The Pembrokeshire Herald 05/12/2025

Holly Mayhew Rapunzel Jess Dyas Mother Gothel

Grayshon

Belinda Beehive

Two killed aFTer car Travels wrong way along a 48 • P7

Pembrokeshire haven master admits endangering life

A PEMBROESHIRE haven master has admitted endangering life after driving his motor boat at excessive speed into a teenage kayaker on the Cleddau River.

Adam Joshua Russel, 28, was helming the White Mischief with friends on the afternoon of August 11, 2024, near Neyland when he ignored repeated warnings from other river users about kayaks approaching in the vicinity of Rudders Boatyard, Burton.

Despite being told several times to slow down, Russel continued at what witnesses described as an exceptionally

Sarah Jane Absalom sarah.jane.absalom@herald.email

high speed. Moments later, he struck a kayak being paddled by a 15-yearold schoolboy. (The original complaint stated 13, but the court heard the victim was 15.)

The teenager was taken by ambulance to West Wales General Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries. His kayak was left extensively damaged.

Russel, who works as a haven master at Neyland Yacht Haven, appeared

before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court this week and pleaded guilty to:

• failing to travel at a safe speed to prevent a collision (misconduct),

• contravening Merchant Shipping Regulations relating to preventing collisions at sea,

• failing to adhere to a safe speed, and

• failing to act on a clear risk of

collision.

Prosecutor Nick Coller KC, acting for the Milford Haven Port Authority, asked magistrates to decline jurisdiction, arguing the seriousness of the incident required sentencing at Crown Court. Magistrates agreed.

Russel, of Murray Mews, Burton, was released on unconditional bail. He will be sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on December 23.

Woman handed conditional discharge Milford Haven shop thefts

A MILFORD HAVEN woman has been handed a 12-month conditional discharge after admitting three separate shop thefts from the same convenience store earlier this year.

Anna Davies, 43, of Precelly Place, appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (Nov 26) for sentencing. All three offences involved thefts from Haven Stores in Milford Haven and were contrary to sections 1(1) and 7 of the Theft Act 1968.

The court heard that:

• On 28 March 2025, Davies stole alcohol valued at £6.

• On 3 April 2025, she stole alcohol worth £36.25.

• On the same day, 3 April 2025, she also stole £55.20 worth of food items.

Davies pleaded guilty to all three offences on 18 November 2025, which the bench confirmed was taken into account during sentencing.

SENTENCE DETAILS

Magistrates imposed a 12-month conditional discharge covering all matters. Davies was also ordered to pay compensation to the store.

In addition, she must pay £85 court costs and a £26 victim services surcharge, with a collection order made for deductions from her benefits.

Davies was represented by Tom Lloyd of DGJ Solicitors, while Dennis Davies prosecuted for the CPS.

Adam Joshua Russel, 28

Heart-wrenching Harrowing developments in the trial

IN a week of raw, often unbearable evidence at Swansea Crown Court, the full horror of what happened to seven-week-old Baby C in January 2021 has been laid bare. From police interviews and scans revealing multiple fractures to the tear-soaked testimony of the infant’s young mother and the calm denials of the man she met on Tinder, the jury has heard how a newborn’s brief life descended into nightmare in the weeks after Christopher Phillips walked through the door of a Pembrokeshire flat.

Christopher Phillips (37), of Warrior Reach, Burton, Pembrokeshire, accused of the sexual penetration, grievous bodily harm, and assault of seven-week-old Baby C between December 20, 2020, and January 25, 2021. The infant’s mother (29), unnamed for legal reasons, denies two counts of causing or allowing serious physical harm and two counts of child cruelty. Proceedings unfolded at Swansea Crown Court from Friday, November 28, to Thursday, December 4, 2025, revealing a timeline of escalating concerns, medical evidence, and starkly contrasting accounts. The jury has heard from family, experts, and the defendants, painting a picture of a vulnerable newborn’s rapid decline after his mother met Phillips on Tinder shortly after his November 2020 birth.

Sarah Jane Absalom sarah.jane.absalom@herald.email

POLICE INTERVIEw TRANSCRIPT REVEALS PHILLIPS’ EARLy DENIALS

Friday opened with prosecutor Joshua Scouller reading the transcript of Phillips’ initial police interview to the jury. Conducted shortly after Baby C’s emergency admission to Glangwili Hospital (transferred to West Wales General) on January 24, 2021, the interview captured Phillips attributing the infant’s distress to a minor ear infection.

Phillips described Baby C as “crying more” in the preceding week, dismissing any suspicion of harm. He admitted to changing the baby’s nappies during visits to the mother’s Haverfordwest flat but insisted all interactions were supervised. “The baby was grizzly, but nothing out of the ordinary,” he told detectives, denying any knowledge of blood in nappies or unusual bruising first noticed around January 12.

The court heard how paramedics, responding to the mother’s 999 call in the early hours, found the child in a critical state with suspected non-accidental injuries, prompting immediate police and social services involvement. Phillips, who had been present during the nappy change

that preceded the screams, was interviewed alongside the mother. No arrests were made that night, but the interview sowed seeds of doubt, with Phillips emphasizing his limited role: “I was just there to see her, not to play dad.”

MEDICAL ExPERTS DETAIL ‘NONACCIDENTAL’ FRACTuRES

Expert testimony dominated Monday as paediatric radiologists and orthopaedic specialists outlined the extent of Baby C’s injuries, confirmed via hospital scans and post-mortemlike examinations (the child survived but with life-altering consequences).

Dr. Elena Ramirez, a consultant radiologist at Glangwili Hospital, testified that X-rays revealed fractures to the infant’s wrist, ankle, and six ribs – injuries “must have been inflicted” given the baby’s age and inability to self-harm. “These are classic signs of squeezing or twisting forces, incompatible with normal handling,” she said, estimating the rib fractures occurred 7-10 days before admission. A swollen testicle and anal trauma were also flagged as “highly suspicious” for sexual assault, with microscopic bleeding indicating penetration.

The jury viewed anonymized scans projected on screens, prompting audible gasps. Prosecutor Scouller pressed: “Could vaccinations or teething cause this?” Dr. Ramirez replied firmly: “Absolutely not – these are traumatic, deliberate injuries.” The court learned Baby C was discharged with safeguarding plans but readmitted days later for surgery on his testicle.

This evidence built on earlier prosecution claims that Phillips had “pestered” for unsupervised time with the baby, offers the mother rejected.

PHILLIPS TAkES THE STAND –‘PuRE COINCIDENCE’

In a tense morning session on Tuesday, Phillips himself entered the witness box, delivering a composed yet defiant account that clashed sharply with medical findings. Under direct examination by his defence barrister, he portrayed the injuries as an unfortunate “coincidence,” insisting he never harmed Baby C.

testimony at Baby C trial of Christopher Phillips at Swansea Crown Court

The 37-year-old described first noticing blood in the baby’s nappy on January 12, 2021, during a routine change: “I thought it was from the umbilical stump healing – nothing alarming.” He admitted texting the mother offers to babysit (“If you need time for shopping, I’ll sit with him”), but claimed her refusals stemmed from general new-parent anxiety, not suspicion. On the night of the 999 call, Phillips recounted Baby C’s screams as “normal grizzling,” denying blocking the mother’s access to the room or leaving the infant halfdressed.

Cross-examined by Scouller, Phillips grew animated: “I love kids –why would I hurt one?” He dismissed the Sudocrem incident (mother spotting cream on his finger from a non-existent pot) as “hand lotion,” and attributed bruises to “rough play” like tickling. The prosecution highlighted his anger over the mother’s GP visit: “You told her to ‘nip it in the bud’ to avoid suspicion?” Phillips replied: “I

was worried for her reputation in the community.”

Afternoon saw the grandmother’s recalled evidence, where she described Phillips as “pestering” and her gut fear of “some paedo” after seeing bruises.

MOTHER’S EVIDENCE BEgINS –TEARS AND TINDER wARNINgS

Wednesday marked an emotional pivot as Baby C’s mother took the stand, her voice trembling as she recounted meeting Phillips on Tinder just weeks after the birth. Her profile photo – cradling her newborn – drew an immediate connection, she said, but meetings stayed at her flat, always supervised. In hushed tones, breaking down repeatedly, she detailed the red flags: Phillips’ initial baby-ignoring coldness shifting to insistent babysitting offers after three weeks. “You don’t leave your baby with a stranger,” she told the court, echoing her text replies.

Post-vaccination screams (“like snapping bones” – a family phrase) escalated to discovered horrors: a large bottom bruise, swollen testicle, and bloody nappies by mid-January.

Confiding in family, her mother (Baby C’s grandmother) urged medical help, suspecting deliberate abuse. When the mother informed Phillips of her GP call, he reacted with controlled fury: “He wasn’t shouting, but his tone changed – worried about community gossip, told me to make it go away.” She described relief after the January 19 hospital exam (anal and testicular checks) but tension upon return, with Phillips accusing her of “micro-managing.”

The session ended with her spotting Sudocrem on his finger during a change: “Like from a pot –but I didn’t have one.”

MOTHER’S TESTIMONy CONCLuDES AMID RAw EMOTION

The mother’s evidence wrapped

on Thursday with the gut-wrenching January 24 details, her tears flowing freely. Describing the unnatural screams – “not pain exactly, but wrong” – she ignored Phillips’ plea to stay in the living room and burst in during the nappy change. “He fastened it and left without the babygro – that’s when I knew.”

Paramedics arrived minutes later, airlifting Baby C to Glangwili with catastrophic injuries: internal bleeding, fractures, and trauma confirming the prosecution’s case. Cross-examination by Scouller probed her vigilance: “Did you ever leave them alone?” “Never,” she insisted, denying neglect charges. Defence suggestions of her “overprotectiveness” masking guilt were met with sobs: “I was protecting my baby.”

The session closed all witness evidence, setting up closing speeches next week. Judge’s summing-up is Monday, December 8; jury retires Tuesday, December 9.

Photo by : Leighton Collins

Pembroke rape investigation dropped – one suspect now facing deportation

DyFED-POwyS POLICE have closed an investigation into an alleged rape and false imprisonment in Pembroke after deciding to take no further action. One of the two men originally arrested is now in immigration detention and faces deportation.

The incident took place on Main Street over the weekend of 8–9 November 2025. Police were called at 9:45am on Sunday 9 November after reports of a woman in distress. She was taken to hospital for treatment.

Two men – aged 36 and 27 – were arrested at the scene on suspicion of rape and false imprisonment. They were subsequently released on bail while enquiries continued.

On Tuesday (2 December 2025), the force announced the criminal investigation has concluded and no charges will be brought. A police spokesperson said the decision took full account of the victim’s wishes.

Outcome for the two suspects:

• The 36-year-old man has been transferred to the custody of the Home Office Immigration Enforcement team and is now detained pending deportation.

• The 27-year-old man has been released with no further police action.

A Dyfed-Powys Police statement read: “This investigation was not

terrorism-related, and we have no knowledge of any linked incident in Monkton. All rumours suggesting otherwise are incorrect.”

The force has also dismissed separate community speculation that the men entered the UK illegally on fraudulent passports or were due in court this week on terrorism charges.

Detectives stressed that every report of rape or serious sexual assault is treated seriously and victims are supported throughout. Anyone affected has been directed to specialist services, details of which are available on the force website.

No further police updates are expected.

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

Two killed after car travels wrong way along A48 before head-on collision

TwO people died after a car entered the A48 near Cross Hands in the wrong direction and continued for nearly half a kilometre before striking another vehicle head-on, an inquest has heard.

The crash happened shortly after midday on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, on the eastbound side of the dual carriageway between Pont Abraham and Cross Hands. Four vehicles were ultimately damaged.

TOyOTA TRAVELLED AgAINST ONCOMINg TRAFFIC

FOR 452 METRES

The hearings, which took place on Wednesday (December 3) at Llanelli Town Hall, examined the deaths of John Howell Price, aged 90, and Emily Thornton-Sandy, a 30-year-old solicitor.

Evidence from Dyfed-Powys Police showed that Mr Price had driven a Toyota out of a small access road serving a Welsh Water site. Instead of turning left, as the signage directs, his vehicle turned right into lane two of the A48 and began travelling westbound against fast-moving traffic.

Forensic investigator David Stacey told the court that the Toyota continued in the wrong direction for approximately 452 metres before colliding with Mrs Thornton-Sandy’s Ford. The impact caused both cars to become airborne and resulted in secondary impacts with a Renault and a BMW.

Mr Price died at the scene. Mrs Thornton-Sandy was taken to the University Hospital of Wales but

Court Reporter

succumbed to her injuries six days later, on November 11. Her dog, Scout, who was travelling with her, also died.

ROAD CONDITIONS NOT A FACTOR

Mr Stacey said the carriageway was dry, visibility was good and the surface was in proper condition.

There were no signs of emergency braking by either driver.

He confirmed that both cars’ speedometers froze on collision — the Toyota at 43mph and the Ford at 62mph — and that there was no evidence of alcohol, drugs or mobilephone use by either party.

Dashcam and CCTV recordings examined by officers captured the Toyota making the unlawful turn and heading straight into oncoming traffic.

MEDICAL CHECkS ExPLORED

The inquest heard that Mr Price had been seen by a medic two days before the crash following an episode of syncope. The court was told that the incident did not result in any driving restriction, and subsequent checks — including after a 2023 police referral to the DVLA about his eyesight — did not deem him medically unfit to drive.

Mr Stacey said Mrs ThorntonSandy had virtually “no time” to react when the wrong-way vehicle appeared in her lane.

CAuSE OF DEATH AND CORONER’S FINDINgS

Pathologists concluded that Mr Price died from multiple injuries sustained in the collision. Mrs Thornton-Sandy died from traumatic brain injury and tension pneumothorax.

Coroner Paul Bennett ruled both deaths were the result of road traffic collisions. He said it was not possible to determine why Mr Price made the manoeuvre.

He noted that three people received organ donations as a result of Mrs Thornton-Sandy’s death.

JuNCTION SAFETy TO BE REVIEwED

Mr Bennett said he would write to the South Wales Trunk Road Agency and Carmarthenshire Council regarding the junction design, and referred to upcoming changes in driving-licence renewal rules for motorists over 70.

Milford man sent to Crown Court on Class A supply offence

A MILFORD man has been sent to the Crown Court for sentencing after indicating a guilty plea to a serious Class A drug supply offence.

Dominic Jeary, 40, of Meyler Crescent, appeared before Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Friday (Nov 28) for a first hearing. He was charged with possession of a controlled Class A drug with intent to supply, relating to an incident on 26 November 2025.

A TEENAgE girl from the Milford Haven area has been remanded on conditional bail after admitting a knife offence earlier this week.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Friday (Nov 28) for a youth hearing following an incident on Monday (Nov 24).

The court was told that the offence involved the possession of Class A drugs in circumstances that suggested active preparation to supply.

Full details of the incident will be outlined when the case reaches the Crown Court.

Given the seriousness of the charge, magistrates declined jurisdiction and committed Jeary to the Crown Court for sentencing on a date to be fixed.

Jeary is due to appear at Crown Court on 19 December 2025. He remains on conditional bail until that date.

Teenager charged over knife offence remanded on conditional bail

Knife found in public place

The court heard that the girl was found in possession of a knife blade or sharp-pointed article in a public place, an offence under the Prevention of Crime Act 1953. Officers were called after concerns were raised about her behaviour, and she was arrested at the scene.

She entered an indicated guilty

plea at Friday’s hearing.

Two days after the knife incident, on 27 November, she was further arrested on suspicion of breaching, or being likely to breach, her bail conditions. That allegation was withdrawn by the prosecution and was not pursued in court.

Case next listed in the youth court Magistrates remanded the

teenager on conditional bail, imposing restrictions pending her next appearance in the youth court. A future hearing date will be set where a pre-sentence report is expected to be considered.

Further details cannot be published due to statutory reporting restrictions applying to defendants under 18.

Lloyd Grayshon Harry Lynn

Eifion Ap Cadno

Man handed suspended sentence for series of domestic assaults in Crymych

A DINAS CROSS man has been handed an 18-week suspended prison sentence after admitting a series of domestic assaults and criminal damage in Crymych.

Multiple offending over two days

William Lewis aged 40, of Parc Brynach, Dinas Cross, appeared for sentence at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (Nov 26). The court dealt with three separate assault charges and one count of criminal damage, all committed between 30 and 31 October 2025 at Maes Hafren, Crymych.

LEwIS PLEADED guILTy AT AN EARLIER HEARINg ON 3 NOVEMBER.

The assaults involved two victims, a female, and a second protected complainant who cannot be identified for legal reasons under a Section 45 reporting restriction.

The court heard that Lewis assaulted Ms Simmons twice first on 30 October and again on 31 October — during incidents that took place inside

the property. He also caused damage to the back door of the address, which belonged to housing association Barcud. The value of the damage was not known.

Sentence explained by magistrates Magistrates said the offences were so serious that “only a custodial sentence can be justified,” citing Lewis’s previous convictions, the domestic setting and the impact statements provided.

He was sentenced to a total custodial term of 18 weeks, suspended for 24 months. An additional concurrent 8-week term was imposed for the criminal damage matter, also suspended.

During the two-year suspension period, Lewis must:

• Complete 150 hours of unpaid work within 12 months

• Undertake a 9-month alcohol treatment programme, attending weekly sessions as directed by probation

• Attend 26 programme days

• Complete up to 20 days of rehabilitation activity

He must also pay £50 compensation for the damage to the door and £200 compensation to Ms Simmons. A victim surcharge of £154 and £85 prosecution costs were ordered, with deductions to be taken from his benefits.

Restraining order until 2027

A restraining order was imposed prohibiting Lewis from contacting the woman except for childcare arrangements made through a third party. He is also banned from entering

or approaching within 100 metres of her home.

Lewis is further prohibited from posting, entering or sharing any online content that refers to Ms Simmons directly or by implication. The order runs until 25 November 2027.

A separate youth reporting restriction relating to another complainant remains in place.

Whitland farmer, 70, jailed for “serious and prolonged” animal welfare offences

A wHITLAND farmer has been jailed for eighteen weeks after being convicted of a string of serious animal welfare and cattle-identification offences at Penycraig Farm.

TEN-yEAR BAN FROM kEEPINg ANIMALS

Thomas Raymond Jones, aged 70, of St John Street, Whitland, appeared before Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (Nov 27), where he was handed an immediate custodial sentence and banned from owning or keeping animals for ten years.

The court also ordered that no application to lift the ban can be made for at least five years.

Jones was convicted following a series of prosecutions brought by Carmarthenshire County Council,

relating to the condition and treatment of cattle and a dog kept at the farm between February and March 2024.

DOg LEFT wITHOuT SuITABLE FOOD, ENVIRONMENT OR VET CARE

Magistrates found Jones guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal—a dog—by failing to provide a suitable environment, diet, or veterinary treatment. He had pleaded not guilty but was convicted after trial on 21 October.

For this offence alone, the court said the matter crossed the custody threshold because of the seriousness, Jones’s lack of remorse, and his failure to engage with probation.

CATTLE LEFT LAME, ExPOSED TO CARCASSES AND INADEquATE

SHELTERS

Jones was also found guilty of failing to meet the needs of multiple bovine animals by not providing dry lying areas, allowing cattle access to a cow carcass, and failing to provide feed or water to various animals. One charge relating to failing to feed a cow and calf was dismissed at a later hearing.

In another case, he was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to nine lame bovines by failing to obtain treatment.

Magistrates imposed a concurrent eight-week sentence for these welfareneeds offences, leaving the overall prison term at eighteen weeks.

Major breaches of cattle ID and veterinary medicine rules

Jones was additionally convicted of:

• failing to keep purchase records for veterinary medicines

• failing to record the acquisition and use of Closamectin

• failing to retain documentation for at least five years

• failing to notify the deaths of two cows without passports

• failing to register two bulls

• failing to tag bison within the required time

• failing to report missing or destroyed passports

• failing to supply cattle-tracking information to Welsh Ministers

• failing to notify movements of cattle

• intentionally obstructing an inspector during a Veterinary Medicines Regulations investigation

• failing to collect and secure animal by-products, including carcasses,

on two separate occasions

Many of these matters carried no separate penalty but contributed to the overall disqualification and deprivation orders.

ANIMALS SEIzED AND REMOVED FROM JONES’S CONTROL

Under Section 33 of the Animal Welfare Act, magistrates ordered that Jones be deprived of ownership of all remaining cattle and calves on the holding, identified by their official tag numbers in the court register. The animals are to be removed and disposed of as directed.

MORE THAN £26,000 IN COSTS

Jones was ordered to pay £26,805.10 in prosecution costs, along with a £154 victim services surcharge.

A collection order was made, with the full balance due by 28 May 2026.

SENTENCE

• 18 weeks’ immediate custody

• Eight weeks concurrent on secondary welfare charges (overall term remains 18 weeks)

• £26,805.10 costs

• £154 surcharge

• Disqualified from owning or keeping animals for ten years

• Deprivation order removing all animals from his control

The court emphasised that the offences were “so serious” that only a custodial sentence was appropriate.

Folly Farm marks second birth of critically endangered rhino

FOLLy FARM is celebrating the birth of another critically endangered eastern black rhino calf – and it’s a boy!

This is the second rhino calf to be born at the family-run zoo, and the second in Wales as part of a managed breeding programme through its membership with EAZA (the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria).

After a 15-month long pregnancy, mum Dakima gave birth to a healthy male calf on Thursday 27 November. With only an estimated 39 eastern black rhinos born in the UK in the past 25 years, it’s a significant achievement for the captive European Endangered Breeding Programme (EEP) for black rhinos.

Eastern black rhinos are classed as critically endangered due to poaching and loss of habitat. There is thought to be an estimated 1471 Eastern black rhino left in the wild and around 109 in zoos across Europe, including Folly Farm’s newest addition.

The calf made its appearance at 6.34am and within a couple of hours was standing up, following mum around the enclosure and had started suckling. 12-year-old eastern black rhino Dakima arrived at Folly Farm in May 2017 as part of a European breeding programme and met her mate, 14 yearold male Nkosi.

Mating rhinos can be unpredictable, but their relationship blossomed and Dakima gave birth to her first calf at the start of 2020. Male calf Glyndŵr was Dakima’s first born and the first rhino calf to have been born in Wales. Glyndŵr was named after Folly Farm’s Founding Director, the late Glyndŵr Williams, and has since moved onto another animal collection to continue the breeding programme for the species.

Eastern black rhinos are solitary animals and therefore usually reside in their own paddocks. But when the time was right, Dakima and Nkosi were reintroduced again for some carefully planned ‘date nights’ – and keepers predicted she fell pregnant sometime in August 2024. After having Dakima’s stool sample analysed at a specialist lab in Chester Zoo, who run the breeding programme for Eastern black rhino, it was confirmed that baby number two was on the way, with a due date of midNovember 2025.

Conservation Officer, Jack Gradidge, said: “It’s always heart-warming to welcome new arrivals as part of the European Breeding Programme through our membership with EAZA (The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) – but it’s even more special when it’s such a significant animal and one who’s wild cousins are under threat.

“Dakima was a great mum with Glyn so it’s wonderful to see these instincts are still just as strong the second time around. She’s being very protective of her new baby, showing they have a strong bond already.

Luke Sinclair luke@herald.email

“This is such a monumental event for all the staff here and the zoo team have worked incredibly hard to create an environment where the rhinos felt comfortable enough to mate.

“Not only is this calf helping to increase numbers of a critically endangered species, he’s also the second rhino ever to be born in Wales –with his brother being the first!”

have become victims of the poaching crisis.

Simon Jones, the CEO of Helping Rhinos was delighted with the zoo’s happy news; “We are absolutely delighted to welcome news of this beautiful eastern black rhino calf at Folly Farm.

We are grateful for their support of Helping Rhinos’ efforts including the care of young calves orphaned by poaching.”

Most animals give birth at night under the cover of darkness – and Dakima gave birth early in the morning, just before the keepers arrived to start their day.

Jack explains: “Our rhino keeper opened up the rhino house and the first thing he saw was the security camera footage where a tiny newborn rhino was seen happily padding about the enclosure. After quietly taking a sneaky peak at the beautiful new calf to confirm what he had seen – he let the team know the happy news that baby had arrived!

