4theRegion Launches Five-Year Programme to Transform South West Wales
4theRegion, a community interest company committed to driving positive change across South West Wales, has announced a five-year transformation plan.
The organisation, which unveiled the strategic plan at its Annual General Meeting, said it marked a 'bold new chapter' for South West Wales, focused on connection, collaboration, and community-led development.
Building on over eight years of stakeholder engagement and cross-sector collaboration, the new programme aims to unlock the region's potential, from its resilient communities and proud local heritage to its entrepreneurial spirit and emerging green economy.
Dawn Lyle, Managing Director of 4theRegion, said:
'Our vision based on five key strategic priorities will allow us to focus on supporting people, businesses and organisations within our region to work together towards a happier, healthier South West Wales with a thriving economy, to ultimately flourish.
'We've been disempowered as a society due to a variety of factors, but the future of our region is in our hands. Transformation will happen when we all work towards a shared vision with shared values, it's a whole-system approach to addressing the challenges and opportunities we face, and everyone has a part to play.'
The programme is built around five interconnected missions, each designed to tackle key challenges while fostering local strength and opportunity including: Stronger Local Supply Chains, Backing Community Action, Youth Empowerment, Positive News & Local Media and Green Economy.
Regional steering groups will guide the delivery of the five missions, with projects and activities building on existing strengths of businesses and organisations in 4theRegion's network.
Danial Ahern, General Manager at Alpha Safety, a local training provider and 4theRegion member, said:
'4theRegion speaks for a lot of the same ethos and values that we're about as a business. It's about lifting others and empowering others through collaboration and giving back. Keeping it local essentially just allows us to build those networks and build stronger connections.
'Training and upskilling others needs to start at youth-level so you can start to imprint those values to drive skills with the idea to hopefully create more action across the other values and keep learners within the area.'
More than 80 businesses were represented by business leaders and individuals in attendance at the AGM, many of which are 4theRegion members and supporters.
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Business News Wales
a day ago
- Business News Wales
4theRegion Launches Five-Year Programme to Transform South West Wales
4theRegion, a community interest company committed to driving positive change across South West Wales, has announced a five-year transformation plan. The organisation, which unveiled the strategic plan at its Annual General Meeting, said it marked a 'bold new chapter' for South West Wales, focused on connection, collaboration, and community-led development. Building on over eight years of stakeholder engagement and cross-sector collaboration, the new programme aims to unlock the region's potential, from its resilient communities and proud local heritage to its entrepreneurial spirit and emerging green economy. Dawn Lyle, Managing Director of 4theRegion, said: 'Our vision based on five key strategic priorities will allow us to focus on supporting people, businesses and organisations within our region to work together towards a happier, healthier South West Wales with a thriving economy, to ultimately flourish. 'We've been disempowered as a society due to a variety of factors, but the future of our region is in our hands. Transformation will happen when we all work towards a shared vision with shared values, it's a whole-system approach to addressing the challenges and opportunities we face, and everyone has a part to play.' The programme is built around five interconnected missions, each designed to tackle key challenges while fostering local strength and opportunity including: Stronger Local Supply Chains, Backing Community Action, Youth Empowerment, Positive News & Local Media and Green Economy. Regional steering groups will guide the delivery of the five missions, with projects and activities building on existing strengths of businesses and organisations in 4theRegion's network. Danial Ahern, General Manager at Alpha Safety, a local training provider and 4theRegion member, said: '4theRegion speaks for a lot of the same ethos and values that we're about as a business. It's about lifting others and empowering others through collaboration and giving back. Keeping it local essentially just allows us to build those networks and build stronger connections. 'Training and upskilling others needs to start at youth-level so you can start to imprint those values to drive skills with the idea to hopefully create more action across the other values and keep learners within the area.' More than 80 businesses were represented by business leaders and individuals in attendance at the AGM, many of which are 4theRegion members and supporters.
