The reality of life in rural Ceredigion
AN open letter to Elin Jones, Presiding Officer in the Welsh Assembly and Assembly Member for Ceredigion...
The recent closure of my local branch of Lloyds Bank, the last remaining bank in Tregaron, is another nail in the coffin of rural Ceredigion, which I bring to your attention.
My account is being transferred to Llandrindod (a poster in the window suggested that I might now choose to use the local branch in Llandeilo)
The Post Office in the village here closed a long time back when we were directed to Devil’s Bridge, which subsequently closed with a direction to use Pontrhydygroes which soon also closed.. and so on until we reached Tregaron.
Last year the Post Office in Tregaron was re-located to the Spar shop.
When I tried to post an important international letter there the youth who had been replenishing the shelves sauntered up to the counter, pushed various buttons on the till and came up with a postage cost of 17p for the international letter, a price I queried... so he pushed a few more buttons on the cash register and came up with a revised costing of £9.80!
I abandoned the poor dab and posted the letter the following day at the Post Office in Rhayader where I now do my weekly shopping.
Although I now shop and post my letters in Rhayader (and bank in Llandrindod), I am unable to avail myself of the senior discount rate in my local swimming pool in Rhayader as I am not a resident of Powys, living as I do some 10 minutes from the county boundary.
Someone driving the 55 miles up from Ystradgynlais, however, would be able so to do.
I cannot register with a GP in Rhayader, convenient though that would be, as my house falls in the catchment area of Tregaron surgery.
Superfast Broadband? Yes, I know your in-tray is overflowing on this one!
My friend at the BT call centre in Bombay who deals with my regular complaints cannot believe how slow it is.
“May I call you back on your mobile phone, Mr David?” Ah, that would be difficult... There is no mobile signal in the village yet, nor terrestrial TV coverage or FM radio for that matter, all factors which are significantly depressing house prices here and slowing sales. Needless to say, the village has no regular bus service either.
What hope is there for a genuine all-Wales vision for communications, transport policy, health, leisure and employment that might stem the relentless decline of our rural communities?
Transport policy would involve faster trains, not slowing them down by re-opening all the little stations along the Cambrian line.
It has been very depressing to see Plaid Cymru politicians aping the Liberals of old, chasing votes by offering to re-open the station at Llandre (Bow Street), for example.
By the same token we should re-open the stations at Carno, Montgomery, Abermule and all the rest. I weep to see money being
spent investigating a revived rail link to Carmarthen which all AMs must know is never going to happen.
Incidentally, I use Pen-y-Bont or Caersws stations, there being no adequate parking at Aberystwyth.
One of the delights of waiting on the platform of these stations is to listen to Digital Doris mangle all the Welsh place-names along the line, Abererch to rhyme with birch being a particular favourite ....
I can sometimes be found waiting on the platform at Pen-y-bont for the train to Swansea, a three-hour journey and a service that operates at intervals of four hours.
By jumping into a taxi at the station in Swansea, I can reach Morriston, my `local’ hospital for some skin cancer issues I have been experiencing. Even in fine summer weather this journey is painfully slow and invariably involves an expensive overnight hotel. Cardiff, Shrewsbury, even Birmingham would be easier for me to access that this `local’ venue. David Barnes Cwmystwyth