“We then left Dakima alone with her new bundle of joy, giving them both some space to bond – but continued to monitor them on the cameras and did regular spot checks to ensure baby was starting to feed.

“For us, the next steps are just to keep an eye on Dakima and make sure the calf stays healthy and gets everything he needs from mum. Our goal is always to let nature take its course and interfere as little as possible.

“Nkosi will be a bit of an absent father, but that’s perfectly normal as male rhinos don’t have anything to do with their offspring in the wild. It’s unlikely we’ll introduce him to the calf for some time.

“In the wild, rhino calves can stay with their mums for up to four years, after that there’s a possibility this new addition could one day be released into the wild to help boost population numbers – or move to another zoo to continue the breeding programme in Europe just like his brother.

“It’s exciting to be playing our part in helping to safeguard these amazing animals for future generations.”

Folly Farm’s rhino keepers will monitor mum and baby closely over the coming weeks and they will be back out in the enclosure in due course.

Along with other zoos across Europe, Folly Farm is part of a breeding programme to help increase the numbers of Eastern black rhino in captivity and, ultimately, the wild. They support a number of conservation projects alongside various animal charities – including their new partnership with ‘Helping Rhinos’, a UK based organisation who, amongst various other conservation initiatives, support a rhino orphanage in South Africa, caring for young calves who

Visitors shouldn’t expect to see the calf for a while but Folly Farm will be posting updates on their social media channels.

Folly Farm’s Kifaru Reserve welcomed rhinos to the park ten years ago almost to the day! It is a £500,000 purpose-built exhibit which tells the story of the role of modern zoos in conservation and highlights Folly Farm’s hands-on commitment to conservation through the projects it supports in the wild and closer to home.

For further information please visit https://www.folly-farm.co.uk/.

BBC apologises to Herald’s editor for inaccurate story

THE BBC has issued a formal apology and amended a six-year-old article written by BBC wales Business Correspondent Huw Thomas after its Executive Complaints unit ruled that the original headline and wording gave an “incorrect impression” that Herald editor Tom Sinclair was personally liable for tens of thousands of pounds in debt.

The 2019 report, originally headlined “Herald newspaper editor Tom Sinclair has £70,000 debts”, has now been changed.

The ECU found: “The wording of the article and its headline could have led readers to form the incorrect impression that the debt was Mr Sinclair’s personal

responsibility… In that respect the article failed to meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy.”

Mr Sinclair said: “I’m grateful to the ECU for the apology and for correcting the personal-liability impression that caused real harm for six years. However, the article still links the debts to ‘the group which publishes The Herald’ when in fact they related to printing companies that were dissolved two years before the Herald was founded in 2013. I have asked the BBC to add that final clarification so the record is completely accurate.”

A formal apology and correction of this kind from the BBC is extremely rare, especially for a story more than six years old.

Angle RNLI launch stood down after false distress beacon alert

ANgLE RNLI were paged at 10:47am this morning after an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) was triggered on a local fishing vessel in the Dale Roads area.

Dale Coastguard Rescue Team was also tasked to investigate the alert.

As the lifeboat crew prepared

to launch, further checks by HM Coastguard — along with direct contact from the vessel’s skipper confirmed the beacon had been activated accidentally.

With no-one found to be in difficulty, the launch was cancelled.

Crack addiction ‘took over’ life

A PEMBROkESHIRE man whose life has been “taken over” by a crack cocaine addiction has been jailed after being found with a kitchen knife in a public place.

Graham Watson, 54, was arrested shortly after midnight on November 16 following reports that he had been seen hitting his head against a wall in Albion Square, Pembroke Dock. When officers searched him, they discovered a black-handled kitchen knife in his pocket, which Watson claimed he had found on the road.

Further enquiries revealed that Watson, who is of no fixed abode, was also in breach of an 18-month community order imposed by Haverfordwest magistrates for offences of offering to supply cannabis to his ex-partner and harassment. The order required him to attend regular probation appointments, but since it

was imposed he had failed to attend a single one.

This week he pleaded guilty to breaching the community order and possessing a bladed article in a public place.

He was represented in court by solicitor Alex Scott.

“What lies at the heart of his offending?” Mr Scott asked magistrates.

“It’s a crack cocaine addiction which has taken over his life. He was recently evicted from his home in Monkton and he accepts, wholeheartedly, that he’s struggling with his drug abuse. But there is some recognition that he needs rehabilitation to combat these issues that are in his life.”

Watson was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison. He was ordered to pay a £154 surcharge and £85 costs. A forfeiture and destruction order was made for the kitchen knife.

NHS Trust CEO ‘forced out’ after raising concerns

A CONSERVATIVE MS has pressed the welsh government for answers after the sudden departure of the Velindre university NHS Trust’s chief executive, amid media reports that he raised concerns about alleged governance failures within NHS wales Shared Services.

During Health Questions in the Senedd today, James Evans MS asked Health Secretary Jeremy Miles to explain why former CEO David Donegan left his post after just a year. Reports circulating in recent weeks suggest Mr Donegan had raised issues relating to governance, and in some accounts, possible criminality. These claims have not been substantiated publicly.

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

Velindre’s own 2024/25 annual report notes that the Trust “escalated concerns to Audit Wales and Welsh Government about the current governance of Shared Services, which hadn’t been reviewed since 2012.” No details of the concerns have been published.

wELSH gOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Jeremy Miles MS confirmed in the chamber that correspondence relating to the issues does exist, but said it would not be appropriate to release sensitive material while internal processes are

ongoing. He did not comment on the circumstances of Mr Donegan’s departure, citing employment confidentiality rules which are standard across the NHS and public sector.

A Welsh Government spokesperson has previously said that they expect all NHS bodies to follow “proper governance and HR procedures,” and that they “do not comment on individual employment matters.”

VELINDRE NHS TRuST POSITION

Velindre has not publicly stated that Mr Donegan was removed because of whistleblowing activity. The Trust has described his departure simply as a “change in leadership” and says it continues to engage with Audit Wales and the Welsh Government on governance matters.

OPPOSITION CRITICISM

After the exchange, James Evans MS — the Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health — criticised the Health Secretary’s “lack of transparency”.

He said:

“I am extremely disappointed with the Health Secretary’s refusal to provide clarity on the circumstances surrounding Mr Donegan’s departure, or to release the correspondence relating to governance concerns within Shared Services. The public must be able to trust that millions of pounds of NHS funds are being managed properly.”

Mr Evans said he will write to the First Minister and Cabinet Secretary formally requesting the publication of correspondence “in the interests of full accountability.”

Context: What is NHS Shared Services?

The NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) manages national procurement, payroll, recruitment, estates services and other core functions for health boards and trusts. It sits within Velindre University NHS Trust but operates independently of its operational healthcare work. Governance arrangements for NWSSP were originally set a decade ago and are subject to periodic review by Audit Wales.

There is no evidence at present of wrongdoing by the Welsh Government or NWSSP, beyond the concerns referenced in Velindre’s annual report.

Families to save on baby formula as government acts to cut child poverty

NEw measures introduced today will help parents choose more affordable infant formula and use loyalty points, vouchers and gift cards to buy it – putting hundreds of pounds back into family budgets.

The changes, announced by the Prime Minister at PMQs, are part of the government’s forthcoming Child Poverty Strategy and build on Budget measures that will lift 450,000 children out of poverty

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “For too long, parents have been pushed into spending more than they need on baby formula – told they’re paying for better quality and left hundreds of pounds out of pocket. “Today we are changing that. Clearer guidance for retailers and allowing loyalty points and vouchers will save families up to £500 before their child’s first birthday. “This builds on freezing rail fares and prescription charges, cutting energy bills by £150 for every household, and lifting over half a million people out of poverty through our Budget.”

A Competition and Markets Authority study found many parents naturally want the best for their baby

and assume more expensive formula is higher quality. In fact, NHS advice is clear: by law, every infant formula sold in the UK meets the same strict nutritional standards, regardless of brand or price.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “New parents just want to do what’s right for their child.

It’s wrong that vague packaging claims have left families out of pocket on an essential product. “These changes give parents confidence that lowerpriced formula is just as good, and they can now use supermarket loyalty schemes too. That’s real money back for nappies, food or household bills –and one more way this government is tackling child poverty.”

Key measures starting now:

•

Updated guidance confirming supermarkets and retailers must accept loyalty points, vouchers, gift cards and coupons for infant formula

• Clearer rules on how formula is displayed and marketed so parents can easily choose lower-cost options safe for their baby

• Ongoing work with devolved governments and regulators to strengthen enforcement if needed

The government is also investing £18.5 million this year in infant feeding support and breastfeeding services through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme in 75 high-deprivation areas in England, and has extended the National Breastfeeding Helpline to 24/7.

These changes will particularly help lower-income families who cannot – or choose not – to breastfeed, ensuring every baby gets the nutrition they need and no parent pays more than necessary.

Teen jailed for drunken assault on man in his sixties outside Milford Haven pub

A NEyLAND teenager has been sent to a young Offender Institution

after carrying out a violent, drinkfuelled attack on a man more than forty years his senior while the victim waited for a lift home.

The court heard that the 62-year-old had spent the evening watching rugby with friends on November 8 before joining his son for a quiet drink at the Lord Kitchener in Milford Haven. When he stepped outside to meet his partner, who was driving over to collect him, he walked across the road to wait near the bus stop.

While he stood there, he was approached by Benjamin Cullen, then 18, who was loudly talking on his phone. Cullen suddenly turned on him, demanding to know why he was looking in his direction. The older man swatted the teenager’s phone from his hand — later saying he thought Cullen may have

been filming him and the situation quickly escalated.

Cullen lashed out, kicking the man and dragging him into the road before hitting him while he was on the ground. Several people nearby intervened, but Cullen took off his outer layers of clothing and charged back at the victim, punching and kicking him again despite attempts to calm him down.

The victim’s son arrived during the second outburst and briefly managed to restrain the teenager, who then broke free and ran off. Emergency crews found the injured man drifting in and out of consciousness. He was taken to hospital with wounds to his head, hands and knees.

Police found Cullen a short time later at the Nos Da bar. Even as he was arrested,

he insisted he had done nothing wrong. In interview he later claimed he had been frightened and was only defending himself — a position he abandoned when he pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The court was told that Cullen, now 19 and of Gordon Parry Road, Neyland, already had a long history of offending: 21 previous convictions covering 44 offences, including violence.

His barrister said the teenager had spent the day drinking heavily following a family row and lacked the maturity to control his behaviour.

Judge Huw Rees said Cullen’s actions were “persistent and gratuitous” and fuelled entirely by alcohol. He ordered him to serve 18 months in a Young Offender Institution.

Dock man to be sentenced next month after admitting multiple driving offences

A PEMBROKE DOCK man who admitted taking a vehicle without consent and fleeing the scene of a crash is due to be sentenced on 16 December after being remanded in custody.

Christopher Rees, 35, of Lewis Street, appeared before Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Friday (Nov 28). The case was listed for sentence, but the hearing was adjourned and moved to December.

FOuR CHARgES ADMITTED

The court heard that the offences took place on 25 May 2025 and involved a vehicle being taken and later involved in a collision. Rees entered guilty pleas at an earlier hearing on 8 September.

He admitted:

• Aggravated vehicle taking (initial taker), where the vehicle was taken without the owner’s consent and later involved in a road accident.

• Failing to stop after a road accident, leaving the scene without providing details or checking for injuries or damage.

• Failing to report a road accident, an

offence requiring the driver to contact police as soon as practicable.

• Using a motor vehicle without insurance.

Magistrates remanded Rees in custody, with the next hearing now fixed for 16 December 2025, when he is expected to be sentenced.

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

Fly-tipped furniture left on street, Council explanation “makes no sense”

TRADERS on Market Street, Haverfordwest, say they have been left “in disbelief” after bulky fly-tipped waste was allowed to pile up outside their shops for almost a week, despite multiple complaints and photographic evidence sent to Pembrokeshire County Council.

The Herald understands that mattresses, bed bases, cushions and a discarded appliance have been dumped in stages since last week. Several of the items have since fallen into the road, with others now soaked through after days of heavy rain.

Steve Hopkins, who runs The Bed Shop on Market Street, said the situation has become “dangerous, unsightly, and completely unacceptable” and has urged Pembrokeshire County Council to act immediately

COuNCIL RESPONDS –COLLECTION ‘wITHIN THE NExT FORTNIgHT’

On Tuesday, the Council’s Environmental Services team issued an update to complainants. In an email to residents, an officer wrote wrote:

“Furniture removal has been booked through FRAME and is scheduled to take place within the next fortnight. Unfortunately, we cannot confirm a specific date at this time.

The Waste team has confirmed that all black bags have now been collected.”

illegal dumping of waste without any duty of care, pure and simple.”

explanation as “evasive.”

Photographs taken on Monday and Tuesday show mattresses lying on the pavement, cushions piled against shopfronts, and waste slipping into the road near the junction with the one-way system.

gROwINg FRuSTRATION ON THE STREET

Despite several reports to PCC’s flytipping team, traders say there has been no meaningful progress on removal of the large items and no explanation for why the waste has been left in place for so long.

Business owners have raised concerns about:

• Fire risk from discarded furniture pushed against buildings

Traders say this response does not reflect the reality of what has been left on the street.

“NONE OF THIS IS ELIgIBLE FOR FRAME”

Mr Hopkins checked FRAME’s published donation criteria and pointed out that none of the dumped items meet the basic requirements for reuse or resale.

“Whatever is there has been rained upon for several days and is no use to man nor beast,” he said. “This is an

He challenged the Council directly: “Would you tolerate this outside your front door for the next fortnight?”

• Health hazards caused by soaking textiles left to rot

• Obstruction of the pavement and access to shopfronts

RESIDENTS SAy COuNCIL ExPLANATION IS

‘EVASIVE’

Neighbouring business owner Gareth Roberts also contacted the Council, agreeing that the items are of no use to FRAME and are now “completely sodden and getting spread around.”

He said residents were told over the weekend that the Council had arranged removal, but he described the

• The impact on the appearance of the town centre

The Herald has asked Pembrokeshire County Council to clarify why FRAME was suggested as the collection route given the condition of the items, and whether a specialist contractor will now be assigned.

The waste remains on Market Street at the time of writing.

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

Electrician banned after drink-drive arrest

A PEMBROkESHIRE electrician has been taken off the road after he was caught driving more than twice the legal drink-drive limit.

Steven Chilvers, aged 35, was stopped by police at around 10.30pm on August 28 as he drove a white Ford Transit van along Golden Hill, an unclassified road in Spittal.

Haverfordwest magistrates heard this week that Chilvers accelerated when he noticed a marked police vehicle behind him.

Crown Prosecutor Linda Baker said: “He drove erratically before pulling into a junction and bringing the van to a stop. When officers approached the vehicle, the defendant stepped outside and was unsteady on his feet.”

Chilvers told officers he had been drinking earlier that evening at the local pub.

A roadside breath test returned a reading of 75mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath – more than double the legal limit of 35 – while a subsequent blood test at the police station showed 145mg, against the legal limit of 80.

Chilvers, of Dyfed, Puncheston, pleaded guilty. He was represented by solicitor Aled Owen, who said the inevitable ban would have a significant impact on his client’s employment as an electrician working across agricultural holdings in South and West Wales.

“His foolishness is going to have a devastating impact on himself and on his young family,” said Mr Owen.

“He hopes to carry on working for his employer, but this is going to be reduced quite significantly without a driving licence.”

Mr Owen added that Chilvers had accepted from the outset that he had made “a substantial error”.

“He’d been working in the area that day and stopped in the pub on his way

home. He’s very well known and highly thought of in the community. One drink turned into another, which led to his arrest. He miscalculated badly that night,” he said.

Magistrates disqualified Chilvers from driving for 17 months. He was fined £300 and ordered to pay a £120 surcharge and £85 costs.

Milford man remanded after breaching bail days after release

A MILFORD HAVEN man has been remanded in custody after breaching his residential bail conditions just days after being released from court.

Dominic Jeary, 40, had been granted conditional bail by Llanelli Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty

to a series of drug offences But on December 1 he was found at an address that did not match the strict conditions imposed on him.

Jeary had been directed to reside at a property in Meyler Crescent, Milford Haven. Instead, officers located him at an address in Preseli Place.

Jeary was brought before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court this week, appearing in custody, where he admitted the breach.

Prosecutors from the Crown Prosecution Service applied for him to be remanded, arguing he posed a risk of committing further offences and

could not be relied upon to surrender to bail.

Magistrates agreed, and Jeary was remanded in custody ahead of his sentencing for the original drugs offences at Swansea Crown Court on December 19.

Woman injured after being struck on zebra

crossing in Johnston

DyFED POwyS-POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a woman was struck by a vehicle on a zebra crossing in Johnston last wednesday (November 26).

Officers received a report at 1:26pm of a collision involving a pedestrian on St Peters Road. The incident is believed to have taken place earlier that morning between 9:20am and 10:00am.

The woman, who was crossing at the zebra crossing, sustained head injuries and was taken to A&E by a family member.

Police are now urging anyone with information, dash-cam footage or CCTV of the incident to come forward.

Quote reference: DP-20251126-153.

Carpenter forced to quit after cannabis-driving conviction

A SELF-EMPLOyED Pembrokeshire carpenter has been forced to down tools after nearly forty years in the trade when he was caught driving after consuming cannabis.

Mark Ewings, 65, was stopped by officers shortly after 6:30pm on September 6 as he drove his Skoda Octavia along South Road, Pembroke.

“There was a smell of cannabis emanating from the vehicle,” Crown Prosecutor Linda Baker told Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

A roadside drugs swipe proved positive and further blood tests taken at the police station showed a reading of

7 mcg of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol. The legal limit is 2.

Ewings, of Tenby Court, Monkton, pleaded guilty to the offence. He was represented in court by solicitor Alex Scott, who said the conviction would effectively end his client’s long career.

“He’s been a carpenter for nearly forty years, so naturally depends on his licence and his ability to drive,” Mr Scott said. “But he’ll now have to give up that work.”

Ewings was disqualified from driving for 12 months. He was fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £48 surcharge.

Lover’s tiff leads to drinkdrive ban for Milford man

A MILFORD HAVEN motorist has been banned from the road after driving away from a domestic argument while over the legal drink-drive limit.

Christopher Devonald was stopped by police after officers received reports that he had left a property in Llanelli following a verbal altercation with his partner.

“He left her property after consuming alcohol,” Crown Prosecutor Linda Baker told Haverfordwest magistrates this week. “Officers were told to be aware of the vehicle, and they located it on the A477 travelling westbound.”

Police observed the vehicle swerving across the carriageway and travelling at excessive speeds. It was eventually brought to a halt on Neyland Road, Steynton, after officers deployed a Stinger device to puncture the tyres.

A roadside breath test proved

positive, and subsequent tests at the police station showed Devonald had 66mcg of alcohol in his system. The legal limit is 35.

Devonald pleaded guilty to the offence and was represented in court by solicitor Alex Scott.

“He was staying with his partner of eighteen months, but on the night in question they’d had a verbal argument and, in order to cool off, he left,” said Mr Scott. “He jumped in his partner’s car, which he is generally entitled to drive as the second named driver on the insurance. But on this occasion, he took the car after consuming alcohol.”

Magistrates disqualified Devonald from driving for 17 months. He was fined £406 and ordered to pay a £162 court surcharge and £85 costs.

Lifeboat crew member forced to stand down after being assaulted at Milford pub

A MILFORD HAVEN lifeboat crew member has been forced to temporarily step back from duty after sustaining serious head injuries in an unprovoked assault at The Lord Nelson Hotel.

Gareth Roberts was attacked on the night of July 24, 2024, while attending a function at Emma’s Bar inside the Lord Nelson Hotel.

This week, his assailant, Joshua White, of Castle Street, Pennar, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm when he appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Roberts said: “I’m emotionally drained as a result of what happened. I was unable to work for a number of weeks, and being an RNLI lifeboat crew member, I’ve been unable to go to training as a result of my injuries.”

Magistrates were told that earlier that

day Mr Roberts – who is vice-chairman of Milford Haven Round Table – had taken part in a charity rugby match supporting disabled rugby players.

“The assault has left me feeling deeply upset,” he added. “It’s also had a massive effect on my family life.”

Mr Roberts sustained significant injuries to his nose and is currently awaiting reconstructive surgery. The court heard he may require round-theclock care following the operation due to potential breathing complications.

After considering a detailed probation report, magistrates sentenced White to 36 weeks’ custody, suspended for 18 months. He was ordered to pay £4,000 in compensation to Mr Roberts, along with a £187 surcharge and £85 in costs. White must also complete 15 rehabilitation activity days and 200 hours of unpaid work.

Highways worker caught driving works van after smoking cannabis

A PEMBROkESHIRE highways maintenance worker has been banned from the road after admitting driving a works van shortly after smoking cannabis.

Leon Zatac, 27, was spotted alongside another male openly smoking cannabis in a highways maintenance vehicle shortly before 4:00pm on July 28.

Haverfordwest magistrates heard this week that police received an anonymous call reporting two men using cannabis in the vehicle in the Johnston area.

POLICE STOP ON LANgFORD ROAD

Crown Prosecutor Linda Baker said officers later met the van travelling in the opposite direction on Langford Road, Johnston, and identified Zatac as the driver.

After failing a roadside drugs swipe, Zatac, of Priory Road, Milford Haven, was taken to Haverfordwest police station. Blood tests showed a reading of 6.9mcg of cannabis metabolite – more than three times the legal limit of 2mcg.

Zatac was represented in court by solicitor Alex Scott.

Bereavements led to cannabis use, court told

“His circumstances at the time of the offence were somewhat difficult after suffering a string of bereavements,” said Mr Scott. “Against that background, he turned to cannabis to help deal with the circumstances.”

The court heard that Zatac had worked for the council’s highways maintenance department for two years.

“He’s mortified to find himself before the court today, and he may now face difficulties in continuing with his job,” added Mr Scott.

Zatac was disqualified from driving for 12 months. He was fined £120 and ordered to pay a £48 surcharge and £85 costs.

Government unveils new border security powers

THE uk gOVERNMENT has announced sweeping new border security powers aimed at disrupting small-boat crossings and dismantling organised smuggling networks — but the move comes at a time of intense political pressure over illegal migration and a sharp rise in support for Reform uk among voters concerned about immigration policy.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, which received Royal Assent today (Tuesday 2 December), gives Immigration Enforcement, police and the National Crime Agency (NCA) significant new powers including the ability to seize phones long after arrival, raid properties and vehicles, and arrest smugglers earlier in the planning stages of a Channel crossing.

While ministers say the changes represent the “strongest ever” toolkit against smuggling operations, the legislation also arrives against a backdrop of record small-boat arrivals, rising public frustration and a political environment increasingly shaped by migration concerns.

NEw POwERS INSPIRED By COuNTER-TERROR LAw

The Act includes provisions modelled partly on counter-terror legislation, allowing officers to act at a much earlier stage of investigations — such as when a suspect downloads maps or information on how to launch a small boat.

OTHER OFFENCES INCLuDE:

• Supplying or handling small-boat components such as engines and pumps (up to 14 years in prison)

• Researching or downloading information related to crossings

said.

(up to five years)

• Creating hidden vehicle compartments used for smuggling

• Endangering life during a Channel crossing

• Publishing online adverts promoting smuggling services

Foreign nationals convicted of sexual offences will also be automatically excluded from protections under the Refugee Convention.

Home Secretary: “Restoring order and control”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the new powers would allow officers to “intercept, detain and arrest” smuggling gangs more effectively.

“I will not stop until we’ve restored order and control at the border,” she

The NCA, which has around 100 ongoing investigations into organised immigration crime, said the legislation would help disrupt activity “at a much earlier stage”.

POLITICAL BACkDROP: MIgRATION NOw A TOP-TIER ISSuE

While the Government emphasises the enforcement benefits, the timing of the legislation is politically significant.

Opinion polls over the past year show immigration rising to one of the top concerns for voters, with dissatisfaction from both sides — those who believe asylum processes are too slow, and those who want tougher enforcement.

