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January - February 2007

ANNUAL MEETING - Treorchy RAFA would like to remind members that the Annual General Meeting for 2007 will be held in the upstairs room of the Club at 8pm on Thursday February 8.

  • COLLISION - 7th Feb 2007, 13:20 - Rhigos Mountain Road - Treherbert Side. Firefighters attended a road traffic collision involving a 4x4 vehicle which had ended up 200m down the mountainside following a road traffic collision with another car. One female was extricated from the car by the fire service using hydraulic cutting equipment and taken to hospital by air ambulance.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH - A meeting will be held at Ynyswen Welfare Hall on Wednesday, February 7 at 5pm to discuss general interest in setting up a neighbourhood watch to cover Brynhyfryd Street , Woodland Terrace and Crown Avenue , Ynyswen.

The meeting has been called due to an apparent increase of crime in the area and a number of youths causing a disturbance for the elderly people resident at Crown Avenue. Please contact Deborah Jones on 01443 775639 for further information.

  • AGE CONCERN - Age Concern are holding regular advice surgeries at Treorchy Library, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, from 2pm to 4.30pm.

THANKS - Many thanks to Colin Moody of Ynysfeio Avenue, and Treherbert Labour Club for supporting him in his fundraising efforts in aid of the ‘Rhondda Kids’ Children’s Diabetic Group.

Colin has raised £1,351 which is very much appreciated.

The Group meets in the Pioneer Club, Porth on the 2nd Monday of each month and there is also a monthly meeting held on Thursdays for children, with multiple activities on offer.

If anyone would like to join the group, or make a donation, please contact Treasurer Katherine Jones on 01443 771520.

  • PLASTIC TOPS - If anyone is collecting plastic tops, or knows of a charity collecting plastic tops, then please get in touch.
  • We have been contacted by someone who has a recycling bag full of plastic tops - originally collected by another person to aid the purchase of a wheelchair – but they now have no details of which charity wanted the plastic tops and it seems such a shame to simply recycle them if someone can put them to good use.
  • Please contact news@treorchy.net if you can use them or offer any help or information.

ACTION OVERSEAS - On Tuesday, January 9, a Rhondda Exile and native of Ynyswen will fly out again, as he has done on several occasions in previous years, to Southern India and Sri Lanka.

Pastor Andrew Jenkins, or Andrew as he prefers to be called, is the Asia Representative of Action Overseas UK , which is the Missionary Arm of the Apostolic Church within the UK. He is also a member of their Board and has responsibilities for India, Pakistan and Sri-Lanka.

Two years ago, while carrying out appointments in India, he was instructed by his Director to fly immediately to Colombo, capital of Sri-Lanka, where he witnessed first-hand the awful devastation of the Tsunami disaster.

One year ago he was present in the North West Frontier (Himalayan Region) of Pakistan where he was involved with the earthquake victims, arranging the purchase of vital equipment etc. and on that occasion celebrated his 48th birthday in Islamabad after carrying out speaking engagements in six Pakistani cities and conducting two seminars on behalf of the Apostolic Church within Pakistan.

This year he will be celebrating his 49th birthday in Southern India, during the course of an exhaustive schedule of business, on behalf of his Board and The Apostolic Church, and will be the guest speaker again at the Annual Youth Camp of the Indian Apostolic Church which is being held in Chennai (Madras) and will also be visiting and speaking in several churches throughout the country.

He flies to Colombo, Sri Lanka on January 17 and then travels into the Interior to visit a tea-plantation with a view to its possible purchase for the purpose of creating a ‘Workers Cooperative’ so that the tea can be sold at a fair price in return for the hard work.

Andrew is involved in the organising of a ‘Work Skills Programme’ which includes training and employment which will aid the local economy.

On January 19th he meets up with a friend and colleague who works in Sri Lanka for the United Nations.

Andrew is the speaker at Church services in Morratuws, South Colombo on January 20 and on the following day he flies to the Jaffna Region in the north of Sri Lanka.

This is realistically a hot-spot due to the civil conflict, and currently a cease-fire is holding. However, in order to arrive in Jaffna Town there are enormous security checks.

On January 22 he travels to the Coastal Areas previously affected by the Tsunami to meet up again with the fishing communities that the Action Overseas Board has supported on behalf of the Apostolic Church within the UK.

During the past two years, Andrew has arranged the purchase of several fishing boats and was involved with a major re-building programme. His wife Joyce, who is a native of Clydach Vale and works in management for the NHS, was invited to present the keys of those vessels to the respective familes in North Sri Lanka where a special ceremony was held.

On January 23 he has a meeting with the Tsunami Victim Support Group in Colombo and Andrew has been granted permission by the Walsall City District Youth Dept to set up a ‘Cultural Exchange Visit’ after being previously invited by that authority to address them on the subject of ‘Monitoring of Projects within Sri-Lanka’.

Prior to his current position, Andrew was previously the Action Overseas UK board representative for Eastern Europe, in particular Latvia.

Before his ordination into the Pastorate of the Apostolic Church, Andrew worked as a British Coal underground official at Cwm Colliery, Llantwit Fardre and the Taff-Merthyr Colliery.

His parents Tom and Rita still live in Ynyswen, and Tom insists that the highlight of Andrew’s visit would be a fishing expedition in one of the boats he had been so honoured to purchase.

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