Mini Mag hope issue 2021

Jan 2021

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alt.cardiff

the hope edition

The News

Hopeful News

Foot-care charity reaches out to those most vulnerable

A monthly round up of stories to keep you hopeful

House murals are fast becoming Cardiff’s newest art trend

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ouse murals are becoming Cardiff’s newest art trend. Cardiff residents have been taking a paintbrush to their house fronts over the pandemic to express themselves.

The new trend has spiked over the lockdown period and looks like it could be here to stay.

Residents from Splott, Roath and Pontypridd have recently turned their houses into works of art.

From three-metre-tall rainbows in support of keyworkers, to giant poppy fields commemorating fallen soldiers of WW2, the murals are fast becoming Cardiff’s newest artistic trend.

This is great news for the creative community.

Rhiannon Lewis painted a six-foot rainbow on the front façade of her house in Splott back in March.

She only planned to have the rainbow temporarily but now feels it is part of the house. She said she is, “Open to different designs and would love to have a different artist paint the house every six months.”

Rhiannon says the mural on her house has, “Brought her community together.”. The murals are a talking point in

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communities. They’ve brought people together who, before lockdown, didn’t really speak.

As the pandemic slogs on, we may see more and

“Brought her community together” more murals appearing in support of various causes.

It seems this art trend is not just brightening up the streets of Cardiff, but the lives of its residents too.

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omeless Hope, a volunteer group that provides basic foot care for rough sleepers in South Wales has started an Amazon wish list to avoid face-to-face contact with donators and ensure those most in need receive foot care during winter.

As a result of not being able to offer treatment directly, Their NHS volunteers have been unable to set up face-to-face clinics.

Nurse and team member Mandy Mills said, the wish list allowed them to tailor the items people

donated, making sure they weren’t missing out on anything they hadn’t been able to receive through treatment.The wish list has seen an influx of donations, these will be distributed in homeless shelters across South Wales in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Mandy also started the Homeless Hope boot amnesty back in March.

Since then, Homeless Hope has collected 200 pairs of boots.The community has really stepped up in light of the pandemic. Mandy said, “The support has been completely phenomenal.”

“The support has been phenomenal”

Laughing yoga hits the Valleys

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ova Barton is launching her Laughter Yoga business, promoting health and wellbeing by simply, having a laugh. The life coach from Maerdy hosts weekly zoom sessions to practise the breakthrough technology with anyone who is willing to give it a go.

Nova says that “if you force yourself to laugh, your brain can’t tell the difference, you still feel the benefits”.

The Laughter Yoga sessions take place on Monday evenings over Zoom. Nova also offers sober coaching and life coaching on her website: https://www. novacoachingservices.com

INTERVIEW

"My business started crumbling beneath me"

How Welsh wedding and family photographer Katie Radford found a silver lining amid lockdown, keeping her business afloat with her long lens in tow

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atching Boris Johnson address the nation from her kitchen table in March this year, Katie Radford had her first 'oh shit' moment when it dawned on her, the 48 weddings she had booked for the season may not go ahead.

The 33-year-old photographer from Canton said that within the hour she’d answered her first cancellation call.

The calls didn’t stop there. Katie said, “Within 48 hours I had lost 20 weddings.” She said it was very dramatic, this was her livelihood, her job, and all of a sudden she couldnt do anything.

After two days of postponements and cancellations, Katie said she felt emotionally drained.

Katie also offers family packages.

She said families started to think lockdown was a good opportunity to have family photos.

"Suddenly I was attacked by this whole baby group", she

said, people were still having babies and couldn’t have the baby shoots.

With that, doorstep photoshoots were born. Katie would go along to peoples houses, ensuring she kept her distance and take pictures of families, new born babies in tow, outside their front doors. Within a week of the first shoot, Katie had 10 family photoshoots set up. “Thank God for my long lens.” Katie said the experince sometimes felt a little creepy!

She said it was all very weird, sometimes standing in the middle of the road to get the best shot of the whole family, tucked under their porches, “But they loved it.” she said.

“It was good to gain new clients out of such a bizarre situation.” she said.

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atie’s business has not disappeared into a cloud of dust as she first feared back in April.With fifty-six weddings booked in for next year, she’s taking her positive attitude into 2021 and feels ready to take on any wedding thrown her way!

"I just had to sit there and wait for another bride to cancel on me"

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his year marks Katie’s tenth year in the wedding business.

She says her career as a photographer came along by accident.After finishing anatomy studies at Cardiff University she got pulled into the world of commercial She said, “It was always just a hobby, I just happened to be the friend that always had a camera in her hand.”

When a friend asked her if she’d consider photographing her wedding, Katie’s eagerness to bring out and show the best in people took hold.

