Stamps

RENOWNED wildlife artist David Miller of St Clears has designed a series of Royal Mail stamps launched last week.

David, who lives in New Mill near St Clears and specialises in birds and fish, is a client of the Dewis Menter project run by Carmarthenshire County Council.

On 5 June 2014, World Environment Day, Royal Mail is focusing on the issue of sustainable fishing, highlighting the fact that a number of familiar species fished in UK waters are severely threatened due to factors including overfishing, and informing customers of sustainable alternatives.

The 10 special stamps feature beautiful illustrations by David Miller: five of the more sustainable species living in British waters – herring, red gurnard, dab, pouting and Cornish sardine – and five species that fall into the endangered category – common skate, spiny dogfish, wolffish, sturgeon and conger eel – which should be avoided by consumers. All of the fish have been depicted in their natural environments.

Business development officer Barry Hale from Economic Development’s Business Services and his project Dewis Menter has supported David to access funding through the Local Investment Fund as well as help to raise his profile and identify new routes to markets throughout the UK.

David said: “I’m delighted to have been given this opportunity. It’s a real honour. It is nice to be involved in a project promoting conservation.

“Dewis Menter and Barry have been fantastic and we have had new camera equipment and a new computer which we could not have afforded otherwise, things the business really needed to move on.”

Barry said: “David’s artwork is of exceptional quality and with a bit of support with sales and marketing, he can maximise his profile and take advantage of the opportunities available to him in a number of new marketplaces.

“It is an excellent achievement for David to secure the commission by an organisation as large as Royal Mail, and I am sure this will be a springboard to further success.”

RDP Sir Gar’s Dewis Menter project, run by Carmarthenshire County Council’s Business Services section, aims to encourage enterprise and business development for individuals and businesses throughout rural Carmarthenshire with an extensive package of support. The service is free and includes one-to-one mentoring, topical workshops and enterprise groups for budding entrepreneurs.

The project has been funded by RDP Sir Gâr through the Rural Development Plan for Wales 2007-2013 which is funded by the Welsh Government and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

Executive board member for regeneration and leisure Cllr Meryl Gravell said: “It’s great that a Carmarthenshire artist has been chosen to do the illustrations for these stamps which will be seen and used by so many people.

“Once again our officers in Dewis Menter have provided support for a small entrepreneur, it seems to be working extremely well, and I want to wish David Miller al the best for the future.”