydd Williams from Llanboidy also came down and apart from a fleeting 'hello' on a bus one time in the semi-distant past, I haven't seen him since we left school over 10 years ago. We'd been in the same class for 7 years in Dyffryn Taf so it was good to catch-up. Finally, completing the four-some, we had Gavin Harris who, like Alex, had come to Dyffryn Taf mid-way through the 7 years that I and Dafydd were there. Both Gavin and Alex were in our 6th form class so we knew each other well but the only time I'd met him since 2000 was in that 2004 get together. He joined the Marines as he always said he would, back in 2001, so is about to celebrate 10 years in the forces. He's just come back from a 3rd spell in Afghanistan having also been in Iraq and Sierra Leone. Much respect to the man and it was great to see him again.

The best thing about it is that it was as if none of us had changed. Alex, Gavin and Dafydd all spoke the same and looked the same as they did all those years ago, albeit maybe with a few years of age added on top! But it was good to catch up with good friends of old.

We drift apart so easily as people. A forgotten communication here, a reluctance to say hello there and suddenly, years go by without us keeping in touch with those who at one timein our lives, were those good friends. I hope I've managed to make some of those re-connections over the past few years and I hope to continue to do so in the future.

The Fear of (Xmas) Shopping

Ho Ho Ho!

The season of good will is with us though the weather has come with it.

Cardigan town has escaped the worst of the snow this last week. We've had a fair deal over the weekend but certainly nothing compared to other areas of the county and indeed the rest of the country.

I've been out xmas shopping in town and delivering my annual Councillor Xmas greetings leaflet around my ward during the past few days and now only have about a quarter left to deliver. But it's been pretty slippy out there - particularly off the main roads of the town centre.

But that hasn't deterred the shoppers. The town has been pretty busy today which is pleasing to see considering that many of the out-lying areas have been suffering from the snow much more than we have here in the town.

Personally, for one who doesn't enjoy shopping at the best of times, the thought of Xmas shopping usually fills me with dread. Many people simplify the process by shopping early for deals online, but others postpone, until running to stores at the last minute is the only option. In recent years, I've been known to fall into this latter category and have been found out shopping on Christmas Eve and then wrapping it all that evening. With 9 nephews/nieces, older siblings and of course my mother to cater for, it has always been a mini-nightmare.

Fighting the Fear
Thankfully this year I've been that bit more organised. It begins simply by deciding to give my nephews and nieces £10 each. Because with them now ranging from 2-13 years in age, the chances are that I'm either going to buy them something that they don't want or something that they already have. So giving some money should hopefully be my best bet. I certainly recall liking cash as a present when I was younger - I could use it for what I wanted then!

So that has left me with presents to buy for my Alyson, for her parents, for my mother and for her friend Ray. Impressively for me, with 5 days to go, I have now completed the job! This is slightly unheard of for me but it's good news for sure. I've also sent off all of my Christmas cards! I've even bought the bows and name cards for the presents (I'm actually, you may be surprised to read, a decent dab hand when it comes to wrapping presents) and I hope to wrap the presents all up now tonight which leaves me free to complete the delivery of my Councillor Xmas greetings leaflet over the next few days.

So, for once, I've made the whole shopping experience that little bit more reasonable for myself.

But that doesn't mean I like shopping...

I Hate Halloween

For a blog post title, it does exactly what it says on the tin really doesn't it.

It's Halloween weekend and it's one of the times of year that I really detest.

Why such an unveiled contempt when many enjoy the celebrations? Maybe it's because I was born in a part of south Pembrokeshire that was sparsely populated of immediate houses near-by. I never lived in a town or village so the whole concept of 'trick-or-treating' never really took off for me as a child as there was hardly anyone near-by to 'trick or treat'!

Having said that, that isn't a reason in itself to hate Halloween. That was only a reason to not be actively involved in it.

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November (not October 31st)
Really, I can't stand it, because I don't see the point in it. For me, it's a complete waste of time with no redeeming features. Wind the clock forward a few days however to November 5th and as a child, you'd always see me with a sparkler in my hand, no doubt near-by a Bonfire. Because actually, for all that Bonfire Night in itself is also a rather fanciful day of activities, it does at least actually represent something. It represents the failed attempts of Guy Fawkes to blow up King and Parliament in 1605. There's actually a bit of history behind it and as a historian, that always won be over. Also, Bonfire Night is a bloody good laugh.

