Regular readers of my column and keen followers of comedy will already be up to speed on the Neath Comedy Festival, which started last Thursday and continues throughout the whole of July.

As a performer and an avid supporter of live entertainment, you may have noticed that I am passionate about encouraging local talent. The festival started last week and I witnessed two of my local comedy chums, Paul James and Ignacio Lopez, kick off the event in style, to a standard that you would currently be hard pushed to match anywhere in the UK.

These events are exceptionally good at generating revenue for the local community and indeed arts as a whole. As a result of the opening night’s performances many more tickets were purchased for the shows that follow in the next few weeks