GIVEN an audience of at least one man and a dog, I can raise my game and my ability to bore people to Olympic levels.
All I require is that someone draws breath and allows me sufficient pause to start rambling on the benefits of

A west Wales charity, which is designed to help mentor talented young musicians, has celebrated its 10thanniversary in style.
Members of Loud Applause Rising Stars (LARS) took part in a special celebration night hosted by Kevin Johns MBE at The Diplomat Hotel in Llanelli.
Cerith

THE Welsh word ‘Cawr’ (meaning giant) was invented for people like David Gravell, a businessman who stood like a colossus over the motor industry in Wales.
His passing this month will be felt by all those who shared his passion for the Welsh language and

“TRY and steer clear of religion and politics,” was the advice of my editor when he recklessly gifted me this weekly column.
For the most part, I have tried to heed his wise words, but the influence of Easter can be blamed for straying into

IT’S time to get the running shoes back on for the Carmarthen Mayor’s Fun Run Races on May Day Bank Holiday, Monday, May 6.
Online entries are now open and the whole family can get involved.
The races have been held in Carmarthen every

JIMMY DIDN’T MAKE A BIG PRODUCTION OF THE SINGER’S INTRODUCTION
When you’re a comedian, nervously standing in the wings, trying to remember your first gag (and the one after that!), you don’t want to be distracted by the compere/club secretary mangling your introduction.
It’s

THE busy ladies of the popular Côr Curiad Choir in Llanelli have a special concert coming up right in the heart of the town.
The historic St Elli Parish Church will be the venue for a spring charity concert on Friday, April 19 (7pm).
All

IT was a wise old chap who once said, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.”
But most of us who live in this lovely corner of Wales will also know that you can add two other certainties to Benjamin Franklin’s quote – rain and

NOW, as regular readers will be well aware, I am not usually one to hold a grudge.
But bitter resentment ferments quite nicely over the course of 26-plus years and today is as good a day as any to pop the cork on a vintage

IN more than 47 years as a hack journalist, I’ve probably dropped more Clangers than a butter-fingered and very nervous BBC animation technician.
Readers of a more junior age will have to look up Google to understand the sentence above – and to find out

IT was the American writer Mark Twain who once remarked, “There is no such thing as an ordinary life.”
This is an universal truth which you will all learn to recognise when you get to my stage of life – a period when diary entries

IT was an evening with more surprises than a primetime Cilla Black TV show.
There were a ‘lorra, lorra laughs’ and a few tears along the way.
The surprise elements weren’t obvious when people arrived for Llanelli Rotary Club’s annual St David’s Day dinner at

ONE of the leading campaigners in the Stradey Park Hotel campaign will be standing for election in next week’s hotly-contested polls for the Llanelli’s Elli Ward.
Steve Williams will be standing in both elections – for a place on Llanelli Town Council and a

PERHAPS it is a sign of old age? Or perhaps it is it is the unlocking of a new and cherished piece of wisdom?
Maybe, it’s the controversial new 20mph speed limits in Wales, or it could be a rebellion against the mobile phone age?

• 0 Comments
• about 1 month ago

Tom Rogers, one of the Scarlets’ young home-grown Wales internationals, has committed his future to the club by signing a new deal.
A product of Cefneithin RFC in the Gwendraeth Valley, the 25-year-old came through the age-grade ranks of the Scarlets and was part of

THE TROUBLE WITH POLITICAL JOKES IS…THEY SOMETIMES GET ELECTED!
People often ask me (as someone who’s acquainted with comedy) what, as Doddy put it, ‘exercises my chuckle muscles’.
Many comedians do. Billy Connolly for one. While other very successful laughter-makers you might think are hilarious,

THE countdown is well and truly on for St David’s Day on March 1 and a long weekend of annual celebration concerts.
This time around, we are going to face plenty of choices as there are three west Wales concerts on the schedule at Carmarthenshire

TRIBUTES have been paid this week to Jenkins Bakery director and company secretary David Jenkins, who died suddenly at the age of 66.
David was a key pillar in the widely-admired family firm – a business established by his grandparents, David and Elizabeth, in

MY grandfather must have had the gift of looking into the future when he left me a treasured World War Two metal helmet.
He knew the steel ‘Mark II No 2’ Home Guard headwear would come in handy for a journalist willing to suggest radical

THE BANK TILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC!
I was queuing in my bank, waiting to deposit my winnings from the one-armed bandit in my local pub.
For those of you who don’t know, he’s a Brazilian named Pedro Gonzales and (as he’s

INTERESTED in pop, rock and opera? Then, the popular musical duo called Zirenz have something which is just up your street.
Zirenz are Bex Hazard and Cat Llewelyn, two singers and musicians based in the heart of the Gwendraeth Valley.
They are already making an

There will be hotly-contested elections for the seats vacated by retiring councillor John Jenkins in the Elli Ward in Llanelli.
The elections will be for a single seat in the Town Council ward and a single seat in the ward for Carmarthenshire County Council.
The

THE King himself would have been shocked at the number of words and newsprint used to pay tribute to a wonderful life.
The reality is that every word, every photo and video clip is deserved praise for one of our greatest fly-halves.
As a

UNCLE CLEDWYN – THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FAILURE I KNOW.
“The Book Of Heroic Failures” by Stephen Pile was published in 1979 and became a No1 Best Seller.
I only read the first few pages because the bloke thumbing through a copy in WH Smith’s got