Rhiwbina Living Issue 50

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Rhiwbina Living 

At the heart of the community 

Issue 50 Summer ‘20 

Your multi award-winning magazine for Rhiwbina

a: 222 Pantbach Road, 

Rhiwbina, Cardiff CF14 6AG 

t: 07772 081775 / 07974 022920 

w: www.livingmags.co.uk 

e: editor@livingmags.co.uk or 

danielle@livingmags.co.uk 

Distribution: 6,000 copies of Rhiwbina Living are 

personally delivered by us to every house in the 

Rhiwbina ward four times a year in line with the 

seasons. We also distribute to local shops 

2 

Inside this issue 

Interview 

Meet Rhiwbina 

financial adviser 

Joel, who set 

up an online 

band called the 

Lockdown Buddy 

Band 

Green Mile 

Movement 

The brotherhood 

that's pushing to 

improve men's 

mental and 

physical health 

Northern 

Meadows 

Find out how 

a campaign 

is fighting to 

save precious 

meadow land in 

Whitchurch 

History 

A look at 

newspaper 

cuttings from 

the local area 

taken from 

times gone by 

Autumn deadline: 

18th September 

Published October 

While every effort has been made to 

ensure the accuracy of the contents, 

the publisher cannot accept any 

responsibility for errors or omissions, 

or for any matter in any way arising 

from the publication of this material. 

Every effort has been made to 

contact any copyright holders. 

Rhiwbina Living is an independent, 

apolitical publication. No part of this 

publication may be reproduced 

without the express written 

permission of the publishers. 

Welcome / Croeso 

Welcome to your Summer issue 

of Rhiwbina Living - our 50th 

issue! 

It's certainly been an eventful 

few months since our last issue 

back in November. Sadly, we 

had to forego our planned 

Spring issue because of the 

pandemic. Our lives have 

perhaps changed forever but 

we take some comfort in the 

constants of life. We hope that 

this Summer issue will bring you 

some source of continuity. 

The global pandemic has 

touched all of our lives in 

so many different ways. For 

some, it's been a time of grief. 

For many, it's been a time of 

uncertainty and worry. 

One thing that the pandemic 

has done is given us a new 

appreciation of the beauty that 

is on our doorstep. Nowhere has 

this been made more prominent 

than Whitchurch's Northern 

Meadows, situated between 

Asda and Whitchurch Hospital. 

The beauty spot is currently 

earmarked for development in 

the next few years but residents 

have launched a campaign 

to save what's become their 

sanctuary during the lockdown. 

We also hear from several 

key workers from Rhiwbina, 

who have worked while some 

of us were ordered to stay at 

home. These people have been 

instrumental in keeping our lives 

moving, even in the middle of a 

global pandemic. 

Children also have their 

say about how the virus has 

impacted their lives as they try 

to adapt to a new way of living 

and learning. 

One man who decided to do 

something positive with his free 

time is Joel Piacentini, a financial 

adviser from Rhiwbina who loves 

to create music. Joel set up 

his own online band with each 

member playing in isolation, 

and you can read about their 

performances that have been 

seen around the world. 

Another person who has used 

their free time to good use is 

Samantha Brown, who decided 

to pack in her day job and travel 

the world as a digital nomad. 

She now works freelance from 

her camper van as she crisscrosses 

the globe. 

Writing can help you express 

feelings and begin to come to 

terms with emotional trauma. 

If you're feeling creative, we've 

put together a short guide 

that shows you how to pen a 

short story, whether it's just for 

yourself or for publication. 

Up in Taff's Well, a new 

brotherhood has formed to 

help men in particular, with their 

physical and mental health. Run 

by a former commando, the 

Green Mile Movement aims to 

bring positivity to our area and 

beyond. 

Our financial security is one 

thing that's taken a hit these 

last few months, especially with 

the turmoil of the employment 

market. With that in mind, we've 

got some work-from-home 

ideas that you can get started 

on straight away. And there is no 

better time to prioritise our wellbeing 

so we've got some helpful 

tips for you. 

Our history page this issue 

looks at newspaper cuttings 

from years gone by while local 

gardener Kevin Revell is also on 

hand to show us how gardening 

can be a therapeutic activity that 

promotes wellbeing. 

We do hope that you continue 

to stay safe during these 

summer months. We'll be back 

in late October with our Autumn 

issue. Until then, take care and 

enjoy the summer sunshine. 

Danielle and Patric 

Editors 

@RhiwbinaLiving 

www.facebook.com/rhiwbinaliving 

@livingmagazinescardiff

Scarecrows take Rhiwbina by 

storm in place of festival 

Rhiwbina may have missed its annual 

Summer Festival this year but a local 

trader was determined not to let the 

community spirit succumb to the 

coronavirus pandemic. 

Local business Word of Mouth 

Maintenance launched a Scarecrow 

Walk instead to bring the community 

together and help support local 

businesses. 

Word of Mouth Maintenance owner 

Adrian McGrath told Rhiwbina Living: 

“The annual Summer Festival is a 

huge community gathering with lots 

of local businesses and residents 

coming together to share happy 

and fun times. We were keen not to 

lose that occasion, just because we 

couldn't celebrate in the usual way. 

Here at Word of Mouth Maintenance, 

we wanted to do something 

that brought people together 

and involved both residents and 

businesses.” 

Adrian usually carries out work for 

Rhiwbina residents or businesses, 

and as a gesture of appreciation to 

the community, he donates money 

to the Rhiwbina Summer and 

Christmas Festivals. 

“We could see that many people 

were out taking daily walks as part 

of their lockdown exercise plan so 

we thought that a fun and happy 

sighting, while out on a walk, 

would be a good idea – hence the 

Scarecrow Walk was pitched to the 

Rhiwbina Events Team and they 

agreed to run it. Word of Mouth 

Maintenance provided the prize 

money and Worzel Marmaduke 

Oscar McGrath was created the 

following weekend – he was the 

brand ambassador!” said Adrian. 

The Scarecrow Walk was officially 

launched on 8th July and came to its 

exciting conclusion in early August. 

Rhiwbina residents (including 

Pantmawr and Pantbach) were 

encouraged to participate by placing 

a homemade scarecrow in their front 

garden and registering this via the 

Rhiwbina Festival Team Facebook 

page. The competition was decided 

by a public vote. 

Three winners were announced 

as Strictly Come Dancing (Heol-y- 

Deri), Worzel Scrummage (Heol-y- 

Deri) and Gareth Bale (Lon Isa). The 

winning scarecrows each received a 

£50 scarecrow voucher to spend with 

any of the Rhiwbina businesses. 

20mph limits imposed 

Rhiwbina has become the latest part 

of Cardiff to be designated a 20mph 

zone. 

Road markings were painted onto 

the streets of the village in early 

August, and it is hoped that the 

scheme will make the roads safer. 

The First Minister Mark Drakeford 

argued last year that the 

implementation of 20mph limits on 

residential roads would result in a 

reduction in the speed of traffic and, 

in turn, a lower accident rate. 

A Department of Transport study 

in 2018 revealed that on average, 

86% of drivers break 20mph speed 

limits. Trials have been taking pace in 

Cardiff over the last two years. 

news 

Squirrels Vice 

Chair steps down 

Rhiwbina RFC has experienced 

a monumental change in their 

Senior Section both on and off 

the field over the past decade. 

This includes promotions, cup 

wins, finals appearances, and 

significant player and coach 

development. In addition, 

the development of new 

infrastructure and improved 

facilities have also been realised. 

During this period, one man has 

been a significant leader of the 

process – David Hobbs. 

The Vice Chairman has been 

a member for over 25 years 

and has been intrinsically 

linked to the club’s continuous 

improvement. This takes skill, 

knowledge, determination but 

also a serious amount of effort 

and time and, in Hobbsy’s case, a 

lot of bare-faced cheek! 

Going forward, David has 

decided that he wants to take a 

step back from his current frontline 

rugby role and concentrate 

on other club activities, such as 

fundraising and continuing the 

#7-77 model. To this end, he 

is stepping down from his role 

as Vice Chairman of the Senior 

Section and will be taking up a 

new offline role on the Executive 

Team. 

This will provide an optimisation 

of his time in other areas. From 

change comes opportunity 

and, in the near future, the club 

hopes to appoint an existing club 

member or associate to continue 

the amazing work Dave has 

undertaken. 

"The Club wishes to recognise 

and thank Dave for the incredible 

work and dedication he has 

shown to Rhiwbina RFC as a 

volunteer over the last two 

decades and we are excited to 

see the impact he makes in his 

new areas of interest," said a 

spokesman. 

3

news 

Black Lives 

Matter mural 

dispute 

Village shops close permanently 

amid Coronavirus uncertainty 

An artwork that depicted Jesus 

wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt 

was vandalised in June, causing 

uproar in the local community. 

The mural was created by local 

artist Jo Jones, who said that she 

was shocked when the T-shirt was 

taken from Canolfan Beulah for the 

first time. 

The T-shirt was replaced but 

this was defaced to read 'All Lives 

Matter'. 

The incidents were reported to the 

police and sparked debate across 

social media. 

Bus service 

extended to 

Rhiwbina 

A bus service that connects Cardiff 

City Centre with Cardiff Bay to the 

south and Thornhill to the north, will 

be extended to cover Rhiwbina and 

Taffs Well. 

The popular X8 route will run 

every 30 minutes from September 

7th, and will be renamed the C8. 

Adam Keen, NAT group managing 

director, said: 

"The extension to the C8 

service not only provides a more 

comprehensive service for new and 

existing passengers, it also makes 

operational sense incorporating our 

new depot in Taffs Well to reduce 

‘dead mileage’ and ease driver 

change overs." 

All NAT bus routes in Cardiff will 

start with the prefix ‘C’, while the 

‘X’ prefix will be reserved for Cross 

Country services. 

4 

Two of Rhiwbina's longestestablished 

businesses have fallen 

victim to the fallout of the Coronavirus 

pandemic. 

Both Beulah Road Dress Agency 

and The Olive Branch have closed 

their doors for the last time in recent 

weeks. 

Beulah Dress Agency announced its 

closure in July. A message on social 

media read: 

"It with a very sad and heavy heart 

I have to announce that the dress 

agency has had to close its doors 

due to Covid-19's social distancing 

and government working restrictions 

that can't be actioned with the Dress 

Agency shop. 

"Thank you all for your loyalty over 

the many years the shop has been 

trading. I will miss my customers and 

the social interactions I have with 

many of you! 

Yours, Alyson XX" 

A message on The Olive Branch's 

Facebook page read: 

"With great sadness we announce 

that The Olive Branch on Heol Y Deri 

will not be opening its doors again. 

With the impact of the pandemic and 

inability to guarantee social distancing 

in an already tight financial situation, 

the decision to permanently close 

was inevitable. 

"Since the Olive Branch first opened 

35 years ago, the staff and volunteers 

have enjoyed welcoming so many 

through our door. Jackie, Kayleigh 

and all the current staff want to thank 

our customers from the bottom of our 

hearts for all your love and support 

over the years. 

"We are hoping to have a celebration 

in memory of the Olive Branch's 35 

years in the new year so keep an eye 

on our social media for updates about 

that." 

The two shops follow in the 

footsteps of other Rhiwbina-based 

businesses that have shut up shop, 

including Raybould's Butchers. 

Former Squirrel signs for Exeter 

A former Rhiwbina RFC Squirrel has 

signed for Rugby Premiership's Exeter 

Chiefs. 

18-year-old back rower lock Christ 

Tshiunza signed for the club in June 

as he embarked on a new career 

with the English club. The highlyrated 

second-row has moved up 

through the rugby ranks in the Welsh 

capital, playing for Cardiff Schools, the 

Blues' Under-16s and 18s as well as 

Rhiwbina RFC. 

The former Whitchurch High School 

pupil stands at 6 ft 7 inches tall, after 

growing four or five inches taller in 

2016. 

"I found Exeter a very welcoming 

place so I’ll go down there full-time 

next month and try to really develop 

my game,” he said.

We love to hear what you've been up to 

so send us your letters and photos! 

We'll do our best to print them all! 

editor@livingmags.co.uk 

Your letters 

Rhiwbina phone exchange 

These days, we take the telephone (and the internet!) 

for granted. We can quickly contact friends and family, 

both here and overseas, from our home phones and 

mobiles. 

But it wasn’t always so, and for many years, even 

local calls could only be connected with the help of an 

operator. Here in Rhiwbina, until the late 1950s, calls 

were connected on a manual basis, until service was 

transferred in 1959 to the new automatic exchange in 

Manor Way serving Whitchurch and the surrounding 

area. 

I moved to Cardiff in the 1980s and wondered where 

the original Rhiwbina manual exchange was located. 

When the old telephone exchange in Park Street was 

being cleared to make way for the Principality Stadium, 

they found a cable which had formerly connected it to 

the Rhiwbina exchange, but no one had any details of 

it. 

Do any of our readers remember the old manual 

telephone exchange in Rhiwbina, and where it was 

located ? 

I can be contacted on 

michael.clemitson@btinternet.com 

Michael Clemitson 

New Cancer Centre plan is 

archaic 

I am a Whitchurch resident and a Consultant 

Interventional Radiologist at Cardiff and Vale University 

Health Board. Over 90% of my professional work as a 

doctor is related to cancer. The views I express here are 

my own. 

The environmental arguments against destroying the 

Northern Meadows are clear. I don’t need to reiterate 

these. The reason for writing is regarding good modern 

cancer care of the population in the 21st century. 

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is responsible 

for the health and well-being of the whole population, 

which is set out in the Aims of the Health Board. 

There is no doubt taking away the Northern Meadows 

as they currently are from the local population would 

be hugely detrimental to physical and mental wellbeing. 

But developing a stand-alone non-surgical 

Cancer Centre is an archaic model. Here's why: 

Cancer treatment has become more complex, and 

cancer patients have increasingly complex issues 

frequently needing input from other medical and 

surgical specialties. If they become severely unwell in 

Velindre, they are transferred to UHW in an ambulance. 

Other new cancer service developments are using 

a different, better model with specialties on the 

same site, such as surgery, cardiology, interventional 

radiology, gastroenterology, respiratory medicine, 

intensive care and others. In other words, modern 

cancer services are physically linked to larger acute 

hospitals. 

