Alt.Cardiff Magazine: The Winter issue

Alt.Cardiff If it’s offbeat and in Cardiff, then it’s in here

Feeding hope this winter January 2024 Issue 1

News Page

Rise in demand for handmade goods amid cost-of-living-crisis

Age-inclusivity: top priority in Cardiff libraries this year

Cardiff Christmas market 2023 saw a growing demand for locally produced products

Riding on the success of age-friendly activities conducted last year, the Cardiff Hubs and Library services are gearing up to include more engaging and creative events in 2024.

“Our aim is to keep the ageing population active, fit and out of care homes, because not only does it cost a fortune, but people do not want to be in care. They want to enjoy their time and be involved in things as much as they can,” says Norma Mackie, cabinet member for adult social services.

Other notable future plans revealed in the Local Authority’s Social Sevices’ report include integrating shared spaces for GP and clinic facilities, and providing mental health support to disadvantaged groups like unpaid carers and HIV patients.

Words by Becky George

Handy work of art: A glass artist making live decorations

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ontrary to adverse national sales forecasts for the festive season, early indications at the Cardiff Christmas market show that people are willing to spend on gift shopping if the items are one-ofa-kind and handmade.

The Shopping for Christmas Report 2023 released in October highlighted that the sale of gifts and decorations will be hit since everything including food and daily essentials, has gone up in price.

In Cardiff, however, this has been proven wrong with locally produced arts and crafts products, festive decorations and customised gift items seeing a growing demand among visitors at this year’s Christmas market.

Access to exclusive handcrafted pieces is one factor which draws in customers to the market.

“The jigsaw puzzles have been flying off the shelves probably because it is a nice Christmas gift and an off-screen activity which people can enjoy together,” says Lu

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Gossian of Gossian Blurs, which sells abstract art pieces, notebooks and art-stone jewellery.

“The notebooks too had to be restocked as each one is handpainted and unique,” she added.

The Cardiff Christmas Market is hosted by Craft Folk, a 1994-established crafts fair organising company in South Wales.

“The market has been featured among the top Christmas markets in the UK for almost 10 years now.

I think the public is perceptive of the fact that we are committed to supporting small Welsh independent shops selling authentic products, which cannot be bought from any high street stores,” says Jane Halls, operating manager at the firm.

The biggest challenge for sellers till now, has been the erratic Welsh weather, driving away customers.

“While people are ready to explore and spend on customised gifts, the wet and blustery weather seems to be against us,” observed Sian James who owns Fun and Funky Stuff.

Rare night-shopping experience at Cardiff

From a new spot to try freshly made Italian panzerotti to the classic stalls offering local delicacies, the fifth edition of the Cardiff Night Market was a treat for visitors.

Organised after the pandemic, this was the second night market conducted in association with the City of Arcades Day, an annual celebration of the iconic Cardiff arcades housing more than 100 independent shops.

The new traders especially, found the event to be a major business boost. “My mother was here on the night making her special Apulian recipes,” said Franco Scarpetta of Franco Food Street which sells “Nonna made” treats using authentic ingredients from Southern Italy.

Interview

Just a young performer on a ‘musical high’ Local musician Jack Chandrinos is known for his covers of famous singers. Here he talks to Becky George about being an up-and-coming artist in Cardiff

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or Jack Chandrinos, 22, being a musician is a connection with music growing up. He remembers dream come true, especially since he realised that stumbling upon a Shawn Mendes album one day at there was nothing else he would rather do. the age of 14, which changed things forever. Titled He recently performed his first original at Cardiff Night Handwritten, the album inspired him to pick up a guitar Market held last November, where he started off playing and sing. “I fell in love with music because of Shawn his covers of artists like Elvis Presley and George Ezra.

Mendes,” he grins.

Chandrinos who started performing from the time he He still reminisces about one of his best moments being turned 17, mainly does covers of artists who have a rich a performer, which happened on a night he was filling in deep voice similar to his. “My voice type is a baritone for someone else. like Elvis or Ezra, which means I sing “It was at a pub called Brew House a lot deeper than most artists. I also do where I walked in to see a huge crowd of cover songs of people like Johnny Cash about 500 people. Once I began playing, since I’m drawn to folk and country everybody started singing along and I fell in love music,” he says. enjoying the music. I would say moments with music According to him, being able to play like these give a high you can’t get off old songs is also a prerequisite for because of Shawn anything else.” getting signed up for gigs in the city, The Fairwater native admits to being Mendes especially if you’re a beginner. an introvert when he is not working “When you work through an agency, on music.“I don’t really talk about my you go to two different types of places emotions. It is easier to express myself – pubs and social clubs. The clubs,” he explains, “have when I am writing songs,” he says. a bigger senior-citizen audience who mostly appreciate The Music Performance graduate from Cardiff and Vale old tunes. I even got kicked out of a social club once for University, has grand plans to make it big as an artist. “I playing only modern music.” am pretty much over the moon doing what I love. It is a Chandrinos was not someone who had a deep surreal feeling,” beams the singer.

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Image credits: Unsplash

Feature

Will hunger pangs worsen this winter?

Food insecurity is at an all-time high, Alt Cardiff investigates as organisations in Wales brace themselves for their busiest frosty season Words by Becky George

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I am so worried about the coming winter, I know I don’t dare put my heating on,” says Heather, a foodbank beneficiary.

