speakers
Keynote speakers
Meryl Gravell OBE
Meryl Gravell represents the electoral division of Trimsaran, Kidwelly and is Chair of Carmarthenshire County Council’s Executive Board. She has been the Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council since 1999 and was elected as the Welsh Local Government’s Presiding Officer in 2004 where she quickly commanded the respect and admiration of her fellow council leaders from across Wales. She is the Welsh Local Government Association’s spokesperson on Health, Public Health and Social Services and Chair of Public Health and the Improvement Agency and has been a passionate advocate of better services for vulnerable people across Wales. She has been working closely with the CSSIW in order to drive up performances.
A retired Justice of the Peace and Chair of Trimsaran Village Forum, her achievements in her own community were rewarded in 1997 when she was named Welsh Woman of the Year in the Community. In 1999 she received further recognition when she was awarded the MBE and more recently the OBE.
Collaborative Communities Launch
Andrew Davies, Assembly Member for Swansea West
Andrew Davies, elected as the Assembly Member for Swansea West in May 1999, served as a Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government Cabinet for 10 years following the Assembly's inception. He was the first Minister for Assembly Business or Trefnydd from 1999 - 2002 and until 2007 he held the position of Minister for Economic Development & Transport in Rhodri Morgan's Cabinet in the Assembly Government. From 2007 until December 2009 he was Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery.
Andrew graduated from Swansea University where he also trained as a teacher. He is a qualified counsellor and has lectured extensively in further, higher and continuing education. With a background and experience in education and training, politics and the private sector he has a detailed knowledge of the Welsh economy. He headed up the Ford Motor Company's Employee Development & Assistance Programme in the early 1990s and was also Associate Director of a public affairs company.
Andrew was a prominent member of the 'Yes for Wales' Campaign and co-ordinator of Labour's Assembly referendum campaign in 1997. He was a regional official with the Wales Labour Party in the 1980s and a former member of the Wales Labour Party Executive Committee. He is a member of the Union, UNITE.
His political interests include devolution, public service delivery & innovation, economic development, contemporary arts and Wales' place in the world.
Born in 1952 in Hereford of Welsh parents, his mother was born in Llandeilo and his father in Holywell in Flintshire.
Guest Speakers
John Bennet
John Bennett is the Managing Director of the Pack-IT Group, a Cardiff-based, multi-award winning social enterprise. A social entrepreneur, he’s experienced in working in the UK and internationally helping to develop social enterprise and is a founding member of Social Firms Wales.
Busy growing Pack-IT into a global social enterprise brand, Pack-IT has two replications in the UK and Pack-IT Melbourne launches in 2010. John has spoken internationally and throughout the UK and participated at the Social Enterprise World Forums in Edinburgh and Melbourne and more recently in San Francisco.
A member of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Social Enterprise Ministerial Advisory Group, John is a founding member of the Welsh Social Enterprise Coalition and takes up the post as the organisation’s CEO in July 2010.
Kelvin Jones
Kelvin joined the Gorseinon Development Trust from Ebbw Vale and District Development Trust, where he had worked as Manager and Chief Executive for over 5 years, helping to grow a small community organisation into one which run a number of small social enterprises.
Kelvin has a background in community environmental management having worked for Farming and Wildlife advisory group (FWAG) and Rodbaston Agricultural College in Staffordshire, the RSPB and Gwent Wildlife Trust in Wales on a number of community environmental programmes.
In moving to Gorseinon in 2006 he helped the trust develop its vision, define its funding strategy in light of the decline in grants and the areas ineligibility in the Communities First process and developed policies and procedures to enable the trust to become sustainable.
The trustees made the brave decision in operating the Canolfan Gorseinon centre to utilise the facility to develop income generating streams by operating social enterprises out of the building.
This has led to a number of income streams through
- Trusting hands day nursery
- Cafe zest
- Our training and conference venue within the Canolfan centre and
- Managed work space for new and expanding local business
This has enabled the trust to income generate 90% of its turnover and create 37 full and part time employment
In order to address the 10% shortfall and with limitations on the building and its income generating potential the trust is developing
- Additional managed workspace in conjunction with a local business opening May 2010
- Developing in partnership with a local charity an additional nursery in the city centre of Swansea
- And is looking, following its successful first Gorseinon food festival, to help develop initiatives to support local food producers in the area.
With the development of these enterprises the trust will become sustainable
Future development around green job creation is already in early development
Jonothan Gaunt
Trysordy, a Community Resource Centre, enhances play, creativity and rehabilitation provision across Dyfed… …supporting personal, hobby, vocational and career development needs, as well as community events /projects.
Trysordy, is a not-for-profit membership organisation and the first community interest company in Mid and West Wales. It has 4 directors, 4 part-time staff, a team of 20 volunteers; with 30 supporting regional organisations representing play, creativity, the environment, rehabilitation, early years’ education, volunteering and special needs.
Its 1300 members (individuals, families, groups), include Play groups & Play workers; Schools; Nurseries; Students; Art/Craft workers; Special needs, Environmental, Youth & Community organisations. Membership provides access to low cost materials and services (which began in April 2007) including;
- A huge range of unusual clean, safe, “scrap” material, donated from business; (such as packaging, leftovers from the manufacturing process, discontinued stock)
- Arts and Craft supplies (to use with the scrap to make things);
- Equipment to Hire (to develop family or group events);
- A Library of unusual environmental education and craft making books;
- Rooms to hire (large training room, kitchen, craft workshop, garden);
- Wide ranging creative skills workshops and activities connected with arts/craft, gardening, cooking, social enterprise skills and environmental education.
Tel: 01267-231980 info@trysordy.org.uk www.trysordy.org.uk
Daniel Sims
'FRAME is a community re-use organisation and was established to provide a real but supported work environment to individuals with and recovering from mental ill health. It now provides its services to people with a wide range of differing disabilities and also includes those considered to be socially excluded. FRAME offers its service users work practice, training and employment opportunities; supporting them in their journey towards paid employment either internally at FRAME or in the wider employment market.
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Dan McCallum – Awel Aman Tawe
Dan McCallum is Manager for Awel Aman Tawe. Awel Aman Tawe (AAT) is a social enterprise involved in renewable energy, energy efficiency and environmental projects in S. Wales. AAT also offers the Technical Development Officer service for the South Wales Valleys area of the Ynni’r Fro programme to develop community renewables. Awel Aman Tawe grew out of suggestions at a Local Agenda 21 public meeting in 1998 to develop a community wind farm. Planning was achieved for the 4MW wind farm in May 2009.
