Return of the Sospan

After a few months absence with his blog locked to readers, its good to see Llanelli Journal's return to the fray. There aren't enough local political blogs in Wales. To a certain extent those of us who blog on an all Wales basis, an UK basis or an European basis are only dealing in theory. Blogs such as Llanelli Journal and Thought of Oscar tell us how those grand theories work in practice, how they really affect local communities, if they help or if they hurt. It is a shame that there aren't many more parochial (in the positive sense of the word) blogs in Wales.

Llanelli's return post deals with the building of The Works Art Center in Llanelli, giving a balanced overview of the pros and the cons. Although I live light years away from Llanelli I find the post very interesting. Many of the cons remind me of the arguments against The North Wales Theater (Venue Cymru now) in Llandudno and Galeri Caernarfon, before they were built.

The objections to such projects often boil down to we haven't had this sort of place before so we obviously don't need it - it's a waste of money, its something for others not for us. However when they are built, and shows that the objectors like are put on, they become an essential part of the local community, they start to belong to the community. When the North Wales Theater was shut down during its transformation into Venue Cymru, many of those who objected to building the place originally were the most vociforous against its temporary closure.

I'm sure that when The Works comes into being it will soon be seen as an essential part of Llanelli's cultural life and will become as big a selling point for west Wales as Galeri and Venue are now to north Wales.