The rise of Reform UK, which has made border control its flagship issue, has also shifted the national debate. In several recent by-elections and national polling snapshots, Reform has polled ahead of or close behind the

Conservatives among voters prioritising immigration and small-boat crossings. This pressure has pushed the Government to be seen delivering concrete action after previous flagship policies — including the Rwanda removal scheme — faced years of legal and operational obstacles.

Political analysts say the Act represents an attempt to show decisive progress at a time when the Government is struggling to rebuild trust on border control.

Enforcement cases rising but crossings remain high

THE gOVERNMENT CITES RECENT ENFORCEMENT DATA

SHOwINg:

• Nearly 900 organised immigration crime networks dismantled

• A 33% rise in smugglers’ arrests, convictions and asset seizures

• Almost 4,000 interventions against smuggling activities in the past year

However, small-boat arrivals remain a persistent challenge, with more than 50,000 migrants removed or deported since July 2024, but continued pressure on accommodation, enforcement teams and coastal border operations.

BORDER SECuRITy COMMAND FORMALISED

The Act also gives statutory footing to the UK’s Border Security Command, led by Martin Hewitt CBE QPM, who said the powers would allow officers to “go further and faster” in dismantling the networks.

But he acknowledged the scale of the challenge, saying organised immigration crime “continues to adapt” to enforcement efforts.

Local charity appeals for festive donations to ensure no child misses out

DEzzA’S Cabin Community Centre has launched an urgent appeal for donations ahead of its annual Christmas party, with organisers determined that every child supported by the charity receives a festive treat this year.

The grassroots organisation, which provides mental health support and wellbeing services across the community, is asking for selection boxes, toys and financial contributions to help make the event possible.

In a letter sent to residents and local businesses, the centre said: “This year, we hope to give every child and family attending a small Christmas treat. Your contribution would directly help us ensure that no child or family is left out during the festive season.”

The Christmas party is a major fixture for families who rely on the charity

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

throughout the year, offering a rare chance for celebration at what can be a difficult time.

Centre coordinator Dezza Swaray said: “For some of the people we support, this party is the only Christmas celebration they will have. A simple selection box or small gift can mean the world to a child who might otherwise go without.”

Dezza’s Cabin Community Centre, registered charity number 519928, provides counselling, drop-in support and social activities for vulnerable adults, young people and families.

The charity is appealing for donations of selection boxes, new toys suitable for children and teenagers, or financial contributions. Anyone wishing to help is

asked to email dezzascabinsw@outlook. com or call 519928. Organisers say all donors will be thanked publicly at the event and across

the centre’s community channels. Final donations are needed by 15 December to allow time for wrapping and distribution.

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

Sandy Bear in 2025: The year Wales refused to let childhood grief win

ON a grey morning in March 2025, Lee Barnett pressed send on the email no charity chief ever wants to write.

Sandy Bear Children’s Bereavement Charity – one of only two specialist services for grieving children in the whole of Wales – was weeks from closing its doors for good.

“We were staring at the end,” Barnett says. “We knew families needed us more than ever. We also knew the money had simply run out.”

Across Britain, thousands of charities are limping through the same cost-of-living storm. For Sandy Bear the stakes were uniquely cruel: stop the service and hundreds of Welsh children bereaved by suicide, addiction or sudden death would be left with nothing.

This is the story of how Wales refused to let that happen.

BORN FROM HEARTBREAk

Sandy Bear began life inside the NHS. When health-board cuts killed the original service, a handful of staff and volunteers would not let it die. They rebuilt it, pound by pound, because they had seen what happens to children when no one catches them.

One parent later wrote: “Sandy Bear was the string that stitched our hearts back together and made it possible to smile again.”

For many families, that line is not poetry. It is survival.

Referrals doubled post-pandemic to more than 100 a month. Over half the children had lost someone

THEN wALES STEPPED uP

to suicide; another 20% to drugs or alcohol. The sharpest rise was among six- to fifteen-year-olds.

At the same time, grants dried up, inflation hammered running costs, and exhausted staff carried impossible caseloads. Waiting lists lengthened.

The board took the agonising decision to lose a handful of posts.

“It felt like we were choosing which children we could help,” Barnett says.

What happened next stunned even the people inside the building. Village halls filled with cake sales. Runners pounded pavements in Sandy Bear vests. Skydivers leapt for the cause. Town and community councils in Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Swansea sent emergency cheques that – in the charity’s own words –“literally kept the lights on”.

Businesses followed: Valero, Ascona Group, Young Farmers Clubs, Haverfordwest County AFC. Footballer Joe Allen visited the centre and posed for photos with children who had lost parents.

Politicians of every stripe turned up too. Plaid Cymru’s Ben Lake, Labour’s Henry Tufnell and Eluned Morgan, Conservatives Sam Kurtz and Paul Davies – rivals who rarely agree – stood shoulder to shoulder in briefing rooms and on site visits, sounding the alarm in Westminster

Sandy Bear Volunteer Training

Martin Jones and First Minister Eluned Morgan

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

and the Senedd.

“It was the most united I’ve ever seen Welsh politics on anything,” says business development manager Martin Jones.

THE HIDDEN £20 MILLION PAyBACk

Sandy Bear runs on roughly £500,000 a year – loose change in government terms.

Independent analysis values its work at more than £20 million annually in prevented costs: fewer family breakdowns, fewer addictions, fewer youth suicide attempts, fewer kids excluded from school, fewer A&E dashes and police call-outs.

Most of that saving never makes the headlines, because the crises never happen.

FROM RED TO RESILIENT

By autumn the haemorrhage had stopped. New funding streams opened. Staff rewrote support models. Waiting lists began, slowly, to shrink.

“We survived,” Barnett says, “because our communities refused to let us fall.”

BuT THE CRISIS IS NOT OVER

Demand is still climbing. The charity must raise half a million pounds every single year just to stand still. More than 80p in every pound donated reaches the frontline.

And childhood bereavement is not going away. If anything, the causes

Probation claims ‘not fair’, says solicitor as defendant jailed for hammer offence

CLAIMS by the probation service that a defendant had refused to comply with community order requirements were strongly refuted by a defence solicitor when the case came before Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

Representing Josh Skipper, solicitor Tom Lloyd criticised what he described as a catalogue of inaccuracies in a probation report that recommended an immediate custodial sentence.

The report alleged that Skipper had:

• REFUSED to comply with his community order;

• was UNMOTIVATED to seek employment;

• had no ACTIVE SKILLS or activity preferences; and

• was not EASY to engage with.

But Mr Lloyd told the court these assertions were “simply not fair”.

“The report isn’t helpful in setting out the defendant’s background,” he said. “It’s just not fair.”

He told magistrates that Skipper had made repeated attempts to secure work in recent weeks, but had been unsuccessful. He added that the report criticised Skipper

for having no skills or activities but offered no constructive recommendations such as unpaid work.

“It says he isn’t an easy person to engage with, but this is someone who was brought up in care from the age of 13 or 14,” Mr Lloyd said.

Skipper, 24, of Chestnut Way, Milford Haven, was before the court for sentence after pleading guilty to possessing an offensive weapon — a hammer — in a public place, namely Victoria Road, Milford Haven, on November 9.

Mr Lloyd accepted the offence crossed the custody threshold but urged magistrates to impose a suspended sentence.

“He understands it isn’t up to him to pick and choose what requirements they want of him,” he said. “But rather than be given a custodial sentence, his sentence should be suspended.”

Magistrates rejected the request, citing Skipper’s repeated offending and his lack of compliance with previous community orders.

Skipper was sentenced to 26 weeks in custody and ordered to pay a £154 surcharge and £85 costs. A forfeiture and destruction order was made for the hammer.

– suicide, overdose, sudden death –are rising.

The team at Sandy Bear want Wales to face a hard truth: grief itself is not the enemy. Unsupported grief is.

A quIET ASk FOR 2026

As Christmas approaches, the charity’s final message of 2025 is deliberately low-key.

They thank every runner, every donor, every councillor, every MP, every child who sold cakes outside the school gate

And then they ask – without drama

– for the help to continue. A tenner a month. A share on social media. A volunteer afternoon. A conversation with your MS or MP. Because, as they gently remind us:

“Liking, sharing and commenting costs nothing, but it genuinely helps save lives.”

This Christmas, hold your loved ones close.

Somewhere in Wales tonight, a child who cannot do that is still hoping someone will help them find their way back to the light.

And in 2025, Wales proved it could be that someone.

Footballer Joe Allen Visiting Bereaved child, Connor Bishop

Henry Tufnell MP showing his support to Sandy Bear on a video call with Martin Jones

Haverfordwest lights up as crowds at annual Christmas switch-on

HAVERFORDWEST town centre was packed on Saturday evening as hundreds of families turned out for the annual Christmas Lights Switch-On, marking the official start of the festive season in the county town.

Festivities began at 12:00pm, with Riverside Shopping and the surrounding streets hosting a full day of entertainment, games, giveaways and live performances. Selected shops stayed open until 7:00pm, giving local businesses a welcome boost during one of the busiest trading weekends of the year.

SANTA ARRIVES – AND SO DOES THE SNOw

Children queued eagerly throughout the afternoon to meet Santa and his sleigh, while Sparkle the Elf and friends kept the younger crowds entertained. A giant snowglobe, a bouncy castle and a range of family activities added to the atmosphere, alongside “Magical Moments” appearances from Elsa and Anna.

Live performers took to the stage in the build-up to the main event, drawing a steady stream of spectators into the evening.

LIgHTS SwITCH-ON AT 6:00PM

At 6:00pm the countdown began, and the town centre lit up as the Christmas lights were switched on, drawing cheers from the crowd. A fireworks display followed, closing out the event in style.

This year’s switch-on was proudly sponsored by LHP Accountants, who said they were delighted to support a community event that “brings people together and truly lights up the town”.

The firm, which has strong roots across west Wales, said the switchon remains one of the most important seasonal celebrations for local families and businesses.

A BRIgHT START TO THE FESTIVE SEASON

Early indications suggest this year’s turnout was one of the strongest in recent years, with traders reporting a welcome surge in footfall throughout the afternoon.

Haverfordwest’s Christmas lights will remain on display throughout December, with further seasonal events planned across Pembrokeshire in the coming weeks.

Riverside Library temporary closure moved to January

THE PLANNED temporary closure of Riverside Library, gallery and Visitor Information Centre in Haverfordwest has been pushed back to January due to delays in the delivery of key items needed for improvement works.

As a result, Riverside Library will now remain open throughout December. It will close at 1:00pm on Wednesday 24 December for the Christmas break.

The library will reopen as normal on Friday 2 January and Saturday 3 January.

To allow the outstanding works to be completed, the library will then close for a two-week period from Monday 5 January to Saturday 17 January 2026.

The council says this is the least disruptive option, avoiding multiple short closures and reopenings over December and January.

All books on loan from Haverfordwest Library will be automatically extended until the end of January so customers will not incur overdue fines.

The Coffee Shop will close for Christmas and New Year as usual but will remain open throughout January and will not be affected by the

Ken Edwards marks 100 years of Pembroke Dock Bowling Club with new history book

FOR more than forty years, ken Edwards has been both a player and the unofficial historian of Pembroke Dock Bowling Club. Few people are better placed to tell the club’s story — and its important role in welsh bowling — than the man who has spent decades preserving its past.

This year, to mark the club’s centenary, Ken has written and published a comprehensive new history of the club.

Pembroke Dock Bowling Club was founded in 1925 at the newly opened Memorial Park on Bush Street, created in honour of the town’s servicemen who died in the First World War. The first woods were rolled on the new green that summer, beginning a tradition that continues to flourish a century later.

Ken was introduced to the sport by his late father, Syd Edwards — himself a former club president — in the early

1980s. Since then, he has assembled an extensive archive of photographs, documents and memorabilia charting the club’s activity, achievements and personalities. His research into the early years has added further depth, uncovering rare images and records that might otherwise have been lost.

The result is One Hundred Years, a beautifully produced 132-page book featuring almost 250 photographs spanning a century of bowling in Pembroke Dock. Many familiar faces appear throughout, including Ken’s wife Cynthia, a long-standing member of the club.

The book is available for £10 from the author on 01646 672501 or by emailing kae909@btinternet.com, and can also be purchased from the Bowling Club at Memorial Park. Printing was carried out locally by Monddi, Pembroke Dock.

Businesses fear for future as rates revaluation triggers big increases

A NuMBER of Pembrokeshire businesses say they are worried about their future after being told their business rates are likely to rise sharply from April.

Firms across the county have been notified that the rateable value of their premises has increased under the latest revaluation carried out by the Valuation Office Agency, which reviews commercial property values every three years across Wales and England.

Business rates for the next financial year will depend on the multiplier set by the Welsh Government. For 2025–26, the multiplier is 0.568, but ministers have not yet confirmed what figure will apply from April.

The Welsh Government says it has provided £1 billion in rates relief to the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors over the last six years, and insists that revaluation does not increase overall revenues but updates bills “to reflect current property market conditions”.

Hotels, pubs and holiday parks facing steep rises

In Cwm Gwaun, the Gelli Fawr Hotel has seen its valuation more than double from £45,000 to £108,000, while in Newport the Golden Lion pub faces a rise from £98,000 to £130,000 — an increase of 33%.

Local business owners say the increases come at a time when energy, staffing and supply costs remain high, and many customers are already cutting back. Several told the Herald the lack of warning has made planning extremely difficult, and that margins are already “paper thin”.

Tourism operators, including holiday

parks in the Newport area, say the uncertainty over the final rates multiplier — which will determine the actual bill — is causing significant anxiety heading into the new season.

In Milford Haven, the had pressed pub sector is affected badly. The bill for The Lord Kitchener pub is increasing from £5,000 to £15,000 and the rates at the Kimberley Public House have nearly doubled from £10,500 to £19,500.

The Imperial Hall’s rates are increasing from £5,800 to £9,200. It’s director, Lee Bridges, said: “Business rates are Council Tax for businesses, why are we being asked to pay more when we use less services.

“A business in existence already contributes into the pool by paying VAT, NI, wages to staff who pay council tax etc.”

In Haverfordwest, the annual rates bill at Eddies Nightclub is increasing from £57,000 to £61,500 per year.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) says it uses ‘fair maintainable turnover’ to value public houses and hotels. This is the annual income they think a reasonably efficient landlord could expect to achieve on a certain date.

A rental percentage is applied to the turnover estimate to get the rateable value. The percentage takes into account things like the type of pub and its location.

BuT IT IS NOT ONLy THE HOSPITALITy SECTOR AFFECTED.

Educational establishments are too. For example, the ratable value of Happy Days Nursery in Milford Haven is

going up from £16,000 to £30,500, new figures reveal.

This is a massive increase for a small operator already dealing with increased energy costs and other expenses.

‘VERy ANxIOuS’ – COuNTy

COuNCILLOR

Independent councillor Huw Murphy, who represents Newport, Pembrokeshire, said many businesses have contacted him after receiving substantial valuation increases.

“Businesses are very anxious about what happens from 1 April,” he said. “It looks likely that rates will rise, and for some the increase could be extremely high. If margins disappear, jobs will go.”

SMALL FIRMS CALL FOR STABILITy

Speaking to S4C, Dr Llyr ap Gareth, of the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, said small firms have been under intense pressure for years.

“Anything that increases costs is a major concern,” he said. “The Welsh Government needs to provide clarity as early as possible. A lack of certainty is a real problem.”

The VOA said valuations rise or fall depending on location and property type, and that the hospitality sector is seeing increases because many businesses have recovered since the pandemic suppressed values during the last revaluation.

usiness rate arrangements for 2026–27 are expected to be confirmed when the Welsh Government publishes its budget on 20 January 2026.

RWE confirms £200m battery storage investment for Pembroke

RwE has signed off a £200 million investment to build one of the uk’s largest battery storage facilities in Pembrokeshire, with the announcement made at the wales Investment Summit in Newport.

The energy company said the project – known as the Pembroke Battery –has now reached full financial closure. It follows planning permission being granted earlier this year, as well as success in the UK’s most recent capacity market auction.

CONSTRuCTION TO BEgIN NExT yEAR

Work on the site, located on 5.1 hectares of land to the south of the existing Pembroke Power Station, is due to start in the first half of 2026. Subject to receiving an updated grid connection on time, commissioning and full operations are expected during the second half of 2028.

The scheme will consist of 212 lithium-ion battery containers. Once operational, the installation will be able to deliver up to 350 megawatts of electricity for as long as two hours, providing 700 megawatt-hours of stored energy. RWE says that output would be enough to power close to 300,000 UK homes for a two-hour period.

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

‘FLAgSHIP STORAgE PROJECT’

Nikolaus Valerius, chief executive of RWE Generation SE, said the Pembroke Battery will play a vital role in balancing an increasingly renewable energy system.

He said: “As more renewable projects connect to the grid, the need for technology that can respond instantly

becomes greater. Battery systems offer that capability. Pembroke is our flagship storage project in the UK and will support grid stability by storing surplus electricity and releasing it when it is needed most.”

wALES ‘CENTRAL TO uk’S CLEAN ENERgy TRANSITION’

First Minister Eluned Morgan told the summit that the investment underlines Wales’ importance in the shift to lowcarbon power.

“This is a significant commitment

from RWE and further evidence that Wales is at the heart of the UK’s move toward clean, secure energy,” she said. “The Pembroke Battery will support our ambitions for a greener future, while creating opportunities for skilled employment and supply-chain growth across south-west Wales.”

Tom Glover, RWE’s UK country chair, said Wales has the potential to lead the UK across “wind, solar, storage, hydro and emerging technologies” and welcomed the Welsh Government’s approach to unlocking investment.

South Pembrokeshire Senedd Member Samuel Kurtz said: “This £200 million investment by RWE in a major battery storage facility at Pembroke is exactly the kind of bold commitment that reinforces Pembrokeshire’s role as a true powerhouse of energy production. It strengthens the region’s capacity to support the UK’s energy security and demonstrates the confidence that major global companies continue to place in our skilled workforce and strategic location.

“I am immensely proud of the industry that exists on the Haven waterway and have long championed its importance. Announcements such as this signal wider confidence that west really is best when it comes to Pembrokeshire and energy production.”

£2.4m boost for UK offshore wind supply chain puts Welsh firms in pole position

A MAJOR £2.4 million funding package awarded today by the Offshore wind growth Partnership (OwgP) has handed wales a golden opportunity to grab a bigger slice of the fast-approaching Celtic Sea floating wind bonanza.

Nine British companies will share the cash, but the headline act for Wales is Slipform Engineering Ltd of Caldicot, Monmouthshire – one of only nine winners across the entire UK. The Welsh specialist in advanced concrete solutions will use its grant to help establish a new Demonstration, R&D and Training facility, building capability that can be directly deployed on the giant floating platforms destined for Welsh waters.

The timing could barely be better. The Crown Estate is preparing to award the first Celtic Sea floating wind leases within months, with the first 4–5 GW of projects expected to start construction from 2028–2030. Pembroke Dock Marine, Port Talbot, Swansea and Mostyn are all battling to become the operations, assembly and servicing hubs for what could eventually be 20 GW or more of floating wind off the Welsh coast.

Several of the other winning projects are laser-focused on the exact technologies the Celtic Sea will

need:

• SeaThor’s “CableSpring” protection system and BPP Cables’ next-generation dynamic power cables – both aimed squarely at the deep-water, wave-swept conditions south of Pembroke Dock.

• Devon-based HydroSurv and Cornwall-based Airspection will scale up uncrewed survey vessels and shore-launched drone inspections – services

that Marine Energy Wales has repeatedly flagged as vital for cost-effective monitoring of faroffshore Celtic Sea arrays from Welsh ports.

Andy Simmonds, Director of SeaThor, said the funding “unlocks significant cost savings for floating offshore wind projects” – savings that will make Welsh waters more attractive to developers.

Lynne McIntosh-Grieve, Head of Programme Delivery at OWGP, praised the “record number of highquality applications” and stressed the winners will “accelerate near-to-

market solutions and build capacity” for the sector.

First Minister Vaughan Gething has made no secret of his ambition to see Welsh firms win at least £1 billion of spending from every 4 GW of Celtic Sea wind deployed. Today’s announcement is a concrete step toward that target.

Cllr Di Clements, Cabinet Member for Economic Development at Pembrokeshire County Council, welcomed the news: “This is exactly the kind of high-value innovation we want to see based in and serving Pembroke Dock Marine. Every pound invested in these UK companies now is a pound that can flow straight to Welsh jobs and supply chain in the next five years.”

With Celtic Freeport status already secured for Milford Haven and Port Talbot, and the Pembroke Dock Marine site expanding rapidly, Wales is increasingly well-placed to turn today’s R&D funding into tomorrow’s manufacturing and servicing contracts.

As one industry source put it tonight: “If you want to know where the smart money is going for floating wind in Britain, follow the OWGP cheque book – and right now it’s pointing straight at Wales.”

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

Welsh bus drivers secure above-inflation pay rise

BuS drivers across South wales have secured a significant pay increase after eight days of strike action, with Unite the Union confirming members have voted to accept an improved offer from First Cymru.

Workers had been in dispute with the operator over low pay levels and staged walkouts throughout November. On Friday, members accepted a revised deal that will see drivers receive a five per cent rise backdated to 1 April. Hourly pay will increase to £14.25 immediately, rising in stages to £15 per hour from 1 January 2027.

The uplift will also apply to engineers, administrative and clerical staff, and service personnel. Cleaners will receive a temporary increase until 1 April 2026, when the Real Living Wage rate of £13.45 per hour will come into force and surpass the interim rise.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “There is power in a union, and the victory achieved by First Cymru workers in south Wales is a testament to the power of workers coming together and fighting for what they merit. First Cymru workers deserve the credit for standing firm and being prepared to take

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

strike action to reach their aims against an employer who had been set on cutting real-terms pay.”

Unite regional officer Alan McCarthy said the dispute highlighted wider concerns around low pay in Wales’ bus network. He added: “Unite members at First Cymru have shown the power of collective action, winning this dispute to gain a much-improved pay award from their employer. However, the fact they had to take strike action at all should be a real concern for key stakeholders in Transport for Wales and the Welsh Government.

“The fact remains that these workers will still be among the lowest paid in the sector. Steps must be taken to ensure that low pay is eliminated in our Welsh bus sector under the new franchising model. Unite remains steadfast in its belief that workers will not suffer financially for franchising.”

With the revised deal now accepted, Unite confirmed that all planned industrial action has been cancelled.

after eight days of strike action

The alternative view By Mike Dello

MORE than a week on from what many are calling the most disastrous Budget delivered by the most disastrous Chancellor in modern history, the ramifications are still making fools of the British public.

For weeks, leaks had been dripping from the Treasury as Rachel Reeves attempted to soften up voters ahead of yet more stealth tax rises. Then came the extraordinary moment the Office for Budget Responsibility managed to leak the entire Budget — a blunder that cost OBR chairman Richard Hughes his job.

A furious Reeves dug up yet another “black hole”, this time supposedly worth £22 billion… which somehow turned out to be a £4.2 billion surplus. Her solution? Ask us all to “contribute a bit more”. Did you agree to that? I certainly didn’t.

Labour MPs shrieked like hyenas as she announced the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap funded, of course, by the very people who get up at all hours to work and support their own families. Yet again, the gap widens between those who graft and those who play the system, all under the pretence of being “on the side of working people”. Those Labour MPs cheering that moment will one day have to face an electorate that remembers.

All of this leaves Starmer and

“Rachel from Accounts” hanging on by a thread.

Meanwhile, it’s been another busy and catastrophic week for David “Lammy Dodger” Lammy, whose latest wheeze is to remove juries from most criminal trials — keeping them only for offences such as murder or rape — in the name of “speeding up justice”. Juries date back to Magna Carta in 1215. Their entire purpose is that you are judged by twelve fair-

minded men and women, not left at the mercy of a single judge who may take an instant dislike to you. It’s a reckless experiment, and one that deserves to be opposed at every level.

And remember Jeremy Corbyn?

