events

Being more commercial

September 8, 2017 by Martin Leave a Comment

A common response to austerity from councils across the UK has been to become more commercial in carrying out their business. We’re a large organisation that commissions and delivers a broad range of services to our citizens and we must ensure we properly charge for our services, procure efficiently and manage contracts effectively. Every penny generated through these efforts will help to maintain services and jobs.

We also need to become more commercial in finding new income opportunities. This week the Leadership Team of Directors and Heads of Service held a workshop to develop our commercial strategy. The aim was to generate ideas and create the right culture across the council for increasing income. We heard about examples from across the UK such as councils charging companies to dispose of their confidential waste, providing commercial catering and offering funeral services. When you think about it, we’re already involved in this kind of work so it’s not a huge step for us to develop our existing services and offer them to new customers to bring in more money. And Richard Mears, our car parking manager, explained how he’s been working with our commercial team to sell city centre parking spaces to local firms. We know we face declining budgets in the coming years so we want to raise new income to replace the reduced funding from the government. The next stage is for us collectively to develop the Commercial Strategy and to feed into the up-coming budget discussions. Further workshops with be held with Leadership Team and Cabinet in the coming weeks and months as we complete the strategy and action plan.

APSE award-winners

Last night we picked up two national APSE awards for our waste management service and our highways team, winning service team of the year. We narrowly missed out on the overall council of the year and our building services team was also shortlisted in two categories for service team and workforce development. Well done to everyone involved.

Love the Lagoon

The Love the Lagoon campaign has taken off this week with more than 25,000 views of our online videos. Thousands of people have engaged on Facebook (which shows it is generating interest). MPs raised the issue at Welsh Questions in Parliament and one MP directly mentioned our campaign.

Now we’ll be putting more focus now onto getting people to post videos of support. I’d encourage staff who support the project to post either directly or through our communications team.

Culture

Another major campaign we’ve launched is to get support for our City of Culture bid. Banners are popping up to generate support. Winning the title would generate millions of pounds for Swansea’s economy, also attracting a year-long programme of top quality events, activities, exhibitions, concerts and shows. With the winner due to be announced at the end of the year, we need to show the independent judging panel just how much Swansea wants and needs this title. Head here to see how you can help.

Passing the baton

It might have been a wet and windy Tuesday morning but Swansea provided its usual warm welcome for the Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton’s Relay. Swansea had the pleasure of welcoming the baton into Wales where it had travelled from the Isle of Man. Making the most of our coastal assets the Baton made a dramatic entrance by sea when it was delivered to Knab by the Mumbles RNLI. The baton was then passed, by the Deputy Leader, Cllr Clive Lloyd, to the first of our celebrity Baton Bearers, boxer Enzo Maccarinelli.

I was considering running a caption competition for the photo of the Deputy Leader and Enzo but it would probably not be a good career move! Our teams within Cultural Services – Events, Marketing and Sports Development did a great job of setting the standard for the Welsh leg of the relay.

High 5s

On Tuesday the judging panel for the High 5 Awards met to assess this year’s entries. I wasn’t looking forward to chairing it given the 156 nominations, all of which deserve recognition, and was expecting a long and fractious meeting. To my surprise and delight there was strong consensus among the judges and the winners were eventually agreed unanimously. The awards ceremony will take place next month at the Liberty Stadium.

Crest

Last July I wrote about my visit to CREST (Community Recovery Education and Skills Training) in Cwmbwrla. There’s an open day next Thursday and Friday where the service will be exhibiting the work of people who attend the centre on the themes of recovery and stigma.

City Deal – what it means

March 24, 2017 by Martin Leave a Comment

City Deal – what does it mean?

So we finally got the City Deal signed. So what? Why is it important? For what it’s worth here are my thoughts.

The City Region of South West Wales has faced a steady decline in its economic performance for more than 30 years. In comparison with the rest of Wales and the UK our productivity has worsened since 1996 in nearly every sector, bar the public sector. The economic conditions for regeneration have not been in our favour and despite our best endeavours and a significant amount of European funding we have not been able to halt that decline.

The City Deal is different. It represents a massive commitment from UK and Welsh Governments to helping local authorities tackle our challenges. It is a long-term plan to invest in our infrastructure, both physical and digital. The plan is evidence-based. The Team Swansea approach is a genuine one and the partners in the city are strongly behind it. It has a total value of £1.3bn, including a UK and Welsh Government contribution of £241m, and £673m of private investment. It will be invested in an area with a population of 680,000 and will create 33,000 jobs.

