Swansea’s Ty Laura short breaks marks Action for Children 150th birthday with time capsule

• Former Swansea children’s home resident Clive Williams helps bury time capsule

Action for Children’s Ty Laura Short Breaks service in Swansea, which provides respite care and support for children and young people who have learning or physical disabilities and their families, celebrated the charity’s 150th birthday on Tuesday 9th by burying a time capsule at their Newton home. They were joined by Clive Williams, a former Killay House resident as a poem, We Are There by staff member, Daniel Roberts was read out to mark the occasion.

Ty Laura’s registered manager, Shelley Pearce said: ‘The time capsule idea was a little bit retro and different. I thought it would be a nice opportunity for all the staff to come together and write something or bring something that reflected how they felt about Action for Children. The capsule includes little stars with things that the children said they liked about the service. There were toys in there from the children, cuttings from the garden and a memory stick with a slide show about the history from Killay House to Ty Laura today.

‘I really can’t believe we’re 150 but what spurred me on was when Action for Children were on the One Show and trying to find families. I saw something about how staff were told to treat the children like being a role model but above all love will be your gift to the children and after 150 years, our goal is still the same thing. I think it’s amazing that the ethos of Action for Children has remained the same for that length of time.

Clive Williams, from Swansea, said: ‘I’ve been associated with the National Children’s Home (NCH) as it was, since 1959 as a resident of Killay House. I then became involved with what was known as the Association of Friends of Killay House, the Swansea branch of the NCH. I got involved with fundraising and publicity to raise the profile of the NCH in Swansea and further afield and was elected onto the NCH Council.

‘It’s been wonderful talking to Shelley as she wasn’t aware of the past because the Ty Laura site used to be a camp field and the children at Killay House would come here and sleep in tents in the Summer. It’s been a real trip down memory lane for me. Action for Children did a lot for me and I think because of what it did for me, I repaid with what I did with fundraising and publicity generating.’

Shelley added: ‘It was so nice having Clive here and lovely speaking to him as it made me fit the pieces together from where we started to where we are now, and he just remembers everything from that time and has so many pictures, it’s amazing.’