After losing two elections as Labour leader, he has now launched a new farleft party with Zarah Sultana. The pair finally held their inaugural conference in Liverpool on Saturday — although Sultana didn’t bother to turn up on day

one as their internal feud rumbles on. The new outfit is called “Your Party”. Judging by the shambles, perhaps it should be: Not mine, Mr Corbyn! Finally, another “you couldn’t make it up” moment: migrants reportedly using taxpayers’ cash to hire taxis to GP surgeries hundreds of miles away. But don’t fret, folks — your Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is supposedly “on the case”. Hmmmm…

You drink, we’ll drive! THIS FESTIVE SEASON

RESIDENTS are being urged to plan their nights out carefully and book local taxis as Dyfed-Powys Police warn of the dangers of drinkdriving during the busy Christmas party season.

Although this year’s enforcement campaign has not yet been formally launched, last year’s figures show the scale of the problem facing the force. According to official Dyfed-Powys Police data, 55 people were arrested for drinkdriving in December 2023. Across a wider twelve-month period from September 2022 to September 2023, a further 446 people were charged with drink-driving offences – 358 men and 88 women.

Police say those figures should act as a “clear reminder” that too many motorists are still taking risks, particularly the morning after heavy drinking.

POLICE: NO SAFE LIMIT AND NO QUICK FIX

In public guidance issued on their website, the force warns that there is no safe way to judge whether a driver is under the limit, stating: “It’s

impossible to get alcohol out of your system quickly. A shower, coffee or any other method won’t remove the alcohol from your body.”

Officers stress that alcohol can remain in the system well into the next day, leaving drivers unknowingly over the legal limit even after a night’s sleep.

A spokesperson for DyfedPowys Police said that drivers should plan their transport before leaving home, adding: “The safest option is to leave the car at home and arrange a lift or book a taxi.”

LOCAL DRIVERS URGED TO BOOK AHEAD

Taxi operators across Pembrokeshire report that they are already receiving increased bookings from workplaces, pubs and clubs for Christmas gatherings. Many firms will be running extended hours on the busiest weekends, but availability will still be tight.

Residents are being advised to book taxis early and avoid relying on being able to “grab one at closing time”, particularly in rural areas where fewer vehicles are on the road.

Taxi firms also point out that the “morning-after risk” is one of the most common causes of drink-drive arrests in winter, and encourage anyone unsure of their alcohol level to arrange transport rather than take a chance.

WINTER ROADS ADD TO THE DANGER

Pembrokeshire’s rural road network, narrow lanes and exposed coastal routes can be particularly hazardous in wet and icy conditions. Local councillors have backed the safety message, reminding

residents that impaired driving on these roads puts lives at risk.

A spokesperson for Pembrokeshire County Council said: “Every drink-drive collision is preventable. Planning ahead can protect you, your family and other road users.”

Police are urging residents to look out for friends on nights out, make use of taxis and designated drivers, and avoid becoming a statistic on the county’s winter roads.

The message remains simple: Plan it. Book it. Don’t risk it.

Candlelit procession marks start of Advent at St Davids Cathedral

ST DAVIDS Cathedral was filled with candlelight and music on Sunday evening (Nov 30) as worshippers gathered for the traditional Advent Procession, marking the beginning of the Advent season and the countdown to Christmas.

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The service brought a reflective close to what cathedral staff described as an “extraordinarily busy” festive

weekend, with the Christmas Fayre, the City of St Davids lights switch-on, and a packed Christingle service all taking place within 48 hours.

A POwERFuL START TO THE SEASON

The Advent Procession saw clergy, choristers and members of the congregation move through the ancient nave carrying candles, accompanied by readings, prayers and choral music. The cathedral’s vaulted ceiling and stone arches, illuminated only by candlelight and selective internal lighting, provided a dramatic backdrop.

Photographs taken by Canon Leigh Richardson and Laurence John show the procession making its way towards the high altar, as hundreds

of worshippers filled the pews in one of Wales’ most historic places of worship.

COMMuNITy EFFORT AFTER A FuLL wEEkEND

Cathedral organisers paid tribute to the work of staff and volunteers across all departments who supported the series of events. They said the weekend showcased the strength of community involvement and the importance of St Davids Cathedral as a focal point of life in the city.

The Advent Procession is one of the cathedral’s most significant seasonal services, symbolising the movement from darkness to light as Christians begin their preparations for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Honours presented to three inspirational Pembrokeshire residents

THREE Pembrokeshire residents have been formally recognised for their outstanding service to their communities at a ceremony celebrating recipients of the British Empire Medal (BEM).

His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Dyfed, Miss Sara Edwards, presented the honours to Mrs Maureen Butler, Mrs Jennifer Mountstephens and Dr John O’Connor during an event attended by friends, family and civic dignitaries.

The British Empire Medal is awarded for meritorious civil or military service and recognises sustained local contribution or innovative, high-impact work.

Mrs Butler received the BEM for her services to people with disabilities, to young people and to charitable causes.

Mrs Mountstephens, a welfare administrator for 14 Signal Regiment, was honoured for her service to military personnel and the community

in Brawdy.

Dr O’Connor, Director of Angling Cymru, was recognised for his contribution to recreational angling in Wales.

Speaking after the ceremony, the Lord-Lieutenant said: “It was an honour and an enormous pleasure to meet such remarkable people and present the BEM medals on behalf of His Majesty The King. Their work for the Pembrokeshire community is an inspiration to us all.”

The ceremony took place in the Council Chamber at County Hall on 17 November and was hosted by Council Chairman Cllr Maureen Bowen. She was joined by Deputy Chairman Cllr Delme Harries and the High Sheriff of Dyfed, Mrs Ann Jones.

Pembrokeshire Lord-Lieutenant Cadets Richard Davies and Aeron James assisted during the proceedings.

Blue plaque unveiled to honour Lord Gordon Parry on centenary of his birth

NEyLAND residents gathered at Bethesda Baptist Chapel on Sunday (Nov 30) to mark the centenary of one of the town’s most influential sons, Lord gordon Parry.

A blue plaque was unveiled on the chapel’s front wall, commemorating the Labour peer’s early life in Neyland and his long-standing contribution to public life in Pembrokeshire and Wales.

A strong turnout of townspeople, councillors and former colleagues braved the cold to watch the unveiling. Many recorded the moment on their phones, while others spoke warmly about Lord Parry’s contribution to local civic life.

EVENINg TALk AND MuSICAL TRIBuTE

delivered a talk titled ‘Lord Gordon Parry of Neyland (1925–2004)’.

collected for Bethesda Baptist Chapel and the Friends of St Tudwal’s. Refreshments were supplied courtesy of Audrey Johns Ltd and the Neyland Cooperative Store.

A LASTINg IMPACT ON PEMBROkESHIRE

Elevated to the House of Lords in 1976, Lord Parry spent three decades representing Welsh interests nationally while remaining deeply rooted in his hometown. His work in education, heritage, tourism and community development left a significant imprint across Pembrokeshire.

The commemorations continued at 7:30pm inside Bethesda Chapel, where historian Dr Simon Hancock

Before the talk, Neyland Ladies Choir performed for the audience, and refreshments were provided in the adjoining hall. Donations were

Organisers said they were delighted to see so many residents attend the centenary event and encouraged those with memories of Gordon Parry to share them with local heritage volunteers.

Pembrokeshire Lottery makes Superdraw winner’s Christmas extra special

ONE lucky Pembrokeshire Lottery player has scooped a festive windfall after winning the £10,000 Christmas Superdraw held on wednesday 3 December.

The winner, Mr Damon Mcgarvie, formerly of Milford Haven and now living in Llangwm, was selected with lucky number 41475. He plays through a salary-deduction scheme run by his employer, Pembrokeshire County Council.

Mr McGarvie’s name was announced live on Radio

Pembrokeshire, after which the Pembrokeshire Lottery team made contact and presented him with his cheque later that day.

Speaking after the win, Mr McGarvie said he and his wife will be jetting off on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday over the festive period, thanks to the surprise Christmas windfall.

Pembrokeshire Lottery Manager Abigail Owens said:

“I am so pleased for Mr McGarvie. He has contributed to the Pembrokeshire Lottery for many

years, and it is only by the continued support of our players that we are able to assist so many local businesses with interest-free funding from the loan fund.”

To sign up or order Pembrokeshire Lottery gift subscriptions for Christmas, call 01646 690800.

Photo caption: Damon McGarvie with his winner’s cheque.

The regular weekly £2,000 draws continue in the run-up to the January Superdraw, which will offer a £4,000 prize.

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

Vibe School of Dance to perform at Disneyland Paris

VIBE SCHOOL OF DANCE in Pembrokeshire has announced that its young performers have been selected to take part in a once-in-a-lifetime performance at Disneyland Paris, including a place in the world-famous Disney Parade.

The invitation follows a rigorous audition process, with dancers progressing through multiple rounds before receiving the news that they had been chosen to represent their county on one of the most iconic stages in the world.

Principal of VIBE School of Dance said the achievement marked “the dream of every dancer” and praised the students for their talent, hard work and commitment. She added that being able to offer children in Pembrokeshire opportunities of this scale was at the heart of the school’s ethos.

The dancers will travel to France soon as part of a special performance programme run by Disneyland Paris, giving them the chance not only to dance on stage but to join the resort’s celebrated parade.

The school described the selection as a “magical moment” and encouraged the community to

grow its reputation for offering highquality dance training and memorable opportunities for young people across the county.

Filming for new season of S4C crime drama Cleddau returns

FILMINg has returned to Pembrokeshire this week for the next season of Cleddau — the hit S4C crime drama released in English as The One That got Away.

The production crew has been seen in Pembroke Dock, Neyland and Burton capturing new scenes for the upcoming 2026 series. Local photographer Gareth Davies shared images of the team working along the estuary, describing “a real buzz” in the area as cast and crew returned after the success of the first season.

CRIME THRILLER ROOTED IN THE CLEDDAu ESTuARy

Cleddau follows a murder investigation that reopens buried secrets in a quiet west Wales community. The show has been praised for its atmospheric storytelling, strong performances and striking use of local Pembrokeshire scenery — with the Cleddau estuary itself forming a central part of the series’ identity.

Residents have reported seeing cameras and production vehicles around familiar walking routes, waterfront areas and estuary-side villages as the crew makes full use

and activity into communities along the waterway. For many residents, the excitement lies in

spotting familiar places on screen when the new season airs next year. The new series of Cleddau is expected to be broadcast in 2026.

follow their preparations over the coming months as they begin the countdown to what promises to be an unforgettable experience.

VIBE School of Dance continues to

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of the landscape that inspired the show’s name.

Local interest and economic boost

The return of filming has been welcomed locally, bringing attention, visitors

Age Cymru issues call to tackle loneliness among older people at Christmas

THE AgE CyMRu Network has issued an urgent appeal for donations after releasing new figures revealing the scale of loneliness facing older people across wales this winter.

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shops working limited hours, and many people’s health deteriorating in colder conditions, maintaining social contact becomes increasingly difficult.

The Age Cymru Network, which includes Age Cymru along with its Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd a Môn, Powys and West Glamorgan partners, says no older person in Wales should be left feeling forgotten or isolated. The charity is asking the public to support its Christmas appeal so it can continue running essential advice and friendship services.

‘Joy has faded for many’

The charity’s findings paint a stark picture of what Christmas now looks like for thousands of older people:

• Two in five say Christmas no longer brings them joy

• More than one in five are no longer surrounded by friends and family

•

anyone

More than 97,000 will eat their Christmas dinner alone

• Over 17,000 will have no one to exchange cards or presents with

Age Cymru chief executive Victoria Lloyd said the charity’s services make a powerful difference to older people who rely on weekly calls, local lunch clubs, and one-to-one support.

“Loneliness becomes a daily battle when the TV or radio is someone’s only companion,” she said. “For thousands of older people who feel forgotten, or who have no one else to turn to, the Age Cymru Network is a lifeline.

Loneliness and social isolation affect older people year-round, but Age Cymru warns that winter is the toughest period. With routine services reduced over the festive season,

According to the charity’s research, thousands of people over the age of 65 will face Christmas Day entirely alone, with shrinking support networks, shorter days, and cold weather making it harder to stay connected.

• One in six say they miss the sound of laughter at this time of year

On Christmas Day itself, the situation is even more striking:

• Almost 36,000 older people in Wales will not see or speak to

“Our advisers help people access support, while our friendship services offer connection, conversation and reassurance. But we cannot continue this work without public support. Every donation, no matter how small, can bring comfort, companionship and dignity to an older person this winter.

“Help us tackle the loneliness you don’t see. Donate today.”

To support Age Cymru’s winter appeal, visit: https://www.agecymru. wales/get-involved/donate/

Christmas Cheer at the Llandeilo Antique and Vintage fair on Saturday 6 th December

The Llandeilo Antiques and Vintage Fair has grown in popularity over the last few years and can be located in the heart of Llandeilo, close to the main car park and nearby works Antiques Centre. Here you will find a bustling, vibrant Fair with lots of antiques and vintage to whet your appetite. The fair now includes a vintage element with a touch of retro and because the festive season is upon us , there will be a Christmassy atmosphere at the fair. It will provide a unique Christmas shopping

experience with lots of choice and giving you a chance to recycle and help the planet.

Now the festive season is here, many of us will soon receive Christmas cards delivered by our local posties.

Many of the Christmas traditions we celebrate today, like trees and crackers, all started in the Victorian era. It also was the time when the idea of sending Christmas cards become popular after the first commercially produced Christmas card , was created by Sir Henry Cole in 1843.

A prominent educator and patron of the arts, Henry Cole travelled in the elite, social circles of early Victorian England, and had the misfortune of having too many friends.

Cole hit on an ingenious idea. He approached an artist friend, J.C. Horsley, and asked him to design an idea that Cole had sketched out in his mind. Cole then took Horsley’s illustration—a triptych showing a family at table celebrating the holiday flanked by images of people helping the poor— and had a thousand copies made by a

London printer. The image was printed on a piece of stiff cardboard 5 1/8 x 3 1/4 inches in size. At the top of each was the salutation, “TO:_____” allowing Cole to personalize his responses, which included the generic greeting “A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year To You.”

It was the first Christmas card.

Cole’s Christmas card was also published and offered for sale at a shilling a piece, which was expensive at the time, and the venture was judged a commercial flop. But the 1840s was a period of change, with Prince Albert introducing various German Christmas traditions to the British public, including the decorated Christmas tree.

Early Christmas cards were expensive to produce. They were printed on one-side only and were the size of a typical business card today. Many were printed in black and white or sepia and were hand coloured. Most were initially produced by Valentine’s card printers, who were looking to expand their business, so many early Christmas cards often contained romantic images. Early British cards rarely showed winter or religious themes, instead favouring flowers, fairies and other fanciful designs that reminded the recipient of the approach of spring. Humorous and sentimental images of children and animals were popular, as were increasingly elaborate shapes, decorations and materials.

Things changed with the developments in printing processes in the 1860s. The new cheaper cards with different, more complex designs became available and by the 1870s the

practice of sending Christmas cards had firmly been established as a British Christmas tradition.

Designing cards soon became a serious business, with designs even reviewed in the national press. They were seen by many as pieces of art and card companies often commissioned prominent artists to create new designs.

Cards started to appear in different shapes and sizes and some were further decorated with colourful paper, ribbon or frosting. Others featured animals, puns, riddles and hidden messages.

Designs featured a wide range of imagery including symbols representing the natural world and pagan yuletide images from historical winter celebrations. Holly and ivy, lambs and images of spring were popular, as well as the more familiar robins, celebrations, and Father Christmas.

The Victorian era saw a communication revolution with the introduction of the Penny Post in 1840–in which a letter or card was paid for in advance with a postage stamp (known

as a Penny Black) and cost just a penny. Before 1840, the British postal system was highly complex and very expensive. Letters were charged by distance and the number of sheets of paper they used. Normally, the charge was paid by the recipient and it could be very expensive. With the introduction of the Penny Post, the postal service became very popular as more and more letters and cards were sent.

The production of Christmas cards was, throughout the 20th century, a profitable business for many stationery manufacturers, with the design of cards continually evolving, with changing tastes and printing techniques.

The World Wars brought cards with patriotic themes. Idiosyncratic “studio cards” with cartoon illustrations and sometimes risque humour caught on in the 1950s. Nostalgic, sentimental, and religious images have continued in popularity, and, in the 21st century, reproductions of Victorian and Edwardian cards are easy to obtain.

Modern Christmas cards can be bought individually but are also sold in packs of the same or varied designs. In recent decades changes in technology may be responsible for the decline of the Christmas card. Email and telephones allow for more frequent contact and are easier for generations raised without handwritten letters – especially given the availability of websites offering free email Christmas cards. Some card manufacturers now provide E-cards. In the UK, Christmas cards account for almost half of the volume of greeting card sales,and the majority make a donation to charities.Some charities produce their own cards and is a vital lifeline to their cause.Although the trend is to not to send cards, most can be recycled or made into gift cards.There will be lots of Christmas themed stands for you to enjoy at the fair and a good opportunity to do some Christmas shopping.

Being a Welsh Fair it is understandable that there should be a good selection of Welsh items on offer. Whether it’s an original Welsh

watercolour or oil painting or a piece of Welsh pottery or examples of Welsh textiles.There will also be a selection of Welsh blankets and textiles on display , the result of Wales having a rich heritage , in the woollen industry.

There will also be attractive displays of gardinalia at the fair and they has proved extremely popular including watering cans , planters,wheel barrows ,garden tools and large garden pots and urns.

The Llandeilo fair has a rich cross section of antiques and vintage on display, from jewellery,watches, books, ephemera, militaria and vintage clothes and accessories. There will also be collections of glass and up cycled and pre loved furniture, plus interior design pieces. I’m sure visitors will not be disappointed with the selection on offer at this popular fair.

Homemade refreshments will be available and doors open at 10 am until 4pm.Admission is just £2 and dogs are welcome.

Community transport

MEMBERS of the Pembrokeshire Association of Community Transport Organisations (PACTO) have met with the Older People’s Commissioner for wales, Rhian Bowen-Davies, to present the latest progress on their three-year Transformation Project, funded by the Motability Foundation.

The Commissioner, whose role is to protect and promote the rights of people aged sixty and over, visited Pembrokeshire Archives in Haverfordwest where Transformation Project Manager Wyndham Williams and PACTO General Manager Ady Poole outlined the impact of the investment so far.

PACTO received almost £1 million from the Motability Foundation to transform community transport in Pembrokeshire. The project aims to build a more resilient sector with stronger governance, shared resources and a more coherent network of services for people with mobility challenges.

PROJECT AIMS AND INVESTMENT

The three-year initiative will:

• Improve accessibility, efficiency and long-term sustainability across community transport services.

• Deliver five wheelchair-accessible cars and four wheelchairaccessible minibuses to expand the countywide fleet.

• Provide seed funding for new services and their ongoing operating costs.

• Produce a new countywide community transport strategy, shaped by stakeholder consultation and implemented over three years.

• Create a model that can be replicated by community transport operators elsewhere in the UK.

Pembrokeshire’s Community Transport network is made up of six operators: Bloomfield House Community Centre NDCSA, Green Dragon Community Transport, Manorbier and District Community Transport, Pembrokeshire Voluntary Transport, the Royal Voluntary Service, and The VC Gallery. Across the last twenty-one months, 4,336 people with mobility needs have used community transport services in the county, including 187 individual wheelchair users between October 2024 and September 2025.

Commissioner highlights importance of local transport Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Rhian Bowen-Davies,

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

said: “Spending a week travelling across Pembrokeshire to meet with older people’s groups, as well as organisations providing crucial community support, was hugely valuable to see first-hand some of the activities making a positive difference to people’s lives, as well as hear directly about the challenges and barriers people are facing.

“Issues relating to transport were raised with me by older people wherever I went, and it was clear that community transport plays a particularly important role in Pembrokeshire.

“So, it was really helpful to meet with PACTO during my time in the county, to learn more about the ways they are supporting a wide range of CT services to provide innovative, flexible options that are essential to enable people to get out and about and do the things that matter to them.”

PACTO thanked the Commissioner for her visit and said they look forward to continuing work together to support and strengthen community transport in Pembrokeshire.

ABOuT PACTO

Pembrokeshire Association of Community Transport Organisations (PACTO) is a registered charity and umbrella body supporting community transport groups across the county. Established in 2004, it works to improve access to transport for people who are isolated, elderly or disabled. Through guidance, advocacy and its Motability Foundation-funded Transformation Project, PACTO helps strengthen governance, modernise services and reduce transport barriers across Pembrokeshire.

ABOuT THE MOTABILITy FOuNDATION

The Motability Foundation is an independent charity established in 1977. It funds, supports and innovates to ensure disabled people can make the journeys they choose. As well as

overseeing the Motability Scheme, it provides grants to individuals, charities and organisations that improve or campaign for accessible transport. Working with disabled people, government and industry, the foundation aims to build transport equity across the UK.

Narberth named one of UK’s best Christmas shopping towns

NARBERTH has been singled out by a national newspaper as one of the top places in Britain to do your Christmas shopping this year.

The Guardian’s festive shopping guide, published this week, placed the colourful Pembrokeshire market town in its UK top ten for places offering a “local flavour” during the Christmas rush. The paper praised Narberth’s growing reputation as a food-lover’s destination and highlighted a number of independent businesses on its bustling high street.

According to the guide, Narberth is “fast becoming Wales’s premier foodie hub”, with the town’s mix of delis, bakeries and specialist shops helping it stand out from larger retail centres.

Among the recommendations was Wisebuys, described as an ideal first stop for shoppers looking for locally produced chutneys, cheeses, chocolates, hamper fillers and storecupboard essentials.

The newspaper also urged visitors to call into Rock ’N’ Dough, the artisan bakehouse known for its fresh pastries and coffee, before heading to Ultracomida — Narberth’s well-loved tapas bar and deli offering Spanish ingredients, cured meats, cheeses and even traditional paella pans.

Tom Sinclair editor@herald.email

For those making a weekend of it, The Guardian suggested staying at Top Joe’s Townhouse, where boutique rooms sit above the popular pizzeria.

The recognition has delighted

Town Council, which welcomed the national spotlight on the town’s thriving independent retail scene.

Santa set to light up Milford as town prepares for Christmas switch-on

THE COuNTDOwN to Christmas begins in Milford Haven next weekend as the town welcomes Santa Claus for its annual Christmas Lights Switch On at the Town Hall.

The festive celebration takes place on Saturday, 6th December 2025, with families invited to gather from 3:00pm for an afternoon of activities, entertainment and seasonal cheer.

Organisers say they are “rrrrready for some super festive family fun,” and have lined up a full programme including free children’s rides, Santa’s Grotto, a lantern parade and performances from Gelliswick Community Choir.

A highlight for many will be the arrival of Santa himself, who will be meeting families throughout the afternoon before

taking part in the switch-on ceremony.

The Christmas lights are due to be switched on at approximately 5:00pm, marking the official start of the town’s festive season.

The event is being held at Milford Haven Town Hall, which will be decked out for the occasion, with organisers expecting a strong turnout from across the community.

A spokesperson said: “It’s one of the biggest days in Milford’s Christmas calendar. We hope everyone will come along, enjoy the activities and join us in welcoming Santa to town.”

Further attractions and surprise appearances are promised on the day, making the switch-on one of the most anticipated family events of the year

Narberth

Pembrokeshire libraries and leisure centre consultations

SENIOR Pembrokeshire councillors have backed a call for the public to be consulted changes to library or leisure centre opening hours in the county.

A Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Rhys Jordan before the December 1 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet said: “Pembrokeshire County Council resolves that any proposed changes to the opening hours of leisure centres and libraries must be subject to a minimum six-week consultation period with staff and service users before implementation.”

A supporting statement from Cllr Jordan added: “These services exist for the people who use them. They are not simply buildings or timetables; they are part of the fabric of local life, supporting health, wellbeing, learning, and connection. As such, the people who rely on them should have a genuine opportunity to shape and mould any changes that affect how, when, or even whether they can continue to use them.

“A clear example of why this is

There was no prior consultation, no explanation, and no consideration of how this would impact users.”

are public services, owned by and for the public. Their strength lies in the communities that use them. By embedding consultation, we ensure that those communities remain at the heart of every decision, helping to shape and sustain services that truly work for them.”

A report for members, presented by Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services Cllr Rhys Sinnett recommended support for any consultation requirements for any opening hour changes was backed, with an amendment to allow officers to determine the most appropriate duration and approach for such consultation on a case-by-case basis.

