The historical plaques date back to WWII and were erected on Whitchurch Common by the American Embassy. It was a way to thank to local people for the hospitality their soldiers had received during the war before they had left for the D Day landings.

The American soldiers were camped on Whitchurch Common and officers were billeted around the village. The American Padre would preach in the Baptist church and a canteen was set up in St Mary’s Church Hall where local girls would help prepare sandwiches.

The plaques read; ‘’This avenue of trees was planted on behalf of the 2nd Evacuation Unit of the United States Army as a token of gratitude for the hospitality extended to them by the parishioners of Whitchurch during the Second World War 1939 – 1945.”

Over the years the condition of the plaques has deteriorated and this was highlighted by the Whitchurch WI public affairs group who have worked with the Council to get the relevant work completed.

Executive Member for Sport, Leisure and Culture, Cllr Nigel Howells said: “These plaques are a significant part of the history of Whitchurch and they depict an important period of time.

“It is wonderful that we have worked together with members from the local Womens Institute to refurbish them and bring them back to their former glory.

“The essential restoration works means that they can continue to be enjoyed by local people to remember the past whilst educating younger generations.”

National School Meals Week has been running since 1993 and is organised by the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA). The week encourages schoolchildren to enjoy a healthy school meal that meets the nutritional standards laid down by the Government.

Get Remembering Day on Friday November 11 is part of National School Meals Week when young people across the country will be encouraged to think about those who have given their lives or been injured during war.

Children in Cardiff will be able to enjoy a Get Remembering themed menu which features traditional British fare such as roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and gravy. The menus for the day will include information on many foods that were rationed during the war years.

Cardiff children have played a key role in promoting Get Remembering Day, following the visit of Falklands War hero Simon Weston (pictured) to Hawthorn Primary School earlier this year to film a video message, which now features on the National School Meals Week website, as part of the National School Meals Week campaign.

Former Welsh Guardsman Simon enjoyed a tasty lunch after speaking to the children at the Llandaff North school about Remembrance, the wartime diet and the importance of eating healthily.

Cardiff Catering, the Council’s in-house education catering service that provides approximately 33,000 meals a day at over 140 locations across the city, is a strong supporter of National School Meals Week. The service is committed to providing healthy, nutritionally-balanced meals using top quality produce from ethical sources.

Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “Eating a healthy, nutritious meal during the school day is essential for children’s wellbeing. A school lunch helps young people recharge their batteries to be at their best for afternoon lessons.

“We’re very proud of our school meals service in Cardiff and are pleased to once again be supporting National School Meals Week.”

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Merthyr Industrial Services (Biomass) Limited following an investigation of its premises as part of HSE’s response to the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease along the Heads of the Valleys corridor in September 2010.

HSE inspectors visited the Penygarnddu Industrial Estate premises on 8 September 2010 and found that over a period of five weeks, the company had sporadically been operating a cooling tower on site without taking appropriate measures to control the risk of proliferation of the Legionella bacteria.

A Prohibition Notice was immediately served preventing the cooling tower from being used until all appropriate controls were put in place.

Merthyr Industrial Services (Biomass) Limited of Penygarnddu Industrial Estate, Merthyr Tydfil pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 8(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, and Regulation 3(1) of the Notification of Cooling Towers and Evaporative Condensers Regulations 1992.

Today at Merthyr Tyfdil Magistrates’ Court they were fined £600 and ordered to pay full costs of £8,577.

The Legionnaires’ outbreak was declared on 3 September 2010 and was officially announced as over on 12 October 2010.

The multi-agency investigation revealed that no single source was identified for the outbreak, but investigations suggested a number of different possible sources accounted for the cases.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Stuart Charles said:

“While it is not alleged this company was one of the sources of the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak last year, it is essential that companies operating cooling towers fully understand the risks of Legionella, and the steps they need to take to control that risk.

“Operating a cooling tower, even for short periods, without the proper controls in place can present a significant risk to employees and members of public.

“It is important companies comply with the legal requirement to notify Local Authorities if they are operating a cooling tower. If an outbreak occurs, this information is vital to the Outbreak Control Team when planning a response.

A self-employed handyman from Cardiff, who does not wish to be named, regularly carried out work on properties managed by Rochefort Shugar Ltd and on 15 October 2010 was sent to a domestic property in Sully to fix a leaking porch roof.

As he was removing a sheet of material from the underside panel of the damaged roof, he realised it was asbestos-containing insulation board. The sheet was broken during removal and the surrounding area was contaminated with asbestos debris.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuting, told Barry Magistrates’ Court the removal of the panel and the sweeping up and bagging of the debris would have resulted in the significant release of asbestos fibres into the air.