I completely understand why the clinical and 

managerial leaders at Velindre wish to retain their 

autonomy, which they currently have. But they continue 

to disregard other options, and the reviews and option 

appraisals are either outdated or secretive such as the 

Barrett Review. The world has changed with COVID-19, 

increasing the importance of outdoor spaces for 

communities. 

This model for cancer care is outdated before it is 

built. There are therefore important issues to raise: 

• Can the 2017 Barrett Review of the plans be made 

public? If not, why not? 

• Is Velindre right and everywhere else in the UK 

wrong? 

• The new UHW build was not an option in the past 

but it is now, and needs revisiting urgently. 

• Has there been any recent engagement with Cardiff 

and Vale UHB as integration of cancer services on that 

site is now an option? 

• Has this been revisited as an option since the 

COVID-19 pandemic? 

Those who oppose the new development and 

destruction of the Northern Meadows have been 

branded as anti 'cancer services' but this is not true, 

and is indeed offensive. The application must be called 

in and the proposed model of care reviewed. 

Dr Ashley Roberts 

Whitchurch 

Since Covid-19 

They say life is a gift without guarantees 

Since Covid-19 we know what that means 

It’s a good time to think of our favourite things 

Like to walk with our loved ones and sit by the stream 

Or enjoy the success of your favourite team 

To dance at a concert as if in a dream 

Or meet with our friends for afternoon tea 

To run on the sand and dip in the sea 

To remember the best things in this life are free 

I reflect on something my wife said to me 

‘Let’s make kindness as contagious as Covid-19’ 

Paul Brown 

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Northern 

Meadows 

Whitchurch and Coryton's Northern Meadows have provided a 

green space for decades. Now they are under threat of destruction 

They have been the lifeline 

for many during the COVID19 

lockdown. A beauty spot that has 

allowed many to maintain their 

physical and emotional well-being; 

the living, breathing lungs of the 

local area. 

Yet Whitchurch’s Northern 

Meadows are now facing extinction 

of their own as residents fight to 

save them from the development of 

a new cancer treatment hospital. 

One of the old bridges 

along the footpaths 

The 23-acre site of meadow, 

ancient trees, shrub and grassland 

are earmarked for the new Velindre 

Hospital development. The area 

is bordered on three sides by the 

Forest Farm SSSI Nature Reserve 

an abundant, diverse wildlife haven, 

local heritage sites, housing and 

schools. 

David Powell, Velindre’s Project 

Leader said: 

“We have pledged to keep our 

selected site green. This means 

maintaining and enhancing 

community access, supporting the 

ecological diversity and natural 

environment of the site, while also 

implementing sustainable transport 

and a Green Travel Plan. 

“We want to provide patients 

with a better, more peaceful and 

restorative healing environment for 

treatment. The Northern Meadows 

provides a great site with planning 

permission to do this.” 

But residents are not happy. 

There are over 300 households in 

local community without a garden 

and locals say that the Northern 

Meadows have provided them with 

access to green spaces. 

The Save The Northern Meadows 

campaign was recently launched 

to help fight the plans. Their aim 

is to see the incorporation of the 

Northern Meadows into the nearby 

Nature Reserve and secure it for 

future generations. In a recent 

survey of 400 residents, 91% of 

participants said that they were 

against the development of the 

hospital on the site. 

“We recognise the serious need 

to update cancer services in Wales. 

But we believe this site should 

never have been granted planning 

permission in the first place due to 

its inaccessibility and its proximity to 

the nature reserve. 

“It will be impossible to keep the 

site green as construction demands 

the bulldozing of 600 trees and 

some of the last 3% of meadowland 

in Wales. 

“These fundamental flaws in 

the location of the site mean any 

attempt to access it will cut a 

significant number of trees in the 

Photos: Catherine Davies

construction of two bridges and a 

temporary access road. It will break 

up an important wildlife corridor, 

ruin a historic representation 

of Welsh industrial history and 

disrupt pedestrian access to public 

amenities,” said Tessa Marshall from 

the campaign. 

Velindre Cancer Centre has said 

that it is committed to working with 

the community however. 

“I would like to reassure you again 

that we want to work with you and 

others to minimise its impact and 

to enhance the site as sensitively 

as we can,” said Velindre Cancer 

Centre’s David Powell in June. 

“We will respond to concerns 

about the surfacing of the existing 

road to the north of the Whitchurch 

Hospital site, making improvements 

if it won’t withstand additional 

construction traffic. 

“The Trust is also seeking to 

extend the period when the 

temporary construction road on 

the Whitchurch Hospital site can 

be used. We want to use the road 

both for construction of access to 

the new centre and for part of the 

construction of the centre itself. As 

a result we can reduce costs and 

bring forward the opening date.” 

The Velindre development has 

also had endorsements from 

high profile sports stars such as 

Swansea’s Shane Williams and 

Jonathan Davies. 

Velindre has added: 

“We all know someone with 

cancer or someone who has had 

cancer. And the number of people 

diagnosed with cancer is increasing. 

“But Wales has some of the lowest 

cancer survival rates in the western 

world. And the 60-year-old Velindre 

Cancer Centre does not have the 

facilities or space to meet this 

future challenge. 

“The new Velindre Cancer Centre 

will treat more patients and help 

more people live longer with 

cancer. Our vision is for a Velindre 

Cancer Centre which has the 

strength to last for the long-term.” 

But resident Dr Ashley Roberts, 

who works at UHW as a Consultant 

Interventional Radiologist, argues 

that the plans are an archaic form of 

cancer care: 

“Those who oppose the new 

development and destruction of 

the Northern Meadows have been 

branded as anti ‘cancer services’ 

but this is not true. But we should 

not spend millions of pounds 

of taxpayers money doing the 

wrong thing, and destroying an 

important natural space which we 

would never have back, however 

outstanding the architecture is. 

“The plans that we are seeing now 

reflect the vision for development 

Cardiff Council want to see in 

Whitchurch, that they are trying to 

implement without consultation of 

local people,” added Tessa. 

“Velindre University Health Board 

are swapping their current land 

(Whitchurch hospital site) for the 

meadow land, which is the property 

of Cardiff Council. It’s a land swap to 

build houses and make money. 

“The meadow land is inaccessible 

for housing as building access 

bridges will cost at least £30 million 

of taxpayers’ money. By swapping 

the land, the health boards are 

making a profit. 

“Our main contention is that the 

community has never approved 

construction on the meadow, 

Photo: Sarah Davies 

feature 

The meadows are a haven 

for a wide range of wildlife 

due to its benefits to our physical 

and mental health, as well as its 

importance to nature. Despite 

this history of rejection, Velindre 

changed their new hospital plans in 

2015/16, moving their new hospital 

to the meadow, enabling housing to 

be built on Whitchurch Hospital. 

“This means that the narrative of 

hospital or housing on the meadow 

is false – it is hospital AND housing. 

Furthermore, the railway cutting, 

our only road-free access to Asda 

shall never be returned to us.” 

The debate is set to rage on but 

in the meantime, the meadows 

continue to provide a home to an 

abundance of wildlife, and a respite 

to residents in desperate need of 

sanctuary. 

For more information or to get 

involved, head to 

savethenorthernmeadows.wales 

Photo: Chris Marshall 

A view of the meadows on 

a cold winter's morning 

9

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We hope you are keeping well. Lockdown is starting to ease, but a number of residents are 

still shielding and are grateful for the community help which has been excellent. We would 

like to wish the shops and businesses in Rhiwbina every success, many of whom are opening 

for the first time in several months. We are sure they will be well supported by local 

residents and visitors alike. We have continued to work on your behalf throughout the 

lockdown and have attended meetings electronically including Full Council, Cabinet, Police 

and Crime Commissioner Panel and key briefings with Cabinet 

Members and Senior Officials. If you need 

any help with issues, please do get in touch. 

We keep our social media pages busy, so 

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openings, waste collections, schools issues 

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@Adrian1Robson 

07973 145116 

@OliverOwen 

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kids 

Our lockdown 

We asked local children to tell us about their lockdown experience 

Rosie aged 9 

What have been some 

of the good things 

about lockdown? 

Spending time with my 

family, learning more 

about them, going on lots 

of walks, discovering new 

places, baking, having an 

outdoor cinema night and 

making our own restaurant 

at home. 

What have been some of the difficult things? 

Not seeing my friends, not going to school, not going 

to the rugby matches and home schooling has been 

annoying. 

How will this summer school holiday be 

different? 

It’ll be a little bit different this year as I’ll be able to see 

my cousins but not be able to hug them. We’re going 

to the beach, seeing friends and spending time with 

my friends. 

How do you feel about returning to school? 

I'Il feel nervous about starting a new year and with a 

new teacher. I am really looking forward to seeing my 

friends and walking up to school with my little sister as 

she starts in the nursery. 

12 

Evie aged 9 


of the good things about 

lockdown? 

I've got closer to my brother 

Barnaby and we have been 

playing more and I've spent 

more time with my family. 


To stay away from my friends and not hug them and 

stay away from family members that I miss. Having so 

much time in the house has been hard with my little 

brother too. 


different? 

We won't be able to go to places we normally go and 

we will have to stay more local. We might be getting a 

camper van and going on holiday to a beach. 

How do you feel about returning to school in 

September? 

I'm feeling happy about seeing my friends and don't 

have to socially distance. But this makes me feel a bit 

nervous too as the virus might spread and it might go 

back to how it was in the beginning when it was really 

bad. I'm looking forward to seeing my new teacher too 

and excited for what Year 5 will bring.

Giacomo aged 7 

What have been some of the 

good things about lockdown? 

I liked spending time with family, 

I enjoyed the walks, finding the 

Wenallt and a walk with a good 

climbing tree behind our house. We slept in dens, 

watched the Starlink satellites, got two kittens, built 

monkey bars and bought a camper van. 


The worst thing was not being able to see our friends 

and family. 

How will this summer school holiday be different? 

This summer holidays we won't be going to Italy. I am 

really, really sad about that. This year we are going to 

use the camper van to camp! 


I don't want to return to school because it will be too 

hard. I am not ready for Year 3. 

Javier aged 6 



lockdown? 

Getting to spend more time at 

home as a family and getting to 

play together more, and cuddle 

my pet cats. 


difficult things? 

Not being able to hug people who you want to, like 

family and friends. Doing school work at home has 

been boring. 


different? 

We have already had lots of time off school and we’re 

probably not going to be going on our holiday this 

summer. We'll go to beaches near us instead. 


Nervous because I’ll be starting Year 2. I’m not really 

happy to do more work, but my new teacher looks 

really fun and I’m excited to see my friends. 

Seb aged 9 



lockdown? 

I’ve been riding my bike lots 

and spending time with my 

family. 


I’ve missed seeing my friends and at times, being 

around my little sister has been annoying. 


different? 

Jenna aged 9 

What have been some of the good 

things about lockdown? 

Having my lockdown birthday and 

having a new bike. I also had my 

friends to visit me in the front garden 

and had a very nice lunch with my 

mum, dad and brother, Jamie. 


Learning from home, not going to any of my clubs or 

activities and not seeing my friends that often. 

How will this summer school holiday be different? 

We are not going to Tenerife with our friends. We’re 

going to spend lots of time with our ‘bubble’ in 

Swansea and they’ve just got a new puppy, Lulu and 

she’s smaller than a guinea pig. I’m also going to do a 

summer camp with my drama group, CAST and have a 

master class with a lady from ‘Matilda’ in the West End. 


I am going to be so, so happy. I’m so excited to see 

all of my friends again and it will be ‘different but the 

same’. I’m so excited to see my teacher and so glad 

we’ve got the same one from Year 4 into Year 5. 

Lola aged 8 

What have been some of the good 

things about lockdown? 

One of the good things about lockdown 

was spending time with my family. 


difficult things? 

Not being able to catch up with school work as much 

as we’ve missed half of the year. 


different? 

We won’t be able to see our friends when normally in 

the summer holidays, I’d have sleepovers. 


I'm nervous about going back, even though I know 

what it’s going to be like as I went to school a couple of 

times. It’ll be a bit weird as I’ll be around my friends but 

we’ll still have to social distance. 

I was supposed to go to Spain so I’m disappointed I’m 

not going. I’ve been down to Cornwall last weekend. 

I had fun bodyboarding. I also went kayaking and 

coasteering with my 

family and some 

friends. 

How do you feel 

about returning 

to school? 

I’m really happy 

about returning to 

school in September 

because I’ll get to 

be back with my 

friends.

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“It’s my Coronavirus Protection 

Bubble on wheels,” she says, 

excitedly. 

Meet Samantha Brown. A former 

Bishop of Llandaff student, now 

travelling the world in her camper 

van as a digital nomad. Her work 

tool is her laptop. Location: various. 

“I feel safe in my van,” she says. 

"I’ve got everything I need here. 

Somewhere to eat, work, wash and 

sleep. I’m off to France next week.” 

Sam hasn’t always been a traveller. 

In fact, for the last few months, 

much like the rest of us, she’s been 

trapped in her home. But her sense 

of adventure has returned. 

"I was always seeking adventure 

as a child. Building dens and 

experiencing the outdoors was how 

I liked to spend my days. 

"I always had the desire to 

communicate too. As a kid, I used to 

record pretend radio programmes 

on my tape recorder with my sister. 

These days, I have my own podcast. 

As a youngster, I was into telling 

stories and I'd dream of creating a 

cosy little home for myself. I think 

that's where this lifestyle comes 

from." 

Sam attended Bishop of Llandaff 

High School and it was here that 

she embraced her education. 

“The most abiding memories I 

16 

have of Bishop of Llandaff was 

that we laughed a lot. Needless 

to say, we learnt a lot too and 

we were given a solid education 

there. I’m thankful that I went to 

one of the best schools in Wales 

although I have to admit that I found 

assemblies boring. I’d skip these by 

hiding in the loos. There’d be a few 

of us doing that! 

“As I moved into Sixth Form, I 

began my love affair with music, 

especially Cardiff’s indie scene. I felt 

that to my friends, I was a bit of an 

arty outsider - but they didn’t love 

Nomad 

Samantha Brown gave up her 9 to 5 job and packed a bag to start 

a new lifestyle, travelling the world and working from a laptop 

me any less. 

"By the mid '90s, I was working as 

a nanny in Paris where I found out 

that I was pregnant. After having my 

daughter, I completed my degree 

in English Literature as a young 

single parent at Bristol University 

before launching headlong into the 

corporate world." 