Members heard Cllr Jordan was happy with the case-bycase amendment, approving the recommendation.

necessary came in August, when users of Tenby Leisure Centre arrived on August 1 to find posters announcing that, from September 1, weekend opening hours would change from 7.30am–3pm to 8.30am–5pm.

He added: “It’s not about creating delay or bureaucracy; it’s about respect, transparency, and sound decision-making. When we listen first, we make better, fairer, and more sustainable choices.

“Leisure centres and libraries

Cllr Marc Tierney, Cabinet Member for Young People, Community, Wellbeing and Future Generations, saying: “Engagement with the public is really important; talking to our communities is the most important thing we can do here.”

Bruce Sinclair Local Democracy Reporter

gaming

If you’re a fan of grisly, oldschool first-person shooters and the idea of a rampage through occult horror still gives you chills, Blood: Fresh Supply (or more precisely, its upcoming re-release Blood: Refreshed Supply) might just be exactly the kind of nostalgia-fueled, adrenaline-soaked trip you want. Even though this is essentially a re-remastering of the 1997 classic Blood originally brought back to life in 2019 the new build seems tailored to finally give the game the polish (and platformfreedom) it has begged for over the years.

Playing as Caleb, a revenant gunslinger betrayed by dark gods, you’re once again plunged into a world dripping in gothic horror and saturated in blood and vengeance. The game still pushes you through labyrinths of cultists, zombies, gargoyles and hellhounds. Weapons are mangy and visceral: pitchforks, flare guns, voodoo dolls, occult firethrowers — all those deliciously brutal tools remain, but in this updated version everything

feels sharper, more responsive, and more deliberate. It’s the same savage horror-shooting of the 90s, but with modern sensibilities: smoother graphics, modern controls, and far less of the janky, outdated restrictions that plague many remakes.

What really elevates this version is what’s been added: beyond the original campaign and the expansions, you get additional content in the form of new mission-scenarios and expanded mod support — a sign that the developers intend this to be more than just a “nostalgia cash-in.” On top of that, support for modern features like customizable controls, widescreen or high-resolution display, and updated engine underpinnings means that even if you’ve played previous incarnations of Blood, this could feel fresh and dangerous all over again.

That said if you go in expecting a silky, contemporaryshooter experience, you might be disappointed. Blood’s charm

has always been its rough edges, and a lot of the thrill comes from its raw, unforgiving action and old-school physics. The horror is relentless, the violence unflinching, and the balance subtle by modern-AAA standards — remains a bit wild. For players used to aim-assist, cover systems, or cinematic pacing, the chaos and unpredictability here might feel archaic or fiddly. But if you’re after unfiltered, savage shooter action soaked in horror and dark atmosphere, this version doesn’t just preserve what made Blood legendary it sharpens it.

In the end, Blood: Fresh Supply feels like a rightful resurrection: equal parts reverent homage and modernised reboot. It doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but it gives the old wheel a brutal tune-up while keeping all the rust and teeth. If you’ve got a taste for horror, old-school FPS chaos, and unashamed gore, this could be one of the best ways to remind yourself what “cult classic shooter” really means.

wiTh eddie The game gUrU

CliCk to

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 feels like a more confident return to the haunted neon corridors of the franchise, leaning into the eerie charm that made the first film such a strange blend of nostalgia, dread, and strangely heartfelt mystery. From its opening moments, the movie settles into a slower, more deliberate rhythm, giving the pizzeria itself room to breathe as a character. Every hum of an old monitor, every flicker of a failing light, every distant metallic groan adds to the sense that the building is alive in ways no one fully understands. The film clearly understands that the series’ power lies not in relentless noise but in the oppressive silence just before something moves.

What stands out is how the story navigates its own tension, choosing to expand the world not through sheer scale but

through layers of hidden history and half-remembered tragedies. The new animatronics aren’t just visual upgrades; they feel like entities with personalities carved from forgotten mischief and malice, each one contributing to an atmosphere that shifts from unsettling to outright threatening as the nights grow longer. Their presence has a weight to it, as though they’re observing even when perfectly still, and the film plays with that sensation expertly.

The human characters are given slightly more room to develop this time, grounding the experience in relatable fear rather than simply reacting to scares. Their interactions carry hints of dark humor and reluctant camaraderie, the kind that forms only when people realize they might be facing something far outside normal logic. Instead of falling into the trap of turning every encounter

into a jump scare, the film leans into the psychological unraveling that comes with isolation, exhaustion, and the creeping awareness that the rules of the world inside the pizzeria don’t quite match reality.

There’s a grim playfulness to the way the film toys with expectations, building suspense from the anticipation itself. Moments stretch just a little too long, doors close just a bit too slowly, and the camera lingers on shadows that might hide something or might not. By the time the tension snaps in the final act, the chaos feels earned, a culmination of steadily rising dread rather than a sudden spike. The finale embraces the franchise’s trademark blend of surreal imagery and mechanical horror, pushing the characters into a blinking, clattering nightmare where survival feels both impossible and strangely hopeful.

In the end, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 delivers a sequel that feels more assured, more atmospheric, and more willing to lean into the uncanny magic of its world. It understands the strange appeal of animatronics that smile too widely, hallways that stretch too far, and a past that refuses to stay buried, creating a film that lingers long after the final jumpscare fades.

Tech and Taff

well now, bach, Ofcom has finally waddled out of its den clutching a proper big stick — and fair play, they’ve swung it. A whole £1 million fine slapped on AVS group Ltd, a porn company running 18 adult websites, for not putting in “highly effective age assurance” as required under the Online Safety Act.

That’s right: age checks for smut are now the law, and Ofcom’s had enough of companies saying “Oh sorry mun, we forgot.” AVS also gets an extra £50,000 fine just for ignoring Ofcom’s emails — which, to be fair, is the most relatable part of this story.

Now they’ve got 72 hours to put proper age checks in, or they’ll be charged £1,000 per day, which is roughly the same as what students spend on meal deals and Monster Energy across Freshers’ Week.

And they’re not the only ones in trouble. Ofcom says a “major social media company” is currently being hauled through compliance remediation, which is the polite regulatory phrase for “come here boyo, we need a word.”

They won’t name the platform — but if a bird suddenly starts tweeting again, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

THE TIDE TuRNS SORT OF

Ofcom’s Oliver Griffiths says this shows the tide on online safety is turning. A lovely image, until you remember half the internet swims in the sewer outfall.

To be fair, 2025 has seen a clampdown:

• Deepfake “nudify” apps have already been fined.

• 4Chan was hit with a £20,000 penalty — which it has so far treated the same way my uncle Dai treats council tax reminders.

• Tougher rules on protecting women and girls online came in this year, with Ofcom threatening to name and shame platforms that drag their feet.

But while regulators are puffing their chests out, the public has already pointed out the obvious: any teenager with a £3 VPN can teleport themselves to “Canada” faster than you can say ‘Clear your

browser history!’

Even Pornhub’s parent company said UK traffic dropped 77% after the age checks went live — which tells you everything about how many people suddenly discovered the joys of Norway.

“Fines are nothing — disrupt their business”

Baroness Beeban Kidron from 5Rights Foundation went on the Today programme to say the fines are “nothing” to tech giants.

“Business disruption is everything,” she said — which is the most Welsh Mam thing I’ve heard from a member of the House of Lords. She’s basically saying: Take their broadband away and see how fast they comply.

She wants Ofcom to show more intensity and robustness, which in simple terms means: stop waving the stick and actually start whacking.

SO wHAT’S NExT?

Well, mun, the Online Safety Act is being rolled out in phases, and this is just the warm-up. More rules. More enforcement. More sweating tech bros pretending to be shocked that Parliament is, at long last, paying attention.

But will age checks actually stop kids accessing porn?

No.

Will the law make the internet magically safe?

Also no.

But will regulators finally force Big Tech to stop acting like the landlord who “didn’t see” the hole in your ceiling for three years?

Maybe. And that’s progress, butt.

Until next week — keep your firewalls patched, keep your passwords strong, and never open any email promising “FREE BITCOIN NOW!!!”

Your friendly neighbourhood Welsh tech lecturer, Professor Barry Davis

Cardigan Theatre brings Beauty and the Beast to Mwldan this Christmas

CARDIgAN Theatre is set to bring festive magic to Theatre Mwldan this Christmas with a fun-filled production of Beauty and the Beast, running from 21–29 December. The pantomime is written and directed by Jonathon Preece and promises all the traditional panto sparkle audiences love.

The story follows once-proud Prince Louis (Emily Davies), who angers Agatha the Evil Enchantress (Kelly Lewis). As punishment for his selfishness, she transforms him into the fearsome Beast (Steve Green). His only hope of breaking the spell is to find true love – or remain a beast forever.

Meanwhile, brave and big-hearted Belle (Ruby Lemoine) sets out to rescue her eccentric father Marcel (Tom Loveday). On his way to the “Big Invention Competition”, Marcel loses his way, stumbles into the enchanted castle and is taken prisoner by the Beast. Determined to save him, Belle is joined by her loyal friend Jacques,

the village silly billy (Sarah Harris), flamboyant Dame Madam Fromage (Rhys Davies), and Gavin (Paul Robinson), the vain village heartthrob who is convinced Belle should marry him – whether she agrees or not.

Inside the castle, Belle encounters a host of enchanted objects, including Tick Tock (Lilwen), Flambe (Bryce), and Mrs Kettle (Manon), who provide humour, magic and plenty of encouragement as they try to help the Beast win Belle’s heart and break Agatha’s curse.

With songs, jokes, colourful characters and plenty of audience participation, the production promises festive fun for all ages.

Beauty and the Beast runs at Theatre Mwldan from 21–29 December. Early booking is advised to avoid disappointment.

Cardigan Theatre can be followed on Facebook and Instagram for updates on future shows.

HOROSCOPES

CliCk to

I’m definitely intrigued by the upcoming The Abandons it feels like a bold attempt to re-imagine the classic western with emotional weight and modern sensibilities. Set in the 1850s Pacific Northwest, the story revolves around a found family of orphans and outcasts, led by Lena Headey’s fiercely protective matriarch, who clashes with a powerful mining dynasty headed by gillian Anderson’s ruthless Constance Van Ness. The central conflict over land, survival, and legacy promises to explore themes of identity, loyalty and what “family” really means in a harsh, lawless frontier.

The show doesn’t shy away from rawness. From what the trailer and early descriptions hint at, we’re getting gunfights, moral compromise, and a heavy dose of

tragedy. But beneath that violence lies emotional stakes: these are people who aren’t just fighting for territory they’re fighting to belong, to protect those they love, and maybe to carve out something resembling dignity or justice on the edge of civilization.

What I find especially compelling is the duality of the power structures: on one side, the outcasts forging bonds not by blood but by choice and loyalty; on the other, the aristocratic “old-money” family who see the frontier as just another asset to dominate. That collision feels timeless, and relevant even today the tension between wealth and disenfranchisement, between privilege and survival.

Of course, there are complications behind the scenes: the show’s creator Kurt Sutter

exited the production late in the process, and the season was pared down to fewer episodes than originally planned— which raises questions about whether narrative ambition will suffer under those constraints. But perhaps those very constraints could sharpen the storytelling, forcing focus on characters and moral complexity rather than sprawling subplots.

All in all, The Abandons looks like it could be one of Netflix’s gutsier, grittier dramas a frontier saga with heart, tension and moral gravity. I’m hopeful that Headey and Anderson's rivalry, and the “found family vs established power” dynamic, will deliver a Western that feels both classic and fresh. I’ll definitely be tuning in December 4th.

break, gather your thoughts, and wait until you feel reenergized enough to move forward again. There is no rush, no pressure. So even if you feel the urge to push someone in a certain direction (this includes yourself), don’t. It’s important to just let things happen around you for a while. Wait things out. CANCER

When was the last time you watched people? Take a break in your day and plop yourself down in a busy park, restaurant, or mall and take a look around. Clothing choices, hairstyles, and phone habits are suddenly the most fascinating thing on earth for you. You’ll get immense entertainment out of the oddness of others. This is the beginning of a very observant phase. You’re going to thoroughly enjoy the insight (and education) it gives you.

LEO Why do you think you need to wait for

able to use your creativity to craft a message that will really get their attention. Appeal to their sense of pride and possibility.

VIRGO

Just try to relax and go with the flow today. Follow the path of least resistance. Float through the day like a leaf on a babbling brook and enjoy the ride. There are fascinating twists and turns laid out throughout your day, hidden like Easter eggs. While you might not encounter all of them, you should be open to experience as many of them as possible. You are eager for some stimulation, and this day could give it to you several times over.

LIBRA

Sometimes, changes in your life happen slowly and over time, and sometimes they strike your life like lightning and create a dramatic change on the landscape. But all types of change are driven by you, so keep that in mind today if you’re bored with the way things are going. You can bring about real change by being yourself: proud and loud. When you walk into a room, make your presence known to everyone either by words, deeds, or appearance. Make a big splash and you’ll make some waves.

SCORPIO

Planning is the key to your success right now, so make sure you have enough time to organize all the details today. Dates, times, and other critical information needs your devoted attention, so try to focus as much as you can on pulling all the elements together. The earlier you can get things pulled together the better. This afternoon is likely to have some very appealing distractions. Do not get wrapped up in the drama of other people’s lives.

SAGITTARIUS

The shopping bug has bitten and it’s not letting go, but this fascination with material goods is not going to be good for you right now. All signs still point to save, save, save! Not only is throwing your cash around going to drain your resources, but it’ll distract you from things that matter most. There’s more delight to be found in the people around you than in some silly new gadget or trendy accessory. Put yourself on a budget and avoid the mall for a while.

CAPRICORN

Saying goodbye to someone you love (or letting go of something that was once precious in your life) is just a part of living. If you need to say goodbye, treat it like a celebration. After all, you are moving into a different phase of your life. New experiences will soon feed your intellectual curiosity and give you the level of satisfaction you’ve been seeking. As your wisdom and maturity grow, so will your appreciation for the people in your past.

AQUARIUS

You’re the kind of person who just can’t settle for anything less than the whole

By editor tom sinclair

Castlemartin is not the answer pembrokeshire cannot carry this burden again a Pem B rokeshire Pers P ective

The uk government’s refusal to confirm or deny whether Castlemartin Training Camp is being considered for asylum accommodation will set alarm bells ringing across Pembrokeshire. And rightly so. we have been here before - and the lessons of Penally should not be ignored.

When Penally was used as an asylum centre during the pandemic, the community was thrown into the national spotlight: and for all the wrong reasons. In 2020 and 2021, the Home Office housed “several hundred male asylum seekers” at the camp. At one point inspectors recorded 171 people living there. Accounts from charities working on-site at the time said occupancy fluctuated between approximately 150 and 250 residents.

The result was a widely condemned experience: a joint inspection by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration in February 2021 found the camp was “impoverished, run-down and unsuitable for long-term accommodation.” Concerns included cramped dormitories, poor hygiene, limited privacy, inadequate healthcare support, and widespread mental-health distress.

Almost everyone, regardless of political persuasion, now accepts one point: Penally was the wrong place. Pembrokeshire should never again be put into that position.

Castlemartin is one of the UK’s most important defence training assets - a live tank-firing range relied upon by the

Armed Forces and NATO allies. In an age of instability, the idea of reducing access to such a strategic site for anything other than defence makes little sense. Castlemartin must remain what it is: a military training ground, not a contingency plan for asylum accommodation.

While it is absolutely right that the Government wants to end the spiralling cost of hotels, Pembrokeshire is not the answer. We are a small rural county with fragile infrastructure. Penally showed clearly that we do not have the transport links, health-care capacity, accommodation support networks or public-service resilience to absorb sudden large-scale placements.

A county already struggling to meet the needs of its own residents - from GP access to housing - cannot be expected to shoulder a national asylum solution.

The cost was huge: financially, socially and to public services

The Herald reported at the time that the policing and management of Penally during 2020–2021 ran into millions of pounds, once the combination of protest management, emergency response, community reassurance, and sustained on-site police presence was taken into account.

This was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when public services were already stretched to the

limit responding to local outbreaks, lockdown enforcement and community support. Penally added an enormous strain at the worst possible time.

Tensions in the village escalated quickly: protests, counter-protests, attempts to block access to the camp, and the involvement of outside activist groups on both sides. Even a single arrest for public-order offences highlighted the pressure police were put under. None of this was fair on residents, and none of it should be repeated elsewhere in the county.

We already struggle to care for our own people - we have no capacity for more

Pembrokeshire is not a major metropolitan area with deep publicservice infrastructure. We are a coastal rural county with limited housing, limited health-care capacity and limited social-care provision. Asking us to absorb another major accommodation site; especially one on the scale of asylum dispersal is simply unrealistic. Ending hotel use is necessary. Improving asylum decision-making is necessary. But placing large-scale asylum accommodation in rural counties already stretched to breaking point is not the way to achieve it.

Pembrokeshire has done more than its fair share. What the county needs now is transparency, honesty and certainty. It is time for the UK Government to rule Castlemartin out, once and for all.

BADGER AND THE TEMPLES OF THE LITTLE TIN GODS

BADGER’s recent columns have focused on Labour’s shortcomings in government in Westminster and Cardiff Bay.

If the truth be told, it has occurred to Badger that taking potshots at Labour is like shooting fish in a barrel. That’d be a shoal of very small fish in a very small barrel. With a very large gun. Say, a howitzer.

If he’s honest, Badger will never tire of pointing out the inadequacy of Labour’s apparatchiks, tagnuts, and clinkers. That applies equally to the midwitted (Badger’s in a generous mood) careerists transplanted to Wales to play pretend at representing Welsh constituencies in Westminster and the home-grown third-rate inadequates who populate the Labour benches in the Senedd.

However, this last weekend, Badger underwent a damascene conversion. Readers, compared to the hilarity that unfolded at the Your Party conference in Liverpool, Badger concluded that Labour politicians are especially able and gifted individuals, grounded, sensible, and not at all swivel-eyed loons. However, that’s not saying much when the point of comparison is Your Party.

Lest we forget, and Badger wants to make sure you don’t, the nutters corralled near the Mersey ran the Labour Party between 2015 and 2020. Magic Grandpa’s lustre may have faded over the last few years, but his ability to take six MPs and organise them into four competing and bitterly antagonistic factions remains undimmed. And one thing’s for certain, those too antisemitic to join the Green jihadists now have a home for their brand of unelectable, tokenistic posturing. The last time so many Jew-haters occupied the same platform was in the dock at the Nuremberg Trials.

The problem is that if you judged political parties’ merits on their activist base alone, you’d soon start yearning for the days of The Commonwealth or an Absolute Monarchy.

Badger has developed an infallible way to discern the relative lunacy of party conference attendees.

Hair.

Comb-overs and bouffant hairdos on men or women: it’s the Reform conference.

Blue rinse and short back and sides: Conservatives.

Purple and pink: Greens

Purple and pink with anoraks: Lib Dems.

Purple and pink with dungarees with

big badges on them: Your Party and Plaid Ifanc.

The sort of haircuts you see only on assistant supermarket managers desperate for promotion: Labour. Have you seen Henry Tufnell?

Trendy thirty years ago for a weekend away on Anglesey in January: Plaid Cymru.

That’s why Tommy Robinson fans don’t fit into existing political parties. Football hooligan chic with neck tattoos makes it hard to fit in with anyone who doesn’t dress like a football hooligan or bear neck tattoos. Or have extensive scar tissue on their knuckles - and/or brain tissue.

Badger’s test is virtually infallible.

The other thing to note about party activists is that they in no way represent anyone who might be considered “normal”. Badger is old enough to remember when Labour’s left insisted that the way to improve that party’s political chances was to follow their members’ wishes more faithfully. The result was an increase in entryism from left-wing leeches, such as the Militant Tendency. The Militant Tendency regarded parliamentary democracy with contempt, thought winning elections with policies voters might support

was treachery, and was as devoted to Labour in the same way as liver fluke is to a sheep. Militant held sway in Labour because they realised that a tiny number of committed activists could seize control of moribund constituency organisations and thereby impose their will through astute use of the rule book and endless debates about the need for true socialism. And they were enabled by the sort of politician who earnestly and sincerely believed that “the youth” were the way forward without questioning who “the youth” actually were.

Look at the Conservatives in power from 2015 onwards for a further example. The failure of a moribund national organisation and careless party leadership allowed a minority of activists to gain control of the processes and the internal politics of a party that had always been focused on government as an end rather than a means. The result was a collective nervous breakdown that left the Conservative Party’s MPs in the House of Commons ungovernable and unfit to govern. If Badger had to fix on one central reason for the decline in the Conservative Party’s fortunes, he would alight on the idiotic decision to listen to its members. Those members picked Liz Truss for Christ’s sake, readers.

Parties that are “led by our members” are parties unfit for government because they listen to a handful of activists and loudmouths instead of listening to voters.

For crying out loud, readers, this shouldn’t need saying to any politician, but it does: without power, a political party can do and achieve nothing. Activists can believe in three impossible things before breakfast and force a party’s leadership to write them into a manifesto pledging to do those things in government. It’s nonsense.

In a sense, Reform UK have headed this off at the pass. Reform UK is not a political party. It is a corporation (a limited company in more senses than one) headed and run by a tiny clique around Nigel Farage. There is no internal democracy worth talking about, which means what the head office says goes. It’s also why Reform is as fissiparous as Your Party, but for different reasons.

If, as Your Party intends, candidates are dictated to by members through “direct democracy”, there are two pertinent issues: firstly, MPs can never represent their constituents without their actions being approved by local party members; secondly, MPs (or councillors, or MSs) would be sock puppets for a tiny activist base with sectarian views. It reduces a representative for all to a delegate for a tiny minority.

With Reform UK, the problem is that what matters is not what the leader believes or says, but how they apply it. If you direct policy exclusively from the centre, you cannot account for the real limitations of local government.

Imagine the folly of compelling county councillors to debate immigration policy when they have no say in it, or to waste time debating climate change when national law dictates what councils must do regarding it. Yet that is what Reform has done, is doing, and has lost councillors over. The centralisation of power in a powerful executive leaves local parties unable to mount credible campaigns on local issues in local elections. The danger is that a party ends up less of a political force than it is an essentially hollow vessel for personality worship.

Badger is kind enough to believe that there are decent people in every political party, even Labour, but when it comes to the new parties of the left and the right, his thoughts boil down to the following;

Corbyn and Farage.

Your Party and Reform UK.

Cults and their cultish leaders.

UNITY, OR WHO’S PINCHIN’ WHOSE CHIPS THIS WEEK?

gATHER round, humans and harbour-rats, for Seagull’s weekly squawk on politics, power, and who’s currently nicking the shiny things. Spoiler: it’s always the same lot.

Now look, us gulls down Milford Haven Docks know a thing or two about unity. When there’s a bag of chips left unattended, we don’t argue about who’s a liberal gull or a conservative gull or a nationalist gull – we pile in as ONE, feathers flying, united in the noble mission of carb acquisition. Awwk! Meanwhile the left flock are over in the car park arguing about whose turn it is to hold the vinegar.

And that, my friends, is why the right always seems better at sticking together than the left. You might think Nigel Farage is saying “Noooo, no deals with the Tories, not me!” – but listen again. What he’s really saying is: “No deals… as they are.” Awwk! That’s seagull-speak for: “Clean up your act, polish your feathers, and we’ll have a chat when the tide changes.”

Then you’ve got whispers in the Times that Reform’s bigwigs want

Farage’s Chancellor after some future victory. Jenrick denies it, of course –politicians deny things like we deny knocking a pasty out of someone’s hand even when it’s still in our beaks. But whether it’s Farage or Jenrick, they’re all flapping in the same direction: unite the right, no matter what.

And why the rush for unity?

Because the polls are doing a funny thing. Reform shot up after the election but seems stuck in the low 30s. The Tories have stabilised in the midteens. Neither flock can out-screech the other. So the big donors and the right-wing papers are squawking louder than the gulls at 6:00am: “GET TOGETHER AND PECK LABOUR OFF THE CLIFF!” The Daily Mail even wrote a leader basically saying: “Oi! Stop messing about and merge already.”