Daily Mail
14-06-2025
- Daily Mail
JEFF PRESTRIDGE: I love looking fund managers in the eye - and so should you
Although it's not every investor's cup of tea, meeting those who manage investment funds that you hold in your Isa or pension can be both enlightening and reassuring. Some investment companies, such as Guinness Global Investors, go out of their way to engage with customers. Others are not interested – more fool them. Guinness holds regular events where investors in its funds get the chance to meet the managers, learn how things are going and the investment outlook. I went to one of these 18 months ago, held at the posh Fortnum & Mason store in London. Managers of its Global Equity Income fund 'sang' for their proverbial supper (tea and finger sandwiches) before taking questions from investors. For those present, it was a far more enjoyable – and informative – experience than reading though a fund factsheet, that's for sure. Some stock market-listed investment trusts also do their bit by turning annual general meetings (AGMs) into investor-friendly events. Just over a week ago I had the privilege of attending the AGM of trust India Capital Growth as an observer. While the meeting was held in a bland office near St Pancras International station in central London, the slating rain outside gave the occasion a monsoon-like feel, as becoming a fund investing in Indian equities (I arrived looking like a drowned rat). A super buffet of Indian cuisine was served up afterwards, though I was only able to snatch a vegetable samosa before heading off to meet a deadline on the winter fuel payment U-turn. I would have died for a bowl of the red lentil dhal with chilli and coriander that I could still smell as I searched outside for a Santander cycle to jump on and take me west. As with all AGMs, there were some tedious but necessary procedures to get through. Yet the 30 shareholders present heard a decent presentation from manager Gaurav Narain on the £150 million fund. Over the past five years the trust has managed to make bagfuls of cash for shareholders – returns of 244 per cent – though over the past year gains have been modest at 2.9 per cent. To his credit, Narain did not sugar-coat anything, laying out both the positives (the world's fourth largest economy with massive ongoing investment into infrastructure) and negatives (a highly valued stock market). He also answered a raft of intelligent questions from shareholders on everything from the portfolio's liquidity (the fund invests in a tight number of mid and small cap Indian stocks), the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs on Indian trade with the United States, and India's controversial – and continued – purchase of oil from Russia. I also asked a question about whether the trust would at some stage be able to issue new shares, grow and drive down the annual charges – a rather expensive 1.6 per cent. Elisabeth Scott, the trust's chair, said that was the board's goal – though given the fund's shares currently stand at a near 7 per cent discount, it will not be happening soon. A question also came in from someone watching the AGM online. If you hold shares in an investment trust, I do encourage you to attend its AGM. You will learn a lot about the people attempting to make money on your behalf. One final point. A big thank-you to the shareholder who congratulated me on the quality of my Wealth journalism as I was leaving the AGM. If it was you, please drop me an email as I would be delighted to send you a bottle of bubbles. In journalism, criticism is received in abundance (I'm not moaning) but praise is such a rare commodity these days. Artemis proves itself yet again UK equity income fund Artemis Income has just celebrated its 25th anniversary – and what a fine job it has done for investors. Since launching in June 2000 it has turned £1,000 into £8,788, a 779 per cent increase. To put this into perspective, an equivalent investment in the FTSE All Share would have delivered a 264 per cent gain. The £5 billion fund invests in UK businesses that generate strong cashflows that the market undervalues. Artemis says the fund is a 'poster child for active management' with a 'disciplined, robust and repeatable investment process'. In other words, it does what an index tracking fund can't do – and that is outperform the market. Last month I included Artemis Income among the top 20 funds I have analysed for this section's fund focus slot over the years. I said it 'represents a Steady Eddie play on the UK stock market'. Artemis is an outstanding investment house where fund managers put their money where their mouth is – investing in the funds they run. Artemis Income is one of its shiniest fund lights. More bank branches close Another week, another round of bank closures. This time it's NatWest's turn to wield the axe on 52 branches and three 'mobile' branches – with most shutting in the autumn. These come on top of 53 closures the bank is currently in the middle of carrying out. Despite a passionate