We have the opportunity to exploit a 15-year funding stream. Add this to the massive investment in housing following the Housing Revenue Account settlement with the Treasury and the strong possibility that the Tidal Lagoon will be approved, then the programme becomes truly ambitious.

The arena, office and health campus proposals will be the essential trigger for a more vibrant City Centre with an improved leisure and retail offer resulting from increased footfall.

There will be many challenges in the delivery of these projects. We must align the work we do in schools to the opportunities presented by the City Deal. In my discussions with primary head teachers at Ysgolion Cynradd Abertawe (YCA) this week there is clearly much enthusiasm for the City Deal, but a concern that without a focus on investing in education our children could miss out on the opportunities ahead. Changes to the curriculum must be given time to bed-in, key skills developed and we must identify clear pathways to employment for all our citizens. We must retain a focus on those who face the most challenges and break down the barriers that prevent them from achieving their potential. We must use our investment profile to secure social benefits for citizens, increase our apprenticeship programme and support local supply chains.

The work done by our staff to date is something that I will always be proud of but the future will require departments and staff to work together in an unprecedented way and with absolute focus. Anyone with an interest in skills and education, health and social care, energy, housing, transport, streetscene, sustainable development, tourism, culture, business support and technology will have an essential role to play in this ambition.

We must ensure that governance arrangements for the joint committee that will drive the City Deal are appropriate and that the resources for delivery are in place. Businesses will need a voice and democratic accountability must be transparent so the City Deal is subject to effective scrutiny.

As regards 5G technology I don’t know exactly what it will look like, nor do I yet fully understand its potential to transform the lives of our citizens or how it can help cities to operate. No-one does, or at least I haven’t met them yet. However I am confident that the City Deal will put us at the forefront of these developments.

The most important point is that the City Deal will open up new opportunities for our citizens and it is our responsibility to do all we can to make sure that they get the full advantage of them.

Penybryn School

Last Friday I visited Pen-y-Bryn Special School to talk to the head teacher, Gethin Sutton and the Chair of Governors, Huw Vaughan. Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn has a unit for autistic pupils and educates pupils, aged 3-19, who have a wide range of additional learning needs.

Gethin had recently helped us in the assessment centre for the recruitment of our Chief Education Officer, Nick Williams, and during the process he kindly invited me to the school. I was pleased to hear how well the school and the pupils were progressing and seriously impressed by the quality of the publications and audio books that the school produces. I visited all the classes to meet the children and had the pleasure of attending the weekly awards ceremony which was highly entertaining and a lot of fun. Thanks to Cerys, one of the school’s star pupils for showing me round.

The awards keep rolling in !!!

Beyond Bricks and Mortar has this week won the UK National GO Awards Excellence in Public Procurement for the Best Employment initiative. This is great recognition for the Council’s innovative approach to embedding community benefits in all we do. Including community benefits has never been more important with the opportunities that can be created through the forthcoming city centre regeneration, the City Deal and hopefully the Tidal Lagoon. My thanks to the Beyond Bricks and Mortar team who have put us on the map with this exemplary initiative.

I hope to bring you news about our entries in the MJ awards in the next couple of weeks.

World Social Work Day

Earlier this week our social workers celebrated World Social Work Day which aims to recognise the contribution they make to supporting some of the most vulnerable adults and children in society. Safeguarding is the council’s top priority and, alongside our partners, the work our social workers do makes a significant contribution to the wellbeing of our communities offering support, guidance and a listening ear. Over the past few years I’ve seen the service go from strength to strength, earning praise from the CSSIW and internationally for their pioneering work in areas like dementia and Signs of Safety. I’d like to thank our social workers for their continuing commitment.

Wales National Air Show

Congratulations to our events team after the RAF Red Arrows were again confirmed to take part in this year’s Wales National Airshow on July 1 and July 2. Swansea University has also now come on board as the main sponsors of this year’s event, with further aircraft taking part to be announced over coming weeks.

City of Culture

Thanks to Amanda Hegarty, our Residential Services Manager at Llanfair House, for sending me the photo of this fantastic art work created by the facility’s occupational therapist and service users from recycled material. The City of Culture is obviously alive and well at Llanfair House.