My humans at Compass – clever folk, always dropping crumbs for me – worked out that if the Tories and Reform had combined last time, they’d have won 202 more seats. TWO HUNDRED AND TWO! Awwk!

That’s a whole flock’s worth of MPs. But instead they split the vote like two gulls fighting over a single chip until a passing dog ran in and ate it.

The progressive side? Oh dear. Instead of splitting into two, they’re splitting into four in England, five in Wales. Labour, Lib Dems, Greens, Plaid, independents, whoever “Your Party” turns out to be… it’s like watching gulls trying to organise binday. Too many wings, not enough brains.

Sure, Labour won big last time, but it was the smallest ‘big win’ in history — awwk, even I got more enthusiastic applause the day I stole an entire baguette off a tourist. Labour strategists want to frame the next election as Labour vs Farage, Macronstyle. “Vote for us, or get the scary one,” they cry. But that doesn’t work any more. Progressive voters won’t hold their noses; they’re too busy storming off to Plaid or the Greens, as we saw in Caerphilly when Labour went from first to ‘third by a mile’.

Meanwhile, every year the Overton Window slides harder right, like a chip skidding across a café table when

someone sneezes. And in that world, a full-fat populist party will always outshout a watered-down one.

So what’s the answer? Awwk! Simple, really:

(1) Labour needs to actually be progressive again — not attacking asylum seekers or tinkering with juries, but talking wealth taxes and big ideas to remake Britain fairly.

(2) And the left has to stop preaching unity and start doing unity. Pluralism, alliances, proportional representation, working together — like us gulls when a fishing boat tips a crate of mackerel overboard. No arguments. Just action. Awwk!

Because the right will unite, one way or another. Cold electoral logic says so. And unless the left learns to flock properly not just shout ‘solidarity’ while everyone flies off in opposite directions — they’ll be divebombed again in 2029.

Awwk! And listen, if any of you politicians want tips on unity, come down to the docks. Bring chips. Stephen Seagull knows a thing or two about cooperation — especially when there’s food involved.

Robert Jenrick to defect and become

Kennel Club warns of Christmas chocolate poisoning risk for dogs

NEw statistics from The kennel Club, released today (December 4), reveal a significant surge in dogs being treated for chocolate poisoning during December and January. with chocolate posing a potentially fatal risk to dogs, the organisation is urging pet owners to remain vigilant throughout the festive season and beyond.

Figures from Kennel Club Pet Insurance, provided by Agria, show that nearly a third (31%) of all chocolate poisoning claims in 2023 were made during Christmas. January saw the highest number of claims, more than doubling the monthly average, highlighting the dangers of leftover holiday treats.

DEADLy TREATS

Robin Hargreaves, Senior Veterinary Advisor for Agria Pet Insurance, said:

“Chocolate can be very dangerous to your dog. The risk varies depending on the amount and type of chocolate consumed and the dog’s size. Symptoms, which can include sickness, stomach pain, excessive drinking, dribbling, fast breathing, and

even seizures, may appear between four and 24 hours after ingestion. If you suspect your dog has eaten chocolate, contact your vet immediately. Remember, even wrapped chocolates under the tree are easily sniffed out by dogs!”

FESTIVE HAzARDS

Chocolate isn’t the only seasonal danger for dogs. Other common holiday foods like mince pies, Christmas pudding, and stollen—containing toxic raisins—pose serious health risks. To help owners protect their pets, The Kennel Club offers these tips:

• Keep chocolate, mince pies, and other festive treats out of reach, including advent

calendars and edible decorations.

• Avoid feeding turkey, goose, or chicken bones, which can splinter and harm your dog’s stomach.

• Stay away from dangerous foods like macadamia nuts, blue cheese, alcohol, and mouldy leftovers.

If your dog shows signs of illness, such as vomiting or diarrhoea, consult a vet promptly.

SEASONAL SAFETy

Dogs are equally drawn to holiday decorations and presents, which can pose choking, puncture, or electrocution hazards. Beware of items such as:

• Tinsel, ornaments, and festive plants like poinsettia, holly, and mistletoe.

• Wrapping paper, plastic decorations, and small toys.

• Batteries in electronic gifts, which can be toxic if swallowed.

wINTER AND STRESS RISkS

The cold weather also brings dangers like hypothermia, frostbite, and antifreeze poisoning from tainted puddles. Meanwhile, the holiday hustle and bustle can be overwhelming for pets. Maintaining routines and providing quiet spaces can help dogs feel secure.

Bill Lambert, Health, Welfare, and Breeder Services Executive at The Kennel Club, said:

“Christmas is an exciting time, but it can also be overwhelming for pets. These statistics remind us to stay vigilant, as leftover festive treats can be just as dangerous in January as they are in December.”

For more advice on keeping your dog safe this Christmas, visit The Kennel Club’s website: thekennelclub.org.uk/ christmas.

Pupils launch Wales’ first Military Pupil Promise

PEMBROkESHIRE has become the first area in wales to launch a Military Pupil Promise – a new initiative designed to recognise, support and celebrate children from Armed Forces families.

Pembrokeshire County Council’s Education Welfare Service, working in partnership with SSCE Cymru, brought almost seventy service children together to help design the promise themselves, giving

them a direct say in how schools and the local authority can better support them.

gIVINg MILITARy CHILDREN A VOICE

The young people involved said it was important that teachers and classmates understand what life is like for children whose parents serve in the Armed Forces. Many face challenges such as frequent moves, changes of

school and periods of parental deployment.

The Military Pupil Promise aims to improve that understanding, create consistency across schools and strengthen the sense of belonging and emotional wellbeing for service pupils.

A COuNTy-wIDE COMMITMENT

Developing a clear local pledge brings together schools,

families and community partners to ensure every service child feels valued and supported to reach their full potential. The initiative also reinforces the local authority’s commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, ensuring serving personnel, veterans and their families are treated fairly.

The promise includes raising awareness in schools, dedicated training for staff, and linking settings through a new Pembrokeshire Military Children Champion network to share ideas and best practice.

As the first scheme of its kind in Wales, Pembrokeshire hopes other councils will now follow its lead and work together towards a national approach to supporting service children.

Kelly Hamid, Education Welfare Service Manager, said:

“Developing the Service Pupil Promise is about recognising and celebrating the unique experiences of our service children, while ensuring they feel fully understood, supported and valued within our schools and community.

“For us as a local authority, it’s not just a pledge – it’s a commitment to listening, learning and working together so every service pupil can thrive, no matter where their journey takes them.”

More information on supporting service children in education is available on the council’s website.

Primary school application deadline reminder

PARENTS or guardians of children in Pembrokeshire born between 01/09/2021 – 31/08/2022 are invited to apply for a Primary school place (Reception year group) for September 2026 by the closing date of 31st January 2026.

Applications received after this date will be considered late which may have a bearing on whether your child gets a place at your preferred school.

It is important to note that a school place will not be allocated unless a formal application is received.

The online application form can be found on the

Pembrokeshire County Council website: www.pembrokeshire. gov.uk/schools-and-learning under ‘Apply for a School Place’. There is no need to re-apply if you have already submitted an application form. You can view your current applications by logging into your My Account and into the ‘Schools & Learning’ ‘School Admissions & Transport’ section.

For further information on the school admissions process, please view our Information to Parents

Parents/guardians will be informed of the allocation of places on the common offer date of 16th April 2026.

New development at one of Pemb’s biggest dairy farms approved

PLANS for a heifer accommodation building and associated works at one of Pembrokeshire’s largest dairy farms, with a milking herd of 2,000 cows, have been given the go-ahead.

In an application recommended for approval at the December 2 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s planning committee, Hugh James of Langdon Mill Farms Ltd sought permission for a 160-metre-long heifer accommodation building, a slurry separation/dewatering building and associated yard areas at 1,215-hectare Langdon Mill Farm, near Jeffreyston, Kilgetty.

A supporting statement through agent Reading Agricultural Consultants said: “The holding currently has a milking herd of approximately 2,000 cows, which are housed indoors for the majority of the year, with dry cows and heifers grazed outdoors when weather and soil conditions permit.

“There has been significant investment in buildings and infrastructure at the farm over the last decade in respect of cattle accommodation, slurry storage, milking facilities, Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant, feed storage. Recently a calf and weaned calf

these, four live on site in the two dwellings opposite the farm, with the remaining staff living in the locality.”

accommodation buildings were approved by Pembrokeshire County Council with construction almost complete.

“The unit is efficient, achieving yields of more than 10,000 litres/ cow/year, with cows being milked three times/day in the 60-point rotary parlour. Langdon Mill Farm currently directly employs 21 fulltime, and three part-time staff. Of

It added: “Although the unit has previously purchased heifers to aid expansion, the farm now breeds most of its own replacements to improve genetics and to minimise the ongoing threat of bovine tuberculosis (bTB).

“Following the completion of the calf and weaned calf accommodation buildings, the farm will be rearing all of the cattle

under seven months at Langdon Mill Farm, before being transported off site to be reared at three farms in the local area. At 22-months the in-calf heifers are brought back to the maternity building to calve and then are introduced into the milking herd.”

It said the proposed building would be used by heifers between the ages of 7-22 months, the siting “directly influenced by the adjacent calf and weaned calf buildings, with livestock being moved from one building to the next as they get older”.

Approval was moved by Cllr Brian Hall, seconded by Cllr Danny Young, with Cllr John T Davies also stating his support.

“It’s common sense; the fact we approved a calf-rearing shed, it follows on you need a heifer rearing shed,” he said.

Cllr Davies later said the scheme would also support biodiversity, and, with a decline in milk prices, supporting the largescale farm was about “safety in numbers”.

Chair Cllr Mark Carter said it was “a pleasure to be supporting the farming industry”.

Members unanimously supported the recommendation of approval.

Bruce Sinclair Local Democracy Reporter

Wales strengthens animal disease testing capability

Livestock farmers and animal health officials in wales are set to benefit from regional disease testing following investment to start the process of establishing a specialist diagnostic centre at Aberystwyth university.

The Deputy First Minister with responsibility for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies has today announced £265,000 of Welsh Government funding for Aberystwyth University.

The funding is the first step to designating the university as Wales’s first high throughput testing centre for notifiable animal diseases, including bluetongue. The centre will operate from the university’s VetHub1 which provides secure containment facilities. Currently, notifiable disease samples are sent outside of Wales to process.

The Deputy First Minister, said: “I’m delighted to announce this funding which will begin building more resilience in our animal disease testing. The centre will strengthen long-term disease surveillance capacity within Wales, reducing response times during outbreaks and sharing surge outbreak capacity. Recent experience of the bluetongue outbreak and avian influenza has

showed us that enhanced capacity is crucial as we tackle future disease threats. This is a very positive beginning, and I look forward to working with our colleagues at Aberystwyth University.”

Aberystwyth University is the only facility in Wales with the infrastructure and facilities to undertake this type of testing.

Professor Iain Barber, Pro ViceChancellor for the Faculty of Sciences at Aberystwyth University, said:

“We’re excited to begin this important scoping exercise, which marks the first

step toward strengthening Wales’s capacity for rapid animal disease testing. While this is an early stage in the process, it lays the groundwork for a facility that could play a vital role in protecting livestock and supporting biosecurity in the future.”

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Vikki Howells, said: “It is fantastic that Aberystwyth University will be home to Wales’s first high throughput testing centre for animal diseases. This investment recognises the university’s outstanding expertise and facilities in veterinary science,

and I want to thank them for taking on this important responsibility. This centre will support and work closely with our farming communities, demonstrating how funding our universities delivers real benefits for Wales.”

The designation process will enable the facility to deliver testing accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and compliant with Specified Animal Pathogens Order standards. The centre will create skilled jobs and strengthen Wales’s contribution to UK biosecurity.

Avian flu concerns rise as fresh housing rules hit West Wales farms

POuLTRy farmers across west wales are tightening biosecurity and preparing for months of disruption as the latest wave of avian influenza brings new housing requirements and restrictions across the country.

An all-Wales Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) remains in force, with keepers required to follow strict diseasecontrol measures. Mandatory housing orders are now active, meaning all poultry and captive birds must be kept indoors or under cover to reduce contact with wild birds during the peak winter migration period.

The Welsh Government said the risk of spread from wild bird populations has risen sharply in recent weeks, with cases confirmed across the UK and further outbreaks expected as colder weather pushes migratory birds into estuaries and coastal wetlands.

LOCAL CONCERNS IN PEMBROkESHIRE AND CARMARTHENSHIRE

While no major outbreaks have been reported in West Wales so far this season, farmers say the constant tightening of rules has become part of their winter routine.

Producers in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire told The Herald that rising feed costs, indoor-housing requirements and continued uncertainty around “free-range” status are putting pressure on small and medium-sized units.

One local keeper said: “When birds go inside for long periods, everything becomes more expensive — bedding, lighting, feed, labour. You also worry about the stress on the flock. It

all adds up.”

Although the public health risk remains low, farmers say the economic risk to the rural sector is significant, particularly if repeated outbreaks trigger long-term culls or movement restrictions.

BACkgROuND: THE CAPESTONE OuTBREAk

West Wales has already seen how severe the consequences can be.

In September 2022, Capestone Organic Poultry Ltd, near Milford Haven, lost 130,000 organic chickens after a small outbreak of bird flu was detected in one shed. The entire flock was culled, affecting one of Pembrokeshire’s largest agricultural employers.

At the time, the business urged the Welsh Government to introduce a mandatory housing order to match measures already in place in England. Wales initially resisted housing rules, instead relying on an AIPZ and saying the scientific evidence did not yet justify compulsory containment.

The episode highlighted a long-running debate within the industry: whether early housing orders are essential to prevent spread, or whether they impose unnecessary financial strain, especially on free-range units that could lose their premium status once birds are indoors for extended periods.

That same debate has returned this winter, with ministers under pressure to balance scientific advice with the practical realities on farms.

BIOSECuRITy RuLES

TIgHTENED

Under current measures, all bird keepers — from major commercial producers to backyard owners — must now:

• house or net birds to avoid contact with wild birds

• clean and disinfect housing, yards, vehicles and equipment regularly

• restrict visitors and maintain movement records

• report any signs of unexplained illness, sudden deaths or drops in egg production to APHA

Failure to follow the rules can result in enforcement action, including prosecution.

The Welsh Government said the AIPZ and housing order will remain in place “until further notice”, with the situation assessed on a daily basis.

‘A DIFFICuLT FEw MONTHS AHEAD’

Farmers say that, as in previous years, the biggest challenge will be uncertainty. If Wales avoids major outbreaks, restrictions may lift early. But with the UK reporting rising case numbers and Europe warning of sustained seasonal pressure, most producers are preparing for a long winter.

NFU Cymru has again urged the Welsh Government to ensure clear communication and rapid support for producers affected by culls or extended housing, warning that some family-run businesses are operating “on a knife-edge”.

For now, farmers in West Wales say they can only focus on biosecurity and hope that this year’s strain does not bring the kind of losses seen elsewhere in the UK.

The Farmers’ union of wales has spent the past year warning the uk government that its proposed reforms to inheritance tax (IHT) pose a profound and long-term threat to welsh family farms and the rural communities they support.

Throughout 2025, we have held extensive discussions with MPs from all parties, Treasury officials and other key decisionmakers to emphasise a simple but vital point: family farms must be protected from policies that risk undermining their ability to pass businesses securely to the next generation.

Last week’s Autumn Budget offered a partial shift in the right direction. The Chancellor committed to ensuring that the proposed relief for the first £1 million of agricultural and business assets will be fully transferable between spouses - a move the FUW has consistently called for as a minimum safeguard. This commitment is welcome, and it will undoubtedly ease succession pressures for some farming families.

We also welcome the decision to retain current lifetime gifting rules, another important element the FUW has urged the Treasury to preserve. These rules play a crucial role in enabling families to plan ahead and transfer responsibility smoothly over time.

However, despite these limited improvements, the

Government has chosen not to reverse the wider reforms to inheritance tax. These proposals still risk imposing unaffordable tax bills on farming families at the point of succession, placing unnecessary strain on businesses that are already operating in a challenging economic environment. If implemented as planned, these reforms could cause lasting damage to Welsh agriculture, rural supply chains and food production, and the broader rural economy. Family farms depend on continuity, stability and the ability to plan for future generations. The Government’s broader approach to IHT reform undermines these principles. While we recognise the Chancellor’s willingness to make one important change, it falls well short of what is needed to properly protect Welsh family farms from long-term harm.

It is not too late for MPs to act. The FUW will continue to make the case in Westminster and beyond that further amendments to this policy are needed. We urge MPs from all parties to support changes to the Finance Bill that will allow family farms to be passed on with confidence rather than fear of an impossible tax burden.

The FUW remains committed to defending the future of Welsh family farming, and we will continue to fight for policies that supportrather than threatenour rural communities.

TDilapidated 1960s Aston Martin DB5 restored to £1m glory

A 1960s James Bond-style

Aston Martin DB5 – once so dilapidated that local children played on it – has been painstakingly restored and is now valued at £1 million.

John Williams, 71, from Mold, Flintshire, purchased the car second-hand in 1973 for £985, the equivalent of around £15,000 today. The iconic vehicle, featured in the films Goldfinger and Thunderball, was last driven by Mr Williams in his twenties before being left to rust on his driveway.

Mr Williams invested £400,000 in a three-year restoration at Aston Martin’s Buckinghamshire works, where experts had to first remove a mouse nest before undertaking 2,500 hours of repairs.

He first fell in love with Aston Martins at the age of eight when he was given a toy car. By 19, he had saved enough to buy one he had spotted in a motoring magazine. However, after securing a job in the Middle East at the end of the 1970s, the DB5 went into storage and later sat on the drive, exposed to the elements – and curious children.

“The neighbours’ kids used to bounce on the bonnet and we used to tell them off,”

recalled his wife, Susan. “And then one was jumping on the roof thinking, ‘does it work?’ because he’d seen the Bond film and thought it was going to come up.”

SAVED AND SACRIFICED

Only 1,022 DB5s were produced between 1963 and 1965. Their fame was cemented when James Bond, played by Sean Connery, drove one complete with an ejector seat and revolving number plates.

The silver birch grey DB5 Vantage owned by Mr Williams is one of just 39 such models in existence. Even in its rusting, undriveable condition, Aston Martin valued the car at £500,000, tempting the couple to consider selling it. They received multiple offers.

Susan said: “Money comes into it and reality, and sitting at the kitchen table he said ‘what do you think?’ And I said, ‘well, you’ll never get another one’. So he said, ‘no, we’re keeping her’.”

The decision to restore the car led the couple to “save and sacrifice” over three years to bring it back to life. After removing the mouse nest, technicians replaced countless parts and painstakingly

restored the original paintwork.

The Williamses made regular visits to the Newport Pagnell workshop to monitor progress. The finished result has been valued at £1 million.

Aston Martin historian Steve Waddingham said: “It would almost be easier to build a brand new car, but to actually repair and put new sections into a very heavily corroded car like this one took an awful lot of skill and patience.” He added: “It’s such an overwhelming car to be in the presence of – the smell of it, the feel of it, the noise it makes. They are very special and you cannot get out of your mind those various famous film scenes.”

After taking his first drive in the car in more than 45 years, John said: “It must be better now than it was when it came out of the factory originally.

It was mind-blowing. I wish they could do a number on me to make me look 27 again. I definitely feel 27 today.”

Susan, who had only previously sat in the car while it was being towed from storage, enjoyed her first proper ride with John at the wheel. She said: “The sound of her was wonderful. And then when we were going a bit faster I thought, ‘Yeah, go a bit faster. Let’s see what she can do’.”

Although John has achieved his lifelong ambition, he does not intend to drive the car frequently. “You’re limited to where you can take it and leave it. And the weather affects it. I don’t want to be taking it through big puddles of water, and I’ve neglected it once. I’m not going to do that again,” he said.

1.2

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Škoda Auto produces 100,000th all-electric Elroq

Škoda Auto has built 100,000 units of the all-electric Elroq compact SuV since production began at the start of the year. The anniversary car is an Elroq vRS in Hyper green. As the first production model to feature the brand’s Modern Solid design language, the Elroq is assembled on a flexible line that also builds the Enyaq and the MqB-based Octavia. This allows the carmaker to produce both electric and ICE models on the same line to quickly respond to customer demand. The Elroq is proving popular with customers and experts alike: in the first three quarters of 2025, it ranked second among Europe’s best-selling BEV models. It has also garnered numerous international honours, including the Red Dot Design Award, and was recently crowned ‘german Car of the year 2026’. The 100,000-unit milestone underscores the strong, continuing demand for Škoda’s battery-electric SuVs, the Elroq and Enyaq. Andreas Dick, Škoda Auto Board Member for Production and Logistics, says: “Producing 100,000 Elroqs in under a year of series production is a major achievement for the whole team. It also reflects rigorous preparation and targeted adaptations to our production processes. From the outset, we’ve fully leveraged the flexibility to build battery-electric and ICE vehicles on the same line. The result is clear: the tremendous response from customers highlights the excellent manufacturing quality of cars ‘made in Mladá Boleslav’.”

Škoda Elroq: among Europe’s best-selling BEVs

In the first three quarters of 2025, Škoda Auto delivered nearly 120,000

BEVs globally. In Europe, both models ranked in the top ten electric cars, with the Elroq second and the Enyaq sixth. The Elroq is the best-selling BEV in the Czech Republic, Denmark and Slovakia, and ranks among the top three best-selling BEVs in Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Great success for the Elroq in Germany, Škoda’s largest single market

In Germany, Škoda’s largest single market, the Elroq was the bestselling electric vehicle in October, with 3,320 registrations, and it was also Europe’s overall best-selling electric car in April, July and October. The Elroq’s success is reflected not only in strong customer demand but also in a growing list of international awards, including the renowned Red Dot Design Award. Recently, the

compact SUV was named ‘German Car of the Year 2026’. A jury of 40 leading German and international journalists first selected five class winners from 80 new vehicles before the Elroq prevailed against its four remaining rivals in the final round. It scored particularly well for quality and environmental characteristics, as well as for its price–performance ratio, handling and drivetrain.

New guidance issued to support fishing industry employers

SEAFISH has issued new guidance to help fishing industry employers understand major changes to uk immigration policy that are expected to have a significant impact on the recruitment and retention of migrant workers.

The changes, announced by the UK Government in October 2025, introduce substantial reforms to the Skilled Worker Visa (SWV) system. These reforms will be phased in throughout 2026 and are expected to require immediate workforce planning, particularly for fleets and processors that rely on overseas labour.

Among the key changes affecting the fishing industry are an increase in the Englishlanguage requirement for migrant

workers and their partners, the removal of all fishing-related roles from future Shortage Occupation Lists, and the end of the Temporary Shortage List concession in December 2026.

Seafish warns that one of the most consequential reforms is the planned end of overseas

recruitment for fishing roles from 31 December 2026. This may heavily affect regions where vessels depend on migrant crews.

While the Government has suggested there may be transitional arrangements for workers already in the UK

on Skilled Worker Visas, no confirmation has yet been given. It therefore remains unclear whether visa holders will be able to renew their visas under the same SOC code after 31 December 2026.

Neil McAleese, Seafish’s Head of Industry Workforce Issues, said: “These changes will have far-reaching consequences for the UK fishing industry. Our new guidance is designed to equip employers with clear, practical information to support workforce planning and ensure continued compliance. Acting now is crucial for businesses that rely on foreign labour.”

The new Seafish guidance and briefing note can be accessed on the organisation’s website: Briefing Note – Skilled Visa Changes (Nov 25).

Fresh plans for development at Stepaside caravan site

FRESH plans to extend a Pembrokeshire caravan storage facility, previously refused earlier this year, have been submitted.

In an application refused back in September, Noel Richards sought permission to extend an existing caravan storage facility at Merrixton House Farm, near Stepaside.

A supporting statement, through agent Gethin Beynon, accompanying the application said: “The main purpose of the extended storage facility is to improve vehicle movements around the existing storage facility and reduce the congested nature of the existing storage site arrangement.

“No members of the public visit the storage facility as for safety and insurance purposes, the owners of the storage facility provide a collection and store service. The extension of the storage facility would add to the efficiency of the operation and diversification of the existing rural enterprise to secure and create additional employment.”

