News
Swansea City AFC and MAWWFRS launch the 2017 Fire Cadet League
ON THURSDAY, 2nd February 2017, Swansea City Football Club Community Trust, PL Kicks and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service launched the Fire Cadet League at Morriston Fire Station.
Elaine Williams, MAWWFRS Youth Development Officer said, “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Swansea City AFC Community Trust Kicks Project – it presents an exciting opportunity for our Cadets along with South Wales Police Youth Volunteers to take part in physical and challenging activities in a fun environment.
The success of the league last year means that it has expanded rapidly, this is evident with over 80 young people participating in a range of activities tonight.”
Speaking after the launch, Swansea City defender Jordi Amat was full of praise for the young people, “It was great to meet everyone and they’re doing an amazing job with the Fire Cadets.
“It’s a big opportunity for them and I’ve also had a really good time. It was good fun with nice people and I’ve learnt a lot about firefighting.”
Lee Trundle – who joined Rangel at last year’s launch – echoed Amat’s enthusiasm for the project, saying, “It’s been really good, we’ve done some team bonding exercises and we’ve had a look round at where they train.
“It’s very important for the Club and the Community Trust to support these types of programmes. The things we do for Swansea City Football Club is not just about football, it’s about the community and the city itself, so to get out to something like this and to show the kids how important it is to be involved in these projects is great.”
Liam Ellis from PL Kicks said, “The Fire Cadet League, originally set up last year, has seen a partnerships between Swansea PL Kicks and Mid and West Wales Fire Service coming together to create a league between all the Fire Cadet Schemes in Wales. The league allows all Cadet Schemes to come together to show off their own knowledge in fire and football drills and challenges them to work together as a team to come out on top.
This year was the second year of the league and last night’s launch event saw the introduction of the Police Youth Volunteers, which has helped to combine another branch of the Emergency Services to increase all participants range of skills and to help break down barriers any young people might have of the emergency services.
Each month the schemes come together over four days (different group of schemes on a different day) at a selected fire station, where they are tested by fire fighters on their knowledge of firefighting and drills, each scheme will also participate in a different football skill test each month to help them gain further points which is put together in a league format. The winners of the league are then put forward to a UK wide event which sees them participate against fire cadets from England, Scotland and Ireland to see who is the UK’s top fire cadet scheme. Last year’s winners of the Fire Cadet League were Ammanford – they went onto win the UK wide event and be crowned the UK’s top fire cadet scheme.
The league is fantastic opportunity for those involved and allows the cadets to show off their fire station and their own knowledge, it’s great to see so many schemes coming together and getting along so well in a competitive atmosphere. I look forward to seeing the outcome of this year’s league and how we can work in partnership with the emergency services to help it grow further for next year.”
Would you like to be a Fire Cadet? If you are aged between 12 and 16 years of age, then why not get involved?
The Fire Cadet scheme provides training and development opportunities for young people, principally through Fire and Rescue Service related activities such as fire safety in the home, arson reduction, anti- social behaviour and Road Traffic Collisions.
The scheme encourages young people to make the most of their physical and mental capabilities to become more responsible, safer and caring members of their communities. Young Firefighters who successfully complete the two year course also gain a BTEC qualification.
Christmas has arrived early for The Range stores in Wales, boasting gigantic displays of all-things festive! The Range is well known for going all out during the Christmas season to create a fun and magical experience full of trees, lights, decorations and much more for their customers to enjoy and this year is no exception. The Range in Swansea surpassed expectations with a display so great, it’s left them shortlisted for ‘Best Christmas Display’ out of all The Range’s 182 stores.
Coronavirus laws are being tightened in four more Welsh authorities – Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil and Newport – following a sharp rise in cases, Health Minister Vaughan Gething today announced.
The new measures will come into force at 6pm on Tuesday 22 September 2020, to protect people’s health and control the spread of the virus in the four local authority areas.
The new restrictions will apply to everyone living in Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil and Newport:
People will not be allowed to enter or leave these areas without a reasonable excuse, such as travel for work or education;
People will only be able to meet people they don’t live with outdoors for the time being. They will not be able to form, or be in, extended households;
All licensed premises will have to close at 11pm;
Everyone over 11 will be required to wear face coverings in indoor public areas – as is the case across Wales.
From 6pm on Tuesday 22 September, the requirement for all licensed premises to close at 11pm will also be extended to Caerphilly borough.