Sam spent 12 years as the Head 

of Marketing and Communications 

for large corporates and national 

charities. She bought her home in 

Bristol and felt settled in her life. 

But that all changed in 2017, when

Sam's father was diagnosed with 

cancer. 

"Dad worked hard his entire life 

and was due to retire when he 

found out that he was ill. He’d 

wanted to spend his retirement 

seeing the world but sadly, he never 

got to do it. 

"It made me question my life. I 

realised that I didn’t want to spend 

the next 20 years stuck in an office. I 

wanted to see the world, so I took a 

sabbatical in 2019, not long after my 

Dad had died." 

Sam went travelling across 12 

countries in South and Central 

America, picking up work as a 

freelance marketing consultant 

along the way. 

"I eventually came back to my day 

job and was toying with the idea 

of handing my notice in, when we 

were told that the organisation had 

failed to retain its contract and I was 

handed a redundancy." 

Freed from the shackles of the 

corporate world, Sam took to the 

skies and headed east. 

“I spent two months in Bali and 

two months in Thailand. I also set 

up my blog and podcast to provide 

inspiration to others. Christmas and 

New Year was shared with a group 

of digital nomads on a remote 

island. It was wonderful." 

Sam then moved on to India. Still 

working from her laptop, Sam was 

able to combine the experience of 

living within another culture while 

paying her way through her online 

work. That was until Coronavirus's 

tentacles began reaching around 

the world. 

"I’ll always remember 17th March. 

I’d just had dinner when I found out 

that the EU had closed its border. 

At 11pm that night, I booked a flight 

home that was due to leave at 7am 

the next morning. 

"I was in the middle of the Goan 

countryside with no taxi available, 

so I started knocking on neighbours' 

doors to see if anyone would give 

me a lift to the airport. Unfortunately 

no one would. 

"In the end, the only viable option I 

had was to use the scooter I'd been 

hiring to get me there. I packed my 

backpack and headed off into the 

night, bound for the airport. 

"Out on the highway in the dead 

of night, it was only after I spotted 

traffic coming towards me that I 

realised I was driving down the 

carriageway in the wrong direction. 

The traffic slowed and I had to try 

and manoeuvre my scooter onto 

the right carriageway. Then my 

backpack fell off and its contents 

Main photo: Carles Navarro 

spilled out. I’d been relying on my 

iPhone for directions - it fell onto 

the road and two cars passed over 

it. Thankfully, they hadn’t damaged 

it. 

"I arrived at the airport at 5am, 

abandoned the scooter and took a 

photo of it so that I could let the hire 

company know where it was. And 

all the while, I could hear my dad’s 

voice telling me to get home. 

"It was pure instinct. I knew I was 

doing the right thing, even though it 

seemed totally crazy at the time. 

I was so wired on the initial 

domestic flight that I couldn’t sleep, 

despite being up all night. When 

I finally got on the BA flight to 

Heathrow, the crew confirmed that 

it was one of the last to leave India 

– so my instincts were right.” 

Exhausted, Sam eventually made 

it back to her Bristol home which 

she normally rents out to lodgers 

and her daughter whilst travelling. 

"The only room left in the house 

was the small one I'd been keeping 

all my belongings in. I had no 

choice but to use it as both my 

office and my lodgings. Because 

I’d just come back from abroad, I 

was forced to quarantine for seven 

days. Lockdown then started on the 

sixth day. I was desperate to see my 

mum and siblings but I had to abide 

by the rules.” 

And so it was, that Sam was 

marooned in her room for 10 weeks, 

not sure of when she could restart 

her travels or even see her close 

family. 

"Although I realised I was fortunate 

to get home and still be able to 

work through my consultancy, I 

found lockdown difficult. I lost all 

my energy and drive and it wasn’t 

until I hit upon the idea of getting 

a motorhome that my excitement 

people 

Sam has the world at her 

fingertips via her laptop 

returned. 

"I bought the van with the rest of 

my redundancy money and named 

her Juno – after the Ancient Greek 

goddess. She’s the protector of 

women. 

"Juno is completely self-contained. 

I have everything I need – including 

a toilet, shower, kitchen and WIFI 

for me to work remotely. I’m off 

to France next week. I’ve always 

wanted to see Europe and as we’ll 

be leaving it at the end of the year, 

it’ll be harder to do that any time 

later. I figured that this was the 

safest and cheapest way to get to 

see it. 

"I plan to keep Juno for a few years 

whilst this pandemic continues – 

after that, who knows where the 

road will lead me." 

Be inspired by Sam's journey by 

following GenerationXit on YouTube 

or visit www.generationxit.com 

Juno allows Sam to work 

remotely and at her own pace 

17

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self 

care 

The mental health repercussions from the COVID pandemic and 

its economic fallout are yet to be realised. Here are some tried and 

tested coping strategies to help you through these tough times 

Looking after 

yourself and 

others 

Not many of us could have 

previously claimed to have lived 

through a pandemic and like all 

infectious disease outbreaks, 

the current Coronavirus can be a 

scary experience. 

It can also take its toll on our 

mental health and while it is 

important to keep abreast of 

ongoing developments, we can't 

overlook our own well-being and 

the well-being of others. While 

the risk to our physical health 

remains, so too does the risk to 

our emotional health. 

Many of us will already be 

feeling these effects and as our 

country starts to emerge from 

the lockdown, there will be more 

challenges ahead. 

But like most things, there are 

ways to cope and manage the 

anxiety and stress. Making sure 

that your wider health needs are 

met will result in new routines 

but it is an opportunity to reflect, 

reset and respond to our current 

situation for the better. 

20 

Diet 

Together with exercise, diet forms 

the foundations for long-term 

health and well-being. 

Eating well can help us avoid 

chronic diseases but it can also 

help lift our moods and levels of 

happiness and contentment. A 

balanced diet gives your body the 

nutrients it needs to function as it 

should. 

No single food contains all the 

essential nutrients that the body 

needs to stay healthy and work 

properly. For this reason, our diets 

should contain a variety of different 

foods, to help us get the wide 

range of nutrients that our bodies 

need. 

Planning your meals will help 

avoid the temptation to snack on 

the go, which often leads to obesity 

and upset our energy balance. 

Exercise 

Exercise delivers oxygen and 

nutrients to your tissues and 

helps your cardiovascular system 

work more efficiently. When your 

cardiovascular system works 

better, everything seems easier 

and you have more energy for 

the fun stuff in life. 

Aerobic exercise and strength 

training can help strengthen 

your body and help clear your 

mind. Strengthening the heart 

and other muscles isn't the 

only important goal of exercise. 

Exercise can also help the body 

stay flexible, meaning that your 

muscles and joints stretch and 

bend easily. 

You can start off by taking 

daily walks but 60 minutes of 

moderate to vigorous daily 

exercise is recommended.

Avoid sensationalist 

headlines 

One of the main triggers of 

anxiety and stress over the 

last few months has been the 

sensationalist headlines in the 

press. Social media often doesn't 

help as many publishing outlets 

want you to read their stories so 

that they can build revenues. 

Get any news you want to know 

about from a reputable source 

and try to stay away from news 

that doesn't directly impact on 

you. 

Talk to your children 

Involving your young family 

members in discussions can be 

tricky. Children may well feel 

confused themselves and you 

may want to keep them informed. 

Be truthful in your conversations 

as any exposed untruths will 

cause a sense of distrust between 

you. Making them feel safe and 

protected should be a priority. 

Pace yourself 

Remind yourself that you can't do 

everything at once. Whatever you 

are trying to achieve, it has to be 

done over time and with patience. 

We will all be moving at our own 

pace as we come out of lockdown 

- be aware of that with others and 

make others aware of that too. 

Prepare for the future but focus 

on the present and any positives 

that it brings. 

Sleep 

Where possible, try and create 

a routine and environment that's 

conducive to a good night's sleep. 

Sleep is crucial to both your 

emotional and physical state 

and its effectiveness in helping 

you reset and heal cannot be 

underestimated. 

It should therefore be considered 

a priority of your day. 

Stay connected 

Lockdown has kept us physically 

apart, and for some, this has 

caused huge distress. 

Loneliness and feelings of 

isolation have rocketed over the 

last few months so it's important 

to keep connected as much as 

possible. 

Many of us have kept in touch 

with family and friends using 

our phones and internet but as 

lockdown eases, it's easy to lose 

the connections you built up over 

the last few months. 

Look out for loved ones too who 

have gone quiet. Many people are 

struggling in silence and a quick 

catch up will make both you and 

them feel less isolated. Even a 

socially-distanced walk can help 

you feel connected to those you 

care about. 

Control what can be 

controlled 

Worrying about things that are 

outside of your control can take up 

a lot of your time and energy. 

You may need to be told that there 

are many things that happen in your 

life, over which you have no control. 

That is a simple fact. 

You can be a lot more effective if 

you focus only on the things that 

you have control over. You can't 

stop a storm coming but you can 

prepare for it so take some time to 

figure out the things that you can 

control and discard those aspects 

of your life that you can't control - 

including the behaviour of others. 

wellbeing 

Three steps to dealing 

with stress 

Stress is the feeling of feeling 

under excessive pressure and it can 

cause many emotional and physical 

problems. It can also creep up on 

you slowly as stressors build on top 

of each other before it suddenly hits 

you. 

Step One - Become Aware 

Becoming aware that you are 

stressed and understanding what 

is causing your problems is the first 

step. 

Physical warnings are usually the 

first indicators - headaches, overtiredness 

and tensed up muscles 

are all associated with stress. 

Work out the connection between 

your physical ailments and their 

underlying causes. 

Step Two - Identify the causes 

Identifying the underlying causes of 

your stress is your next step. These 

can be classified in three possible 

ways: 

1) those that you can sort with a 

practical solution 

2) those that will get better over time 

3) those causes that you can’t do 

anything about 

If possible, try and let go of the 

worry of the second and third 

elements to free up mind space. 

Step Three - Review your 

lifestyle 

Are you trying to do too much? Are 

you able to delegate anything? 

Prioritise the things you are trying to 

achieve and re-organise your life 

Remind yourself that there is a time 

for everything but only if you do one 

thing at a time. 

21

Discover the 

Northwood difference 

We are Northwood, and we like to do property a 

little differently. 

We are committed to going over and above in everything we do – so our friendly team, 

accompanied viewings and local knowledge are not the only things we offer as standard. 

We give your home maximum exposure through 3D walkthroughs, professional-style 

photography, and Facebook Live events. 

It’s a fresh approach. 

We’re glad to be back and we’re sure you are too. 

Give us a call or come meet us when you’re ready. Let’s discuss how we can help you on 

your property journey. 

02920 521400 

northwooduk.com/cardiff-estate-agents

The Home of Worry- 

Free Landlords 

"We guarantee to pay your rent on time, 

every month, even if your property is empty." 

Kate Gwinnutt from Heol Y Deri’s Northwood Cardiff 

explains the benefits offered to landlords by their 

unique guaranteed rent scheme. 

Are you a landlord who wants no 

void periods, no rent arrears and 

no commission? 

Or perhaps you’re a homeowner 

who wants to rent out your property 

for the first time for a fixed monthly 

rental income with no set-up 

fees, no renewal fees or any other 

‘hidden’ extras? 

If you answered yes to any of 

the questions above, then our 

Guaranteed Rent Scheme is 

probably what you’ve been looking 

for. 

Our scheme offers the following 

benefits to you; 

• A guaranteed monthly rental 

income on time, every month 

• To get paid even if the property is 

empty 

• To get paid even if the rent is late 

or isn’t paid at all 

• No set up fees, monthly 

commissions or hidden extras 

• To deal with tenant queries and 

questions 

• A guaranteed contract start date 

– no worrying about how long it will 

take to find a tenant 

• If ever needed, to cover court 

costs and manage the eviction 

process 

• Periodic property inspections and 

maintenance management 

• Internal condition guaranteed, 

subject to fair wear and tear up to 6 

weeks rent 

But how does the scheme work? 

We effectively become your 

tenants, which means we take 

the financial risk of paying your 

rent every month on ourselves 

regardless of whether we have let 

the property or not. Because we 

work this way, it is in our interest to 

find you, great tenants, to manage 

them well and to look after your 

property. It’s this investment in 

your property which makes the 

Guaranteed Rent Scheme unique 

in the market. We manage the 

property throughout the full 

duration of the tenancy – leaving 

you to get in with your busy life. 

Is it an insurance policy? 

Absolutely not – only our 

competitors think that. Our 

service simply provides you with 

Guaranteed Rent each and every 

month, on the same say, even if the 

property is empty. 

Why you should trust us? 

Northwood Cardiff is an established, 

widely recognised estate agent 

and the largest provider of genuine 

Guaranteed Rent in South Wales. 

We have been offering this service 

to landlords in Cardiff since 2002. 

Northwood has been providing 

Guaranteed Rent since 1995 and is 

widely acknowledged as the largest 

provider of this specialist service in 

the UK – today there are over 

20,000 Guaranteed Rent landlords 

across the country. We are a 

founder member of the SAFEagent 

scheme, belong to the National 

Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) 

and are licensed by Rent Smart 

Wales. 

What are the benefits of 

guaranteed rent for landlords? 

To put it simply, no void periods, 

no rent arrears, no commission, 

no set-up fees, no renewal fees or 

any other ‘hidden extras’. We can 

be flexible with payment dates, 

contract lengths, and start dates. 

What do I do next? 

Give our friendly team in Rhiwbina 

a call on 02920 521400 to request 

an appraisal of your property and 

explain the finer details of how this 

can work for you. 

1A & 1B Heol Y Deri, Rhiwbina, 

Cardiff, CF14 6HA 

02920 521400 

www.northwooduk.com 

Sponsored feature 23

Key Workers 

Our lockdown 

Lockdown has hit us all hard but for the key workers in our communities, it was a case 

of having to adapt to a new way of working. Here are a few of our key worker heroes 

Charlotte 

Secondary School Teacher 

When the lockdown was first 

announced, I felt that it was a 

completely surreal situation. I felt 

that I had to adapt to the changes 

very quickly while managing waves 

of anxiety. 

I worked throughout the lockdown 

but it wasn’t too difficult to be home. 

I thoroughly enjoyed being with 

my family and not on the manic 

treadmill of everyday life. 