Farewells

There are a number of people leaving the organisation at the end of March and I will be paying tribute to some of them next week.

Yesterday our Staff Choir put on an excellent performance in the Civic Centre Foyer to raise £170 for Comic Relief. It was a lot of fun but sadly a farewell event for the Choir Director John Mills, a performance specialist in Education Effectiveness who is retiring this week after 33 years of service. John has given his free time to sort out the music and tutor the choir for over a year and he will be greatly missed. Thanks John from us all, but particularly the choir members who will miss your guidance and infinite patience.

Today is the last working day for Steve Phillips, Economic Development Team Leader. Steve and his team worked tirelessly on the delivery of our economic regeneration strategy which has formed the evidence base for, amongst other things, our European Funding programmes and our City Deal bid. I have enjoyed working with Steve and wish him well for the future.

Our global platform

March 17, 2017 by Martin Leave a Comment

Global platform

On Monday I travelled to France with the Leader and Huw Mowbray, our Property Development Manager, to attend the international property conference, MIPIM. This is the biggest conference of its type in the world, attracting 23,000 people from 90 countries and gives local authorities a platform to present their proposals for regeneration and development to funders, developers, agents and retailers. We’re conscious of the spending restrictions so we were delighted to be invited by UK Trade & Industry department in Whitehall to present our City Deal and City Centre proposals in the Downing Street pavilion, along with colleagues from Belfast and Glasgow. It was a whistle-stop 24-hour tour which involved a number of discussions with funders and businesses and a presentation by the Leader on the opportunities on offer in Swansea.

Sharing the platform with two other major UK cities has raised awareness of our ambitions as a council worldwide and I’m confident the contacts we made and discussions we had will bear fruit in our quest to secure the City Deal and all that it brings. An announcement is imminent. Dozens of UK councils attended but very few could compete with the quality of work done by our officers, as reflected in the fly-through we commissioned to illustrate the proposition. I’m grateful for all their efforts which epitomise the Team Swansea approach we have been fostering.

Lindsay’s leaving

Today is the last day at the council for Lindsay Harvey our Chief Education Officer.

Anyone who has met Lindsay will know he’s a larger than life character and brings a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and commitment. He has done a fantastic job and some of the progress we’ve made in our schools has been outstanding. I’ll miss Lindsay but I also wish him well in his new post at Bridgend. Nick Williams will be taking over form him and I wish him well.

Senior management review

A report is going to Council on March 23 setting out proposals for restructuring corporate services. The proposals give us a strong platform to progress our business support plans and improve efficiency across the council. If approved by councillors the proposals will be subject to consultation when staff can give their views. The report is available via this link.

Danygraig school

On a visit to St Thomas and Port Tennant I received a warm welcome at Danygraig Primary School. Headteacher Stuart Davies gave me a tour of the school, along with pupils Danushan, Carlo, Ruby and Poppy.

It’s a very old building and I saw the improvements being made by our team in Corporate Building & Property Service. This included a window replacement programme which is helping to keep the building wind and weather proof. This probably shouldn’t include replacing one of the windows which was knocked skew whiff during the three nights blitz and has sat at an unusual angle ever since; a historical legacy that tells its own story!

The teachers are really committed and this school is a real hub of the community. Of course the history of the area is entwined with Swansea docks and overlooks the SA1 district and the location of the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon. I’ll speak to the Tidal Lagoon company about cementing strong links with the school, along with St Thomas primary, and to make sure that the children are properly engaged in these proposals. The enthusiasm of Stuart and the staff was impressive, reflecting the level of commitment to empowering the pupils to achieve their potential that I see every week in our schools.

Learning needs

The Corporate Management Team received a presentation on the Commissioning Review of Additional Learning Needs (ALN) in the city. Mark Sheridan gave an informative presentation about the work carried out by his team and the challenges the service faces. This is a really important issue for us all and it was encouraging to hear about the corporate commitment to supporting ALN and the great work being done by teaching staff inside and outside schools. The review will be carried on beyond the second gateway report and whilst much remains to be done the rate of progress and analysis is impressive.

Purdah

A reminder that today marks the start of the Purdah period. The restrictions relate to social media as well as general publicity so please read the guidance and help us to ensure a fair and transparent election. For the electoral anoraks amongst us the word “purdah” is a derivation of the Persian word “pardeh” meaning curtain, or veil.