Halloween though? Call me simplistic, but it's just an American fad. Now don't get me wrong, I love America. I've been there many times and have lapped up it's wonderful sense of self. My brother-in-law is also American and my eldest niece was born there, in Florida on the day of Diana's funeral in September 1997.

So it's nothing against the country, it's just this particular concept, which is naturally an alien one to this country. For me, America can happily keep Halloween. It isn't needed here.

What I do know as a local Councillor, is that I will be getting e-mails and phone calls over the next 48 hours from anxious residents who will have suffered from the pelting of eggs and flour on their windows. That's not very nice is it and yet it predominantly happens at exactly this time of year.

So, call me Scrooge if you like. I don't care. I'll bah humbug the lot of you 'cos I hate Halloween, always have and always will.

The Aberfan Perspective

I type this post at around 9.30am-10am.

At this time, 44 years ago today, Britain and Wales in particular, experienced one of the most heart-breaking disasters in living memory - the Aberfan Disaster. 144 people were killed. Of these, 5 were teachers and 116 were pupils aged between 7-10 which accounted for almost half of Pantglas Junior School.

I was not born at the time, but it is an event that scars the Welsh psyche - and mine. I have myself however, paid a visit to the Garden of Remembrance and it proved to be one of the most over-powering experiences of my life.

'A terrifying tale of bungling ineptitude'
This was one of the conclusions laid bare in the 1967 Davies Inquiry. For this was a cruel disaster. Not only shouldn't it have happened in the first place - it was a damning legacy of National Coal Board negligence as Davies rightly pointed out, but it was also a stroke of awful misfortune for those that lay beneath the Aberfan tip that fateful morning.

It was early morning and the children had only just arrived for school. It was also the last day before half-term. Events could so easily have conspired to have saved these lives. Just an hour earlier, or a day later, and these children would not have been at school at the time of the slide.

In total, some 150,000 cubic metres of water-saturated debris broke away and flowed down the hillside at high speed. Some 40,000 cubic metres of this slide went into the village in a slurry some 40 feet deep. The slide destroyed a farm and twenty terraced houses along Moy Road and slammed into the northern side of the Junior school.

Through the morning fog of that sunny morning 44 years ago, with visibility no more than some 50 metres, the children were leaving Assembly having just sang 'All Thing Bright and Beautiful'. They couldn't see what was coming, but they could hear it coming down the hillside towards them.

Gaynor Minett, a then 8-year old survivor of the tragedy said:

"It was a tremendous rumbling sound and all the school went dead. You could hear a pin drop. Everyone just froze in their seats. I just managed to get up and I reached the end of my desk when the sound got louder and nearer, until I could see the black out of the window. I can't remember any more but I woke up to find that a horrible nightmare had just begun in front of my eyes."

Please read these 'Witness' statements from the BBC website. They're also very moving and heart-breaking.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/october/21/newsid_3194000/3194860.stm

A Welsh Tragedy - A Personal Pilgrimage

It must have been 6 or 7 years ago now when, along with Anders Hanson, we happened to be going to-and-from Cardiff from Aberystwyth. We happened to be passing Merthyr on the A470 and with time to spare, asked Anders if he'd be willing to detour into Aberfan.

Because, as a Welsh child, this disaster has been indelibly marked in my mind. As a child of history but more importantly, as a child, this awful story resonated with me a young boy more than any other. For at the end of the day, as the proverb goes, 'There but for the grace of God go I'. I was a school child attending class and attending morning Assembly like any other in Wales. My school happened to be in Whitland, 20-25 years later but for these poor children and their familes, their's just happened to be Aberfan's Pantglas Junior School on the morning of October 21st 1966.

So it was with this morbid sense of 'belonging' almost, that I felt a responsibility to pay my respects at the Garden of Remembrance that now stands on the site of the old school. As mentioned above, it was one of the most harrowing and emotional moments of my life. Seeing the plaque as you enter, coldly state the facts of the number of deaths that had occurred on that site all those years before, sent a cold cold shiver down my spine. I'm pretty sure I shed a few quiet tears of grief.

I didn't go to the cemetary. I couldn't have coped with that. The Garden was enough.

The Aberfan Perspective

Because, and this is the thing, these children were innocent. They weren't 33 Chilean miners who voluntarily risked their lives by going down a mine. They were just happy-go-lucky young folk who were looking forwards to half-term. Far too many of them, never got their holidays.