Up-skilling myself quickly on new 

teaching software and being sat 

at a computer all day was difficult 

and a very steep learning curve. I 

definitely missed the interaction of 

the pupils and emailing them just 

wasn’t the same as that face-toface 

interaction. 

I am quite a positive person, so I 

accepted the situation quickly and 

on the whole, tried to make the best 

of it. As a family, we did the typical 

24 

things like baking, gardening, the 

8pm clap on a Thursday, online 

quizzes, bike rides, bingo nights. 

I definitely think the highlights for 

me were getting time at home 

with my family and my daughter 

and being personally involved in 

various musical projects (Memorial 

for Srebrenica and 1,000 Voices 

project). 

During the Easter holidays I 

ordered a skip, as we weren’t going 

away and had a long overdue 

clear-out of the loft. We also had a 

campout in our summer house with 

my daughter, where we sat around 

the fire pit, toasting marshmallows. 

We bought a hot tub just before 

the start of lockdown so enjoyed 

that a lot in the warm weather while 

looking for satellites in the sky. 

We made some really magical 

memories that I will treasure for the 

rest of my life. We were also very 

grateful to Whitchurch Golf Club for 

allowing the public to access their 

course. We thoroughly enjoyed our 

walks and were very grateful to 

have such beauty on our doorstep. 

In terms of my job, we are currently 

waiting for government guidelines, 

so I'm not totally sure how my job as 

a music teacher will look (whether 

we’ll be able to use instruments or 

sing in class). 

I look forward though to beginning 

extra curricular activities, as these 

give pupils so many skills and 

opportunities. 

The sense of community in 

our neighbourhood and the 

appreciation of our local area and 

how grateful we are for where we 

live is something that's struck me 

these last few months. It's afforded 

me the chance to spend more time 

with my family and to re-evaluate 

life and what is important. 

Phil 

Postman 

I felt a lot of 

uncertainty 

when 

lockdown 

was first 

announced. 

It made me worry about everything 

and how it was going to affect the 

work I do. I also had health and 

safety concerns. 

I have worked throughout the 

entire lockdown but I think I 

adapted very well, both at work 

and at home. The one time I did 

find difficult was when I was on 

leave and had to stay in my house. 

Work for me was harder during 

lockdown. I had an increased 

workload due to people ordering 

goods online, but the plus point 

was that most people were in to 

receive their items. 

Going forward, I'm not sure if my 

job will change much. One silver 

lining of the lockdown was being 

able to park my van anywhere!

Jayne 

Cardiff City 

Councillor 

people 

Jane 

Registrar 

of Births, 

Deaths, 

Marriages 

and Civil 

Partnerships 

When lockdown was first 

announced, my first thoughts were 

for friends and family, making sure 

that everyone was safe and had 

plenty of toilet paper! 

My role was classed as a key 

worker so I worked right through 

lockdown, registering deaths. 

Going out to work while everyone 

else stayed at home was worrying 

at first. Driving to City Hall the 

morning after lockdown was 

announced was so eerie because 

the roads were empty, the city 

centre was deserted. It’s amazing 

how quickly I got used to that. 

The government’s Coronavirus 

law completely changed the way 

we worked and overnight, we had 

to adapt and absorb a lot of new 

information. When I look back, I 

realise how quickly it all changed. 

City Hall closed to the public. 

Birth registrations, marriages and 

civil partnerships all stopped. We 

registered deaths by telephone 

so that families could stay safe at 

home. There were many phone 

calls with doctors and funeral 

directors and we worked closely 

with the bereavement teams at 

UHW and Thornhill as we all 

adapted to the new legislation to 

make sure deaths were registered 

and funerals could go ahead. 

It’s been very emotional hearing 

families share their stories and 

experiences of death, loss, grief 

and separation. 

Looking forward, it’s lovely to get 

back to births and marriages and 

seeing people face to face again. 

It’s smiley work and I definitely 

missed it. Every part of the job 

has changed and is still changing 

day to day to comply with social 

distancing and PPE. In New York 

State, they introduced Zoom 

weddings during lockdown. Wales 

didn’t go that far, but I’m sure I’ll 

conduct virtual ceremonies one 

day! 

The things I remember most 

about this time is that fact that my 

daughters all managed to come 

home before lockdown. The kitchen 

table was suddenly full of laptops 

and cables as they set up office 

to work from home. My youngest 

daughter took final exams, had her 

21st birthday and graduated during 

lockdown. 

We’ve laughed and cried and 

there’s been a lot of banana bread! 

We made so many gorgeous 

memories and a few new family 

traditions but mostly I look back in 

awe at the way life carried on and 

we just made it work. Clapping for 

the NHS on Thursday evenings also 

stands out. The whole street got 

involved and it became a lovely 

time to catch up and check in on 

each other. We celebrated a few 

birthdays on those days too. 

Looking back, we hadn’t all lived 

under the same roof for this amount 

of time for many years as a family. 

This was bonus time for us and 

that was definitely a silver lining. 

Being locked down and seeing the 

local community and businesses 

helping and supporting each other 

throughout has reminded us how 

lucky we are to live here. 

My first 

thoughts when 

lockdown was 

announced 

were about 

the community, and in particular 

older people who lived alone. I 

worked with the Council to answer 

enquiries from residents, and would 

like to pay tribute to the amazing 

groups of residents who went 

above and beyond to help people 

with groceries, medicines and even 

dog walking. 

My colleagues Adrian Robson, 

Oliver Owen and I were busier 

than ever as we worked during 

lockdown. I work from home for 

most of my time so I didn't notice 

the transition too much. I did miss 

the community events, and site 

meetings and the exchanges in the 

Council Chamber. I became a keen 

gardener and also continued my 

love of baking - rolls, bread, bagels, 

jam, pastries and fudge! 

All our Council Meetings were held 

electronically, and we continue to 

have briefings this way. I hope that 

a lot of the briefings and updates 

continue to be held this way. I am 

a member of the Police and Crime 

Commissioner Panel, and we held 

a meeting across authorities and 

it worked effortlessly. There will 

always be a place for face to face 

meetings, but electronic meetings 

have proved invaluable. 

I think there will be more home 

working in the future. The pandemic 

has really changed the world, and 

I think we will see community spirit 

continue to grow, and more people 

looking out for each other. 

I think social media has been 

exceptionally helpful and I have 

enjoyed seeing and hearing about 

people's positive experiences. So 

many people are now gardening, 

walking in the local area and have 

learnt new skills such as knitting, 

crafting and baking. I think that they 

will continue. 

25

12 Pantbach Road 

Cardiff, CF14 1UA 

02921 358258 

www.cubekitchens.co.uk 

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Although it is not a pleasant thing to think about, it 

is important to ensure you have a properly 

prepared Will in place. Having a professionally 

drafted Will in place provides peace of mind that 

your estate should be dealt with in accordance with 

your wishes and is likely to make the process far 

easier for those you leave behind when you die. 

With recent events making many of us anxious and 

uncertain about the future, lawyers have seen a sharp 

increase in the number of people wanting to put their 

affairs in order over the last few months. 

Laura Selby, Head of Wills & Probate at Harding Evans 

Solicitors, explains why it is so important to plan for the future 

to avoid any unnecessary complications further down the line. 

Yet, there are reports that surprisingly around 

60 per cent of the adult UK population do not 

have a Will, which effectively means they will be 

allowing ancient laws to determine who receives 

their estate. 

Making a Will is often not the long, complicated and 

expensive process that people often imagine it to 

be. Many people have put it off during lockdown, 

thinking it would not be possible while social 

distancing. At Harding Evans, in accordance with 

Government guidelines, we have been operating 

throughout lockdown. Our offices are now open to 

the public with measures in place to reduce the risk 

of spreading the virus. 

If you are currently unable to leave your property, 

we also offer telephone appointments, video calls 

and witnessing of Wills, even via your front window 

if required! There are strict rules regarding the 

witnessing of Wills to ensure they are executed 

properly. 

Unfortunately, challenges to Wills appear to be on 

the rise, so it is more important than ever to obtain 

legal advice when preparing your Will, to avoid 

lengthy and costly disputes after your death. 

As we can see from the recent case of Clitheroe v 

Bond [2020] EWHC 1185 (Ch), not only is it 

important to ensure the Will is validly executed, but 

it is also important to prove you have full mental 

capacity. 

In this case, the daughter of the deceased 

succeeded in establishing that two Wills made by 

her late mother in 2010 and 2013 were both invalid. 

The Court found that, following the death of her 

other daughter, the mother had been suffering from 

a complex grief disorder that impaired her capacity 

to make a Will. While she had cognitive function and 

was intellectually sound, it was found that she had 

experienced “insane delusions” that “poisoned her 

mind” against the daughter she excluded from her 

Will, causing her to make allegations for which there 

was no rational basis. In circumstances where there 

could be any doubt as to a person’s mental capacity, 

we recommend obtaining a medical report. 

Most commonly, when clients show some form of 

memory loss, possibly as a result of dementia, this 

makes us consider their capacity and we will give the 

most appropriate advice. The case of Clitheroe v 

Bond is a firm reminder that other health conditions 

may exist which may not give rise to memory loss 

but could still mean that they may be lacking 

capacity. It is recommended to keep records of the 

will instructions taken; these records may also help 

to protect your estate in the event of a challenge. 

If you would like assistance with preparing your Will, please call our 

experienced and friendly team to find out how we can help you. 

Call us on 02922 676818 

Email us at info@hevans.com

Garden 

Social 

Whether you want 

to spend time with 

friends or with 

loved-ones in your 

bubble, holding a 

garden party is a 

great way to while 

away summer days 

Firepit 

Create a cosy space in your 

garden that will naturally give you 

warmth during the evenings too. 

A great piece of garden furniture 

to sit around long into the summer 

nights. 

www.wayfair.co.uk 

Garden Lights 

This string of 12 mini mushroom 

solar lights is essential for adding 

an enchanting atmosphere to any 

outdoor space. Each soft, squidgy 

mushroom is 20cm tall and houses 

one warm white LED for an ethereal 

glow. 

www.lights4fun.co.uk 

28 

Cottage Painted 

Garden Arbour 

Hand-crafted in Britain, this garden 

arbour includes a contoured seat as 

well as an arm rest and drink holder. 

Pugh's Garden Centre 

Kids entertainment 

Kids love to play in the garden, 

especially when water games are 

involved. 

If your garden is big enough, 

provide them with inflatables that 

you can deflate and pack away 

in the winter months. This giant 

unicorn connects directly to your 

garden hose and squirts water 

from its horn! All you need to do is 

inflate it and turn the water on! 

www.dobbies.com

outdoors 

Hanging chair 

The perfect place to sway away the 

stress of the day! Set in a beautiful 

teardrop design, there's room for 

two if you're happy to share. 

This delightful outdoor swing chair 

comes with a comfy showerproof 

cushion, ideal for our inclement 

British weather. 

www.cuckooland.com 

BBQ 

Cater for both family and friends 

with a quality barbecue set 

this summer. Weber are worldrenowned 

for their barbecue 

innovation and provide the ultimate 

barbecuing experience. You can 

pick up your very own Weber here 

in North Cardiff. Traditional charcoal 

and gas barbecues are also 

available. 

Pugh's Garden Village, Wenvoe 

Sun loungers 

Sit back, relax and soak up 

the sun with a sun lounger. 

Outdoor recliners and sun 

loungers are the perfect 

place to base your afternoon 

in the garden sunshine. This 

lounger is made from heattreated 

ash wood and is 

available in traditional wood 

or black. 

The lower half is separate 

from the main section to 

cater for all body lengths. 

www.wayfair.com 

Patio Heaters 

Extend your time out in the garden 

with a free-standing patio heater. 

Powered by gas or electricity, 

patio heaters can keep you and 

your guests warm with minimal 

fuss or fumes. Safe, economical 

and a convenient way to heat your 

outdoor space, patio heaters can 

be used all year round, allowing 

you to have a night under the stars 

whatever the season. 

www.heat-outdoors.co.uk

Rediscovering 

the garden 

For many of us who were 

furloughed during the recent 

Covid-19 pandemic, lockdown in 

our gardens became a place of 

sanctuary; somewhere to escape 

the stresses and strains of stepping 

outside the front door and the sheer 

terror of having to venture out to the 

shops where humanity was to be 

found in all its seething hordes. 

Being at one with the garden, 

cast adrift in a calming sea of 

green, is most people's idea of 

gentle repose, to be enjoyed 

with a cup of tea or a glass of 

something stronger. We live in a 

world that is increasingly beyond 

our control. From the worry of 

paying the mortgage and utility 

bills to increased pressure in our 

workplace, we feel under stress. 

The garden is a sanctuary for both 

mind and body and can prove 

therapeutic to those recovering 

from drug or alcohol abuse or who 

suffer from depression or posttraumatic 

stress disorder. 

The rituals of the year are devoutly 

followed; looking for the first 

primrose of spring or the first rose 

of summer maintains a positive, 

forward-thinking outlook for young 

and old alike. 

30 

Summer affords us the opportunity to pause, reflect and relax. 

Kevin Revell looks at the therapeutic benefits of spending time in our gardens 

In our gardens we are free; some 

will seek peace and solitude in 

a tranquil corner of the garden 

surrounded by fragrant plants and 

the industry of bees; for others, 

trundling a lawn mower around can 

give a warm glow of satisfaction. 

Similarly raking moss from a lawn or 

sweeping up leaves provides useful 

cardiac exercise; a fit body can lead 

to a fit, content mind. The gentle 

exercise provided by gardening has 

been found to help lower blood 

pressure and cholesterol, helping to 

prevent type 2 diabetes and strokes. 

The Sensory Garden 

We are sensory creatures and 

respond to certain stimuli which 

help to make us feel alive and at 

one with ourselves. 

In the garden, our senses can be 

awakened, we just need to take the 

time to appreciate what is around 

us and not take our surroundings 

for granted. Walking barefoot on 

the lawn can be a pleasurable, 

relaxing experience which has 

been demonstrated to lower blood 

pressure, stimulating several senses 

at once. 

Scent is the most evocative of 

all the senses and can trigger 

memories of times and places 

past. Herbs will yield a pleasant 

aroma when touched, brushing 

past lavender releases oils from the 

leaves that evoke sunnier climes. 

The sense of touch is perhaps the 

least appreciated in the garden; 

running fingers through soft 

tussocks of ornamental grass is a 

sensation denied to most people. 