It went on to say: “It is also worth noting that the storage compound is owner managed for safety and security purposes where they park and collect caravans for storage purposes from the locality. The development would therefore not result in an influx of visitor vehicular numbers and

movements in and around the storage compound would be owner operated.”

The application was refused on the grounds it “would increase the visual clutter and decrease the positive contribution that the verdant farmland makes to the setting of the [adjoining] Park and Garden,” and, with access from “a narrow unclassified single-track road with the carriageway below the recommended standard for twoway flow,” there is insufficient information provided “in respect of existing and predicted trip generation, swept path analysis and mitigation measures to demonstrate that the impacts on highway safety can be mitigated

from the intensification of the caravan storage facility”.

Since then, a fresh scheme has been submitted by the applicant aimed at addressing the previous refusal.

It offers, amongst other changes, to lower the finished level site, planting additional screening, and provides a transport statement “which has demonstrated no material change upon the highway from the resulting development”.

“Based on the above amendments, the development complies with the Pembrokeshire Local Development Plan Adopted 2013 (‘the LDP’) and national planning policy as it would represent a justified form

of sustainable development and an appropriate extension to the existing caravan storage business, which would be of a compatible scale and has incorporated biodiversity enhancement features.

“The development would also not result in any significant harmful impacts upon neighbouring amenity or the character of the area or historic environment and offers an environmental and economic benefit. As such, it is considered the scale and nature of the development is compatible with its location.”

The latest application will be considered by county planners at a later date.

Wales investment summit spotlights £16bn pipeline amid economic challenges

HuNDREDS of global business leaders gathered today (Dec 1) at the International Convention Centre wales and Celtic Manor Resort for the inaugural wales Investment Summit – the largest event of its kind in wales since the 2014 NATO Summit.

First Minister Eluned Morgan described the summit as a “pivotal moment” to showcase Wales’ economic potential, with more than 300 delegates from twenty-seven countries hearing pitches on high-growth sectors including AI, semiconductors and clean energy. Around one hundred and fifty of the attending firms are new to Wales.

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas and broadcaster Alex Jones appeared at sessions throughout the day, adding a distinctly Welsh touch to a high-profile programme led by Morgan and UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

£16BN PIPELINE AND MAJOR JOB PLEDgES

Since announcing the summit in August 2024, Morgan said Wales has secured investment commitments worth £16 billion. The largest is a £10 billion

programme from Vantage Data Centers, which plans AI-driven data campuses across south Wales, including at the former Ford engine plant in Bridgend. The project is expected to create several thousand jobs over the next decade.

A further £4.6 billion in pledges was unveiled last week, including:

• £2.5 billion for the Wylfa nuclear project

• New investments from Rolls-Royce, Vishay, Stena Line, Boccard and Bute Energy

Today’s discussions also followed the UK Government’s recent confirmation that Wylfa will host Britain’s first small modular reactors (SMRs). Construction and operational phases are forecast to support up to 3,000 jobs.

Two “AI Growth Zones” – one across Anglesey and Gwynedd, and a second in south Wales – are projected to generate more than 8,000 jobs combined. The north Wales zone alone is expected to deliver over 3,400 jobs in research, data centres and training, leveraging power output from the Wylfa site. Reeves confirmed a £10 million UK

budget allocation to boost Newport’s semiconductor cluster, emphasising cross-government cooperation.

The summit also highlighted a milestone for the Development Bank of Wales, which has now invested over £1 billion since 2017, supporting 50,000 jobs and nearly 5,000 businesses.

Wales has delivered a 23% rise in foreign direct investment projects in 2024/25 – reaching sixty-five deals – alongside a 30% rise in inwardinvestment jobs. Wales retains the highest manufacturing share of GDP in the UK at 15.6%, compared to the national average of under ten per cent.

A TOugH INTERNATIONAL LANDSCAPE

The upbeat messaging comes against a difficult global backdrop. UK-wide foreign investment fell to 853 projects in 2024, a thirteen per cent drop. Across Europe, FDI fell by five per cent – the lowest level for almost a decade – amid geopolitical instability, supply-chain pressures and falling manufacturing investment.

Although Wales’ twenty-three per cent rise in project numbers mirrors UK-wide trends, much of the headline £16bn relates to long-term pipelines rather than near-term spending. Several flagship schemes, including Wylfa and the AI zones, rely heavily on public subsidy, with hundreds of millions committed by both the Welsh and UK Governments.

STRuCTuRAL CHALLENgES PERSIST

Despite strong announcements, Wales continues to face stubborn

economic gaps. Gross value added per head stood at £29,316 in 2023 – around 85% of the UK average. Total Welsh GVA reached £81.5 billion, showing little real-terms growth.

Economic inactivity remains the highest in Great Britain at 24.1% of working-age adults, driven largely by long-term sickness. Average full-time weekly earnings in Wales are £634, compared to the UK figure of £682.

There are also concerns over regional imbalance. South-east Wales continues to attract the majority of major investments, leaving parts of north and west Wales – including Anglesey –vulnerable without wider rail, digital and skills upgrades.

OPPOSITION: ‘LATE IN THE DAy’

Opposition parties welcomed new jobs but criticised Labour’s economic record.

Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan said many announcements were “late in the day” after “over two decades” of Labour governance, and called for a streamlined “one-stop shop” for business support. The party previously dismissed the summit as a “gimmick”.

Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar said the focus should be on “lower taxes and less bureaucracy”, accusing Labour of “hamstringing” the Welsh economy with regulation since 1999. Shadow economy secretary Samuel Kurtz urged investment in “world-class skills” and real support for small firms. With Senedd elections set for May 2026 – and Labour still absorbing the shock of losing the Caerphilly byelection to Plaid – political scrutiny of the summit has intensified.

LOOkINg AHEAD

Morgan told delegates: “This summit is the culmination of months of work. Welsh Labour means business and is investing in our economy and jobs for the future.” She said Wales must focus on “growth with purpose”, ensuring high-skilled roles spread opportunity across every region.

Economy Secretary Rebecca Evans added: “Wales is at the forefront of industries that will define the next decade. We’re ready to turn conversations into commitments.”

As delegations continue discussions, the long-term test will be delivery. With £16 billion in pledges and thousands of jobs at stake, Wales faces a decisive question:

Will this investment help close longstanding economic divides – or deepen them in an already fragile global economy?

Hundreds of lives changed a decade after Wales pioneered deemed consent law

wALES today marks ten years since becoming the first part of the uk to introduce deemed consent for organ donation – a change that has helped transform and save hundreds of lives.

The landmark law, which came into force on 1 December 2015, presumes that a person is willing to donate their organs after death unless they have formally opted out during their lifetime. Families are always consulted, and they are far more likely to support donation when they know it reflects their loved one’s wishes.

Since the legislation began, more than 2,000 organs have been donated in Wales. Of these, 640 organs came from 198 deceased donors under deemed consent, with 550 successfully transplanted to

patients across the UK.

The Welsh model has since been adopted across the rest of the UK, becoming one of the most significant changes in recent public health policy.

‘Saved or changed hundreds of lives’

Chief Medical Officer Professor Isabel Oliver described the anniversary as a moment of pride for Wales.

She said: “Wales was the first country in the UK to introduce deemed consent. This important legislation has saved or changed hundreds of lives.

“But changing the law alone is not enough. To save even more people, it is really important that we all register our organ donation decision – whether opting in or opting out. You can do this through the NHS Wales App or online, and it really helps

to discuss the decision with loved ones. This gives families certainty and helps clinicians save more lives.

“Thank you to everyone who has already registered – and to the wonderful people who have donated organs to help others.”

Families finding comfort through donation

Among those touched by the change is Peter Sturgess, whose wife Ronnie died at the Grange University Hospital. Ronnie had not opted out, and Peter supported her decision to donate under the new system.

He said: “Knowing Ronnie’s organs have given others the chance to improve their lives is a great source of comfort. Her liver and two kidneys now reside in three men aged over 60, so, for me, there is still a little piece of her out there.”

Call for more people to register their wishes

Anthony Clarkson, director of organ donation and transplant at NHS Blood and Transplant, praised the impact of deemed consent but said public participation remains crucial.

“Deemed consent is now the system for the whole of the UK and has provided additional organs for transplant each year,” he said.

“However, the legislation is not a silver bullet. It is an important piece of the jigsaw, but to improve donation and transplant rates further, we need more people to clearly register their decision.

“It only takes two minutes, but it could save the lives of people who desperately need a transplant.”

Wales’ biggest hospital overrun by pigeons – even in operating theatres

CARDIFF’S university Hospital of wales – the largest hospital serving South and west wales – has been branded a national disgrace after whistle-blowers revealed a chronic pigeon infestation, including birds nesting inside areas used to prepare sterile operating theatres.

TuNNELS ‘CARPETED IN DROPPINgS’

Patients, including those critically ill, are being pushed along underground corridors described as “ankle-deep in water and carpeted with bird faeces”, with buckets placed along walkways to catch rain leaking through failing roofs. Staff say the stench is overwhelming and that vulnerable patients are being traumatised by the conditions.

One frontline worker, speaking anonymously to The Pembrokeshire Herald, said the situation had become intolerable: “The place is full of pigeons. You see them flapping around in trauma theatres while surgeons are trying to save lives. The smell is vile.”

Photographs passed to this newspaper show floor surfaces coated in pigeon droppings and staff weaving around flocks of birds to reach wards.

CONSuLTANTS wARN HOSPITAL IS NOw A RISk

The revelations come just weeks after nearly three hundred senior consultants at the Heath signed an unprecedented letter warning morale was “at an all-time low” and stating the physical condition of the hospital now poses a serious infection risk. Pigeon droppings can carry cryptococcus, a fungus potentially fatal to those with weakened immune systems.

Despite this, ministers in Cardiff Bay have pressed ahead with hundreds of

millions of pounds for expanding the Senedd by thirty-six new politicians and for major expenditure on the Welsh Government’s “Nation of Sanctuary” asylum policies.

POLITICAL ROw DEEPENS

Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies said the state of the Heath symbolised years of neglect.

“Senedd ministers must take responsibility for the appalling condition of our hospitals. While Labour and Plaid spent money on vanity projects, they ignored the NHS. Patients in Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Swansea are paying the price.”

Built in the early 1970s, the Heath now requires more than £100 million in urgent repairs. Last winter entire wards were left freezing when heating systems failed, while engineers are said to be so overstretched that routine maintenance can take weeks.

In one instance, a seventy-sevenyear-old emphysema patient from West Wales spent four days under blankets because radiators in his bay would not work. Another elderly man spent his final hours being wheeled through pigeon-infested tunnels because the lifts had broken again.

HEALTH BOARD ‘ACCEPTS’ POOR CONDITIONS

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board acknowledged the conditions were “unacceptable” and said additional pest-control measures would be introduced, insisting patient safety had not been compromised. However, the hospital was placed at the highest level of Welsh Government intervention last month, and staff say the situation on the ground has barely changed.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said it was providing “targeted support” to address long-standing problems with the estate.

‘ASHAMED TO BRINg PATIENTS THROugH’

For families in Pembrokeshire who rely on the Heath for major trauma, neurosurgery and cancer services, confidence in the system continues to erode.

A nurse from Tenby who trained at the hospital told The Herald: “We used to be proud to work there. Now we’re ashamed to bring patients through corridors that look like something from a horror film.”

The pigeons may be the most visible sign of decline – but staff say the deeper crisis begins in Cardiff Bay, where the decisions that shape Wales’s health service are made.

The people of Wales, they insist, deserve far better.

Plaid Cymru says Pembrokeshire ‘deserves a better health service’

RESIDENTS in Pembrokeshire “deserve a better health service”, Plaid Cymru has said, as the party set out detailed proposals aimed at reducing NHS waiting times if it forms the next welsh government.

OVER 620,000 PEOPLE wAITINg FOR TREATMENT

The latest Welsh Government figures show 620,309 people were waiting for planned NHS treatment in Wales at the end of September 2025. This is one of the highest figures ever recorded and represents almost one-in-five of the Welsh population.

Official statistics also confirm that over 100,000 people have been waiting more than a year for treatment, despite previous Welsh Government targets to eliminate such waits.

Plaid Cymru says the figures demonstrate the need for a “fresh start” after twenty-five consecutive years of Labour running the Welsh NHS. The party claims its proposals could

begin “within the first few days” of a new administration.

TEMPORARy TREATMENT CENTRES IN ExISTINg HOSPITALS

Under Plaid Cymru’s plan, temporary local treatment centres would be established inside existing hospitals across Wales, allowing clinicians to carry out highvolume procedures such as orthopaedics, cataracts and diagnostic work.

The party says additional capacity would enable health boards to target the longest waits while ensuring patients receive treatment closer to home. These centres would operate on a “sprint model”, focusing resources to clear backlogs over concentrated periods.

Plaid also proposes a mandate for health boards to work together more strategically, sharing staffing rotas, specialist teams and expensive medical equipment to reduce duplication and

improve efficiency. Hywel Dda University Health Board, which covers Pembrokeshire, has one of the highest per-head waiting lists in Wales.

The party argues digital technology is being “vastly under-used” in Wales and could allow many follow-up appointments to be handled remotely. This includes remote monitoring of longterm conditions, digital patient records, and routine checks managed through virtual clinics.

gP SHORTAgES

‘PARTICuLARLy PROMINENT’ IN PEMBROkESHIRE

Primary care pressures remain severe in west Wales, with several Pembrokeshire GP practices either closing lists, relying heavily on locums, or undergoing partnership changes in the last five years.

Recent Hywel Dda figures show that Pembrokeshire has fewer GPs per head of population than the Welsh average, contributing to long

waits for routine appointments.

Plaid Cymru’s Ceredigion Preseli candidate Kerry Ferguson said: “We are all very aware of the difficulties in accessing GPs and the long waiting time there currently is for receiving treatment.

“The shortage of GPs has been particularly prominent in Pembrokeshire. Plaid Cymru is the only party which has carefully constructed ready-togo solutions that would reduce current waiting times and bring long-term benefits to our broken NHS.”

The Herald understands that GP access, ambulance delays and long referral times are among the most frequent complaints raised by residents in Pembrokeshire, particularly heading into the winter months when pressures on hospitals traditionally increase.

Paid Cymru says its package of measures would “reset the NHS on a sustainable footing” and begin tackling delays that have now become entrenched across the health system.

Lib Dems was asylum reforms could “rip frightened children from communities”

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS in wales have warned that Labour’s proposed asylum reforms could cause serious harm to vulnerable children and families who have already begun rebuilding their lives in welsh communities.

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds raised the issue during First Minister’s Questions, challenging the Welsh Government to oppose UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s plans. The reforms include introducing temporary refugee status, ending guaranteed housing support for asylum seekers, and placing caps on “safe and legal” routes into the UK.

DODDS CALLS FOR STRONgER wELSH STANCE

Addressing the Senedd, Dodds said she was shocked by proposals that could lead to settled families being removed from Wales. She said the plans risked “children who are already frightened and vulnerable, and potentially very settled in their communities, being ripped out and sent back to a country many of them don’t know”.

Dodds argued that the lack of safe routes forces desperate people into dangerous crossings. She urged

ministers in Cardiff Bay to make clear their opposition to measures she described as inhumane and destabilising.

FIRST MINISTER HIgHLIgHTS MIgRANTS’ CONTRIBuTION

In response, First Minister Eluned Morgan said Wales must recognise the significant contribution migrants make, warning against creating “otherness” around people who have made their homes in Welsh towns and villages.

Morgan did not directly oppose the UK reforms but stressed that discussions about asylum should avoid language that divides communities.

Lib Dems call for safer routes and quicker decisions

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have repeatedly argued that the UK Government should expand safe routes, speed up asylum decisions and provide stronger support for integration, rather than introducing temporary status or restrictive caps.

Speaking after FMQs, Dodds said children who have fled danger deserve stability and should not live under constant threat of removal. She said the proposed reforms “would make life harder for some of the most

vulnerable people in our society and tear at the fabric of the communities they have become part of”. She added that Wales “should stand

for compassion” and pledged that her party would continue campaigning for a fairer, more humane asylum system.

Council has bought nearly £3.5m worth of housing in six months

HOuSINg worth nearly £3.5m has been purchased in Pembrokeshire by the council in the last six to seven months, a report before senior councillors says.

In a report before the December meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet, members will receive a report on acquisitions and disposals in excess of £100,000 which have completed during the current financial

year, from April 1 to October 31.

PROPERTIES PuRCHASED ARE:

• 32 Southdown Close, Pembroke, at £115,000

• 8 Hyfrydle, Letterston at £115,000

• 6 Precelly Place, Milford Haven at

£120,000

• 50 Heywood Court, Tenby at £125,000

• 33 Croft Avenue, Hakin at £130,000

• 7 Hyfrydle, Letterston at £135,000

• 18 St Clements Park, Freystrop at £140,000

• 55 College Park, Neyland at £140,000

• 26 Baring Gould Way, Haverfordwest at £146,000

• 25 Station Road, Letterston at £170,000

• 16 Woodlands Crescent, Milford Haven at £283,000

• 26 & 27 Harcourt Close, Hook at £744,000

• 23, 24 And 25 Harcourt Close, Hook at £1,107,000.

Of the purchases, £1,851,000 is made up of five properties in Hook.

Back in September, Cabinet members backed a recommendation to enter into an agreement for the acquisition of up to 16 new build housing units as an off the shelf deal at Harcourt Close, Hook.

The proposal was the second social housing scheme recommended for approval by members at that meeting; councillors having earlier backed a scheme for the purchase of 21 affordable homes, along with an option for four intermediate units on land at Sandyhill, Saundersfoot.

Disposals, of £278,400, in the latest report relate to Plots 9 And 10, Waterloo Industrial Estate, Waterloo, Pembroke Dock, bringing the total balance to £3,191,600.

Members are recommended to note the report.

Bruce Sinclair Local Democracy Reporter

W ITH ANDREW LyE

The Labour overnment was elected on a promise of tackling the cost of living crisis and growing the economy - and this is the second Budget where it has failed to do either.

For millions of people struggling with higher bills, all the Budget offers is higher taxes, from a Chancellor who has diagnosed the disease but refuses to administer the cure.

The Government has no plan to fix our broken relationship with Europe - the single biggest thing they could do to turbocharge our economy.

A proper, ambitious deal with Europe - with a new customs union at its heart - would slash costs for businesses, boost economic growth and help end the cost-of-living crisis.

Boris Johnson’s terrible Brexit deal has cost the Treasury £90 billion a year. Imagine how much more support families could be getting today if the Chancellor adopted our plan to start repairing those Brexit costs.

Instead of that level of urgency and ambition, we got a Budget that ignores the biggest economic challenge of our time.

The Chancellor has finally listened to our calls to tax big online gambling companies more fairly, and to scrap the two-child benefits cap, which will lift children out of poverty and save taxpayers money in the long term.

We welcome action, at last, to bring down energy bills - even though it does not go anywhere near far enough. Britain needs a real plan to cut bills, investing in renewables and insulating homes

- not the plan of the Conservatives and Reform, who pretend the answer is to scrap climate commitments, which in reality would push bills even higher and benefit Vladimir Putin.

For struggling high streets and small businesses, the Budget brought very little hope. Our call for an emergency VAT cut for the hospitality sector has sadly been ignored.

As a carer for much of his life, Ed Davey was deeply disappointed by how little the Budget offers the millions of family carers keeping our NHS and society going. We urgently need a crossparty plan to fix social care, because without it, the NHS will never truly recover.

A caring society. A growing economy. A plan to drive down household bills, boost our high streets, and go for growth with Europe - that is the vision we Liberal Democrats have put forward, and one that the Chancellor could have delivered.

Instead, we got a lowgrowth, high-tax budget from a Government that just isn’t listening.

Using National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and House of Commons analysis, the Liberal Democrats say that the Brexit hit to tax receipts is up to £90bn a year. Or £1.7bn a week. Vital money needed to fund hospitals, schools, social care and basic investment. And to think Farage’s bus promised £350m a week for the NHS. Instead of providing a Brexit dividend, we are seeing the effects of the false promise.

So where is the growth that the Chancellor says is her priority?

If you have any issues or comments, please contact me at andrew.lye@pembslibdems.wales

£2.6m flooding scheme could finally happen after seven years

A SCHEME costing £2.6m to tackle flooding at the Lower Priory and Havens Head area of Milford Haven, which saw heavy flooding back in 2018, could be nearing completion, senior councillors heard.

The November 2018 flooding at Lower Priory and Havens Head saw floodwater as high as eight feet, devastating homes and residents’ lives.

Local residents have previously told their harrowing experiences of the 2018 flooding.

Sarah Rees, of Havens Head, has previously described the scenes during the November 2018 floods: “The water was crystal clear, like being in a bath; and then suddenly the brown came in.

“Every time it rains the first thing that enters your head is what’s the pond condition?

“It was pitch black, all the electricity had gone out; we had to try and get out of the back, trying to find the steps to get out of the garden.

“I had my daughter with me, she just had time to grab her A-level books and go; we were

trying to get out of that house. The force of the water, you can still feel it.

“We had to try and get out of the garden in Havens Head, it was the most terrifying experience of my life.”

Since then, progress in delivering a scheme to address the flooding issues for residents has been slow, but Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet meeting of December 1 heard from Cabinet Member for Residents Services Cllr Rhys Sinnett that it was “very close to getting this over the line”.

While Milford Haven Port Authority has done its own works in the area, a 2020 scheme for council works was identified in the form of the Havens Head Culvert, with Welsh Government support.

A report for members at that meeting asked for them to agree an increase in council match-funding following a successful tender, with 15 per cent council and 85 per cent Welsh government funding;

confirmation of the final stages of the process being awaited.

If the scheme gets the final approval the total value is costed at £2,629,638 for the construction, made up of £2,235,192 in funding with a council contribution of £394,446 over two financial years.

“It’s right for us to finish the job here, so many reports have been written over the last seven years,” Cllr Sinnett said, adding: “If we can agree this today it will go to Welsh Government for the final signoff.”

Members agreed to back the recommendation, that, provided the final design and business case is approved by Welsh Government the council would contribute its matchfunding element.

The recommendation also said that if funding is not secured, a special grant application be submitted.

Cllr Guy Woodham, a fellow Milford area councillor to Cllr Sinnett, said: “This has been rumbling on for a good many years, it’s good to see something happening.”

Bruce Sinclair Local Democracy Reporter

Reeves under pressure as leaked OBR papers cast doubt on Budget ‘black hole’ claim

RACHEL REEVES is facing mounting pressure tonight after leaked documents suggested the Treasury may have overstated the scale of Britain’s financial problems ahead of last week’s Budget.

The Chancellor repeatedly warned of a “black hole” in the public finances during a series of interviews in November, arguing the UK needed “fiscal headroom” to protect against economic shocks. The claim was central to the Government’s justification for around £26 billion in tax rises, including changes to capital gains, business taxation, and duties on property.

LEAk REVEALS £4.2BN SuRPLuS

However, a leak from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), first reported over the weekend, shows the UK was actually running a £4.2 billion surplus as recently as late October – weeks before Reeves delivered her Budget.

The revelation has triggered a storm at Westminster, with opposition parties accusing the Chancellor of misleading the public and Parliament. Critics

say Reeves used the prospect of a large deficit to lay the groundwork for tax rises that may not have been necessary.

REEVES

DENIES LyINg

Speaking to broadcasters on Monday, Reeves insisted she had not lied, saying she had been “honest and frank” about the need to rebuild the nation’s fiscal resilience.

She argued that an OBR downgrade in productivity forecasts meant expected tax receipts were weaker, making it “prudent” to increase fiscal headroom now. “We cannot gamble with the economy,” she said.

Labour sources have also pointed to expected rises in welfare costs and public-sector spending pressures.

MINISTERIAL CODE quESTIONS

Opposition figures are now calling for an investigation into whether the Chancellor breached the ministerial code, which requires ministers to give accurate information.

Some have gone further, suggesting the Financial

BlUE vIEW

with Cllr Mark Carter

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Jordan Ryan, who served Fishguard & goodwick as a councillor for many years on the Town Council and latterly with PCC. Although our politics were very different, I got on well with him and we were able to work together amicably.