This gives you perspective - real perspective. When the country cowers at the news that emanated from Parliament yesterday with the biggest public spending cuts seen since the 1970s, it's easy for us to get embroiled in the problems and challanges of today. But just looking back into history at some of the much greater challenges that our forefathers have had to contend with, puts 2010 into its rightful perspective.

We are very fortunate. As a human race, we more often than not learn from our mistakes - it's what we call 'progress'. It's why we've not had another 'Aberfan' in the ensuing 44 years.

It's a tragedy though and an indictment of the human race itself, that 'Aberfan' ever happened in the first place.

Aberystwyth University - Best Years of My Life

With some amazement and inredulity, I find myself looking back on what has been a rather remarkable 10 years of my life.

It was on this Freshers weekend, back in September 2000, that I arrived in Aberystwyth University as a green, naïve and shy young, just turned 18 year old. Looking back over the past decade, there is no doubt that I owe Aberystwyth and its University a great debt of gratitude for helping me to become the not so green, naïve and shy man that I am today.

Pantycelyn, Freshers Week - September 2000
Over the years, some memories dim with age, but some continue to shine brightly as seminal moments in your life.

I can very clearly remember one of those as I arrived at Pantycelyn Halls of Residence on the Friday of Freshers weekend (10 years ago yesterday). I was very much walking into the unknown. I'd been a competent, pleasant and agreeable pupil in Whitland primary and secondary schools but going to Aberystwyth, with no-one from my year joining me, meant that I had to socialise and make new friends like never before.

Pantycelyn was definitely the best place to do so. As a Welsh language hall of residence, it had an in-built community which you wouldn't find in a Penrbyn, Cwrt Mawr or Rosser. I arrived with only 3 others on that Friday - Griff, Huw and Carl (I ended up becoming best mates with Huw over the years). But it was on the Saturday that everyone else arrived in force - that's over 250 arriving in one day when the 4 of us had decided to arrive a day earlier! I can remember a group of us met up in Room 199 which was being shared by Griff and Dai and after a number of 'bonding' drinks of vodka and orange juice, we all made our way down into town for our first proper night out in University. As Pantycelyn students, one of the central stops is of course 'Yr Hen Llew Du (the Black Lion) on Bridge St and I recall that we all suddenly left en masse for the next pub whilst Huw was still in the toilets - I don't think we saw him again that night!

The Pantycelyn Freshers Week was always an entertaining one and I half heartedly threw myself into it. I knew I needed to extend myself to meet new friends but I limited myself to some of their activities and nights out and not all of them - it was my way of keeping in control of myself.

Pantycelyn Life
I had the great fortune of living in Pantycelyn for 2 years. Firstly in Room 130 with Owen Ashton (we got up to some larks!) and then in a single Room 210 opposite Huw's in my second year. By this time I'd become friends with 'the boys' - the gang from Pontardawe, Ystalyfera & Gwaen Cau Gurwen with whom I catch up with to this day, as often as possible in between our respective, busy lives.

It was as a group of us that we moved into St Arvans, No.14 Llanbadarn Road in our 3rd year. After 2 years in Halls, we wanted the experience of living in town and it was the best year of my time in University.

Whilst many residents of Pantycelyn were more than happy to remain within the walls of the community that existed there, my feet always itched to do more.

I had joined the Liberal Democrats for the first time in that first September of University 10 years ago but I didn't get active until I delivered a solitary round of leaflets around Pantycelyn during the 2001 General Election (no mean feat in a Hall that is generally regarded as having a high level of enthusiasm and activity for Plaid Cymru!). I was still finding my feet and for that first year my only objective was to survive.

Nevertheless, my first year was very much a 'Pantycelyn' year where my studies were mixed with a social scene that centred exclusively around the Halls in which I was a resident.

Playing Pool
The one 'exception' to this first year rule, was my pool playing exploits. I remember vividly as if it were yesterday the day that Damian, Dai and I were walking down Penglais Hill from Pantycelyn into town and walked past this pub that had a bizzare looking, orange baized pool table. It was enough to lure us in for a look and a few frames.

That pub of course was the 'Weston Vaults' - a pub that I've always regarded as being my 'local' in the town ever since.