The sound of running water 

from a water feature can also 

be relaxing, hearing harmonious 

birdsong as we work can block 

out the more routine background 

noise of passing traffic. The highpitched 

buzz of bees can also 

prove immensely relaxing. Even the 

slightest breeze can elicit a rustle 

from tall grasses and trees. 

Seeing the flowers of spring and 

summer, is for most people, what a 

good garden is all about, whether 

tasteful, harmonious pastel shades 

or a riot of bright clashing colours.

gardens 

How to Plant a 

Cheerful Pot or 

Hanging Basket 

Hanging baskets have become 

popular in our gardens. Those with 

small flats or no garden at all can 

usually put one or two by a door or 

find room for at least one planter 

which improves the visual amenity 

of the area. 

Pre-planted baskets are readily 

available but most keen gardeners 

engage in the annual ritual of 

planting their own. When filling a 

pot or basket, don’t skimp on the 

compost - this is the engine room 

of the basket and is going to need 

to keep it going right through the 

summer. Multi-purpose compost 

alone will not be up to the task. 

Either add additional slow-release 

fertiliser and wetting gel or buy 

a specific container compost 

formulated for this task. 

When it comes to planting, there 

are no rules - it is entirely up to 

you which plants in what colours 

are used but tradition dictates that 

there should be a taller plant in the 

middle to give a bit of height to the 

arrangement. Three or five smaller 

or trailing plants are then arranged 

around this and if possible, trailing 

plants are inserted around the 

basket sides and base to give an 

all-encompassing show of foliage 

and flowers. Ideally, no trace of the 

basket or liner should be visible 

once the plants are established. 

Usually it will be a fuchsia or 

geranium giving height and trailing 

forms of fuchsias and geraniums 

are a popular choice for the rest of 

the basket. Trailing lobelias are the 

best for inserting in the sides of the 

basket as they cascade down and 

are available in a range of colours. 

Trailing petunias or surfinias are 

another popular choice, coming 

in many bright colours including 

outrageous shades of hot pink and 

red. These plants are extremely 

vigorous, and three to five plants 

will be more than enough to fill a 

basket with colour long into the 

summer. 

Other useful contenders include 

the tiny white stars of bacopa, or 

blousy trailing begonias which 

although slow to get going, will 

flower long into the autumn. Of 

course, a planted pot, hanging 

basket or window box doesn’t need 

to be full of flowers if these are not 

your thing. It is also a very good 

way of growing herbs and salad 

vegetables which can still look 

attractive and will be out of the 

way of marauding slugs and snails 

while bees will certainly appreciate 

a window box full of flowering 

lavender. 

It is to be hoped than many who 

were confronted with enforced, 

increased leisure time will have 

discovered the benefits to 

improving their outdoor space 

and will continue to enjoy home 

grown vegetables and flowers. It 

will perhaps have sown the seeds 

of interest in small children who 

helped their parents build raised 

beds and wildflower meadows or 

even just plant a few window boxes 

or hanging baskets. Maybe now, 

they will have lifelong memories of 

their first minibeast safari and all the 

wonders to behold if you just look 

closely enough and make a few 

adjustments to the way you enjoy 

the garden.

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Vibrant 

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Llandaff Garden Metalwork 

Making the practical beautiful 

greenmoor nurseries 

suppliers of top quality plants throughout the year 

South Wales’s largest grower and supplier of 

home-grown plants for your garden. 

We have a large range of vegetable 

plants and flower plants. We also 

stock loose seeds, award-winning 

hanging baskets, a full range of 

composts, greenhouse glass and 

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bags of 

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feature 

Make money from home 

The recent lockdown has made people think twice about how they 

can earn a living. Here are some ways that you can create a new 

and sustainable income stream from your home 

Creating an income 

from home 

The UK economy, much like the 

rest of the world, has become 

hugely unpredictable following 

the Coronavirus outbreak. 

Jobs and financial security have 

become a real worry for many 

people, even those who thought 

that they were safe in long term 

employment. 

Setting up a side business 

at home could be one way to 

create an extra income stream 

and a possible safety net should 

the worst happen with your 

employment. 

Set aside a small amount of 

time each day to work on your 

side business and over the 

weeks and months, it could 

grow into something larger and 

profitable. 

While there's a whole world 

of opportunity to make money 

from home, it's worth doing 

some research beforehand 

to find out what skills and 

experience you can offer. 

34 

Online coaching 

The Coronavirus lockdown 

changed the way that we interact 

with each other forever. Working 

remotely became much more 

the norm - but so too did online 

learning. 

It's highly likely that you have 

certain skills, talent or experience 

that people will pay to hear about. 

Think back over your employment 

history. Is there a specific area that 

you could say that you have good 

experience in? There are people 

out in the world who don't have 

that experience - and need to hear 

from someone that does! 

You don't need large audiences 

either to make money from 

teaching online either. In fact, the 

more specific the niche, the more 

you'll find it easier to find your 

audience and to sell to them. 

You can either create video 

courses to sell via platforms like 

Thinkific or Teachable, or you can 

offer training over video calls, 

either to individuals, or to groups of 

people at a time. 

Start a blog 

A blog is a bit like a website, except 

it often has a more informal style 

and is usually written by individuals 

or small groups. 

A blog can range from any topic 

such as beauty or makeup, through 

to sport of film. Whatever your 

subject matter, there are ways 

of monetising a blog, whether 

it's through online advertising, 

selling digital downloads such as 

e-magazines, or even charging 

subscription fees. 

There are some very good 

examples of people starting out 

with a very simple blog idea, and 

seeing it develop into a moneymaking 

brand.

Virtual home assistant 

Life is very hectic for many of us 

and organisation can often be 

overlooked as we struggle to 

keep up with the pace. 

If you have good organisational 

skills, why not put them to good 

use to help others? A virtual 

assistant could be the answer 

- someone to do the online 

shopping, organise diaries and 

events, taking care of household 

budgets - the list of services 

you could offer to do from the 

comfort of your own home is 

pretty exhaustive! 

Whether you want to charge 

per service, or a simple monthly 

retainer fee, positioning yourself 

as a virtual home assistant could 

see you building a new career 

from scratch and for the most 

part, you don't even have to 

leave home. 

Dog walking 

Dogs always need walking and helping 

out your local canines and their owners 

is another way to make some money. 

Do your research first though - if you 

can get yourself certified as a dog 

trainer, it will be of benefit to the dogs, 

their owners, and the ability to sell 

your services. Perhaps start by walking 

your family or friends' dogs to get 

experience under your belt. 

Online shop 

There is plenty of money to be made from online shops - and the best 

part about it is that it won't cost you much to get going. 

There are several ways of running an online shop. First, there is the 

traditional way of selling physical goods, whatever they may be. You'll 

need to hold stock, manage inventories and take into account shipping 

costs. 

You can also make money by selling goods that you don't need to 

physically store. Websites such as RedBubble and CottonCart allow 

you to sell your designs on 

T-shirts, mugs, and all kinds of 

merchandise. They also take care 

of delivery and you get a small 

commission for each item sold. 

You can also look to open your 

own shop on websites such as 

Etsy or even eBay, which is a good 

place to sell bits and bobs that are 

hanging around the house and are 

no longer needed. 

Book keeping 

Many small businesses often overlook the important task of keeping their 

accounts up to date. It's always advisable to have some kind of qualification 

in this field (you can get this online 

too) and if you are just starting out, it's 

worth helping people you know so that 

you can get to know the processes 

involved. 

Book keeping is becoming 

increasingly digitalised, which means 

that you can often work remotely using 

specialised software. Working within 

a specific niche also means that you'll 

find clients easier. 

Stock photography 

If you're the sort of person that 

loves taking photos, you can 

always look to make money 

from them by selling them on 

stock photography websites. 

Every time your photo is 

licensed, you get a royalty 

paid. Check out websites like 

Unsplash, iStockPhoto and 

Shutterstock to see what sort of 

quality they are looking for, and 

also to see what kind of photos 

are doing well. A great way to 

build a passive income. 

Become a translator 

Your second (or third or fourth!) 

language could be translated 

into money in your pocket by 

becoming a translator. 

There are always people 

and businesses looking to get 

their work translated. It's worth 

checking to see what kind of 

qualifications you think you might 

need but you can complete 

these alongside small pieces of 

work to get you going. 

It's always a good idea to focus 

on one industry-specific area 

of translation so that you can 

become a go-to expert in your 

field. 

35

Specialist Glaziers with over 30 Years Experience 

DANIEL JENNINGS 

M: 07775 828009 T: 029 2069 2028 

E: dan.jennings@hotmail.co.uk 

Repairs & Renewals 

Experts in the repair of windows, doors and conservatories 

uPVC Products 

We offer a full range of quality replacement uPVC products 

Mirrors & Processed Glass 

Mirrors, glass (standard, safety, greenhouse & picture) 

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contact@wrightglass.co.uk www.wrightglass.co.uk

Beating the 

virus! 

Carpet Castle in 

Caerphilly is pioneering 

a safe new way to buy 

flooring 

As retailers all over Wales 

reopen their doors following 

the Coronavirus lockdown, 

we caught up 

with Carpet 

Castle in 

Caerphilly to 

find out what 

South Wales’ 

famous 

bargain 

flooring 

warehouse 

has done to 

keep customers safe during 

this time 

What changes have you made to 

the store to ensure you are ‘Covid 

Secure’? 

You name it, we’ve done it! 

Perspex shielding around the 

till area, two metre spacing 

around the shop floor, electronic 

payment methods, hand sanitisers, 

disinfection of carpet samples and 

we also limit the number of people 

in store at one time. 

I can honestly say that customers 

should feel really safe making a 

visit to the store. It’s a really clean 

environment and the staff take these 

new measures really seriously. 

We’ve been a leader in our industry 

for 50 years, so we’ve gone above 

and beyond to pro-actively modify 

the entire retail experience that 

will allow customers to shop with 

Sponsored feature 

complete confidence. 

We were able to trade earlier than 

other stores because we have an 

outdoor landscaping department, 

so we had the chance to iron out a 

few things and optimise our safety 

procedures well before nonessential 

retailing was permitted in 

Wales. I think that has given us a 

bit of a head start over some other 

retailers. 

If anybody would like to learn more 

about the new measures, we’d be 

really happy to discuss it. They can 

call the store on 02920 884951. Just 

ask for Dai, the store manager. 

Have you considered selling online 

instead? 

We thought about it, but the 

feedback we received from 

customers is that when it comes to 

carpets, there is so much choice that 

they prefer to make a physical trip to 

the store. 

In fact, we are much cheaper than 

most online carpet retailers as well. 

That’s when we realised the solution 

for our industry was just to make the 

in-store experience totally safe. 

What about home visits? 

Obviously, our fitters need to visit 

customers’ homes to complete 

installation work, so we’ve 

introduced additional measures to 

keep the fitters and the customers 

extra safe when it comes to home 

visits. 

The fitters wear PPE equipment 

that they change for new on every 

job. They accept contactless and 

electronic payments and we ask that 

customers give the fitter at least 2 

metres of social distance. 

We appreciate that some 

customers may be of an age where 

they would like the fitters to take 

even more precautions and we 

do our very best to accommodate 

these requests. At the end of the 

day, this virus has left many people 

nervous about shopping and 

especially about letting tradesmen 

into their homes so we’ve tried to 

make it so safe that anyone, even 

‘at-risk’ groups can still have their 

new flooring fitted and do it with 

confidence. 

How do you see the economic 

picture developing for retailers over 

the next 12 months? 

We’re more optimistic then others. 

Our shop has been really busy 

since we introduced all the safety 

measures so I think it’s all about just 

making the experience safe so that 

customers can happily shop with 

confidence. 

The more that businesses 

and industries adapt, the more 

customers will return and the 

economy will recover for everybody. 

We’re really lucky to have been in 

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Every man 

an emperor 

A group in North Cardiff is aiming to improve the lives of men through 

physical and mental hardship. This is the Green Mile Movement 

Among the dry, summer mountains 

and rushing rivers of Taffs Well and 

beyond, there exists a brotherhood 

that’s shaping up to be a force for 

good. 

Over the last few months, the 

men of the Green Mile Movement 

have been pushing their physical 

and mental strength to their 

limits; developing their integrity, 

their confidence, composure, 

perseverance, and grit. 

The movement is the brainchild of 

Chris Flynn, a former commando 

from Cardiff who in 2018, formed 

a small group of friends to test 

themselves physically. As the 

months rolled on, the existence 

of the group developed into 

something more serious and 

meaningful. 

“I grew up in Lisvane and now live 

38 

Chris served in multiple 

overseas deployments 

in Taff’s Well,” says Chris. “I was born 

into a huge family, many of whom 

still live in north Cardiff. 

“For over 12 years, I served in 

various roles within the airborne 

and commando forces on multiple 

overseas deployments. I left the 

forces in 2012 and then lived in 

Dubai and the US working as a 

health safety and environmental 

consultant.” 

But it was Chris’ return to the UK 

in 2017 that left him shocked at the 

state of men’s physical and mental 

health and he felt compelled to do 

something about it. 

“After moving back to the UK and 

losing my sixth mate to suicide, 

I started looking into the state of 

men's health. Having been raised 

in the military with five brothers of 

my own, I have an insight into what 

drives guys to the point of giving up. 

“I found that statistically, men 

do not suffer more than women 

as the numbers of female suicide 

attempts actually exceed that of 

males. However, I do believe that 

male identity has been warped 

somewhat over the past few 

decades for many different reasons 

and a stronger path needs to be 

cut by us if we are to fulfil our role 

as well-orientated members of our 

family and community.” 

Chris soon hit upon the idea of 

a ‘brotherhood’ that could help 

support those who needed help: 

“I believed that the brotherhood 

that I once belonged to was such 

a strong and positive force in many 

ways, that if elements of it could be 

replicated outside then that would 

benefit many lost men in need of a 

lift up.” 

The Green Mile Movement was 

born as an extension of Chris’ 

belief that all men (and women) 

should be capable of dealing with 

the difficulties of life and a way of 

achieving this is through arduous 

physical training and personal 

sacrifice. 

The movement applies many tried 

and tested military techniques as 

well as other pursuits to develop 

certain attributes in its members 

- men of all backgrounds and all 

abilities. 

