A Swansea Valley mental health centre may have to axe services after its funding was slashed by 15 percent.

Ystradgynlais Mind is a day facility providing much-needed support for people whose problems range from depression to schizophrenia.

How unfortunate, then, that it now may have to reduce the number of days it is open.

With the country on the brink of recession, examples of belt-tightening are now all around us.

But the case of a group such as Ystradgynlais Mind is particularly disturbing.

As some of the people who attend the group point out, this is more than just a day centre – it is more like a second home.

***************** But if times are indeed getting tougher – with reports that child poverty is on the increase – they surely cannot be as grim as the dark days of 1944 as the families in the Coal House at War BBC TV series are starting to discover.

Poor Rose and Howell Griffiths, of Gwaun Cae Gurwen, experienced the rough side of an ARP warden’s tongue for having the temerity to open their front door during the blackout.

Then Garnant mum-of-four Natalie Paisey shed a few tears when confronted with the harsh reality of feeding four youngsters under the age of nine on a solitary wage.

Of course the crucial difference is that the Coal House families know they will be returning to the comforts of the 21st century by the end of this month.