debate ten days ago in the Commons on the wreckage that closures cause to communities, it seems nobody in government or the regulatory world gives a fig. Personal banking services are disappearing from our high streets at a rapid rate of knots as the banks shove us towards faceless mobile banking. For those not prepared to go down that impersonal route, it leaves us with limited options: using a Post Office, a building society offering banking services (Nationwide springs to mind), a banking hub (if one exists) or travelling further afield to find a bank branch still open. Terribly depressing. Look, Rachel... a great idea! Between now and the Budget I will be spending a big chunk of my working hours writing about the likely tax hikes coming our way to pay for the Chancellor's £2.2 trillion spending binge. Hopefully I will help you mitigate some of them. But Rachel from Accounts needs to do her bit too by discouraging people from making decisions that harm their long-term finances. In particular, she needs to come clean soonest on whether she intends to clamp down on the right of people to take 25 per cent tax-free cash from their pension – subject to a maximum of £268,275. Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at platform AJ Bell, urges her to announce a 'pensions tax lock' that rules out changes to tax-free cash and pension tax relief for the rest of this Parliament. It's the soundest 'tax' idea I have heard since Rachel from Accounts took residence at Number 11 Downing Street. Khalaf for Chancellor, I say.
The Herald Scotland
14-06-2025
- The Herald Scotland
What future for Albion Rovers, a storied name of the past?
Unfortunately, for the people the club means the most to, it has come to represent something else entirely over the last few years. Crisis. Relegation. In-fighting. And very nearly, oblivion. 'There's no point in sugarcoating it,' said director Ben Kearney. 'Our approach was just to be honest, which is probably the healthy thing to do. I don't think anybody expected it, that we were just so open to the world in terms of how f****d we were. But I think in a weird roundabout way, it's actually worked out, and not too badly in the end. 'At first, I don't think people were very happy. But I think the fans appreciated that eventually.' (Image: Ciaran Reid)Some context. Rovers were relegated to the Lowland League, the fifth tier of the SPFL pyramid, two years ago. There were no parachute payments, and SPFL prize money has been sorely missed. Crowds have remained steady enough, but can't compensate for that loss of revenue. And it gets worse. To say that the ownership of Rovers is a complicated business is rather like saying the bold, aforementioned Kasule – who came to be known as 'Vodka Vic' - was a wee bit fond of the bevvy. It is suspected that around half of the shares in the club, which were first issued over 100 years ago, are now dormant and untraceable, with the original recipients long dead. The biggest single shareholder (with around 20 percent of the non-dormant shares) is former Scottish FA employee Anton Fagan, son of former owner Tom Fagan, who is the Trappist Monk of silent partners. He does though hold sway over key board appointments, with huge controversy and no little anger sparked by (what was largely his) veto of the reappointment of businessman Stuart Black, Head of Operations of Northwind Leisure, to the club's board at last December's AGM. Cue the resignation of director Margaret Rizza, as well as statements from Rizza and then Black being published on the club's official website savaging Fagan, warning of the club's 'dire financial situation', and beseeching him to present an alternative plan to Black's strategy of turning the Rovers into a 'sustainable Lowland League club'. 'I think the problem for me, and I've always been very open about this, is I would just wish people would be involved,' said Kearney. 'If you have a large shareholder in the club, make your involvement clear. Come and talk to the board of directors, let us know what you want to do, what you think the club's going to do. Have a conversation with us. 'But if there's no contact and we don't have that kind of dialogue, then it is difficult because you are always thinking, 'what's around the corner?' 'One of the main problems we've had is trying to get people on the board of directors, it's nigh on impossible, because no one wants to go on a board of directors that doesn't really have any power. (Image: Ciaran Reid)'And in truth we don't, because at the end of the day, when it comes along to the AGM every year, there's a chance that you could just be voted off. It goes to a poll vote, someone who's got most of the power, it can only go the way that they want it to, which is difficult. 'When you think of what happened last year, we had the situation where someone was put up for the board of directors who we felt was doing a great job, someone who had experience, who has a background high up in Soccer World, who own loads of places across Scotland. 