Wrthi'n llwytho
Does dim crynodeb o'r cyfarfod hwn eto. Caiff un ei ysgrifennu pan fydd y cyngor yn cyhoeddi'r cofnodion. Mae'r agenda a'r papurau isod.
None.
Members of the panel held a minute’s silence to commemorate the passing of 105 year old WW2 veteran Fred Jeacock who had sadly passed away in May. Fred was a former RAF flight engineer and had flown over 30 bombing missions during WW2.
The minutes of the Panel held on 20 January 2025 were agreed as a correct record.
Finola Pickwell reported that the only funding currently available is on the covenant website and relates to the grant funding for building projects for homeless veterans and a new one relating to young people. Here is the link to the programmes available: https://covenantfund.org.uk/programmes/ She outlined she had recently attended a meeting at HMS Cambria relating to Op Valour. This is money the government has ringfenced for armed forces and veteran support. This follows a visit from the minister to North Wales recently. New Valour hubs will be created going forward, and more details of how and where they will operate will be shared once known. She reported that she would be attending the Armed Forces Covenant Conference in Glasgow next week, and would report back at the next meeting.
Lt Cdr Andy Davies outlined that HM Cambria’s will be supporting Armed Forces Day and the Airshow with a far bigger display space and footprint than previously which should be great and will be involved in events around Remembrance Day. He indicated that in September Commander Caroline Jones will be moving from HMS Cambria and Mike Dalzell will be taking over command of the unit. Capt Huw Williams reported on what 223 Squadron and 157 Welsh Transport Regiment have been up to in recent months and what we are planning on undertaking in the future. Since the last meeting it has been a busy time including trips skiing in France, adventure training in Germany and a trip to the USA for one individual as part of exercise War Fighter. Exercise Dragon Ark took place over the early bank holiday in May with people cycling over 700km around Wales stopping off at reserve centres and various points to brief employers what sort of activities and exercises the reservist get involved in. He outlined the units involvement in the recent 80th VE Day commemorations held locally which turned out to be a brilliant series of events across South Wales which enabled the attendance of many VE Day veterans during the various events including one in Pennard, St Davids Church – Neath and Llandaff Cathedral, these events had captured excellent media coverage and enabled the VE Day veterans to tell and share their remarkable stories on both tv and radio. The event held locally in Christchurch had been brilliant, and that rolled then into VE Weekend with a series of events including one at the Tawe Bridge Gun, with excellent support from Tesco who provided a lunch for people afterwards and then a really superb service at Swansea Minister, which was an amazing evening. Some of the reservists have also been called up to attend various operations over the last few months. The flag raising ceremony had been held before the meeting had been well attended and excellent, this will link to Armed Forces Day on Sat 28th, which will begin with a service at Christchurch, followed by a march through the City Centre to the event at St Davids place. The march will be led by the Royal Logistics Corps of Drums and will involve various groups of veterans and organisations including the Police & Fire Service. Attendance will not be as great as could have been unfortunately as all the various cadet groups and instructors have pre planned Duke of Edinburgh events and training over that weekend. And the national event is in Caldicot on Saturday so the services will be attendance there also. There will be food and drinks stand’s at St Davids thanks to Tesco, with some music and performances also. All are welcome and it should be a great day. If successful, the event could hopefully continue and expand in future years. Any monies raised will be passed to Blind Veterans UK and a homelessness veterans project in Port Talbot which is being led by David Wood. Moving on to the Airshow, all the services will be involved in the set up of the military village, which will hopefully will be bigger and better than ever, and will include many military vehicles and hardware, the Prince of Wales band playing and for the first time the Royal Navy dive tank, which contains 18k litres of water with divers inside who will interact with the public. The usual superb aerial displays will also take place over the two days. He referred to the planned events around the 80th commemorations of VJ Day in August. He outlined that’s he knows of 2 local veterans who were involved in VJ Day and the aim to get as many veterans etc involved as this could be the last major event for them due to their ages and health. The Lord Mayor has offered to hold a tea party for veterans at the Mansion House to mark VJ Day. There will also be a service at Swansea Minister, the date of which will be circulated when confirmed. He also outlined that the were new rules and forms to completed for Public Military Events (PMEs) going forward, and he would be happy to advise/assist people if needed with these. Air Cdre Rob Woods indicated that a lot of the focus for Armed Forces Day is required for the national event in Caldicot, so the attendance in Swansea wont be as high as he’d like unfortunately, but with regard to the Airshow the service is able to give a greater involvement and commitment than normal as the event is one of the 20 main recruiting drives being held nationally this year. He outlined that he had the pleasure of meeting a 103 year old veteran John Martin in Pembrokeshire recently as part of his birthday celebrations which panel members may have seen on the tv news. He indicated that if he is informed of such occurrences he would do his very best to attend birthdays etc of these remarkable individuals at various ages around their centenary to give some recognition of their service. He asked panel members to let him know of such individuals.
Victoria Willaims outlined that over the last year, they have been auditing our services and how referrals get into the system. One of the issues they have picked up on is that a lot of GP referrals were going through the primary care initially and not directly to us. She outlined the current system GPs have can be quite complicated for them to refer directly, so due to the time pressures on them seeing patients they mostly take the quickest and easiest route for them. She outlined that a new system for GP referrals should be going live shortly and she hoped to contact all the GP clusters directly to outline what the service can do and the help available for veterans. She outlined her involvement in a podcast in England with the IAPT service where she is spreading the word of the good work going on in Wales and indicated she was looking to publish literature on EMDR in the near future relating to combat veterans.
No officer present.
Swansea Veterans Hub Wayne Jenkins outlined that the Hub continues to grow steadily. He thanked the council for the grants towards the holding of the excellent VE day event. He outlined that the hub will be open during the Airshow and full details will be circulated after the meeting. He outlined the trip to Tenby for a coachload of veterans organised for 13th July, two trips up the River Tawe on the Copper Jac boat will take place on 3rd August followed by visits to the National Waterfront Museum and detailed that the popular Quiz Night will return on 28th August. The hub has also teamed up with Blind Veterans UK and will be holding the first visually impaired lunch event n 25th July, this will hopefully continue on the last Friday of each month going forward. Army Benevolent Fund Peter Davies outlined he was attending his first meeting in person following the flag raising ceremony earlier and welcomed the updates and networking opportunities. The Chair thanked all present for their attendance at both the meeting and earlier flag raising ceremony.
Rhaid i gynghorwyr ddweud pan fydd ganddyn nhw gysylltiad personol â rhywbeth sy'n cael ei drafod, fel swydd, eiddo neu aelod o'r teulu. Mae buddiant sy'n rhagfarnu yn ddigon cryf i'r cynghorydd adael yr ystafell fel arfer a pheidio â chymryd rhan.
Caiff datganiadau eu darllen o'r cofnodion unwaith y byddan nhw wedi'u cyhoeddi.
Yn rhestru cynghorwyr presennol y cyngor yn unig. Nid yw aelodau cyfetholedig, swyddogion a chyn-gynghorwyr yn cael eu dangos.