“By creating a network of strong 

and well-orientated men in cities 

throughout the country, men who 

believe in respect, encouragement, 

discipline and hard work, we can 

improve the lives of not only those 

men, but also their families and 

communities, which is very much 

needed in a time like ours today,” 

says Chris. 

“Physical and mental health are

mutually supporting. They are not 

separate entities. The mind cannot 

reach its peak of ability without 

a sound physical body to house 

it and vice versa. We believe that 

men's (and women’s) potential is 

significantly reduced if they are not 

at least pursuing better health.” 

The brotherhood holds regular 

(and free) outdoor sessions, for 

general fitness. These run most 

evenings, from various locations, 

with some simple warm-ups and 

professional instruction. 

“Excessive comfort can weaken 

us,” adds Chris. "Our lives today are 

characterised by making things 

more comfortable. We flip this on 

its head and practice hardship with 

purpose. 

“TGMM is not for aesthetics or 

for topless profile photos. We 

believe the key to health is found 

in movement, so we practise many 

different ways to achieve this. 

Calisthenics is a strong theme in 

our group, but we also work on the 

hills surrounding the city; we climb 

ropes rigged up under bridges, 

we carry logs and drag sleds to 

the tops of mountains; we swim in 

open water and we learn skills such 

as eating off the land and clean 

water extraction. We do this as a 

brotherhood, all supporting one 

another to get to the next level. 

We even practice swimming and 

submergence training in the Taff in 

the summer months.” 

For Chris, helping others has also 

helped support him since leaving 

the forces. 

“I needed the brotherhood as 

much as the other guys may need 

it now. When I left what is arguably 

the strongest brotherhood in the 

country behind in the military, I 

was at a loss. Both myself and the 

other veterans who support the 

movement understand what a force 

for good a strong brotherhood can 

be for men. We want to share that 

experience. We are rewarded by 

belonging to a cool group of lads 

that like to Train Hard and Live Easy, 

which is now our motto.” 

The concepts of military discipline 

and self-discipline are now breaking 

out into the open. TV shows like 

SAS: Who Dares Wins has helped lift 

the lid on the physical and mental 

attitudes needed to deal with 

whatever life throws at you. 

“Without a doubt, these shows and 

the characters in them have lifted 

the brand of the military and what 

is does. I think people can now see 

more evidently what the military 

mindset brings about and they want 

some of it. 

“The military is steeped in age 

old ways of doing business that 

haven't changed for decades or 

even centuries. The reason for 

this is because it works and works 

well. Its systems are underpinned 

by core fundamentals such as 

discipline, cheerfulness in the face 

of adversity, physical fitness, shared 

beliefs, resilience and team spirit. 

“In the constant pursuit of 

progressiveness today, these 

characteristics have been left 

behind and even disregarded and 

classed as draconian. 

“The truth is they are very much 

needed to pull us out of the rut we 

may find ourselves in as people and 

as a nation. Military fitness is geared 

towards ability and competence 

whereas many more recent fitness 

forms are clinging to aesthetics 

or image, which doesn't seem to 

sustain over time.” 

The movement is quickly 

gathering pace and they are soon 

hoping to be making incursions 

nationwide. 

“So far, we’ve got 30 members 

wearing our Green Mile Sweatshirts. 

You must complete seven outdoors 

sessions to earn yourself one of 

these. We have approximately 

another 25 who train with us but 

haven't earned their sweatshirt yet.” 

The group will also be developing 

an outdoor gym, which will allow 

the men to train. 

“We have acquired a piece of land 

in the hills of Taff's Well and are 

about to build our first outdoor gym 

on it this summer. We have also 

recruited a Doctor of Psychology 

from the University of South Wales 

onto our board and hope to bring 

him in on the mindset elements of 

what we do in the near future.” 

The group was successful in 

acquiring CIC (Community Interest 

Company) status in January which 

now enables them to go and seek 

people 

Bridge drops form part 

of the activities 

funding to reach the goals that they 

have set themselves, 

“We have a number of veteranowned 

and veteran-run businesses 

lined up to work with us to expand 

our service delivery over the next 

12 to 24 months. One of our goals 

is to increase the number of guys 

wearing TGMM sweatshirts to 100 

by summer 2021. 

“Ultimately, we want to become 

a genuine force for good within 

the community of Cardiff, and to 

expand the movement beyond the 

city to support other men who may 

benefit from what we do.” 

And away from the movement, 

Chris is planning to launch other 

offensives to help others, even from 

an early age. 

“I started a children's cartoon in 

health and fitness whilst living in the 

US, which is currently trademarked 

and parked on a shelf until I 

can create the time and cash to 

continue it again.” 

Through practising hardship, Chris 

hopes to change the world for the 

better, one individual at a time. 

More information can be found at 

www.thegreenmilemovement.com 

or Instagram at 

@thegreenmilemovement 

Some of the men taking part in 

the training regime 

39

pets 

Your pet 

questions 

answered 

Chris Troughton is clinical director of Heath Vets. He’s here to answer all your pet 

questions. If you’d like to ask Chris a pet-related question, drop us a line 

Is it sensible to change my dog’s diet 

during the summer months? She’s 

been moving less during the recent 

warm weather but eating the same 

amount of food. 

Firstly, has she put on weight? If 

not, don’t worry about changing 

anything but keep an eye on her. It’s 

worth weighing her regularly so you 

can see if she is gradually gaining 

weight – the scales never lie! If you 

can’t weigh her at home, your vet will 

almost certainly have scales that you 

can use. Alternatively, measure her 

waist and chest size with a tape (just 

in front of her hips and just behind her 

shoulders). Write it down and keep a 

weekly diary. 

If she has gained weight, you need 

to do something before things 

get out of control, and that means 

reducing her calorie intake. Review 

what she eats in total and see where 

you can cut down – fewer treats, 

less dinner, whatever you can do. 

Make sure everyone in the family 

understands the importance of not 

giving her extras. 

Generally, dogs do better on a 

stable diet; chopping and changing 

can lead to stomach upsets. Also, 

changing from one food to another is 

difficult when you’re trying to control 

calorie intake, as you don’t know the 

calorie content of the food – it’s not 

usually on the label. So if you can, 

just reduce the amount of her normal 

food. If you do need to change food, 

go for the same brand, but the ‘light’ 

version if one exists. If it doesn’t, 

you’ll just have to change to any one 

the ‘light’ varieties, and monitor her 

weight, being prepared to reduce the 

amount you are giving her. 

If you’re having any difficulty 

controlling your dog’s weight, your 

vet team will be very happy to help 

analyse her feeding regime and can 

supply very effective weight control 

diets. 

Is fruit safe for dogs to eat? My 

partner keeps feeding our dog 

strawberries and I’m never sure it’s a 

good thing. 

Strawberries are fine for dogs – and 

they may even be good for their teeth 

as they contain a whitening enzyme. 

Most fruits that we eat are ok, but 

the ones to avoid are: grapes (even 

very small amounts can be fatal), 

cherries, avocados, and the seeds 

from apples and pears. Citrus fruits 

and persimmons can cause stomach 

upsets. Most vegetables are also 

ok, but avoid any of the onion family. 

Also, never allow your dog to chew 

corn-on-the-cob as it can cause a 

horrible obstruction if swallowed in 

chunks. 

Fruit and vegetables like apples and 

carrots make very good treats for 

dogs that put on weight easily, and 

they can also help keep the teeth 

clean. 

We have three guinea pigs that 

we’ve kept inside all winter but we 

are now looking to relocate them to 

a larger outdoor hutch. As they’ve 

been inside our house all winter and 

spring, will it be much of a shock 

to their system to now put them 

outside? 

Now that the warm weather is here 

and there is no chill at night, your 

guinea pigs will be fine to go in 

an outdoor hutch. Make sure it is 

protected from the prevailing wind 

and has an area of the run that is 

covered so they can be outside even 

when it’s raining. Actually, coming 

from the high Andes mountains, 

guinea pigs are quite hardy and 

happy with cold weather as long as 

they don’t get too wet. Position their 

hutch in a sheltered place and cover 

it up at night and in bad weather - 

they can live outdoors all year round. 

In many ways, this is preferable as 

the space they will have outdoors 

is likely to be larger than an indoor 

run, and they are very active animals 

and should have plenty of room. The 

RSPCA recommend a space of at 

least 120x60cm to house two guinea 

pigs – and more pigs need more 

space. 

How do I protect my pet rabbits 

from flystrike? I remember one of my 

rabbits having it when I was a child 

and it wasn’t very pleasant as far as I 

remember. 

Flystrike is a very unpleasant 

condition where flies lay their eggs 

in soiled fur, and the maggots that 

hatch out eat into the flesh. It can 

easily be fatal if not spotted quickly, 

so it’s important that rabbit owners 

check their bunnies carefully every 

day for signs. 

The most important way of 

preventing flystrike is to make sure 

your bunny is clean. There should 

never be a build-up of faeces around 

the anus, nor wet or soiled fur. If there 

is, you must clean it thoroughly. If this 

keeps happening, you must get your 

vet to have a look because it might 

be a sign of another problem that 

needs attention. 

You must keep the hutch area 

clean and odour-free so as not to 

attract flies, and you can also use a 

treatment called Rearguard which 

is applied to the rabbit to prevent fly 

eggs developing into maggots. It is 

effective for about 10 weeks, so you 

should apply it in early summer and 

again 10 weeks later to cover the 

high-risk period. 

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Tales from Yesteryear 

The National Library of Wales has digitalised millions of Welsh newspaper 

articles and pages. Derek Elliott pulls out some interesting local stories 

Evening Express 

10th September 1896 

CARDIFF NATURALISTS HOLD THE 

THIRD FIELD DAY OF THE SEASON 

The third field day of the Cardiff 

Naturalists' Society took place on 

Wednesday when, in spite of most 

unfavourable weather, a goodly 

number of naturalists, among 

whom were several lady members, 

started in open brakes for a visit 

to Whitchurch, Rubina, and Lord 

Bute's Vineyard at Castle Coch. 

At times, the rain descended very 

heavily, but under the guidance 

of Mr John Storrie, a visit was paid 

to an interesting relic just beyond 

Whitchurch, where, what was 

supposed to be a tumulus, Mr 

Storrie had discovered to be the 

remains of an ancient dwellingplace, 

probably, in his opinion, 

began by the Celts, then continued 

by the Romans, and followed by a 

still later race. A visit was then paid 

to Lord Bute's vineyard at Castle 

Coch, and here an interesting 

account of vine culture was given 

by Mr A. Pettigrew, Lord Bute's 

head gardener. 

Tea was served at the Mason's 

Arms, Tongwynlais, and the return 

journey home was made via 

Rubina, where Mr Storrie brought to 

light some of his later discoveries 

- the fossil fish bones of the lower 

carbaniferous shale series, but 

the weather marred what would 

have proved a very interesting day 

for the naturalists. At the Mason's 

Arms, the party were supplied 

by Lord Bute with wine from the 

vintage of 1893, at Castle Coch, 

considered to be one of the best 

years for the vines there. 

42 

Western Mail 

30th January 1897 

RHIWBINA AS THE CAPITAL OF 

WALES 

At a meeting of the debating 

society of the University College of 

South Wales and Monmouthshire, 

held on Friday evening, the 

question of which town should 

be the capital of Wales and the 

location of the university offices 

was discussed. After many prefered 

speeches in favour of Cardiff and 

Swansea, it was decided by a 

practically unanimous vote that 

the capital should be Rhiwbina, on 

the following grounds, which were 

deemed conclusive: 

(1) It is surrounded, like Rome, by 

seven hills. 

(2) It was reported to have once 

had a castle. 

(3) It had a large and important 

industry, viz., the manufacture of 

cheese and quarrying. 

(4) It was situated in the centre 

of an extensive railway system, 

being three miles and a half from 

five important stations: Llanishen, 

Caerphilly, Radyr, Walnut Tree, and 

Llandaff. 

(5) The inhabitants get healthy 

exercise in walking two miles and a 

half for a postage stamp. 

(6) Its rapid growth, having 

recently increased from one house 

and three souls to nine houses and 

40 souls. 

The Cardiff Times 

15th November 1902 

A MIDNIGHT INCIDENT: 

WHITCHURCH FARMER AND WIFE 

At the Llandaff Police Court on 

Monday, John Carey Phillips of 

Pantmawr Farm, Whitchurch, 

summoned Edward Fuge, a smartlooking 

young man, living at the 

farm, for threats. Considerable 

interest was taken in the 

proceedings, the parties being well 

known locally. Mr Harold M. Lloyd 

defended. When the complainant 

was about to give evidence, Mr 

Harold Lloyd rose, and, addressing 

their Worships, asked whether 

he would be allowed to ask the 

complainant whether it was still in 

his interests to proceed. 

There were a great many 

unpleasant incidents in connection 

with the case, and he thought 

it would be better and wiser for 

complainant if he withdrew. This 

the complainant refused to do, and 

the case proceeded. 

The complainant in his evidence 

stated that he was the joint 

occupier with his wife of the 

Pantmawr Farm, Whitchurch. The 

defendant was engaged by his wife 

as a man servant. On 30th October 

last, he retired to bed at about 

10 o'clock and about 12 o'clock, 

he heard a loud knocking on his 

bedroom door. The defendant and 

his (complainant's) wife kicked the 

door, broke the panels, rushed into 

the room, and threatened to "do" for 

him. 

He rushed to the window and in 

his night apparel, jumped to the 

ground 14 feet below, and went 

to a neighbour's house, where he 

got the loan of some clothes. He 

then went to the police station, and 

a police sergeant returned to the 

house with him. The defendant was 

then in bed. The defendant's room 

was broken into, and the defendant

was ejected. Before the defendant 

left, he again threatened him in the 

presence of the police sergeant. He 

had often seen the defendant in his 

wife's bedroom. On one occasion, 

the men in the hayfield saw the 

defendant doing his wife's hair. 

In cross-examination by Mr Harold 

Lloyd, complainant admitted that 

he had some drink at Carey's and at 

the HollyBush before going home. 

He may have been drunk about 

20 times this year, but he was not 

drunk on this occasion. He denied 

that it was only his wife that was at 

the door threatening him. He also 

denied that he had engaged the 

defendant at 8s per week. Both the 

defendant and his wife were under 

the influence of drink. 

Mr Harold Lloyd: With reference 

to the defendant being in your 

wife's bedroom. When do you say 

this happened? - I saw him in the 

bedroom with her in June last year. 