Inspirational youngster

Alfie Walters was recognised at an awards ceremony this week. The 16-year-old from Dylan Thomas School was on a shortlist of three from across the UK for the Educational Achiever Award at The Prince’s Trust annual celebration at the London Palladium. Alfie’s mum passed away when he was just 11. Less than three years later, he also lost his dad, and along with his sisters, he was taken into care. Despite this and with support from the school, our Looked After Children team and The Prince’s Trust he achieved a Level 2 Award on The Prince’s Trust Achieve programme. His skills have made him an excellent ambassador for the trust and he has been invited back to the school to motivate and encourage younger pupils. Well done Alfie.

Film award

This part of the world is well known for its big screen connections and now we can add our own Child and Family Services to the list. They worked with 15 youngsters between the ages of 11 and 19 to create a short film which was crowned Best Animation: 13 and Over at the Into Film Awards in London this week. Judges at the ceremony at the Odeon Cinema in London’s Leicester Square described it as “wonderful and imaginative” and “technically highly accomplished”. Having watched the film I agree with their sentiments. Congratulations to all involved. You can watch the film here: https://vimeo.com/201657295

Awards

We’ve been shortlisted in two categories of the iESE Awards – Transformation Through Support Services and Transformation in Waste & Environment. Well done to all the staff involved and good luck at the awards ceremony.

Pool rescue

Staff at the Wales National Pool saved a male swimmer suffering heart problems. Mark Jones, the duty manager, and his team responded magnificently. The swimmer was taken to hospital and has since contacted staff to thank them. The nurse who attended the scene paid this tribute: “They clearly saved a gentleman’s life today. Mark and the team should be highly commended for a calm, well-practiced Resuscitation.” Our water safety team train the pool staff so well done and thank you to everyone involved.

Sports Awards

Three employees were honoured at last night’s Swansea Sports Awards. Karen Gibbins (Libraries) won the Volunteer of the Year award and Adam Thomas (Cultural Services volunteer) was named Young Volunteer of the Year. Sam Richards (Cultural Services) was runner-up in the Volunteer of the Year category. Well done to all three who are great ambassadors for us.

Farewell

Aeron Kirczey is retiring from the Highways Service after 40 years’ service. Aeron has been a major contributor in advising on highways issues during the planning process and I’m grateful for his input into many of the major schemes he’s worked on.

Also Graham Williams is retiring from Child and Family Services after 42 years’ service. For the majority of his career Graham worked principally within the Child Protection Conference Unit where the model of practice and policies developed were considered innovative and enabled Swansea conference process to be valued as leading the way in policy development. Graham’s commitment to the service over the last 42 years has been really impressive and he’ll be greatly missed.

I wish them well in their retirement and thank them both for their many years in public service.

Apprentice strategy launch

March 10, 2017 by Martin Leave a Comment

Apprentice strategy launch

We launched of our Apprenticeship Strategy in the George Hall on Monday. It builds on the success of the apprenticeship scheme running in Corporate Building Services and is now a broader Corporate Strategy to run across all service areas. The aim is to provide apprenticeships, training and work experience opportunities including graduate placements and internships

This has been developed by a working group of representatives from across the council following the agreement in principle by Cabinet in July 2016.

Given our corporate priorities relating to poverty and safeguarding it’s essential we target opportunities for disadvantaged groups, particularly given our role as a corporate parent and we must reduce the barriers to allow access to these opportunities. I’ll be taking a personal interest in seeing this happens.

Apprenticeships are key to develop skills needed for the future and will help address skill shortages. I’m indebted to Martin Nicholls, Director of Place, and his team for their enthusiasm and drive in preparing the strategy. The team are preparing guides for managers to help provide a consistent approach to taking on an apprentice, trainee or offering work experience. We‘ll also work with other public sector bodies and learn from best practice available. We’ve already advertised 14 opportunities and we’ll be seeking to identify 30 to 40 more during the next few months.

Along with Martin, the Leader and Councillor Andrea Lewis, Cabinet Member for Next Generation Services, spoke at the launch to underline their commitment to the strategy. We must now make sure it’s delivered across the organisation as effectively and efficiently as possible.

This week I almost met Lord Heseltine!