The handyman wore two dust masks while removing the board on 15 October 2010, but did not undergo any decontamination procedures and was not wearing a protective, disposable suit. The court heard the fibres could have contaminated his hair, skin and clothing and may also have been inhaled.

When asbestos fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases which are responsible for around 4,000 deaths a year. There are four main diseases caused by asbestos, all of which can develop much later after exposure – they are mesothelioma (which is always fatal); lung cancer (almost always fatal); asbestosis (not always fatal, but it can be very debilitating) and diffuse pleural thickening.

The HSE investigation found the handyman had not been given any indication asbestos was present in the property, No risk assessment was carried out or method statement compiled, and Rochefort Shugar made no attempt to ensure he was competent to identify or work with asbestos.

A licensed asbestos contractor was later called in to decontaminate the area, to ensure no further people were put at risk of exposure to the substance.

Rochefort Shugar Ltd. of Tudor House, 16 Cathedral Road, Cardiff were found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £1,500 and with £2,500 costs.

HSE Inspector, Steve Richardson said:

“There are specific rules and laws regarding hazardous substances like asbestos. If we do not enforce these laws, people’s health can be put at serious risk. Asbestos is a known carcinogen, and should be treated with extreme caution.

“Those in charge of maintenance and repair of buildings must ensure work is carried out by competent tradesmen, and that consideration is given to the presence of hazards such as asbestos. More information on risk assessment can be found on the HSE website and the Hidden Killer website.”

Robert Welch 57, from Cardiff, pleaded guilty to all of the charges brought against him.

Councillor Judith Woodman, Cardiff Council Executive Member for Communities, Housing and Social Justice said:  “People in Cardiff and throughout Wales, who have engaged with a loan shark, need to be aware that the Wales Illegal Money Lending Unit is demonstrating success in tackling loan -sharks and helping victims.

“The Wales Illegal Money Lending Unit is working in partnership with other agencies and local authorities throughout Wales to bring an end to the exploitation of some of our most vulnerable members of society.”

Steven Hay, Operational Manager of Wales Illegal Money Lending Unit said: ‘Robert Welch used threats frighten his victims. His actions were despicable and caused great distress to his victims.  Loan sharks prey on the vulnerable in our communities, if anyone needs help or knows anyone who is involved with  a loan shark should contact the Wales Illegal Money Lending Unit on our confidential 24 hour hotline:  0300 123 3311’

Despite a formal public consultation the offices in major cities including London, Manchester, Glasgow, and Cardiff are to close, including award-winning jobcentres such as Camberwell where 2,000 local people signed a petition against its closure. Two offices in the public consultation will not now be closed: Edinburgh City and Old Swan on Merseyside, where there have been concerted PCS campaigns against closure.

The announcement is on top of the 22 benefit processing offices already earmarked for closure over the next year where despite initial assurances from the government there would be no compulsory redundancy there are about 350 people who have not been found jobs.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “It is madness to close jobcentres when unemployment is rising just to save a few quid on the rent. These plans were made on the basis of the government’s inaccurate economic forecasts. They must be shelved so that public employment services can be expanded to meet the challenge of the deepening jobs crisis.”

Jobcentre workers are campaigning against office closures and will lobby their MPs next Wednesday (2 November). Jobcentre Plus has slashed its workforce by more than 12,000 since January 2010 as ministers claimed unemployment would fall.

Last month unemployment rose sharply leading to fears that DWP will not have the capacity to cope. PCS has also criticised the cuts in policy and professional jobs in the department’s headquarters which fall heavily on labour market expertise. Ministers have demanded a further headcount cut on top of large cuts already made, despite announcing the largest programme of welfare reform for a generation.

The closure list is: London Heathrow; London Denmark Street; London Harrow Station Road; London Camberwell; Bluewater Recruitment Centre; Chelmsford Beeches Road; Dundee Gellatly Street; Aberdeen Chapel Street; Girvan; Glasgow Shawlands; Glasgow City; Glasgow Hillington; Aylesbury Heron House; Manchester Airport; Manchester Trafford Centre; Halifax Horton Street; Leicester Highfields and Cardiff Caradog House.

Despite being only 115th in total size of all authorities in England and Wales, the council is 16th in the League of Shame of job cutters with a cut of over a quarter of their staff – a move that unions say threatens not only services, but also the local economy and the prospects of people living in the area. This cut in jobs far and away dwarfs the cuts made by other authorities, even those in the top ten job cutters (see table).

Cardiff comes in at 15th in the Welsh list and 260th worst all authorities in England and Wales.