She had to reduce her work hours due to ill health and since the cost of her energy bills went up, she chose to cut back on food and keep her heating off.

Heather’s story is just one of the many that Trussell Trust, a charitable organisation which supports a nationwide network of food banks has come across.

They house 1300 food bank centres which provide a minimum of three days’ emergency parcels including all essential food items to those who are locked in poverty due to various reasons.

As per figures released early this year, almost 3 million emergency parcels were distributed by food banks across the United Kingdom, between April 2022 and March 2023.

In Wales, this crossed over one hundred thousand which is a 41% increase in the number of parcels distributed from the same period in 2021 to 2022 and a 26% increase from when the pandemic peaked between 2020-2021.

According to industry experts, winter is the busiest season for food banks and other organisations which provide similar services.

Trussell Trust expects this year’s winter to be the harshest ever in recent times, with food banks forecasted to distribute more than one million emergency food parcels in the UK between December 2023 and February 2024, “the equivalent of providing a parcel every eight seconds this

winter”, says the report.

ABCs of hunger The first step to tackling this social issue is to understand what the term food insecurity means.

The Trussell Trust Hunger in the UK report defines food insecurity as “going without or cutting back on the quantity or quality of food due to lack of money.”

Lydia Lerner, Wales and South West regional manager at FoodCycle, an organisation which provides community meals across the UK, interprets food insecurity or poverty as the inability to afford nutritious food. “From our observations, this issue has impacted families, the elderly, children, the homeless, disabled and is not limited to or confined to any particular demographic, gender or region. We see real people whose lives have been affected,” she said.

Whys and hows Liz Davies, operations manager at Cardiff Food Bank identifies the top three reasons why people approach their nearest food banks.

“Rising cost of essentials, debt due to priority payments like council tax, energy bills, rent or mortgage and ongoing effects of physical and mental conditions are primarily why people access us.

Any of these causes worry and anxiety which can further aggravate their mental or physical wellbeing, creating a spiral effect of problems. In such circumstances, a free food parcel can offer a crucial 5

The way ahead Davies underlines the fact that providing food parcels is just “sticking the plaster” on the larger issue. “We are not just working on giving food to people but looking at how we can get help for them.

That is why we have the whole process of getting a food meal through vouchers in place,” she says.

Care professionals like health visitors, school staff and social workers identify people in crisis and issue food vouchers. These can be used to access nutritionally balanced non-perishable food items like cereal, soup, tinned meat and vegetables, at the nearest food banks.

This helps to keep a record of the ground reality of how and why people end up in challenging circumstances. More importantly, individuals are then referred to other agencies like the Money Advice Service or the council who can potentially help them resolve their particular problem.

“Our society is pretty broken at the moment.

Interest rates are high and the length and time for which some people have to wait with a health issue is alarming. Food poverty is, therefore, a complex problem with no ‘one’ solution. Spending money 6

Image credits: Trussell Trust website

breathing gap that people badly need,” she explains.

One in eight households in Wales are struggling to afford essentials like housing, food, fuel, clothing and transport as per the Snapshot of Poverty survey by the Bevan Foundation, a Welsh think-tank.

The survey also highlights that the impact of rising prices is unequal. 21% of respondent households with a child reported that they had to cut back on the size of the child’s meal or that their child had been forced to skip a meal.

Adults under the age of 65, disabled individuals, people on receipt of benefits like the Universal Credit and unpaid carers, are other groups who are more likely to struggle to afford the basics as against the general population.

While discussions have been raging about bringing down these stark figures, the numbers which rose during Covid-19 have since then only gotten worse.

Food Cardiff, a city-wide partnership of organisations and people working to promote healthy and environmentally sustainable food, led the Covid-19 food response task group in 2020.

Pearl Costello, head coordinator at the firm, shares how it has become more challenging today to secure support to tackle the issue.

“There were logistical and financial difficulties during the pandemic, but I feel like there was better support too. Major charities and businesses, especially those in the hospitality sector that were shut down and couldn’t operate, donated quick meals to the NHS. The figures are now rising, with less direct backing and funding,” she said.

Guarantee Our Essentials Campaign on identifying root causes, instead of multiple projects may be one way to go ahead with this,” she opines.

This is also why the organisation has started a ‘Guarantee Our Essentials’ petition ahead of the next general election, calling on all UK political party leaders to guarantee that the universal credit payment covers the costs of essentials.

Winter is coming Cardiff Food Bank has created a reverse advent calendar for people to offer donations in a festive way. The listed food items will be sorted and packed into emergency food parcels while the financial donations will be utilised to store and distribute these safely.

Food banks are joined in by other charities who pledge to do their absolute best to serve the community no matter the increase in demand for meals. FoodCycle meals, for example, are prepared for 30-35 guests at a time but winter months are busier. “If it means we have to run to the nearest supermarket to feed more guests, we will happily do so,” smiles Lerner.

For people like Heather, winter is not ‘the most wonderful time of the year.’ While the whole world celebrates, they find ways to access free meals bearing the cold. Offering a warm shelter to all of them may not be possible, but a hot meal on a cold day will undoubtedly warm their hearts.