13-YEAR-OLD diabetes sufferer Jarvis Braddon Thomas is well on the way to becoming a ‘souper’ celebrity speaker.

Two weeks ago Jarvis, from The Green, Pembroke, co-hosted an informal evening at Pembroke Rugby Club with ‘Diathlete’ diabetic athlete Gavin Griffiths, and more recently he presented the work of the local diabetic support group in such a winning way that he garnered most votes at the latest Pembroke Soup.

Pembroke Soup is a local fund-raising and information sharing initiative organised by Joan Marsh and several other volunteers.

“It’s a bi-monthly event,” Joan said “which aims to raise funds for, and awareness of local community projects.

“Entrance is £4 and those attending are offered a choice of soup and crusty bread (kindly donated by the Co-op). After a short presentation by each of four invited groups the audience is asked to choose the organisation they wish to receive the monies collected that particular day.”

Joan added: “In addition to the local diabetes group, at this month’s event we had representatives from the St Govan’s Coastguard, Flowers for Pembroke Station and the local branch of CAP (Christians against Poverty).

“As always, we were delighted with all that took place and we were thrilled to be able to give Jarvis a gift of £145 to help his group develop their educational and inspirational work here in Pembrokeshire. I would encourage everyone I can to find out more to see how they could these local initiatives.”

Voicing his enthusiasm for Pembroke Soup Mayor Dennis Evans said the town council had shown its support for the project by donating £150 to help with administrative costs.

“It’s a pleasure to be invited as the official guest,” said Cllr Evans. “This is a very, very good enterprise. It’s a brilliant idea. In fact I’ll repeat what I have said before: it is a ‘souper’ idea which I am sure is going to 'mushroom'. But to be serious, it’s a great way for smaller organisations to let people know exactly what they are doing, and a great opportunity for networking.”

The next Pembroke Soup takes place on October 8.