101,094 jobs have been lost in local authorities in England and Wales since the general election in 2010 as public sector cuts add to unemployment levels according to the latest official figures from the Local Government Association (LGA) a new analysis by GMB, the public services union shows.

At the end of the 1st quarter of 2010 there were a total of 1,584,219 full time equivalent employees working in local government in the non-teacher workforce. At the end of the 2nd quarter of 2011 this figure had dropped by 6.4% to 1,483,124 full time equivalent employees.

Kent County Council tops the list for the highest number of job losses with a cut of 3,107 jobs. Before the general election Kent County Council employed 25,512 full time equivalent staff. At the June 2011 this was down by 3,107 to 22,405. This is a drop of 12.2% on the workforce prior to the election. Next comes Manchester City Council with a cut of 2,549 jobs followed by Norfolk County Council (CC) 2,358, Cornwall CC 2,295, Leicestershire CC 2,291, Devon CC 2,110 and Lancashire CC 2,079. The figures for the top twenty councils are set out in the table below. The figures for 314 English council are set out in ‘Notes To Editors’ below. For the original data contact the LGA.

The data is for those directly employed in the non-teacher workforce. Some of the changes in the data for each council may include the number for staff being transferred from councils or back to councils. Queries regarding figures for individual councils should be raised with the LGA.

You can download the entire list from here.

Barclays customer retentions team leader, Ian Edwards, and twenty two of his colleagues climbed to the peaks of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 13 hours and nine minutes in a 24 hour period.

Ian said: “I have wanted to take on this challenge for some time.  A couple of the guys had climbed one or two of the peaks previously, but climbing all three peaks in one go was something that none of us had done before, so it seemed like the perfect challenge.”

In preparation for the climb, the team spent their weekends training in the Brecon Beacons, as well as clocking up hours in the gym.

Ian continued: “Despite the fact that everyone was tired and sore, the camaraderie kept us all going.  With a challenge like this, knowing how the money raised is going to help vulnerable children get the help and support they need really motivates you.  The NSPCC helps children recover from traumatic experiences every day – they have to climb their own personal mountains. We just climbed three physical ones instead.”

NSPCC corporate fundraising manager for Wales, Nerys Sales, said: “This is a great example of a team working together for a good cause. We are extremely grateful to the Barclays team for choosing to raise such a fantastic amount of money for the NSPCC, which will go a long way to helping local children and young people who are most at risk get the help they need.”

Money raised by the Barclays team will help the NSPCC deliver services at the cutting edge of child protection that deliver real benefits to vulnerable children and their families in Wales. These services will focus on the most acute forms of abuse to bring help and treatment to those children most at risk.

The government has acknowledged concerns raised by the Treasury select committee about a problem with leadership in Revenue and Customs but the continuing drive to cut staff will only worsen the situation, says PCS.

The Treasury committee’s report into the administration and effectiveness of HMRC recognises that hard-working staff continue to do more with less. But the government’s proposals to make further savings will only worsen staff morale and hit efficiency further.

A PCS spokesman said: “If the government is serious about increasing the amount of money collected in taxation and improving efficiency it should invest instead of reducing net costs by 15% by 2014-15.

“Thousands of experienced staff have been lost and the department says it is trying to get the ‘right skills in the right place’ but this is made virtually impossible as it continues the massive programme of office closures. This is compounded by the intention to cut a further 8,000 posts before the end of the spending review period.

“We welcome moves to address leadership skills and create more productive relationships with people in the department but this will not be achieved by looking for further savings through the PaceSetter work-monitoring system and a punitive absence management policy.

“The report says HMRC expects to move over to a face-to-face business model that better targets customers’ needs but the department continues to reduce opening hours and access to local face-to-face contact centres.

“There needs to be a serious commitment to investment in staff across the department.”

On the 21 October 1966, 144 people, 116 of them children, were killed when a tip of coal waste slid onto the village of Aberfan in South Wales.

The history of the tragedy is well documented elsewhere, but briefly for some 50 years up to 1966, millions of cubic metres of excavated mining debris from the National Coal Board’s Merthyr Vale Colliery was deposited on the side of Mynydd Merthyr, directly above the village of Aberfan. Huge piles, or ‘tips’, of loose rock and mining spoil had been built up over a layer of highly porous sandstone that contained numerous underground springs, and several tips had been built up directly over these springs. Although local authorities had raised specific concerns in 1963 about spoil being tipped on the mountain above the village primary school, these were largely ignored by the NCB’s area management.

Early on the morning of Friday, 21 October 1966, after several days of heavy rain, a subsidence of about 3–6 metres occurred on the upper flank of colliery waste tip No. 7. At 9:15 a.m. more than 150,000 cubic metres of water-saturated debris broke away and flowed downhill at high speed. The slide hit the local school and one hundred and sixteen children were killed. In all one hundred and forty-four people died in the incident and it has left a scar on the memories of those of us who remember the day.

