Archive for December, 2009

Please come to the next discussion on Wednesday 6 Jan 6.30pm in the White Lion

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Please come to the next discussion on Wednesday 6 Jan 6.30pm in the White Lion upstairs at the first Keep Mach Special get-together of 2010. We hope many people can come, with some renewed enthusiasm after the break. Please pass this on to anyone you think may be interested.

On the agenda:

  • how to spend the pledge money Mark’s asked for (some has been spent already, eg putting the packs for councillors together, sending dvds of the S4C programme; some will go on legal advice, but who can say how much yet? Other ideas?).
    - Preparing for the planning committee meeting. Powys planning committee apparently is gathering in Mach to decide the application of Tescos and the Co-op on Tuesday 12 January. If anyone knows the time, please tell us. It’s not on the Powys Planning website.

Offers to facilitate are welcome. Croeso i bawb - Welcome all.

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Will Lloyd

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

[David writes] I felt privileged that Will Lloyd invited me to his annual prize-giving party in his abattoir on Tuesday.

Will would make a good stand-up comic as well as champion for local food, as he mixed his praise and support for local suppliers with plenty of laughs, after a great buffet and drinks. Much of his excellent produce is sourced locally and was judged by an English judge to be of top quality. The judge also said how lucky local farmers were to have a buyer like Will  - who paid good prices promptly! A supermarket could never guarantee the same terms.
As a businessman carrying on a family business Will will always try to make the best of any situation, but it’s clear where his heart lies. He told me today he’s trying to create allotment land for John the Rock and advancing plans for a terrace of affordable, solar-powered eco-houses on some of his 40 acres of land by the railway, raised on stilts with the garages overhead.
Even if I’m not generally a meat eater, I support the local abattoir, one of the very few left in Wales (3 I think) - important for reducing food miles and the risk of infections spreading fast, as well as for a thriving and resilient local culture.

In November there was an S4C current affairs programme, Byd ar Bedwar, about Tesco moving into rural Wales - a strong focus on Machynlleth, and lots of Felix Gummer squirming in the spotlight… Will the butcher speaks against the development and they show how the high street in Ruthin has suffered since Tesco opened. Powys County Council refused to be interviewed. We have a copy of the DVD if anyone wants to borrow it - S4C has now taken it off their website,

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