Health Minister, Vaughan Gething, said:
“Following the decision to place additional coronavirus restrictions in place in Caerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taf, we have seen a worrying and rapid rise in cases in four other south Wales council areas – Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil and Newport.
“In many cases, this is linked to people socialising indoors without social distancing. We are seeing evidence of coronavirus spreading. We need to take action to control and, ultimately, reduce its spread and protect people’s health.
“It’s always a difficult decision to introduce restrictions but coronavirus has not gone away – it is still circulating in communities across Wales and, as we are seeing in parts of South Wales, small clusters can quickly cause real issues in local communities.
“We need everyone’s help to bring coronavirus under control. We need everyone to pull together and to follow the measures which are there to protect you and your loved ones.”
The restrictions are being introduced following a rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases in coronavirus, which have been linked to people meeting indoors, not following social distancing guidelines and returning from summer holidays overseas.
The Welsh Government will call an urgent meeting of all local authority, health board and police forces from Bridgend to the English border tomorrow to discuss the wider situation in South Wales and whether further measures are needed across the region to protect people’s health.
The new local restrictions measures will be kept under regular review. They will be enforced by local authorities and by the police.
Keep Wales safe by:
Always keeping your distance
Washing your hands regularly
Working from home wherever you can
Following any local restrictions
Following the rules about meeting people
Staying at home if you or anyone in your extended household has symptoms.
MARK Drakeford, First Minister of Wales, has today announced legislation which will restrict those coming from coronavirus hotspot’s from travelling to Wales.
The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has refused to impose rules which prohibit those from areas where the infection rate is high from entering low virus rate areas’s.
Mr Drakeford has made two requests to the Prime Minister requesting to impose rules which will mean those from high virus areas in England be prohibited from travelling to Wales, a request which has been denied by Mr Johnson.
The powers set by Mr Drakeford will come into force by the end of the week, unless Boris Johnson takes action sooner.
Speaking at the Plenary today, Mr Drakeford made the announcement, stating if Mr Johnson does not reply to his request by Friday then The Welsh Government will bring in legislation to restrict travel from those in English lockdown areas travelling to Wales.
Mr Drakeford said this was not a case of all those from England being restricted travel to Wales, just hotspot areas.
He said: “Evidence from public health professionals suggests coronavirus is moving from east to west across the UK and across Wales. As a general rule, it is concentrating in urban areas and then spreading to more sparsely populated areas as a result of people travelling.
“Much of Wales in now subject to local restriction measures because levels of the virus have risen and people living in those areas are not able to travel beyond their county boundary without a reasonable excuse. This is designed to prevent the spread of infection within Wales and to other areas of the UK.
“We are preparing to take this action to prevent people who live in areas where there are higher Covid infection rates across the UK from travelling to Wales and bringing the virus with them.
“I am determined to keep Wales safe.”
The legislation, which is understood to come into force Friday, October 16 at 6pm, will mean those travelling to Wales from areas of England which are classed as virus hotspot’s will be restricted.
The new legislation also restricts those travelling into Wales from high virus prevalence areas from Northern Ireland and Scotland.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Welsh Parliament – Paul Davies MS – has rounded on the First Minister over a ban on people entering Wales from England, and the Labour Party’s inability or unwillingness to publish comprehensive data proving that transmission rates are accelerating due to travel.
Mr Davies took the First Minister to task during Plenary today (October 14), and referred to a statement made by the leader of the Labour Party on September 23 when he said that the Welsh Government was not seeing any spikes at all in infection due to travel and tourism.
Mr Davies said that the people of Wales deserve to have sight of the data that underpins the Welsh Labour-led Government’s position on this matter, so that they can be confident that the Government’s actions are proportionate to the threat of the virus in their area.
Mr Davies also referred to a paper that accompanied the First Minister’s letter to the Prime Minister yesterday, a paper – that was not peer-reviewed – that confirms the data “…does not constitute definitive proof” in favour of a travel ban.
Mr Davies said: “The First Minister and his Government have acted rashly and without examining a range of other factors before a conclusion on whether to impose a travel ban or not is reached, while at the same time seemingly ignoring the fact that transmission rates in relation to travel had already peaked in August and September.
“It is incumbent on the First Minister to explain just why he has chosen to act in this way, and what supporting evidence he and his Ministers have seen to justify a ban and then publish it so it can be properly scrutinised.
“If he cannot or will not, then he must review and rescind this ban immediately.”