I’r rhai a garwn ac y galarwn o’u colli

These are the names of the 116 children who died that day. Remember them.

Amiette Smith
9 years old

Andrew Rees
14 years old

Angela Vaughan Hopkins
7 years old

Angela Williams
8 years old

Anne Catherine Lee
8 years old

Annette Hughes
9 years old

Anthony David Hill
8 years old

Anthony John Sullivan
10 years old

Anthony Joseph Watkins
10 years old

Anthony Wayne England
8 years old

Arthur O’Brien
8 years old

Avis Elizabeth Sullivan
9 years old

Barbara Eileen Murray
9 years old

Brian Davies
8 years old

Brian Michael Gough
9 years old

Carl Minnett
7 years old

Carol Anderson
9 years old

Carol Ann Carpenter
9 years old

Carol Williams
10 years old

Catherine Elizabeth Evans
3 years old

Cheryl Mortimer
8 years old

Christine George
10 years old

Christine Prosser
9 years old

Corwyn Thomas Reakes
10 years old

Daphne May Fudge
8 years old

David Morgan
9 years old

David Paul Roberts
7 years old

David Trefor Davies
10 years old

David William Williams
8 years old

Dennis Arscott
8 years old

Desmond Carpenter
10 years old

Dwynwen Griffiths
9 years old

Edward Clive Mumford
11 years old

Edwin Davies
8 years old

Edwina Bartlett
9 years old

Eryl Mai Jones
10 years old

Gareth Davies
10 years old

Gareth Evans
3 months old

Geoffrey Derek Needs
10 years old

Gillian Gough
8 years old

Gillian Irene Jones
11 years old

Graham Williams
8 years old

Howard David Prosser
9 years old

Howell Lloyd Evans
7 years old

Ian Dougall
9 years old

Jacqueline Powell
8 years old

Janet Jones
9 years old

Jean Launchbury
10 years old

Jean Winifred Evans
11 years old

Jeanette Lynne Brown
10 years old

Jennifer Haines
8 years old

Jill Elizabeth Parfitt
9 years old

John Anthony King
9 years old

John Islwyn Jones
10 years old

Joseph Wilkshire
8 years old

Julie Jeannine Regan
9 years old

Julie Price
8 years old

June Margaret Williams
10 years old

Karen O’Brien
8 years old

Kay Bowns
10 years old

Keith Williams
9 years old

Kelvin David Andrew
10 years old

Kevin Thomas Jones
9 years old

Layton Kerrie Reakes
9 years old

Linda Anderson
10 years old

Linda Hodkinson
8 years old

Lorraine Rosa Isobel Richards
10 years old

Lynn Harding
9 years old

Malcolm Andrew
8 years old

Maralyn Carol Howells
9 years old

Maralyn Minnett
10 years old

Martine Anne Short
9 years old

Maureen Mary Evans
8 years old

Megan Olwen Robbins
10 years old

Merrill Barnard
11 years old

Michael Collins
10 years old

Michael Jones
13 years old

Michael Fitzpatrick
7 years old

Necia James
9 years old

Norma Mumford
10 years old

Pamela Heaman
10 years old

Patricia Probert
12 years old

Paul Davies
8 years old

Paul Jones
9 years old

Peter Collins
10 years old

Peter Williams
10 years old

Philip Mumford
9 years old

Randolph Tudor
10 years old

Raymond John Collins
14 years old

Richard Phillip Goldsworthy
10 years old

Robert Breeze
10 years old

Robert Coffey
14 years old

Robert Garfield Jones
9 years old

Robert George Minney
10 years old

Robert Orville Jones
8 years old

Roger Colin Summers
7 years old

Roger Dyfrig Hayes
9 years old

Royston Barrett
10 years old

Royston Carl Davies
9 years old

Royston Hodkinson
9 years old

Sandra Leyshon
9 years old

Sandra Pauline Donovan
10 years old

Sharon Lewis
9 years old

Sheila Fitzpatrick
13 years old

Stephen Vaughan Hopkins
10 years old

Susan Jones
9 years old

Susan Mary Crotty
10 years old

Susan Meredith
8 years old

Sylvia Frances Richards
9 years old

Terence Malcolm Davies
10 years old

Thomas Probert
7 years old

Trevor Timothy Gray
9 years old

Valmai Mary Owen
8 years old

Victoria Marie Symonds
10 years old

Vincent Clark Parfitt
13 years old

Yvonne Drage
11 years old