It’s been a frustrating week for those of us involved in the Swansea Bay City Deal. I mentioned last week that following the pitch to the UK Government we had provided all the information requested and were optimistic the deal could be agreed and announced in Wednesday’s budget. The final meeting was arranged with Lord Heseltine here in Swansea on budget day but was cancelled following his sacking late on Tuesday evening. As a result we held yet another meeting with civil servants to go back over some old ground. The budget statement included the following words, which stopped some distance short of what we had hoped for:

“The government continues to make good progress towards city deals for Edinburgh and Swansea and is working constructively with local partners and the Scottish and Welsh Governments respectively to achieve this.”

The meeting with civil servants was followed by a session with representatives from the private sector who have given strong support for our bid. I detected a lot of impatience and frustration from many of these representatives who are struggling to understand why the Welsh Government considers the deal complete, but the UK Government does not. The Leader and I will be doing whatever we can to push this given that every day of delay is a missed opportunity for our citizens.

This week I did meet Sir Charles Hendry

On Tuesday evening the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress hosted a dinner for Sir Charles Hendry, author of the Government review into tidal lagoons. It was an opportunity to discuss the report and its findings and learn about the process of how the report was commissioned and delivered by Sir Charles. It became clear that Sir Charles has not only learned a lot about the city, he has also developed a fondness for it. He reiterated his conclusion that the lagoon must be built and that we must get on with it immediately so it was also frustrating that there was no mention of it in the Chancellor’s budget speech on Wednesday. We remain optimistic that an announcement is imminent.

Congratulations

Swansea has two nominations at a national film award ceremony next week. Our Child and Family Services worked with 15 young people to make a short film about being in care and it’s on a shortlist of three in the Best Animation: 13 and Over category at the Into Film Awards.

And Amy Parry, from Cwmrhydyceirw Primary School in Morriston, is on the shortlist for Teacher of the Year.

Into Film is a UK-wide charity that aims to raise standards of achievement and aspiration among youngsters through film and the awards take place at the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square on Tuesday (March 14). Fingers crossed for both when the golden envelopes, hopefully the right ones, are opened.

Last Friday we took part in the Patient Choice Awards at Singleton Hospital. It was introduced by the ABMU Health Board back in 2015 to give patients, carers, relatives and visitors the chance to say thanks to a member of staff or team they feel have made a real difference and provided outstanding care.

The ceremony saw some of our social workers and care workers stand alongside district nurses, GPs and therapists in being recognised for the work they have done.

It was a terrific opportunity to celebrate the commitment they give to helping vulnerable adults to stay safe and independent and really demonstrated that our staff go above and beyond, showing professionalism, kindness and compassion to people at really difficult times in their lives. Well done to everyone involved.

The Swansea Bay 10k organised by our events team has been shortlisted in two categories for this year’s Running Awards: best 10k and best child-friendly event.

Voting closes on Monday March 20, so head to this link to get your vote in and make sure the event gets the recognition it deserves.

Info-Nation was re-launched this week, providing free and confidential information and advice on a range of subjects including sexual health, relationships, substance misuse and finding work.

It now includes the Bays+ service which provides services for young people aged 16 or older who are in need of care, support or accommodation. DrugAid Cymru also has its ‘Choices’ young people’s service based in the shop for a number of years.

Today is the last working day at the council for John Lewis, our Principal Design and Technical Officer, based in Cultural Services. John has worked for us since October 1974 when he started with Swansea City Council as a Draughtsman and then Graphic Designer. Since then he’s held a range of posts in Tourism and was instrumental in helping me with the first blue plaque in Swansea in tribute to Pete Ham. Since then he’s helped me with many other things – always with patience and good humour – and I’ll miss his knowledge, skills and innovation very much. I wish him a long and happy retirement.

Building for the future

July 7, 2016 by Martin 2 Comments

On Monday I attended the official opening by HRH the Prince of Wales of the Swansea University Bay Campus. As you might expect it was a grand affair and my congratulations go to the university on delivering this substantial and impressive project. I have been a member of the joint partnership group since the very beginning of this project more than eight years ago. It was a great experience to see the plans turn into reality as a fully functioning centre for the engineers of the future.

The opening of this new facility marks the start of a new era for Swansea University in its 95th year and is part of a £450 million programme of development and expansion that includes further investment into the Singleton Park campus. Over the last five years the university has had a significant impact on the region with a 20% increase in students and staff and a 120% increase in research awards. In addition during the during the 26 months construction of the Bay Campus over 7,500 people worked on the site, 273 contracts were awarded and 165 individuals trained in accordance with the Council’s Beyond Bricks and Mortar policy. Overall the investment in both campuses is estimated to contribute over £3 billion to the economy over the next decade.

