West Wales builder donates cash to boost artist’s fundraising drive

A leading West Wales house builder has donated £1,000 to help a keen artist in his fundraising drive for Prostate Cymru.

Persimmon Homes West Wales has given the cash to Cefn Sidan Rotary Club, which will in turn make a four-figure donation to Prostate Cymru.

Rotarian Godfrey Rees made the application for money as he recently held an art exhibition featuring some of his work. The event raised almost £2,000 in an hour, which will be added to the money from Persimmon Homes and presented shortly.

Prostate Cymru is a voluntary group dedicated to fighting Prostate Cancer, procuring equipment and raising awareness in Wales.

Artist Godfrey, 75, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that Persimmon Homes West Wales has donated this money.

“Prostate Cymru is the chosen charity of the year for Cefn Sidan Rotary Club. I painted 50 oil paintings in 11 months and held an affordable picture show in April, where people were able to buy my work for reduced prices.

“I suffered blindness for 30 months in 1997 and needed new lenses in both eyes. I am also a kidney transplant patient, so this was my way of putting something back into the community.”

Sharon Robinson, of Persimmon West Wales, said Community Champions was a way of supporting people across every city, town and village where the company works.

She said: “We are very proud to hand over this donation to Cefn Sidan Rotary Club as part of its Prostate Cymru fundraising efforts.

“Annually throughout the UK men’s prostate cancer claims 11,000 lives, with up to 32,000 new cases diagnosed. Anything we can do to help reduce that number has to be a good thing.”

The Persimmon Community Champions initiative is a national programme where charities and groups can apply for funding up to the value of £1,000 to match money they have already raised themselves.  Nationwide the company will donate a total of £750,000.

Sharon said: “We’ve made it really simple to apply for funding, and we’re urging groups and charities to apply for next month’s donation by completing an online form at www.persimmonhomes.com/charity.”

Persimmon West Wales has developments across the region, including in Milford Haven, Pembroke, Llanelli and Swansea.

For more information visit www.persimmonhomes.com

Photo Caption: Godrey Rees (Cefn Sidan Rotary Club), Ethne Phillips (Vice President of Llanelli Art Society) and John Daniels (Trustee of Prostate Cymru).