'If people are actually involved in this type of thing - community football, running camps, stuff like that, someone who's got that experience, and also someone who's just experienced helping run a business - a massive business - and then for whatever reason, he doesn't get voted on, that is difficult. 'But people always say that that's the one thing holding Albion Rovers back. I don't think that's fair. I think what's held Albion Rovers back is the club hasn't been run well enough from top to bottom for years and years and years.' As Kearney says, in the absence of that clarity from their largest shareholder, he and his fellow directors were faced with a stark choice; either admit defeat and watch their beloved club whither and die, or come up with their own plan to make Rovers an indisputable asset to the Coatbridge community. 'I think one thing that I've always said from the outset when I joined the board, which probably isn't what most other people say, is I've kind of put [the ownership issue] to one side,' he said. 'My opinion on that is that there's no point trying to change something that you can't change. And I think the structure of a football club is something that would be very difficult to change. 'So, what can we do? Well, I think it's very easy to say you're a community club. We are a community club in the aspect of we've got a lot of older fans, we've got a community trust that does great work. We have walking groups and things like that, and we do stuff with the Prince's Trust and all of these type of things. 'But in terms of the actual football club itself, our community trust do a great job, our supporters trust do a good job, but in terms of the football club, over the years has it even done what I think would be simple stuff? 'One thing we're doing at the moment is we're talking to different local teams about partnering up with them to see if we can have an Albion Rovers umbrella, as such, under the first team. It's things like that. Can you really call yourself a community club if you don't actually have community teams? I don't think you can. 'I think the goal for the club in the medium term is can we get to a point where we can somehow get an artificial surface that allows us to turn Cliftonhill into Coatbridge's community hub. 'Can we have a situation where we've got an Albion Rovers community club that have got loads of younger players, loads of younger teams? Can we have an Albion Rovers women's team at one point that's going to play in the Scottish women's football system, all these things? (Image: Ciaran Reid)'That's the type of goal we want to get to. That it isn't just about the first team. Actually, you can be a sustainable, community club. There are loads of these types of clubs that have got that kind of infrastructure in place. 'It probably doesn't sound as sexy as saying, 'oh, we want to try and get into the SPFL and League Two and push for League One'. Actually, that's probably a wee bit further away, and there has to be an honesty in that.' Honesty, and more pertinently, transparency around finances in Scottish football is a hot-button issue, with the troubles faced by other clubs such as Dumbarton, Inverness and Stenhousemuir bringing the debate over whether an independent regulator is required to oversee things like the distribution of finances in the game back into the game's consciousness. 'I really do think it's a precarious time for Scottish football clubs,' Kearney said. 'I don't think we're the only club that's got problems with money, I think we're probably one of the only ones that have been so candid about it. I think you'd struggle to find a club that's got a lot of money sitting in the bank and feels quite positive about where the next few months are going to go. 'I think a lot of clubs are looking the other way, which is how can they survive for another year, which is kind of a sad indictment, it really is. 'It is interesting, the question of an independent regulator. I know there's a lot of clubs that are really for it. In an ideal world, I think having an independent regulator would help, but whether it would actually be something that's achievable, I'm not sure. 'The Lowland League clubs actually met with Maree Todd, the Minister for Sport, last year, and that was one of the topics that we had brought up. At the time, she did seem genuinely interested in the Lowland League's message, but the message that we got back was that England was a different kettle of fish from Scotland, and I didn't get any vibe from the room that it would be coming down the line any time soon. 'I don't see it being something that will happen in Scotland to be honest, because of the various factors that would make it difficult. Do I think in the long run it would be something beneficial? Yes, probably. 'But it's the same as anything, when you have bodies making decisions, people are going to say this or that. If you can take that away and have an independent body that's going to decide something, that's always going to be beneficial. But whether it would actually work in Scotland, I don't know. 