School visits

I have been continuing my visits to schools this week. On Tuesday I visited Morriston Comprehensive School which last year saw the completion of a £22 million rebuild. It is a fantastic learning environment for young people. I met the head teacher, Martin Franklin, who not only made me feel very welcome but also filled me with enthusiasm as he explained the impact of the investment and the improvements achieved in performance by the staff and pupils. He also gave me a guided tour of the school. It is a really first class facility.

On Wednesday afternoon I travelled to meet Rob Phillips, head teacher at Dylan Thomas Comprehensive School. Once again there was a warm welcome for me and Rob explained the challenges and achievements of the school very clearly. The school is making fantastic progress, recently receiving a Good/Good inspection from ESTYN. On our walkabout we visited the Dereck Roberts Centre which provides an education for children who are identified as having additional learning needs associated with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This is an impressive and important facility of which the school can feel rightly proud.

This week I also met with Ysgolion Cynradd Abertawe, the Swansea Primary Schools association made up of head teachers from all of the cluster areas. We discussed a number of topics including pupil attainment and the importance of the broader achievements and well-being of children, the landscape for local government, reorganisation and the financial outlook post the EU referendum. The YCA are a passionate and challenging group and I am looking forward to further discussions with them and a series of visits to primary schools in the autumn term.

What did I learn from the visits and the YCA discussions? Well quite a lot really but I think the most important message was that whilst buildings and the environment are important the most significant determination of good outcomes in education is to recruit and retain inspirational teachers. Those I met this week left me with a very positive feeling indeed.

Farewells and congratulations

Next week sees the departure of our Head of Poverty and Prevention, Sarah Crawley, following her appointment as Director of Barnardos Cymru, based in Cardiff. Sarah has made an excellent contribution to developing our corporate priority to tackle poverty and will be missed by colleagues. I wish her well for the future in her new role. We are in the process of recruiting another Head of Service but in the meantime I am delighted to announce that Jane Whitmore has been appointed to act up for the interim period.

Congratulations also to Julie Thomas on her appointment to the Head of Child and Family Services. Julie has been doing this challenging job on a temporary basis for the last 12 months but has now been made permanent Head of Service by the Appointments Committee.

It’s all about you

The second “It’s all About You” staff engagement event was held at Gors Community Centre last week. These events are about improving staff well-being and morale and to give staff the opportunity to express their views and ideas. 104 members of staff attended between 1.00pm and 4.00pm, and the event was organised by staff for staff – all of whom are volunteers. I had planned to drop in but unfortunately I could not be there. It sounded like a good afternoon was had by those who attended though.

Dancing in the street

This Saturday sees the return of another event, Dance Days, a free weekend of dance performance organised by Taliesin. It takes place in Swansea city centre and around the National Waterfront Museum on Saturday 9th July, and in and around the National Waterfront Museum on Sunday 10 July. There is a link to the Dance Days programme here.

Mametz Wood

You might remember last week I mentioned Swansea Council paid its own tribute to those from our city who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country in World War I at the Welsh Memorial to the Battle of Mametz Wood. The 100th anniversary of that battle starting was yesterday and I’ve included a picture of the wreath-laying by Karen Hallchurch from Special Events on behalf of us all.

Events

I thanked all staff who helped to deliver the Wales National Airshow last week but I have to repeat the message this week following another superb weekend for the City. An estimated 200,000 people attended over the two days, the sun shone and great fun was had by all. The feedback from the general public has been very positive indeed. The next Wales National Airshow will take place on 1st and 2nd July 2017.

If that wasn’t busy enough, in the midst of the Airshow weekend, our Events team was asked to consider staging a Fanzone for Wales’ Euro 2016 semi final. Castle Square had been the Fanzone for the games up to Wednesday this week, but it had a restricted capacity owing to its size, location and configuration.

Given the anticipated high volume of people expected to watch the game at a Swansea Fanzone, it was decided to move the location to Singleton Park which could cater for much bigger numbers. It was just as well we did as more than 10,000 turned out to cheer Wales on against Portugal. They didn’t quite make the final of the European Championships but their performances in the competition earned praise from all over the world. Well done Wales.