I also saw him on one occasion 

doing up her hair. 

Mr Harold Lloyd: Do you mean to 

tell the Worships that having seen 

this in June last, you allowed this 

man to stay on during the whole of 

this time? - Yes. 

Mr Lloyd: Didn't you think it your 

duty to thrash him and kick him out, 

as any reasonable man would have 

done? - No. I am only joint occupier. 

Mr Lloyd: And that is the only 

reason you have? 

The complainant also stated that 

the defendant and his wife were 

constantly about together and 

drinking together. 

The defendant, called on his 

own behalf, stated that he was 

employed by the complainant in 

May last at 8s per week. He denied 

that on the day in question he went 

to the complainant's door and 

shouted to him to open. 

The next thing he knew was that 

the complainant came back with 

a constable, and he was then 

turned out of the house. He was 

still living there, and had seen the 

complainant several times and had 

been on friendly terms with him. 

He denied ever having been in 

complainant's wife's bedroom, and 

that this was the first he had heard 

of it. He also denied being under 

the influence of drink. He acted as 

a personal servant to Mr Phillips, 

who had been in ill health. There 

had been no improper relationship 

between him and his mistress, 

Mrs Phillips. Mr Phillips had never 

suggested that he should leave. 

He had frequently stopped the 

complainant whilst in drink from 

committing acts of violence on Mrs 

Phillips. 

Mrs Phillips, the wife of the 

complainant, was next called. She 

is of prepossessing appearance 

and smartly dressed. She stated 

that on the night of the 30th, she 

came in late and went to the 

complainant's bedroom to demand 

an explanation of something 

she had heard in the village. The 

complainant would not open the 

door, and she kicked the panel in. 

The defendant was not there. She 

had never misconducted herself 

with the defendant, and he had 

never been in her bedroom. It was 

an abominable falsehood for the 

complainant to say that he had. 

Her husband had on numerous 

occasions committed acts of 

violence on her. He had struck 

her, thrown a lamp at her, and 

bruised her. She was not under the 

influence of drink on the night in 

question. 

The Bench bound the defendant 

over to the sum of £10 to keep the 

peace for six months. 

Evening Express 

22nd July 1910 

THE BIRCHGROVE SMASH. 

INJURED MAX STILL DETAINED AT 

THE INFIRMARY 

The adjourned inquiry into 

the motor cyclists' collision at 

Birchgrove, near Cardiff, on the 

afternoon of Saturday, the 4th of 

June, was resumed on Thursday by 

Mr. W. L. Yorath, city coroner. Only 

evidence of identification was taken 

history 

on the previous occasion, and the 

proceedings were again adjourned 

in the absence of the material 

witness, Mr. F. E. Wade, of Newport, 

who is still in Cardiff Infirmary 

suffering from the effects of the 

injuries he received in the accident. 

The fatality, it will be borne in 

mind, happened on the occasion 

of the hill-climbing competitions at 

Rubina. 

In the collision Mr. Frank Dyer, 

employed as a traveller by Messrs. 

Alger and Sons, engineers and 

electricians, Newport, was killed, 

and Mr F. E. Wade, architect, of 

Victoria Avenue, Newport, was 

seriously injured. Mr L. H. Hornby, 

solicitor, Newport, was now present 

in Wade's behalf. 

The Coroner said he had that 

morning received a letter from the 

resident medical officer stating 

that Wade, who has fractured 

his kneecap, would not be able 

to attend the court until early in 

September. His knee was operated 

upon only on Wednesday, and it 

would be some time before he 

would be able to get about. 

Under the circumstances (added 

the coroner) a further adjournment 

was necessary. Mr Hornby 

intimated that he would be away 

for about three weeks. The Coroner 

mentioned that a Bristol solicitor 

engaged in the case would be glad 

of a postponement over August, 

and the 15th of September was 

mutually agreed upon as the date 

of the adjourned inquiry. 

43

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If your marriage has broken down 

If during your lockdown, marriage has we’re broken here to down help. 

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With lockdown forcing so many couples to spend time together for months on 

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With lockdown forcing so many couples to spend time together for months on 

Solicitors, answers some of the most common questions on seeking legal 

end, 

advice. 

reports are that, sadly, divorce rates are set to soar. 

Kate Thomas, Head of Family Law and Matrimonial Law at Harding Evans 

For many people, the last few months of lockdown have given Q: What is the actual process I’ll need to go 

them a rare opportunity to enjoy Solicitors, spending time answers at home some with their of the through? most common questions on seeking legal 

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stresses of the enforced lockdown will have led to misery for many yourself, it’s usually best to contact a specialist divorce 

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families and reconnecting with their partner. But we know that the A: Whilst you can attempt to manage the process 

stresses We’d urge of the anyone enforced to think lockdown carefully will about have starting led to misery divorce for many A yourself, divorce petition it’s usually will best prepared to contact and a specialist filed at Court. divorce 

others, proceedings forcing at them this time to re-evaluate of great stress their and marriages uncertainty. and realise But if that Once lawyer, your especially spouse has if there acknowledged are children this, involved you’ll need or if 

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some of the most common questions, to help make things clearer will lead to pronouncement of a Decree Nisi. Six weeks 

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A: the You UK can is your get divorced permanent in England home, or and the Wales permanent if you home have been of your Financial issues and any arrangements for children 

married spouse. for over a year, can prove that your relationship has Q: may How be long dealt does with it either take by to get using a divorce? a local mediation 

permanently broken down, (citing one of the following grounds; A: service This can or vary via an considerably. application to With Court no complications, to determine the it 

adultery, 

Q: What 

unreasonable 

do I need to consider 

behaviour, 

before 

desertion, 

applying 

separation 

for a divorce?A: 

for the 

may 

distribution 

be possible 

of matrimonial 

within four to 

assets 

five months, 

and arrangements 

but if there 

There will be a lot of things to consider, from arrangements for are financial issues that cannot be resolved, an 

last two years), your marriage is legally recognised in the UK and for children. 

looking after any children and child maintenance payments to how application to Court for Financial Remedy may be 

the 

you 

UK 

will 

is 

divide 

your permanent 

your money 

home, 

and property. 

or the permanent home of your 

required, taking six to twelve months. 

spouse. 

Q: How long does it take to get a divorce? 

A: This can vary considerably. With no complications, it 

Harding Q: What do Evans I need is to one consider of Wales’ before applying top 10 law for a firms divorce?A: and has may a be possible within four to five months, but if there 

specialist 

There will be 

team 

a lot of 

of 

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Family 

arrangements 

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for are financial issues that cannot be resolved, an 

looking after any children and child maintenance payments to how application to Court for Financial Remedy may be 

lawyers. If you would like to speak to one of the team, 

you will divide your money and property. 

required, taking six to twelve months. 

please call on 01633 760678.

feature 

HOW TO WRITE 

THE PERFECT 

SHORT STORY 

If you've been left with time on your hands during lockdown, 

writing a short story is a great way to channel your inner creative. 

Here's how you can create your own perfect short story 

Why write a short 

story? 

Short stories are a great way to 

exercise your brain and provide 

you with a creative outlet. They 

are also the perfect place to 

start your writing career. They 

allow you to practise the art of 

planning, structuring and then 

layering your work. They allow 

you to develop characters, to 

master plot twists and to create 

your own worlds and share them 

with others. 

The love of writing can also be 

rewarded with that warm feeling 

when someone tells you that 

they were moved by something 

you wrote, or that they love your 

work. 

Whether you’re writing for 

pleasure or for money, there is 

joy to be had in mastering the 

art of the short story, and by 

creating something that can be 

kept forever. 

46 

Where to start 

Before you even start your short 

story, you're going to want to think 

about themes and ideas. 

It's often hard to come up with 

ideas off the top of your head so it's 

always useful to carry a notepad 

around to jot ideas down as they 

come to you (you can always use 

your phone for this too). 

Look out for possible story ideas 

during your every day routine, 

whether it's an advert on a Post 

Office noticeboard or a second-hand 

wedding dress in a charity shop. 

Some themes may be of interest 

to you and you can blend these 

in with any story lines that you are 

developing. 

There are two main types of writer 

- the Planner and the Panster. The 

Planner gets the entire outline of the 

story down before committing to 

fleshing the story out. A Panster may 

have a general idea of where their 

story is going but takes a more seewhere-this-goes 

approach. 

Neither approach is right or wrong 

but there are significant benefits 

to thoroughly planning your short 

story, insomuch that you can angle 

your story lines perfectly with your 

ending. 

A short story should ideally come 

in between 1,000 and 5,000 words 

but you can go shorter if you wish. 

Flash fiction often sits anywhere 

between 500 and 1,000 words while 

micro-fiction ranges between 5-350 

words.

Endings 

Logistically, and from a planning 

point of view, it makes things 

a lot easier to start at the end 

because from the very start 

of your story, you can channel 

each and every storyline to the 

ending. 

In every story, there is usually 

some kind of conflict or problem 

that needs to be resolved and 

if you already know what the 

resolution is, you can retro-plot 

your characters, objects and 

actions to set the ending up 

perfectly. Of course, you keep 

your reader in the dark about 

the resolution until the very end 

and you do this by gradually 

revealing ever-increasing 

problems that your main 

character has to overcome. 

Openings 

With a short story, you don't have time 

to create a long, rambling back story. 

Instead, you need to drop your character 

straight into the action. Suggest a back 

story via dialogue if you like but the sooner 

your character hits their 'conflict', the 

better chance you have of keeping your 

reader glued to the page. 

Drop something into the opening that will 

reappear at the end, whether it's an action, 

an object or a piece of dialogue. 

Development 

Now that you've got your ending and your openings sorted, you need to 

get your character and your story from the start to the end via the middle 

section. This is where you develop your plot, your characters and your 

theme. 

Traditionally, the character in a story will face larger and worsening 

problems but you won't have time to do that in a short story. Instead, 

you'll have to compress the time frame into something smaller - every 

word counts. 

In addition to the structure 

and plot, unless your story is 

purely a descriptive piece, 

be economical with your 

descriptions. Long ruminations 

can often cost a short story its 

flow. 

Keep your pre-planned 

ending in mind at all times as 

your middle section will be 

leading directly up to it. 

Editing 

Editing is where you hone, prune and 

polish your work. A sculptor doesn't 

work on their finishing touches until the 

very end and this is what editing is all 

about. 

Once you've finished your first draft 

(which won't be perfect), leave it 'stew' 

for a few days before returning to it. 

You'll be looking at it with fresh eyes. 

In a short story, every word counts so 

be ruthless with unnecessary words 

that will bloat your story and drag it 

down. If your story is intended to be an 

exciting one, you'll be aiming to use 

short sentences in any case to up the 

tempo. Once you've done a first edit, leave it for a few days and repeat the 

same process over and over until you're happy with it. 

Get the full course 

The full course is available as a 

download from 

www.brand.patricmorgan.com 

and includes an in-depth guide, 

showing you how to create your 

own short story, and how you can 

make money from them. 

Publish your work 

Now that you've written your short story, 

you can always look to get it published. 

There's always the option of 

approaching magazines or blogs, or you 

can go direct to a publishing house. 

Self-publishing is also now one of the 

quickest ways to get your work into print 

and make money. Look up sites such as 

Kindle Direct Publishing or Lulu to get 

yourself published. 

47

caerphilly 

Sitting at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley, the history 

of Caerphilly can be traced back to the Neanderthal Age 

The history of Caerphilly goes 

back nearly 250,000 years when 

Neanderthals scoured the then 

barren plains for food and shelter. 

Leaving little impression on the 

landscape, it wasn’t until the Ice Age 

glaciers retreated in 7,000BC, that 

modern humans began establishing 

settlements in the area. 

By 4,500BC, the settlers had 

cleared large swathes of forests 

around the Caerphilly area using 

stone axes. Within the next 

millennium, they had started linking 

to other valleys with pathways that 

they had built. Pottery was also 

being produced. Over 150 burial 

Plaque on Caerphilly Common looking northwest 

from the top of the mountain 

48 

communal monuments from this 

time still exist in Wales, although 

none have been found specifically 

in Caerphilly. 

By 2,500BC, metal was being used 

for the first time to create tools. 

Bronze in particular was being 

utilised to create weapons, as the 

discovery of an axehead at Rudry 

confirms. 

Farming soon started to spread 

to the uplands around this time 

too - Bronze Age burial tombs 

still pepper Caerphilly’s ridges 

to this day. They can be found at 

Cefn Gelligaer, Mynydd y Grug 

above Ynysddu, Twmbarlwm 

and on Mynydd 

Eglwysilan. They 

appear as small 

mounds of stone 

and earth. 

By 1,000BC, 

the peaceful 

settlements were 

beginning to 

experience unrest 

and discord. It is 

believed that the 

Silures controlled 

a lot of the area 

at this time and over the following 

five hundred years, they built hill 

forts such as the one at Coed Craig 

Ruperra. 

In 43BC, the mighty Romans first 

landed on British soil and within four 

years, they had taken all of Britain 

east of the River Severn. In need of 

a boundary, the Romans formed 

their western frontier at the river, 

much to the anger of the Silures, 

who launched raids against them. 

By 57AD, the Romans' patience 

with the Silures had run out and 

decided to silence them once 

and for all with an invasion. It took 

13 years to complete and once 

defeated, the Romans set about 

creating a network of roads and 

forts across Wales. 

A fort was constructed at Gelligaer, 

with the capacity to retain a 

thousand soldiers. This fort can still 

be seen today on the road between 

Cardiff and Y Gaer, near Brecon. 

The Silures were assimilated 

into Roman life, following in the 

footsteps of others that had 

successfully been conquered, and 

integrated into the Roman way of 

living. This was commonly known as

‘Romanising’ and was a key aspect 

of Roman success. 

But by the end of the fourth 

century, the Roman grip on Wales, 

and Britain, was weakening. Attacks 

by the Barbarians were causing 

difficulties and the Romans were 

forced to abandon their territories 

and withdraw their troops. 

A great deal of uncertainty and 

turbulence filled the vacuum that 

had been left by the withdrawal 

of the Romans. Various factions 

struggled for power and in the 

latter half of the eighth century, the 

Anglo-Saxon King Offa ordered the 

construction of an earthern dyke 

that appeared to cut off Wales from 

England. 

