2012 Stories
Charity trek for Kevin and Son
Kevin Harding, a native of New Quay and an employee of the Forestry Commission based in Edinburgh and his son James will be walking the 96 miles of Scottish mountainside known as the West Highland Way in May.
Kevin, who moved from Wales to Scotland in 1990, and 24 year-old James will set off from Milngavie on May 7 and hope to reach Fort William six days later, raising funds for two charities close to their hearts along the way. James, blind in his left eye since birth, plans to raise money for the Royal Blind Society. Kevin is walking on behalf of the Aberystwyth-based charity, the Beacon of Hope – an organisation that provides comfort and support to people with terminal illness in the Welsh counties of Ceredigion, South Gwynedd and West Powys.
If you’d like to sponsor Kevin or James, you can do so through the following sites.
- James and the Royal Blind Society: http://www.justgiving.com/trio-possal
- Kevin and the Beacon of Hope: http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/kevinharding
2011 Stories
Ultracomida raises a festive glass in the name of charity
Award-winning deli Ultracomida raised a glass at their annual pre-Christmas wine tasting evening and raised over £350 for local charity the Beacon of Hope. Over 80 people attended the evening hosted by guest wine connoisseur José Velo-Rego, who guided guests through a special selection of sherries and the best wines from the vineyards of Spain.
According to guest host, known to his friends as ‘Pepe’, "Spain is now the most exciting wine producing nation in Western Europe, the most innovative, forward-thinking and progressive.“Tonight Ultracomida’s guests enjoyed a fantastic array of wines and sherries to get them in the mood for forthcoming Christmas festivities. The Brits have a long tradition of serving Sherry at Christmas and as we’ve demonstrated it’s a drink that can be enjoyed by many and not just a favourite aunt or granny!Along with selected wines with narrative from Pepe, guests also enjoyed an array of tapas prepared by the Ultracomida restaurant team. Each guest marked each of the wines they tasted along with adding tasting comments. Paul Grimwood, owner of the Spanish-Welsh deli said, “We’ve all had a fantastic evening with Pepe taking us on a tour of the wineries of Spain. Winning the popular vote for the evening was the David Moreno Ciranza, a fantastic red wine from La Rioja. Christmas is a social occasion and what better way to celebrate than to invite family and friends around for delicious food and delectable drinks.We are so proud to have raised this year £350 tonight for the Beacon of Hope through the evening’s tickets sales. We usually host such evenings for around 20 people but decided to increase capacity to enable us to give more to the charity who do such amazing work in the community.”Ultracomida are currently preparing themselves for the anticipated pre-Christmas rush with Spanish tapas hampers on order, deals on wine cases and bookings filling up for the Christmas Party Season
Indian Community Backs Local Charity
A group of Indian workers who have settled in West Wales have got together to encourage links with their Welsh hosts – and have decided to back a local charity.
The group are from Kerala in southern India and more than 170 families from that state are now living in Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. Many work in hospitals and nursing homes, as well as in local industry. They have now set up an association to promote integration with the host community and to encourage multiculturalism in Wales and beyond.
The association – the Malayali Association – has decided to support the Beacon of Hope hospice charity, and at a ceremony at Rachel’s Dairy in Llanbadarn presented a cheque for £200 to Beacon’s founder, Mrs Elizabeth Murphy. Rachel’s Dairy is a major local employer of workers from Kerala who have now settled in the area
The president of the association, Mr George Varkey Thattassari of Aberystwyth, said they hoped to develop links so that Welsh people could enjoy the social, cultural and sporting activities of the Malayali community in West Wales as a way of promoting integration, and were keen to support Beacon of Hope as a local charity
Mrs Murphy said she was delighted at this new support, and explained that the charity depended on voluntary contributions from all sections of the local community in order to provide its vital services. “And of course our services are there for all members of the community when the need arises,” she added.
Kerala is about twice the size of Wales, but has about ten times the population, and many emigrate from the state to various parts of the world. Many young people in Kerala join the nursing profession, and there are a large number of members of the Malayali Association now working in hospitals and nursing homes in West Wales. The association is proud that their children are growing up to be trilingual, with Welsh and English learnt at school and Malayalam, the national language of Kerala, spoken at home.
The association is also proud of the long association between Kerala and Britain, with the people of Kerala collecting enough money during the Second World War to fund a Spitfire aircraft, which flew in the battle of Britain and carried the name ‘Kerala’ on the fuselage.
Beacon of Hope is a hospice charity, which provides help and support for those with life-limiting illness and also their families in Ceredigion and surrounding areas. Staff at the Rachel’s plant have also been collecting their small change to contribute to Beacon of Hope, and a large bag of coins was also presented.
Carols By Candle Light 2011
Welsh Ladies Fun Run 2011
This year the Welsh Ladies Fun run selected The Beacon Of Hope as their charity of choice.
