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Troubled times are here  with a deep recession and many, if not most, people struggling with their finances.

No surprise then, that we have to consider very carefully how to proceed with our business strategy; customers require less work and, somehow, seem to think that prices are falling because of the lessened recessionary demand whilst, in fact, our costs are rising dramatically due to the weak pound with almost everything we buy having to from machinery to materials having to be imported.

However, a telephone call from the “Events Manager” at the University of Glamorgan requested us to produce some signage for an event they were holding to raise money for the worthy cause of Comic Relief and a written request soon followed, poorly written and a sad reflection of the current educational standards.

We agreed to donate a banner for the event.

Our time in dealing with the enquiry, designing the banner and the material costs were all provided free of charge.

And the result?

The banner is sat here in front of me.  The event has come and gone.

The “Events Manager” could not even be bothered to collect the banner from us, despite reminders in the forms of telephone calls and e-mail. Not so much as a word of apology for not not doing so!

We note that other Comic Relief events were a great success this year and, despite their shortcomings, we hope this one was too.

Will we be supporting other charitable events in the future?

We hope so – but we doubt they will be connected with the University of Glamorgan!

You really couldn’t make this up!

BBC Wales News began their report last night (March 5) with two headlines.

The first story told us how The Welsh Assembly Government plans to spend an incredible £42 million refurbishing part of it’s buildings in Cardiff.

The next story showed a film of a 3 year old boy suffering from cerebral palsy, dragging himself across the floor, unable to walk and in need of a wheelchair.

According to the BBC :

A total of 53 adults and children have been waiting for an assessment which will allow them to receive wheelchairs.

One child has been waiting for 20 months ……..

And yet, an astonishing £100,000 is being spent simply on PLANS for the Assembly redecorations!

How many disabled people could be helped  just with the money squandered on those plans?

We all read stories about gang culture, knife crime, graffitti and vandalism in the press and become almost accustomed to the view that the young people of these times are a bad lot, beyond redemption.

Indeed, although living in a relatively peaceful area, we have been filled with consternation when out walking our dogs at the sight of  “hoodies”  approaching at speed on bicycles along the pavement.  Almost invariably though, when we have pulled our dogs in to protect them, the said “hoodies” have shouted a very polite  “Thank you” for letting them pass!

We were interested then to read a post on a business forum we  frequent about Cardiff born Craig Burrows who now lives in nearby Rhydyfelin, Pontypridd.

Craig was troubled by vandals who threw stones at his house and took  the somewhat unusual approach of  chasing the youths involved  and, rather than dishing out his own “rough justice” or handing them over to the police, he questioned them about their actions.

The story can be read in more detail in an article published at the Wales Online website but suffice to say that the youths reaction inspired Craig to set up The ‘Streetz’ Project aimed at giving children from the age of 11 to 16 the chance to learn new talents in their local area, hopefully preventing the boredom which so many seem to complain of  and deterring them from entering into vandalism and progressing to other crimes.

Craig has big things planned for The ‘Streetz’ Project and we aim to provide a little sponsorship where possible.

Visit the Streetz site to read more about it.