Sometimes we feel a bit forgotten in Ceredigion. But despite that, or maybe even because of it, we seem to have retained a great sense of community. A couple of weeks ago that was on display in Llanilar. The event was a fund raising football match between Ysgol Llanilar Dads and Clwb Peldroed Llanilar. I think most of the village were there and with fabulous food and a beer or three, plus decent weather, a great time was had by all. The football was good too; some of those Dads had real talent!

With some very generous sponsorship from local businesses (diloch yn fawr), it looked like a successful event. The beneficiary? Our village school itself. The funds are destined to help pay for those little extras that can add so much to our children’s development; for example paying for transport to be able to go swimming.

A part of me wondered why this wasn’t being paid for by the Council or Welsh Government. But that would mean higher taxes, with a lot of the money wasted on admin and bureaucracy. So maybe it really is best to cut out the “middle man” and for a community to look after its own future. Collectivists will doubtless hate the loss of authoritarian control; many sound minded people would see that as an added bonus!

Coincidentally, Carmarthenshire County Council have just published a report by a Task and Finish Group running from 2023 to 2024, called “An Active and Healthy Start”. The link is on their website and there is a good summary in Nation Cymru.

Sir Gar isn’t Ceredigion, and some of their measures were the worst in Wales, although in fairness they (and Wales) are making progress in childhood obesity for example. But less than half their primary schools are providing two hours of PE per week, and only 35 per cent of children are being taught to swim against 80 per cent a decade ago. The cost of transport is a key driver for that decline.

Does any of this matter? Well, two weeks ago Parliament bottled out of even relatively minor reform to our benefits system. We are pretty close to a doom loop of too few paying in and too many taking out. Even if you are naive enough to believe the socialist mantra of “he with the broadest shoulders must bear the greatest load”, the plain fact remains that if there aren’t enough willing broad shouldered workers, the system is stuffed.

An apparent epidemic of mental illness is driving unheard of levels of disability. This is mirrored in schools with diagnoses of ADHD and Autism increasing exponentially. The costs of managing this, is falling on already stretched Council budgets. Over in Westminster, Bridgit Phillipson, the hard left Education Secretary, is looking at whether to scrap Education Health and Care Plans, the equivalent of our Individual Development Plans. The cost implications of EHCPs have got out of hand, but her chances of getting that passed Labour MPs don’t look great.

Over 40 per cent of children in private schools (against 27 per cent in the state sector) were allocated extra exam time last year due to perceived disadvantage. Both those figures beggar belief, especially the former. One academic researcher has suggested that this is going to continue until everyone is regarded as “neurodiverse”. Quite so; we humans are bit diverse in case anyone failed to notice.

The danger of labelling children with a “disability” is that the label sticks. It leads to lost potential and a life dependant on the largesse of benefits, if indeed the state can continue to afford them.

We must aspire to educate every child to their full potential. Clearly the next Einstein needs something different to a plodder like me. But with swimming lessons and sport, maybe the plodder becomes an Olympian or the next great Welsh tight head prop, or just learns how to get on in life and enjoy it. Richard Branson was deemed a slow learner at school; he’s not done too badly!

Next time: Off the screen and onto the monkey bars!

A slight change. Probably nothing, but just possibly something sinister. If so, best to catch it early. Rapid appointment following GP referral. Special Xray followed by ultrasound scan performed by an experienced and caring Consultant. Less than an hour after arrival at Bronglais, total reassurance; nothing to worry about.

Cost? Probably circa £1000. Value? Priceless. Quality of care? World class.

That’s the experience of a family member this week in Bronglais. A massive thanks to all the staff involved. We know that you can be and so often are brilliant, and we want you to be empowered to do that for all of us all of the time.

Diolch yn fawr.