By now, Morgannwg had evolved 

as an administrative area. The King 

of Morgannwg would often visit the 

various areas of the ‘cantrefi’ and be 

wined and dined by the local lords. 

It is probable that one of these 

locations was at Is Caiach. 

By 1266, 20 years after the Battle of 

Hastings, all of England was under 

complete Norman rule. Norman 

lords were encouraged to push 

into Wales. One such lord, Robert 

Fitzhamon launched incursions 

from his base in Cardiff and took 

most of the lowlands. He was 

hesitant not to make any attempt on 

the higher grounds though, having 

come off second best once in a raid 

on Gelligaer in 1094. 

Over a hundred years later, the 

Lordship of Glamorgan was in the 

hands of the DeClares. DeClare 

commissioned the building of 

Caerphilly Castle to counteract 

Caerphilly 

Castle 

remains a pure 

example of 13th 

century military 

architecture and 

is the largest 

castle in Wales 

the threat by the Lordship of 

Senghenedd. A stand-off between 

Earl Gilbert deClare and Llewellyn 

ap Gruffydd, the Welsh Prince 

of Wales ensued. Ap Gruffydd’s 

patience finally ran out and 

he attacked Caerphilly Castle. 

DeClare’s army managed to fend off 

the attack and ap Gruffydd became 

The town was industrialised 

after the discovery of coal 

increasingly under threat from 

the Anglo-Normans. He retreated 

to Brecon and never set foot in 

Caerphilly again. 

By the end of the 12th century, the 

Welsh Church had gained influence 

and had set about creating 

dioceses. Caerphilly fell under the 

Diocese of Llandaff. There followed 

a substantial build of new churches, 

which continued well into the 

14th century. St. Barrwgs Church 

in Bedwas is a good example of 

a church built at this time and 

retains a lot of its original build 

and features. The Cistercians, of 

Norman origin, lived a life of poverty 

and silence and in 1179, they built 

Llantarnam Abbey, four miles to the 

east of Caerphilly. Outlying farms 

provided sustenance for the monks. 

One such farm was located at Cefn 

Rhyswg. 

Edward I was crowned King of 

England in 1272, and immediately 

set about flushing out the Welsh. 

Llewelyn ap Gruffydd and his 

brother, now forced back to North 

Wales rebelled, but paid the 

ultimate price. In 1294, after much 

simmering resentment, the Welsh 

attacked Caerphilly Castle and 

burnt the town. 

Twenty years later, in 1314, 

Llewellyn Bren instigated a 

revolt. He gathered an army of 

ten thousand men who besieged 

Caerphilly Castle and left the town 

in ruins. A great battle took place 

at Cefn Onn, where Edward’s men 

joined the local Anglo-Norman 

lords in crushing the rebellion. Bren 

was captured and imprisoned in the 

Tower of London. 

Caerphilly as a town began to 

flourish around the time of Owain 

Glyndŵr in the 15th century. Over 

the following centuries, trades 

such as wool and iron developed. 

Abercarn was one of the locations 

of a furnace, and coal to fuel the 

places 

furnaces was mined on Caerphilly 

Common and from Rudry Woods. 

By the end of the 18th century, the 

coal industry had revolutionised 

the area. Canals and roads cut 

through the landscape, and with 

it came the population. Churches, 

shops and schools sprung up to 

cater for the new inhabitants of the 

area. Motorised transport and the 

introduction of electricity during the 

early 20th century brought about 

many of the changes that still exist 

today in Caerphilly. 

A bronze sculpture of the 

Caerphilly-born comedian Tommy 

Cooper now stands 9 feet tall, atop 

a natural stone and granite plinth 

in the town. Created by sculptor 

James Done, it depicts him wearing 

his trademark fez. It was unveiled in 

2008 by Sir Anthony Hopkins, patron 

of the Tommy Cooper Society. 

The town has hosted two food 

fairs, the Caerphilly Food Festival, 

which is held on the streets of the 

town, and the Big Cheese Festival, 

which has been held in and around 

Caerphilly Castle every summer 

since 1998. The event includes a 

wide variety of cheese stalls as well 

as a funfair, fireworks and a cheese 

race around the castle. 

Tommy Cooper, 

immortalised in bronze 

49

Musical Harmony 

As lockdown confined us to our homes, a group of musicians 

collaborated in isolation to produce a celebration of melody 

When lockdown was announced 

at the end of March, many soon 

realised that life as we know it 

would change, possibly forever. 

Workers were told to either work 

from home or not work at all. 

Joel Piacentini was one of them. 

The musician from Rhiwbina was 

stuck at home, his creative outlet 

cut short by the pandemic. 

"I'm a self-employed financial 

adviser by day and work through 

lockdown has been very difficult. 

Work just stopped. My wife was also 

shielding so as a family, we had to 

follow the same rules as her. Like 

many others, I found myself at a 

loose end, looking for something to 

do with my time." 

Joel's affinity with music started at 

an early age. 

"I’ve been an active musician since 

I was a child. I started playing the 

guitar at 6 years old. My brother-inlaw 

Robert taught me my first ever 

chords." 

50 

Since then, Joel has spent his life 

performing live music to various 

audiences in various different 

guises. 

"Up until the lockdown, I played 

live music regularly and the 

frustration of not being able to do 

that made me think about doing it 

virtually online. 

"I celebrated my birthday during 

April and I had some basic 

recording equipment and it got me 

thinking about creating music with 

fellow musicians. The first people I 

approached were my friend Stuart 

and my nephew Gareth and we 

released our first recording on 29th 

April on Facebook." 

Joel and his band's first 

performance was quickly shared 

around social media, and was 

quickly followed up with another. 

"It grew from there," says Joel. "I 

reached out to other people I knew 

in the community, musician friends, 

and they put me in touch with other 

people, some of whom I've never 

met. We've got a young drummer 

called Callum on our videos and 

I've never met him in real life!" he 

adds. "We were all performing in our 

own locations so we came up with 

the name of the Lockdown Buddy 

Band." 

The performances have a very 

polished feel to them but Joel 

is quick to point out that a lot of 

unseen work goes into each video. 

"When we first set out doing these 

videos, we tried doing a live session 

over a Zoom call. The problem 

was the time lapse and we found 

it impossible to create a cohesive 

piece of music. 

"So we had to come up with other 

ideas. Most of the tracks start with 

me performing my part on guitar 

and voice. I stick to a strict time and 

record it on video. 

"The next step then is to send out 

my video to all the other musicians 

who then record and video their

part in isolation. When it all comes 

back in, it's then down to me to 

stitch it all together. 

"Before lockdown, I'd dabbled a 

few times in creating music digitally 

but I've learned a lot over the last 

few months. The technology side of 

things has been a challenge but I 

understand it a lot better now." 

The band doesn't have an official 

members list, as Joel calls on a 

rotating list of musicians, most of 

whom are based in and around 

Cardiff. 

"Most of the musicians are from 

the city. I'm in Rhiwbina but others 

come from Cyncoed, Whitchurch, 

Lakeside and Thornhill. Our violinist 

Kim Thomas teaches at Llanishen 

Fach Primary School in Rhiwbina." 

In a wonderful twist of fate, Joel's 

ex-Cardiffian brother-in-law, who 

first taught him how to play the 

guitar, now features on some of the 

videos. 

"He plays piano all the way from 

Vancouver so that certainly makes 

us an international set up. It's great 

to think that technology now allows 

us to create music together, even 

though we're opposite sides of the 

world." 

The band plays an eclectic mix of 

music, ranging from The Beatles, 

through to Elbow and the likes of 

The Lumineers and The Fratellis. 

"I’m a little older now so we've 

been trying to play a few songs 

that have been released within 

living memory," laughs Joel. "We 

felt that people needed cheering 

up and we've had some wonderful 

comments from people." 

The performances have been met 

with acclaim from all over, including 

from overseas. 

"My great grandfather was Italian. 

He was from a village in Tuscany 

and we've had some lovely 

feedback about our performances 

from that part of the world." 

The warm welcome that the 

performances have accumulated 

have made Joel think about the 

future of his music. 

"There has been such a positive 

reaction to all of our performances 

and our aim has always been to 

provide something for people to 

focus on when things get scary 

out there. We've had people get in 

touch who have been very isolated 

these last few months and it's really 

perked them up. 

We have had 

lovely feedback 

about our 

performances 

from all over 

the world 

"Nobody is really sure how long 

it will be before live music returns 

to our lives so it's given me some 

thought about what my future could 

look like. 

"In the past, I've been performing 

as part of a trio that plays to social 

clubs, bars and at private functions. 

My most recent residency was at 

people 

Penylan Social Club, but of course, 

all that has changed now. Many 

of the musicians in the videos are 

people I've performed live with over 

the years. 

"As 'normal life' is slowly starting to 

resume, we are going to continue 

with the online performances. 

Output has slowed a little as some 

of our musicians have started going 

back to work. Ultimately, I would 

love to do at least one concert 

locally and recreate all of the tracks 

with all the individuals. There's also 

been talk of creating a charity CD 

or DVD, but there would be things 

such as copyright issues that we'd 

need to look at before we started 

any work on that. 

"I definitely want to continue 

working with my lockdown buddies, 

but perhaps not in our current setup 

as we move out of lockdown. 

"The list of band members is 

still growing. I currently have 16 

musicians, including myself, two 

nieces, one nephew, one brotherin-law 

and my wife." 

Joel's vision has kept both himself 

and his musician friends busy 

during the lockdown, but more 

importantly, they've put a smile 

on the faces of those who have 

perhaps spent too much time alone. 

You can find Joel and his band on 

YouTube. Search for 'Joel Piacentini 

and the Lock-down Buddy Band’. 

They are also on Facebook at 

www.facebook.com/rhiwbina.ldbb 

Top row (l-r): 

Joel Piacentini, 

Rebecca Thayer, 

Jeremy Lukins 

Bottom row l-r: 

Kim Thomas, 

Paul Thomas 

51

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BBQ 

PDQ 

This sizzling selection of quick and easy mouth-watering recipes 

are perfect for outdoor dining on a hot summer's day 

Pulled Pork 

2 tsp ground cumin 

2 tsp smoked paprika 

2 tsp pepper 

2 tsp brown sugar 

1 tsp salt 

500-600ml of cider 

boneless shoulder of pork (between 

2-3kg) 

smoky barbecue sauce 

soft white rolls 

54 

☐ In a bowl, mix together the ground 

cumin, smoked paprika, brown sugar 

and salt. Rub the mixture over the 

boneless shoulder of pork. 

☐ Put the pork into a large casserole 

dish, skin-side up, and pour in half of 

the cider over the meat. 

☐ Cover the casserole dish with a lid 

and cook in the oven at 150°C/130°C 

fan/Gas 2 for between 4 and 8 hrs 

until falling apart. Check every few 

hours in case it gets dry – if it does, 

add another mugful of cider. 

☐ Take it out of the oven and put the 

meat in a big dish, leaving the liquid 

in the casserole. 

☐ Cut the skin off, then shred the 

meat using two forks. Ditch any fatty 

bits and skim any excess fat off the 

surface of the sauce. 

☐ Add a mugful of a good smoky 

BBQ sauce to the casserole, mix it 

in, then ladle some into a bowl for 

dipping. 

☐ Put the pulled pork back in the 

casserole with the juices so it stays 

moist. Season to taste. Can be made 

one day ahead. 

☐ Serve in soft white rolls with 

coleslaw and the bowl of juices on 

the side for dipping plus a tomato, 

cucumber and coriander salad. 

Tomato, cucumber 

& coriander salad 

6 ripe vine tomatoes, deseeded and 

chopped 

1 small cucumber, diced 

1 red onion, very finely chopped 

6 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped 

☐ Mix together the tomatoes, 

cucumber, red onion, and chopped 

coriander but don’t season until just 

before serving.

Vegan burger 

For the burgers 

400g black beans, rinsed and 

drained 

100g cooked brown rice (from a 

packet is fine) 

1 onion, grated 

1 tsp crushed fennel seeds 

½ tsp garlic salt 

1 tsp smoked paprika 

25g panko breadcrumbs 

1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf 

parsley 

For the mayo 

100g silken tofu 

1 tsp cider vinegar 

1 tsp lemon juice 

a pinch of English mustard powder 

1 tsp chipotle paste 

For the guacamole 

1 avocado, peeled and stoned 

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped 

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped 

1 tbsp chopped coriander 

juice of 1/2 lime 

☐ To create the burgers, tip all the 

burger ingredients into a blender and 

pulse until they're combined. Divide 

into 4 and shape them into burger 

patties. Place them onto a plate and 

rest them in the fridge for at least 30 

minutes. 

☐ Heat your barbecue or griddle 

pan to high. Brush the burger patties 

with some olive oil and then place 

them on the grill. Cook for 3 minutes 

before flipping, and cooking for 3 

minutes more. Touch the burgers 

as little as possible to maintain their 

shape. 

☐ To make the chipotle mayo, place 

all of the ingredients into a small 

blender with a pinch of sugar and 

food 

blend until smooth. Add 2 tbsp olive 

oil, and then blitz again until it looks 

like mayonnaise. Season, tip into a 

bowl, cover and chill. 

☐ To make the guacamole, mash the 

avocado with a fork, and then stir in 

the onion, chilli, and the coriander. 

Season and stir in the lime juice and 

then chill. 

☐ Lightly toast some buns and 

then layer the bottom bun with your 

mayo. Add the burger and top with 

guacamole and some tomato slices 

if desired. 

Salmon with 

soy marinade 

1 tbsp lemon zest 

1 tbsp minced garlic 

freshly ground black pepper 

5 tbsp soy sauce 

4 tbsp dark brown soft sugar 

5 tbsp water 

4 tbsp vegetable oil 

700g salmon fillet 

☐ In a small bowl, stir together 

the lemon zest, garlic, pepper, soy 

sauce, sugar, water and vegetable 

oil until the sugar is dissolved. 

Place the fish in a large resealable 

plastic bag with the marinade, 

seal, and turn to coat. Refrigerate 

for at least 2 hours. 

☐ Preheat the barbecue to a 

medium heat. 

☐ Lightly oil the cooking grate. 

Place the salmon on the 

preheated barbecue and discard 

the marinade. Cook the salmon for 

6 to 8 minutes per side, or until it 

flakes easily with a fork. 

55

Rhiwbina Living Issue 50

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