She said, “That was it then, I put up the pictures on a really badly designed website and people just started booking me.”

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decade on and Katie has over 100 weddings in her portfolio. Katie prides herself on her special relationship with clients, some she’s had for over 10 years By the end of lockdown, Katie had just one masked up wedding under her belt. The end of the summer season brought new opportunities.

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wales

long reads

shows up

For the bame community

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housands of protestors gathered on Cooper’s Field in Bute park on the 14 of June 2020.

Socially distanced and masked up, the roar of the masses could be heard from Central Station. They were all shouting the same thing, 'Black Lives MattER!’

In the wake of George Floyd’s tragic death back in May, Governments around the globe found themselves facing an influx of outraged protestors storming their capital cities. The outpouring of grief forw individuals such as Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery spoke volumes for the mood of the moment, the mood for change.

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The Welsh Government has been one of the fastest in responding to these public outcries and has shown they are ready to embrace change. Not only are they embracing it, they are revolutionising their policy making process. For the first time, minority groups are leading the conversations on equality in Wales.

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eputy Minister and Chief Whip Jane Hutt says, “It will no longer be a case of politicians and officials thinking they know what’s best.” Policy making will now focus on the lived experience of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) individuals living in Wales.”

On November 27 the Government committed £115,580 to BAME communities across Wales.

On November 27 the Government committed £115,580 to BAME communities across Wales.This will be distributed across 25 groups in the next year, the Deputy Minister says this funding will ensure the groups engage with their own representatives across Wales and contribute to decision making.

The Government has also been working with larger communities on all equality initiatives they’ve introduced since the summer.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign manager for Wales, Cindy Ikie says BLM is heavily involved in the work the Government is doing. She says, ”Black Lives Matter Wales is very often, if not always invited to a forum of sorts, in relation to this matter.” Black Lives Matter Wales has over 12 regional leaders across Wales and has grown in force since summer, launching their manifesto on Twitter earlier this week.

The Government has also been supporting grassroots groups like Race Council Cymru.

Representing over 200 ethnic groups across Wales the group has led Welsh Black History Month for the last 20 years.

This year the government has committed £40,000 to support the group launching Black History Cymru 365. Making 2021 a year-long celebration of black history. The group’s founder Uzo Iwobi (OBE) speaking on behalf of the community says, “We shouldn’t be wheeled out like a jack-in-the-box one month of the year.” The founder believes black history is welsh history and it should be black history life, 365 days of the year, every year.

"We shouldn't be wheeled out like a jack- inthe- box one month of the year" uzo iwobi OBE

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aking a link between the public outcry of justice for black lives in the summer and the recent emphasis from the Welsh Government on equality in Wales isn’t hard. However, it is not just the social zeitgeist we find ourselves in that had led to such drastic policy reinvention.

The Deputy Minister points towards the work of Professor Ogbonna of Cardiff University Business school in the COVID-19 BAME Socio-economic Sub Group Report for the answer.

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long reads The report released in June states, "Members of BAME communities are disproportionately contracting and dying from the Covid-19 disease."

The report links the socio-economic circumstances BAME individuals living in Wales find themselves in, with a higher chance of contracting the virus. Cindy Ikie of BLM Wales says the report made the impact of Covid-19 all the more personal. She says, “Once you started putting the statistics together with the actual lived experience it all became too real.”

She says as the movement progressed she realised the one thing they were shouting the loudest for was in that very moment, playing out before their eyes. he Deputy Minister says, this showed exactly where structural and institutional inequalities are found in Wales.The minister believes the report feeds into the governments Race Equality Action Plan. “The work in the report highlighted these inequalities found in our housing, our education and our jobs, which is what the Race Equality Action plan will target most.” Uzo Iwobi (OBE) of Race Council Cymru called the Welsh Government’s response,

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Courageous, breath-taking and honest.” Deputy Minister Jane Hutt noted there are still challenges to be faced when it comes to racism’s presence on social media and populist views growing in some areas of Wales. However, the current Government wants to build a policy infrastructure on equality that is built to last. Looking towards the election next year she says, “We want it to be very difficult for anyone who tries to dismantle it.”

Cindy Ikie says the work and investments made by the Government since the summer give her faith that “2021 will look like a year of support for the BAME community. The voices calling out for black liberty on Cooper’s Field back in June now echo through the halls of the Senedd. These voices are heard on Zoom calls, in committee meetings and, in action as the Government continues to take unprecedented steps towards a more equal and just Wales.

"2021 will look like,

a year of support

for the Bame Community"

"Courageous,

Breath-taking honest"

Words and illustration by Annie Wheatland-Clinch

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