This week saw the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves deliver what is probably the worst budget for hard working families. A report from the Centre for Social Justice revels that a working family with three children would need to earn £71,000 to have the same income as a similar jobless family.

Forces where live firing exercises can take place. Let’s not forget what happened at Penally when illegal immigrants were housed there. There were major protests and the cost to Dyfed-Powys Police to maintain order there was astronomical. Locals are quite rightly anxious that this will happen again.

Conduct Authority may need to consider the impact of potentially misleading statements on markets. The Government has dismissed those suggestions as “political theatre”.

The row intensified after the head of the OBR resigned on Sunday, describing the leak as a “technical but serious” breach of confidentiality. The timing has raised fresh questions about who knew what – and when.

STORM NOT OVER

The Prime Minister has publicly backed his Chancellor, insisting the Budget was based on the best information available at the time.

But with senior economists warning that public confidence in fiscal transparency has been damaged, and with several Cabinet ministers privately expressing frustration over communication inside the Treasury, the controversy shows no sign of fading.

Parliament is expected to press for further answers when Reeves appears before the Treasury Select Committee later this week.

We need people who will be generating wealth and jobs, not creating an environment where you are better off on benefits. We also have the lies from Rachel Reeves. There was no £20bn “black hole” and forecasts from the OBR showed a £4.2bn surplus. Labour’s manifesto commitment was to have no tax rises on working people, but she has done exactly that. Freezing tax thresholds, changes to salary sacrifices, car tax rises, and increases in council tax will be paid by working people. Where else does she think the cash will come from, the magic money tree? It was a truly appalling budget which has nothing to do with balancing the books but is based on the politics of envy. Punishing people who work hard, save for the future and strive to improve their lives is bad economics and bad politics.

It has been reported that the Home Office are considering housing immigrants at Castlemartin Training Camp. This is a major issue for people who live and work in the area. It is a strategically important training area for NATO

Castlemartin is in a rural area, with little infrastructure for a large-scale increase in a resident population. And with the security implications I can’t believe that the Home Office are even considering putting lots of young men who we know nothing about so close to a major military base. This is a recipe for disaster.

Our excellent Senedd member Sam Kurtz has raised this issue with the Home Office.

Sam got a response from the Minister for Border Security and Asylum in which he claimed it was all the fault of the previous Conservative government that we have so may immigrants. He also claimed that for security reasons he would neither confirm nor deny where immigrants will be housed. In other words, he takes no responsibility and Sam should be quiet.

Labour have been in power for less than two years at Westminster and over 26 years in Cardiff. It is clear from this response and Reeves’ budget that they hold the public in contempt. It is time for real change and you have the chance in May to make the changes in the Senedd; vote Conservative.

SEND yoUR lETTERS To: THE EDITOR, 11 HAMILTON TERRACE, MILFORD HAVEN, PEMBROKESHIRE, SA73 3AL

EMAIl US AT: editor@herald.email

by Gerald brace

NIGEL FARAGE

DEAR SIR,

wHy doesn’t it surprise me that Farage has been accused of being racist at school?

Because he’s totally obsessed with immigration and turning away anyone foreign from our shores (apart from his wives and girlfriends). He’s caused this country no end of trouble by inciting hatred of Europe and fighting for Brexit, which is losing us billions every year.

I sincerely hope that further investigation is carried out on him for all he has done and especially his possible links to Russia

POLICIES THAT KNOWINGLy DEEPEN CHILD POVERTy

DEAR SIR,

THE introduction of the two-child limit by former Conservative ministers David Cameron and george Osborne continues to have devastating consequences for families across the uk. By restricting financial support for a third child, the policy has pushed

many households deeper into poverty, particularly at a time when living costs are rising and wages in many sectors have stagnated.

It is reasonable to advise people to consider family size carefully, but it is far harder to justify a policy that knowingly increases hardship for children who have no control over the circumstances of their birth.

The decision to withhold support from larger families was framed as a matter of “responsibility”, yet the effect has been to punish children rather than address the causes of poverty.

Historically, successive governments have struggled with questions of welfare, fairness and social justice. However, this particular policy stands out because it explicitly targets children as a means of influencing adult behaviour. Many charities, churches and community organisations have warned repeatedly that it causes avoidable deprivation and long-term harm.

The current political climate has made matters worse, with some voices on the Right celebrating or promising even harsher restrictions. It is troubling when any political movement treats vulnerable children as collateral in an economic argument. A compassionate society should protect its youngest citizens, not use them as leverage.

Whatever our political views, we all share a responsibility to ensure that every child in this country has

approve arms sales and maintain military support, while offering little meaningful action toward establishing the long-promised independent Palestinian state. Instead, ministers appear aligned with policies that allow Israel to further consolidate control over Gaza, piece by piece.

Here at home, citizens who speak out are increasingly vilified. New laws now risk branding peaceful dissent as “terrorism”, even extending to wearing badges or displaying flags. The proscription of Palestine Action — a non-violent direct-action group that has targeted Elbit Systems, a major supplier of weapons used in Gaza — represents a dangerous escalation. Many who support or participate in these protests are Jewish, including descendants of Holocaust survivors, who march alongside hundreds of thousands in London calling for justice and adherence to international law.

access to the basic necessities of life. Policies that knowingly deepen child poverty are incompatible with that responsibility and with the values that should guide a modern, civil society.

C. N. wESTERMAN

ThE foUNDATIoN of ANy HEALTHy DEMOCRACy

DEAR SIR,

MORE than two years have passed since the Hamas attacks of 7 October, yet the suffering in Gaza continues unabated. Over 73,000 Palestinians have been killed, thousands more remain unaccounted for beneath the rubble, and communities endure relentless trauma. Despite international calls for de-escalation, the ceasefire was violated almost immediately, and vital aid is still being obstructed. Forced famine, direct attacks, and widespread contamination from destroyed infrastructure mean that innocent people — including thousands of children — are being killed, maimed, and left without functioning hospitals or access to clean water. An entire generation of traumatised child amputees is one of the most horrifying legacies of this conflict.

Our own government is complicit. The UK continues to

This month, the judicial review of the government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action is underway at the Royal Courts of Justice. Disturbingly, the original presiding judge was replaced at the last minute by a panel of three justices with publicly documented connections to Israel. Such changes raise serious concerns about judicial independence and the appearance of impartiality in cases with profound human rights implications.

Meanwhile, around 2,500 people — many elderly — have been charged under terrorism legislation simply for sitting quietly with placards stating “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” A dedicated terrorism court is being prepared to process these cases, diverting vast police and judicial resources toward criminalising non-violent protest. While people across the world are demonstrating in solidarity with Palestinians, these global protests receive minimal coverage from much of the mainstream media.

We should be deeply alarmed by this erosion of civil liberties, and by the degree to which government policy appears shaped by large military contractors and the interests of the Israeli state. The right to peaceful protest and the freedom to challenge our government’s actions are the foundation of any healthy democracy. Without them, the slide toward authoritarianism becomes all too real.

ANgIE zELTER

SALLy wILTON

Roy CASTlE lUNG CANCER foUNDATIoN

DEAR SIR,

LuNg Cancer Awareness Month (November) is drawing to a close for another year, and with so many other things dominating the news, it’s been hard to get our important message across.

Stigma and misinformation around the disease is killing people.

Research shows only one in four people in the UK are able to name a single symptom of lung cancer and lots of the things people think they know are inaccurate or exaggerated.

Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation has released ‘15 truths about lung cancer in 2025’ in a bid to educate people about a disease that results in the death of someone every 15 minutes.

Lots of people still think if you don’t smoke you won’t get lung cancer, and this myth, along with others, is stigmatizing patients, delaying diagnoses and obstructing access to early care.

Shockingly, 37% of the British public feel less sympathy for people with lung

cancer than other types of cancer, which most people do not realise is actually the biggest cancer killer in the UK and kills more people than breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers combined.

That we need to say this is very sad - whoever you are, no one deserves lung cancer, and no one should feel embarrassed or stigma around having the disease.

When lung cancer is caught at the first stage, people who are diagnosed are 20 times more likely to survive for five years.

There are still a couple of our special community engagement events taking place, where anyone who wishes to do so can use Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation’s special Symptom Checker Station. The symptom checker asks a few questions and advises on whether a follow-up with a GP should be arranged. The intention is to empower people to make that appointment, and Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation are here, at these events and others, and over the telephone on our free Helpline, to support people in doing that.

Head to our website www.roycastle. org or call us for free on 0800 358 7200 for more information and support.

PAuLA CHADwICk, CHIEF ExEC AT ROy CASTLE LuNg CANCER FOuNDATION.

death notices

BARBARA E LI z ABETH L EWIS JONES

PEACEFuLLy at home on Sunday 9th November 2025 Barbara Elizabeth Lewis Jones of Annikel, Tiers Cross aged 88 years.

Beloved wife of Gareth, much loved mother and mother in law of Cathrin, Eirian and Sarah, loving grandmother of Iolo and Hedd.

The funeral service will take place on Wednesday 10th December, 1:00pm at Tiers Cross United Reformed Church followed by interment at Tiers Cross Cemetery.

Family flowers only. Donations in lieu, if desired, made payable to Paul Sartori Foundation may be sent c/o Ms Abigail Owens, 28 Skomer Drive, Milford Haven, SA73 2RF.

Further enquiries to F. G. Rees & Sons, Haverfordwest. Tel: 01437 764418.

J EFFRE y J OHN Ey NON R EES

JEFFREy passed away peacefully at withybush Hospital on the 15th November aged 90 years.

Much loved, he will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

99 His funeral service will take place on Thursday 4th December 2pm at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church,

Haverfordwest.

Family Flowers only, donations in lieu of flowers for Breast Cancer Now can be made direct via www. breastcancernow.org.

All enquiries to Roy Folland & Son Funeral Directors (01437) 763821.

G EOFFRE y J OHN hUG h ES

PEACEFuLLy at his home on Friday 21st November, geoffrey of glandy, Dinas Cross, aged 51 years.

Beloved son of Ann and the late John, loving brother of Richard and Rebecca and treasured nephew, cousin and uncle.

The funeral will be held at Tabor Chapel, Dinas on Wednesday 10th December at 11am followed by interment at Machpelah Cemetery.

Family flowers only. Donations in lieu, if desired, made payable to ‘Paul Sartori Foundation’ or ‘Langton Hall Care Home’ c/o Paul Jenkins & Sons Funeral Directors, Feidr Castell, Fishguard, SA65 9BB. Tel - 01348 873250.

S TEP h EN R USSE ll R EES

STEPHEN passed away peacefully at his home on 17th November, aged 35 years.

Beloved son of Kevin and Dianne, dearly loved brother of Danielle.

He will be greatly missed by all his family and friends.

The funeral service will be held at Parc Gwyn Crematorium on Tuesday 9th December at 2.30pm.

Family flowers, donations if desired for “Community Disability Learning Team Pembrokeshire” c/o W.G.Bernard Mathias & Daughter, 64 New Street, St. Davids, SA62 6SU

M ARGARET ‘“L I z” ‘ E LI z ABETH M ORRIS

THE death occurred peacefully at glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen on wednesday 26th November of Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth “Liz”

Morris, aged 87 years of Prescelly Park, Haverfordwest.

Dearly loved wife of the late Derek, devoted and loving mother of Dean and his partner Marc and Neil and his wife Beverley and an adored and proud grandmother to Rhys and his fiancé Jemma.

Liz will be sadly missed and fondly remembered by all her family and friends.

The funeral service will take place on Thursday 11th December at 10.45am at Parc Gwyn Crematorium, Narberth.

Floral tributes welcome from all.

All enquiries to Tom Newing & Sons Ltd., Funeral Directors, Milford Haven. Telephone 01646 693180.

RECl AIMED BUIlDING MATERIAl

RUBBISh AND WASTE REMovAl

PROFESSIONAL CAR WASH

PODIATRy

SCRAP METAL

ShUTTERS & BlINDS

STORAGE TANKS

SoUND lIGhT AND STAGE

TEChNoloGy AND CoMPUTERS

TRAILERS

VEHICLE RECOVERy

WINDOWS

WALES WILL FACE ENGLAND AT RUGBY WORLD CUP

wALES will take on England in the pool stages of the 2027 Rugby world Cup, with Steve Tandy’s side also set to face Tonga and zimbabwe when the tournament heads to Australia.

The draw, held in Sydney on Wednesday, placed Wales in the second band of seeds—meaning they were guaranteed to meet one of the world’s top six sides. Although they avoided heavyweights such as South Africa and New Zealand, they will nonetheless meet familiar foes in England in what promises to be a highly charged Pool F encounter.

Zimbabwe complete the group and will make their first Rugby World Cup appearance since 1991, while Tonga add further physicality to what looks set to be a competitive pool.

The 2027 edition will be the biggest World Cup yet, expanding from 20 to 24 teams in an effort to give emerging nations greater opportunity on rugby’s biggest stage. As a result, the tournament will feature six pools of four, and the draw has delivered several standout fixtures.

Perhaps the headline clash sees hosts Australia paired with New Zealand in Pool A, with the two rivals set to open the tournament. Debutants Hong Kong China also find themselves in the same pool, preparing for a daunting introduction against both the Wallabies and the All Blacks.

Elsewhere, Georgia will look to challenge Italy in Pool B, where they join reigning champions South Africa. Scotland and Ireland meet once again at the pool

stage after being drawn together in Pool D, while France will be optimistic about their route in Pool E alongside Japan, the USA and Samoa.

P OOLS IN FULL :

Pool A: New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Hong Kong - China

Pool B: South Africa, Italy, Georgia, Romania

Pool C: Argentina, Fiji, Spain, Canada

Pool D: Ireland, Scotland, Uruguay, Portugal

Pool E: France, Japan, USA, Samoa

Pool F: England, Wales, Tonga, Zimbabwe

Cymru handed home tie against Bosnia and Herzegovina

Cymru will host Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup qualifying play-off semifinals this March, after Craig Bellamy’s side secured second place in Group J behind Belgium. The one-off match will take place on home soil, giving Bellamy’s squad a valuable advantage as they push for a place at next summer’s finals in North America.

Should Cymru progress, they will face a formidable final hurdle: either Italy or Northern Ireland await in the play-off final.

Northern Ireland, who earned their route into the play-offs via the Nations League, face the daunting task of travelling to Italy for their own semi-final.

Elsewhere, the Republic of Ireland—

who dramatically clinched their play-off berth with a last-gasp win over Hungary— have been drawn away to the Czech Republic. The winner of that tie will then meet either Denmark or North Macedonia for a place at the finals.

The draw for the inter-confederation play-offs was also confirmed, determining the final two qualifiers for the expanded 48team tournament. Jamaica, who narrowly missed automatic qualification to Curaçao, will face New Caledonia, with the winner taking on the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a place at the World Cup. In the other bracket, Bolivia and Suriname will go head-to-head for the chance to meet Iraq in their final play-off.

Awards celebrate PEMBROKESHIRE sport

PEMBROkESHIRE’S sporting community came together on Friday evening as Folly Farm hosted the annual Sport Pembrokeshire Awards – a night dedicated to honouring achievements across every level, age group and discipline.

The awards recognise exceptional performances, inspiring journeys and the volunteers who keep local sport thriving behind the scenes. The ceremony was once again presented by Ceri Coleman-Phillips of BBC Wales Sport, supported by Cris Tomos.

Lifetime honour for Premier League star

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award went to Pembrokeshire’s own Simon Davies.

The former Wales winger enjoyed a distinguished Premier League career with Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton.

Davies scored in the 2010 Europa League final for Fulham, won fifty-eight caps for Wales – scoring six – and captained his country during the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. He was named Welsh Footballer of the Year in 2002 and Fulham’s player of the season in 2007–08. After leaving the club in 2013, he returned to his boyhood side Solva AFC, famously paying £3 subs to play against St Ishmaels.

Special recognition for Wales Women’s Street Football Team

Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas introduced the evening’s

Special Award, honouring the players of the Wales Women’s Street Football Team for their remarkable run to the quarter-finals of the Homeless World Cup in Oslo.

The squad trains in Haverfordwest and included five outstanding Pembrokeshire players – co-captains Tor Planner and Marie Tilley, alongside Claire Mantripp, Sam Lewtas and Bryony Davies. All have overcome personal challenges, including homelessness, mental health difficulties and social exclusion, yet wore the Welsh jersey with pride on the world stage.

The team was led by manager Jo Price, former Wales and Arsenal goalkeeper.

Support staff included Anji Tinley, Manager of the Garth Youth & Community Project and a Pembrokeshire County Councillor.

Cruising Free honoured after rowing the Atlantic

The Chairman’s Award for 2025 was presented by Pembrokeshire County Council Chairman Cllr Maureen Bowen to ‘Cruising Free’ of Neyland Rowing Club, who achieved one of the world’s toughest endurance feats – rowing 3,200 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.

Sophie Pierce, Janine Williams, Miyah Periam and Polly Zipperlan completed the gruelling crossing from Lanzarote to Antigua, raising money for cystic fibrosis and the Paul Sartori Foundation.

At 32, Sophie became the first person with

cystic fibrosis to row an ocean, while 70-year-old Janine became the oldest woman ever to complete the challenge. The team’s achievement was hailed as a powerful example of determination, unity and courage.

Parkrun pioneers win School Award

The School Award went to the Federation of Tavernspite and Templeton Schools – the first Parkrun School in the UK.

The federation has built a Parkrun curriculum with Parkrun UK, using the weekly event to boost physical activity, support wellbeing, and develop leadership through the Parkrun Ambassador scheme. The schools were praised for exceptional inclusion, providing adapted PE equipment, wheelchair races and strong support for disadvantaged pupils. Estyn has highlighted their work as best practice.

A strong year for Pembrokeshire sport

Summing up the event, Cllr Rhys Sinnett, Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, said:

“My congratulations go to everyone who won awards and all those nominated. We are so lucky to have such a strong sporting scene here in Pembrokeshire, and my thanks go to all those who work so hard to ensure people of all ages and abilities can take part in the sports they love. Thanks also to our sponsors Valero, Folly Farm and Pure West Radio for supporting this celebration each year.”

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

girls u16: Ava Tyrie (Brazilian Ju Jitsu – Pembroke MMA)

Boys u16: Ned Rees-Wigmore (Hockey)

Club of the year: Milford Haven Hockey Club

Junior Disability: Jake Evans (Llangwm RFC)

young Volunteer: Alannah Heasman (Haverfordwest High School)

Junior Team: Merlin’s Bridge FC Under-14s 2024/25

unsung Hero: Jenny Lewis (Clarbeston Road AFC)

Senior Team: Fishguard & Goodwick Ladies Hockey Club

Male Achievement: Liam Bradley (Triathlon)

Female Achievement: Sanna Duthie (Running)

Disability Sport: Rachel Bailey (Boccia)

Club Organiser: Silfan Rhys-Jones (Fishguard Table Tennis Club)

Coach of the year: James North (kilgetty AFC)

School Award: Tavernspite & Templeton Federation of Schools

Chairman’s Award: Cruising Free (Neyland Rowing Club)

Special Award: Street Football Wales

Lifetime Achievement: Simon Davies (Spurs, Fulham, Everton, Solva)

Tish and Narberth shine in goal-fest

ST

ISHMAELS

HIT FIVE AS MERLINS BRIDGE RALLY LATE

MERLINS BRIDgE 2 ST ISHMAELS 5

ST ISHMAELS struck five times in a commanding win over Merlins Bridge at the Pembrokeshire Sports Village, securing their sixth league victory of the season.

The result keeps Tish firmly in the title mix, sitting third in the table and level on points with second-placed Monkton Swifts, who hold a superior goal difference.

Bridge manager Mike Preddy admitted he was “disappointed with the final outcome” and felt the scoreline “flattered Tish”, though he acknowledged the visitors “deserved their win on the day”.

The first half proved tight, with St Ishmaels edging ahead through a contentious penalty that striker Aaron Hallam dispatched confidently from 12 yards.

Just four minutes into the second half, the visitors doubled their lead when an Adam Kingsbeer corner caused confusion in the box. The ball ricocheted into the net off goalkeeper Ben Henton, with Finley Armstrong given the final touch.

Tish continued to threaten from set pieces, adding a third as captain

Brennan Devonald powered home another pinpoint Kingsbeer corner. Kingsbeer then turned provider from open play, threading a clever through ball to Tyler Sheil, who raced clear and slotted past Henton at the near post for Tish’s fourth.

The visitors soon found a fifth, Hallam showing great composure to finish calmly when sent through on goal.

Merlins Bridge, however, rallied late. Substitute Tomos Gwilliam struck twice in the closing stages—first tapping in from close range after a superb Sam Nicholas cross, before converting a penalty minutes later after being brought down in the box.

LINE-uPS

MERLINS BRIDgE: Ben Henton, Billy Martin, Ashton Plunkett, Jordan Thomas (Captain), Jamie Palmer, Nick Squire, Sam Nicholas, Oscar Willington, Nathan Evans, Tomos Gwilliam.

SuBS: Daniel Isaac, Matthew D’Ivry, Peter Thomas, Matthew Price.

ST ISHMAELS: Owen Thomas, Sol Goodall, Tom Williams, Finley Armstrong, Brennan Devonald (Captain), Tyler Sheil, Adam Kingsbeer, Joel Mills, Ethan Davies, Nathan Thomas, Aaron Hallam.

SuBS: Dylan Ninnis, Ieuan Hawkins, Archie Hillier-Wood, Max Howells. REFEREE: Stefan Jenkins.

NARBERTH OVERCOME

PENNAR ROBINS IN FIERY CONTEST

NARBERTH 4

PENNAR ROBINS 2

Steffan Williams bagged two goals which helped Narberth who overcame Pennar Robins in a tough clash at Jesse Road.

On a wet, sodden heavy pitch Narberth started the game the far better side against a depleted Pennar side.

After a couple of early attacks, the home side opened the scoring in the 23rd minute through Steffan Williams as he headed home at the near post from an in-swinging Chris Brown corner.

One quickly became two as an all out of shape Pennar defence was undone by a quick throw-in, which followed a headed goal from six yards out from Ifan Rees. The home side thoroughly deserved their early lead.

It wasn’t until the 35th minute that the away side woke up and started playing a bit of football. Two big chances before the break from Gethin Bradney and Jack Jones were steered wide but apart from that, the away side couldn’t get a foothold in the game.

After the home side won every individual battle in the first half, the score was 2-0 at the break. The next goal proving huge in the contest.

That goal came within two minutes of the restart. Another set piece caused havoc when a free kick from the touchline was swung in and a looping header from Jacob Layfield dropped into the bottom corner from the penalty spot.

The game became very open as the away side changed shape to push on,

more gaps appeared with challenges a plenty but on the 70 minute mark, a second of the afternoon for Steffan Williams was finished inside the 18 yard box.

The last 20 minutes was all about pride for the away side. A double change which saw Williams and Thompson enter the fray which seemed to spark something for the away side as within a minute Williams assisted for Jack Jones to get one back.

With 15 to go the momentum turned and Narberth were deep in their own half. A good save from the home keeper Iestyn Creese from the resulting Connor Roberts’ pinpoint corner was headed home from Jack Jones for his second in the 87th minute. The referee stating 8 minutes left.

In the 90th minute, Bradney had his goal bound attempt cleared off the line before Jones had a one-on-one saved by keeper Creese in the 94th.

The late surge wasn’t enough as the home side run out 4-2 winners in what was a fiery affair at Jesse Road, with nine cards shown in total (4 home, 5 away).

NARBERTH: Iestyn Creese, Jamie Thomas, Brychan Davis, Conor Bowen, Jacob Layfield, Morgan Preece, Steffan Williams, Dylan Davies, Ifan Rees. SuBS: Aidan Howitt, Ashley Williams, Dafydd Wright.

PENNAR ROBINS: Ryeley Clark, Nick Willis, Harry Jones, Connor Roberts, Ryan Walters, Kieran Smith (Captain), Jack Jones, Tom Grimwood, Max Wheeler, Jamie Price.

SuBS: Ben Nunn, Bobby Jones, Ryler Thompson, Dylan Kidd, Mitchell Williams.

REFEREE: Sion Jenkins.

manderwood Pembrokeshire leagUe

Haverfordwest

Kilgetty

Letterston