Now I've always been handy with a pool cue. No Ronnie O'Sullivan I'll grant you, but not bad all the same. But it was on that first, mid-afternoon visit, that I was given the encouragement to do something with it. Dai, Damian and I were playing a few frames and I remember noticing a chap sitting alone at the bar came, watching us. It was slightly un-nerving. Suddenly, he came over and challenged me to a game. I was rather non-plussed by this challenge but took it on and gamely lost a best of 3 encounter to him, 2-1. It was enough for him to recommend me to join the local pool team! So I did! I drafted Huw in alongside me for company (and I must admit, he was just a tad better than me) and we had a wonderfully enjoyable season on the pool circuit playing for the Weston's 'B' team - the 'student' team. Ironically, the student 'B' team had been promoted the year before and the 'A' team of locals had been relegated. So we were playing in the 2nd division of the Aberystwyth Pool League that winter and finished a highly credible 5th out of 9 whilst the 'A' team failed to get promotion back out of the 3rd division!

For that year, Tuesday night was 'pool' night. My pool playing exploits gradually declined as the years went on and other activities took more of my time but in that first yet, as a rare outlet to Pantycelyn living, it was immeasureably good fun and I met a great gang of mates along the way. The memories of beating the owner of the Fountain in Trefechan on his pool table and with his own pool cue will live long in the memory as will the 1-3 comeback to win 4-3 away to the Academy! The names Ed, Chad, Maggs, Trystan, Rob et al will always remind me of a happy period in my life.

Spreading the Wings...
Liberal Democrats (Part I)
It was in my second year that I began to find the confidence to truly expand my social horizons. Initially, it was becoming active in the Liberal Democrats that got me going. I recall making the decision in the first week of term in 2001 to go to a meeting of the re-launched student group. I remember looking at the e-mail list and noticing that there were 30-40 recipients of the e-mail with the details to that first meeting. I naïvely presumed therefore that there'd be 30-40 odd people at that meeting! It was only on walking into the Varsity and walking up to the balcony there that I was greeted with the slightly less spectacular sight of 8-10 members. Of course the irony is that Andrew Falconer, who was the first student group President, had a much more worldy knowledge of how many to expect at a political gathering of students and he in contrast, was delighted with the turnout!

During that year, there was a group of 4-5 of us who were active within the group - Andrew, Stuart, Richard, Griff and myself. Suddenly, I started going to constituency dinners (my first being a Lord Geraint Howells dinner in the Marine Hotel that autumn) and to external conferences (Manchester and Llandudno in the spring of '02). As a result of becoming politically active, I got involved in Union politics and stood in the spring of '02 in the annual Students Union elections. I was elected unopposed to the non-sabbatical position of Environmental Officer.

As a result of being a student in the excellent International Politics Department in the University, I had the opportunity to go on its 'Parliamentary Placement' scheme in the summer of '02 at the end of my second year. 5 weeks in the Welsh Assembly working as an intern for the Liberal Democrats opened doors of opportunity for me by getting me involved with the party at a higher level and as a result, on advice from our then Welsh Chief Executive Chris Lines, I stood as a Lib Dem Youth and Students representative on the Welsh Lib Dem Executive Committee and the Welsh Lib Dem Campaigns Committee the following year, 2003.

What was greatly fortunate though was that I had come to University town where the liberal tradition was strong. Between 1874-1966 and again between 1974-1992, it was A Liberal / Liberal Democrat MP that had been in residence. So the opportunites for me as a liberal were instantly much greater for me here than they may have been in other University towns.

Final Year Madness
As against the normal way of things, my busiest and most active year of University was actually my final year. Amidst the undergradutate studies and dissertation work that was of paramount importance, my growing self-confidence led me to get involved with more activities. In 2002-03, I was now the Secretary of the student Liberal Democrat branch, I was a non-sabbatical member of the Student Union Executive and I also became Treasurer of the History Society.

History Society
The latter development was very much a 'coup' led by myself and good history student friend Caroline. We'd both decided that the current history society was rather bland and un-inspiring and took it over in the annual elections as Treasurer and President respectively to liven it up somewhat. Our weekly 'History' socials became a highlight of my week as we sought to make history more 'fun' and we made many good new friends from across the departmental spectrum that year (although the departmental chiefs may not have been so amused!).

