Chief Executive Update
Neil Kinnerly • April 9, 2020
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Below, the Chief Executive writes his thoughts on how the Town Council are facing the current crisis, our support for the local food bank and how we can all pull together during these difficult times:
Hi everyone and a Happy Easter to you all. I trust the coming few days will be enjoyable for you despite the current restrictions that we are all experiencing. It certainly is a very strange period for many of us and this Easter holiday will be like none other I suspect. Like many of you I will be missing spending time with my sons, their partners and our gorgeous granddaughters but we will be following government advice to stay indoors to protect others and in our small way to help ease the pressure on the NHS.
The Town Council has been through a period of steep change in recent weeks and like so many other organisations we are adjusting to all that this means for our staff and our working practises. A number of our activities have been significantly scaled back and we are adapting to video conferencing and using technology a lot more. I thought it would be good to tell you about one of the things we have been doing which is working with and supporting Pontypridd Foodbank and our local supermarkets to ensure that the most vulnerable among us are cared for and have enough to eat. We are partnering with Cllr Andrew Morgan and his teams at RCT Council along with Mandy and her team at the foodbank to ensure that stocks of food which had reduced in recent weeks are kept high enough to meet increased demand. Last week the foodbank fed nearly six times more people in a week than in the same period a year ago! This is scary but not unsurprising as many people have lost their jobs or are finding life challenging at the moment. Coming on top of the recent floods it does seem that Pontypridd and the surrounding area has had more than its fair share of challenges recently. As you will see from the photos Mandy and her team are continuing their brilliant work (whilst keeping 2m apart as much as possible) and have moved to delivering food parcels rather than people calling to the foodbank which reduces travel, the number of visitors and the chances of infection. The wonderful folk at TraVol Community Transport are using their fleet of vehicles and their volunteers to deliver the parcels on behalf of the foodbank … so massive thanks to them.
So why write this short message? Well, firstly, to say a huge thank you and well done to all those community groups – such as the foodbank – who are caring for and serving their communities at this difficult time. The wonderful spirit and desire to help that I saw during the flooding and in recent weeks has moved me once again. I love how our communities look after their own and want to make sure no one goes without. Secondly, and importantly, to ask for your help. When you go shopping in the coming days/weeks please remember to put a little something in the foodbank collection points (the big baskets near the tills). Donations have been down recently because of limits on what can be purchased and because people are naturally concerned for their own families. However, please – if you are able – buy an extra couple of tins (e.g. fish, meat, fruit, veg, potatoes, UHT milk) or packets (e.g. mash) of something and put it in the collection points near the tills. You just don’t know what a difference that will make to someone who is unable to put food on the table for their families at the moment.
Thanks for reading and again … have a restful and blessed Easter weekend.”
Tony Graham
Chief Executive/Town Clerk – Pontypridd Town Council
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