Graham Thomas

THIS will be my penultimate column as Lord Mayor before Cllr Paxton Hood Williams takes over the reigns on Friday, 17 May. With that being said, the diary shows no signs of slowing down with a number of engagements this week.

I will be at Pentrahafod school today for the final of their First Give competition. This is a wonderful scheme that encourages students to learn about social issues, research charities working in their communities and as a class, choose one to represent. Students then plan and deliver social action activities such as fundraising, awareness raising and volunteering in support of their charities. Students learn public speaking skills and put together creative presentations about the work of their charity, and what their class has done to support it. I will be helping judges at Pentrahafod to choose a winning class, based on their social action and presentations, who will then receive a grant of £1,000 for their charity from First Give.

Tomorrow I will be holding a special reception at the Mansion House to celebrate the RNLI’S 200th anniversary. You may recall I wrote about a service of thanksgiving at All Saints church in Mumbles I attended a couple of weeks ago to mark the occasion, well this is my own opportunity to thank the wonderful volunteers that man the Mumbles Lifeboat, patrol our beaches and fundraise for this historic maritime charity.

On Friday I’ll be supporting one of my Lord Mayor’s charities for the year – Friends of the Young Disabled at their fundraising quiz at Friendship House. You’ll recall from previous columns that I’m a fan of quizzing, so I’m looking forward to taking part and raising further funds for this fantastic charity.

Finally, on Saturday I will be at the Guildhall’s Rotunda for a special Falklands memorial bench unveiling. A fitting tribute amongst the other remembrance-themed benches for Falklands veterans.