'I was talking to Linlithgow Rose president John Mahoney and he actually made a good point. It could be some sort of ombudsman, it doesn't have to be as big as England, it could be something of a smaller scale. But it's someone independent of everyone else who you can go to with a problem. 'Something like that to me sounds great, but whether it would actually happen or not, I'm not sure.' Back at Rovers, as well as cuts to the salaries of manager Sandy Clark and assistant George Paterson, cutting their cloth has meant trying to piece together a competitive team who will play only for expenses. But this is viewed by Kearney as necessary steps back in order to eventually take a step forward. (Image: Ciaran Reid)'A lot of soul searching has been required, and we needed that,' he said. 'I think the problem for Albion Rovers when we first went down was that we tried to still be at that SPFL level. Actually, when you look at the infrastructure of the club, where we are, do we deserve to be anywhere above the Lowland League? Probably not at this moment in time. 'Until you can actually become a club that can run sustainably in the Lowland League, let's not try and think about getting back to the SPFL, because you're not going to get there anyway. You're just going to waste money that you don't have. 'I think having Sandy is massive, I really do. It's key that the football club have someone at the helm who's got that real experience in football. We've got someone who really understands the game, has lots of contacts, even simple things like the new co-operation system that's coming into play. 'Having a pro licence manager who knows just about everyone in Scotland when they're going down the route, and maybe you're going to have younger guys in the team that are going to be on loan from other football clubs, it's massive. 'He's bought into the whole project. He's been a massive support to the current board of directors and the previous board as well. I think he really gets the football club, and it is massive to have someone of that kind of stature involved. 'It would be very easy for Sandy to just call it a day, and it's the same for his assistant George too, which says a lot about them as characters.' The co-operation agreements that Kearney references could, he believes, be a fruitful avenue for Rovers to explore, and he is hopeful that an agreement with a club higher up the ladder can soon be finalised. 'We've spoken to a good few clubs,' he said. 'Sandy would kill me if I told you who! But Sandy's got some good friends in the game, there's plenty of clubs he's spoken to already and we're quite well down the line with that, which is helpful. 'I think it's a good thing. That's something I think will really help. I think it's the type of road Scottish football needs to go down. I certainly think it will benefit clubs like Albion Rovers, clubs that are willing to give younger players a chance. 'We've got that record of bringing younger guys on loan and letting them go on to better things. So, I think that will really help. 'Sandy's been in contact with a couple of Premiership teams and I think the response he's had has been wholly positive, so I'm sure before the start of this season we'll certainly have an agreement with someone that will be beneficial for both clubs.' Some reasons to be optimistic then perhaps, at long last, for fans of the wee Rovers, who have remained steadfastly loyal throughout their club's recent tribulations. It is for them that Kearney feels the collective responsibility, along with the rest of the board, in giving them a club to be proud of again. He is certainly proud of their own response to adversity, rallying around their club by signing up to the 'Rovers Return' funding initiative in large numbers, where for a monthly payment, you can gain benefits like having your name on the team jerseys, while helping to secure the club's future. 'I reckon Albion Rovers could play in the West of Scotland's 4th Division and the same people would still come because it's just part of their lives, part of their Saturday,' he said. (Image: Ciaran Reid) 'Which is amazing really, because you'd think people would eventually get bored or whatever, but obviously it just shows Albion Rovers has got to be a way of life, almost. 'It's still Albion Rovers. It really is a special football club. In terms of Scottish football, I don't think there are many more clubs that have got that kind of brand recognition, almost. 'We don't have to do a lot for people to know that we are what we are. When you come to the stadium, it's iconic. Everybody knows about the place. 'That is something that's really helpful actually. I think that is a big bonus. It really is something to kind of hold on to, that history and identity we've got, and that's something we'll always do.' The name of Albion Rovers may mean something slightly different in the future, then, but that might not necessarily be a bad thing. It still means something.
