MEDIA RELEASE
In celebration of this year’s National Volunteers Week, Llanelli Rural Council is saying thank you to its volunteers for giving their time to help provide important community services. On the 4th June Chairman of Llanelli Rural Council, Cllr Sharen Davies, invited volunteer representatives from various organisations and projects from the Llanelli Rural area into the Council Chamber.
The Council has many volunteers helping it provide a community service. Each of its nine community halls are run by volunteer committees. The Street Buddies project recruits volunteers and raises awareness of community services to those that need them. The Council also works in partnership with Tempo by providing a time banking programme which is proven at getting people to volunteer for the first time.
It has been Council policy for many years for its community halls to be managed by local people. These volunteers help out in many ways including arranging bookings, invoicing customers, arranging a cleaning schedule, preparing the rooms and opening and closing buildings. The service that they provide and local knowledge is something the Council feels is best done locally by residents.
The Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 has made the Council consider how it goes about its operations. One outcome is nurturing a volunteer support programme. Further details of how the Council is performing can be found in its 2018/19 Annual Report to the Carmarthenshire Public Services Board. The report is available to view on the Llanelli Rural Council website.
Speaking at the event, Cllr. Davies said, “Llanelli Rural Council is doing its best to enable volunteering opportunities for its residents by taking a lead on the Street Buddies project, providing a Time Credits programme, making community grants available and by providing quality community facilities. The value of volunteers cannot be underestimated and we wish to nurture this further. The Street Buddies project is one example of how we are trying to achieve this. I’d like to express my thanks and gratitude to all the volunteers, supporting today’s event for their work that they do for the community and for giving up that most precious of commodities; time”.
Leader of Llanelli Rural Council, Cllr. Tegwen Devichand added “As a Council we value the work done by volunteers in the community. We have various support means to enable this such as grant funding and the provision of community spaces and equipment. Our Community Development Officer Darren Rees assists community groups with various matters. Our website and social media pages are constantly updated and hold a large amount of information for volunteers and community groups”
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For further information, please contact Community Development Officer Darren Rees on 01554 774103; email: [email protected]
