A celebration held by PLANED marked the time given by some of its longest serving Trustees who have provided many years of voluntary support, advice, and guidance to various cohorts of the team within the organisation.

Tom Price, Barbara Priest and Gordon Barry were able to attend an afternoon tea event with the current team and other Trustees to celebrate their retirement from PLANED, and reflecting on the huge, positive advances the organisation continues to make and deliver upon.

The longest serving Trustee, Tom Price from Kilgetty, has provided his time freely for PLANED in a variety of roles from Chair to Treasurer over 30 years and attended the event with his wife Brenda.

To celebrate this milestone, PLANED unveiled at the event, a new clock installed on the exterior of the building which is dedicated to Tom, and will be a permanent and welcome reminder of the time he has provided.

Current Chair of the Board of Trustees, Elizabeth Rawlings, commented: “As a Board, we wanted to mark the time of our three former Trustees present here today, as well as noting those who have also recently retired and not sadly able to attend today. The commitment of them all, each bringing unique and welcome skills and support has been invaluable, and much appreciated.”

Iwan Thomas, Chief Executive of PLANED noted: “The organisation that PLANED was when Tom and others first gave their valuable time and support, has considerably evolved and continues to move forward, to where we are now with our new Vision document simply titled “Empowering Communities” launched this summer.”

“How do you mark the considerable time of an individual who has given so much to PLANED?” , Iwan continued. “When we came up with the idea of a clock in Tom’s name on the outside of the building, it was simply inspired! A great permanent and visible reminder of what he, and other Trustees continue to support, in the further development of PLANED regionally.”

PLANED has recently welcomed new Trustees to the Board this year, bringing links to finance, skills, the public sector, heritage and tourism, and the Swansea Bay City Deal. This will further enable and support the continued development of the organisation and its skilled team working with partners in a collaborative, creative, and innovative way to provide sustainable solutions for communities facing an increasingly challenging socio-economic climate.