Union Politics
I was an active Environmental Officer and decided to make 'Environmental Week' in the spring of '03 actually that. In years gone by, it was merely a 'day' of promoting environmental awareness around the University but I wanted to make more of it. I launched an 'Environmental Sub-Committee' of willing enthusiasts to help me in my task and was rather delighted when the vast majority of those who showed an interest happened to be women! Again, we had some great nights out as a group and in total there must have been about a dozen or so of us who had gotten to know each other. The week itself was a real success and at the end of it, on April 1st of all days, I announced my resignation from the Guild Executive after what had been a productive and enjoyable year to allow my replacement Martin Kohring to take over earlier than planned and also to allow me to concentrate my efforts on concluding my dissertation (yes, I was still studying despite all of this!).

Liberal Democrats (Part II)
I also needed time to concentrate on the up-coming Welsh Assembly elections. By the end of my final year as an undergraduate, I was by now well emersed in liberal politics. A member of Welsh Lib Dem committees and one of the active leaders in the student group, we now had an election to fight and John Davies was our new but willing candidate.

In fact, my role during the month of April itself was to telephone canvass voters from across the Mid & West Wales region. That was 40 hours a week telehpone canvassing for 4 weeks. I was being paid to do so but still, it was quite an exercise. I did so out of our regional organiser Anders Hanson's flat in Penmorfa, North Road. But I also had a 12,000 word History dissertation to write.

So for that one crazy month, my routine which I will never forget, revolved around me getting up and leaving Llanbadarn Road and making my way up to the National Library after 8am to spend each morning there until lunchtime, researching for my dissertation. Then by 1pm, I'd be stationed in Anders' flat, ready for a day of telephone canvassing. I finished at 9pm (with a small break to watch Countdown in between!) and would go the office on North Parade to give Anders my daily data. A month later, we had an excellent result in Ceredigion in which we reduced a Plaid majority from over 10,000 down to 4,500.

I also managed to score a First in my dissertation with a 70% score on my way to an eventual high 2:1 degree. The key to that was choosing a dissertation topic for which I enjoyed doing the researching and groundwork. Of course, politics was involved and I still take great pleasure in my work revolving around the 1963 Conservative leadership crisis.

MA & Beyond...
Despite the sudden death of my father which I blogged about here, I returned to Aberystwyth to study my Masters in History in the fall of '04 and was now Chair of the student Liberal Democrat group. I was also on the Steering and Elections Committee in the Student Union and was nominated as one of 4 delegates to attend the annual NUS Conference in Blackpool's Winter Gardens in the spring of '04 (in the politically amusing company of Tory (losing Colchester 2010 candidate) Will Quince, future Plaid Cymru AM Bethan Jenkins and enthusiastic environmental activist Lydia Bulmer).

Having by now attended numerous Welsh and Federal Liberal Democrat conferences, my first visit to a 5 day autumn conference in Brighton '03 opened the doors up to my future as Chris Lines sought my views on standing to be a new Constituency Organiser for the Ceredigion Liberal Democrats. The following spring, it came to pass and from there I decided to stand for local government and was elected at the same time (a 'veritable double-whammy' as Charles Kennedy called it in a hand-written letter he sent to me after the event) to both Aberystwyth Town Council and Ceredigion County Council as a Cardigan County Councillor, in June '04. Working on the wonderful 2005 election win for Mark Williams, his stupendous re-election 5 years later and my working for him and being a Councillor and also Mayor of Cardigan in my own right in between, all flowed from there.

What If?
So I really have an unbelievable debt of gratitude towards Aberystwyth University.

Indeed, I sometimes wonder what may have been had I have decided to take up one of my other UCAS options. My reserve choice was the University of Glamorgan. What would've become of me had I have gone there? Would I have become politically active locally and had the opportunity to intern in Cardiff Bay? Would my confidence levels have increased there as much as they did in Aberystwyth?

I'll never know of course. But what I do know is that where I am now and all that I have achieved during the past 10 years must be dedicated to the decision to study in Aberystwyth University in the first place.

Good Luck to the Class of 2010
So, in mulling over in this written format, what has been an incredible period in my life (and the scarcely believable fact that 10 years has flown by so quickly), there is only two more things left for me to do. To raise a glass of gratitude to my old alumni and to wish the best of luck to all those who are this very weekend, making that great jump into unchartered waters that I made myself, 10 years ago.

Thank you Aberystwyth University and good luck to the Freshers of 2010 - you made a sound choice to come to Aberystwyth. That decision changed my life around for the good and I hope it does the same to you.