Daily Archives: June 3, 2020

The City

#blacklivesmatter Cardiff resources and round up

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So. There’s a lot going on. (I feel like I’ve said that multiple times, like way more times than I should have said it, since the start of this year?? Anyway.) Just wanted to round up some resources and events taking place that might be of interest at the mo.

BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTS

You may have noticed a couple of #BlackLivesMatter protests taking place in Cardiff this week. If you are attending a protest, please remember to keep socially distanced, wear a mask, and take sunblock and water to keep hydrated. Follow Black Lives Matter Cardiff on Facebook for more information.

Also be careful when taking photos of participants at protests –  try and respect people who don’t want to be in photos or filmed. VICE US have a good article about protecting your digital privacy while protesting (but remember it’s written for an American audience).

This public Google Doc – How to support black lives in the UK – was made by @perkin_amalaraj specifically for a British audience, and has a useful list of online resources for learning about the history of slavery, colonialism and racism – including a number of free online courses.

If you’d like to undertake more reading, try this: Anti-racism resources for white allies (compiled by one of the BLM organisers – info ranges from articles to read, to anti-racism books for children, to anti-racism film recommendations).

BLACK MUSIC WALES PLAYLIST

Something nice to listen to: this Black Music Wales playlist on Spotify. TASTY! Featuring tunes from Aleighcia Scott, Eadyth, Wibidi, DJ Jaffa, and more!

LISTEN TO SHREDS

This is the second time in a week we’re mentioning the BBC Sounds podcast Shreds by Ceri Jackson. But we really, really, REALLY recommend it. It’s an upsetting but vital listen about systemic police racism and corruption in Cardiff over the Lynette White case, which sparked off one of the biggest overhauls of the justice system in the UK. And it happened not far from where you live. Educate yourself and give it a listen.

COME TO THE PRIVILEGE CAFE

If you’re after something practical you can dial into from home, check out the Privilege Cafe. This virtual cafe is a safe space created by Mymuna Soleman, to make a new inclusive environment! Be empowered, be confident and let’s talk privilege! Their next event takes place 5pm on Thursday 4 June: Labels, Language and Linguistics.

OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION / THINGS TO FOLLOW:

(not exhaustive obviously – please add more sources in the comments…)

Word from us here at WAC.

Remember we’re open to submissions about literally ANYTHING you want to write about – whether it’s just to talk to us about your community project, or write a poem about the city, or write us a Letter about being in Lockdown. We’re run on an entirely voluntary basis. What we are depends on what you want to write for us. So use that voice and send us your stuff.

Peas.

WAC
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The People

Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Mark and Rachel, Treganna Gin

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Mark and Rachel of Treganna Gin, who have given us the first Lockdown Cocktail recipe of this series! We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

We are Mark and Rachel of Treganna Gin, a micro-gin distillery that started-up in Canton in 2019. We have been turning to nature in  lockdown to keep us sane.

We’re used to living a city life; spending time in the parks and museums, joining the crowds watching the rugby and eating as many Salkaara curries as we can get our hands on.

Lockdown has forced us to live very differently for the past few months. We have stayed close to home, only venturing out into the garden or the little lanes around our house.

Getting out into the countryside has given us the chance to grow an appreciation of nature, re-establishing a connection which is almost totally cut-off by modern urban life. We have watched the gentle progression of spring; the buds appearing on trees, wildflowers blooming in hedgerows and the arrival of the migrating swallows.

On the back lanes around Cardiff, nature has taken over whilst the cars and council lawnmowers have stayed home. Have you noticed the abundance of wildflowers this year? The charity PlantlifeUK estimates that there are only 85,000 hectares of species-rich grassland in the UK. When you compare that with the 238,000 hectares of roadside verges you start to see how important these little mini-meadows are.

Above all, getting out into nature has helped with our mental health.

Lockdown has been difficult in different ways for almost everyone. For us we have found the chaos of working and looking after three children the hardest; it is exhausting and relentless. We miss our friends and family, the ones who come around and bounce the baby for five minutes or share a drink and laugh with us on a Saturday afternoon. Getting out once a day into the countryside instantly quietens the noise; the shouting children, the emails and the pandemic news all disappear. For an hour everything is ok again.

Spurred on by the resilience nature around us, we have used lockdown to start to learn more about the different uses for the plants around us.

After only two months we have learnt so much. Even the children have shown an interest. Our two year old can already recognise stinging nettles, sticky-willies and wild garlic!

Us adults have taken an interest in the edible plants, taking advice from books and online advice to make sure we don’t poison anyone! The wild garlic down by the river smells fantastic and makes the best pesto. Nettles are surprisingly delicious when you sprinkle them with oil and roast them like crisps. The Ribwort Plantain that sprung up outside our house is edible, but mainly it’s a natural antihistamine and fantastic for nettle stings picked up during said crisp making!

En hommage to the nature which has kept us sane these past few months, we’ve used our gin in a ‘forager’ cocktail. The drink includes forget-me-not and lilac flowers which can easily be found in gardens and verges around Wales.

Please remember! When foraging, always make sure that you can identify the plant accurately. When in doubt, leave it out! Seek expert advice if you are unsure. Please use common sense when foraging for ingredients. Leave one third for wildlife, one third for sustainability and one third for foraging.

Cardiff Foragers Gin Cocktail

Ingredients

  • 50ml Treganna Gin
  • 100ml quality tonic (we used Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic)
  • 25ml fresh lemon juice
  • 20ml sugar syrup (we used Monin Lavender syrup)
  • Edible wild flowers for garnish (we used forget-me-not and lilac flowers)

Method

  1. Fill your glass of choice with crushed ice, Treganna gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup
  2. Stir and fill to the brim with tonic water (add more gin or ice if you prefer!)
  3. Gather your foraged and washed flowers or herbs and decorate
  4. Enjoy!

Why not treat yourself, go order some Treganna Gin today! We’ve just put our order in…

Follow Treganna Gin in the following places: Treganna Gin Twitter / Treganna Gin Instagram / Treganna Gin Facebook. 

Want to write for Letters from Cardiff in lockdown? Find out how here…

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The People

Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Justyna Wyszynska

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Justyna Wyszynska, owner of Cardiff Pilates Studio in Canton. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

Looking back at the few weeks in the lockdown my main reflection has to be: ‘I’m so lucky’

Teaching classes – the ‘old’ way

My name is Justyna and I own Cardiff Pilates Studio in Canton. Before the lock down myself and a team of five teachers ran both mat and private classes at the studio, seven days a week. When we were told to ‘stay at home, unless you can’t do your job’ initially I had a million thoughts and questions running through my head. I think I was looking for a way to stay open. I felt that the lock down is one of those thighs that happens on the news and surely it won’t affect my business or my local pub, restaurant, gym or my friends. But we, as so many other local businesses have temporarily closed our doors.

Teaching classes the new way!

I’m definitely lucky that I don’t tend to dwell on things and after closing the studio on the Saturday, we ran our first online class on the Monday. I was both overwhelmed by support of our clients and surprised how well it worked. At present, myself and the studio’s teachers run a variety of classes and I think we all (including clients) had to take some time to get used to it and work out some technical issues. But, I also believe that each class gives us a little dose of positivity. I terribly miss being in the studio and interacting with the clients, especially a bit of banter that is the best way to try and avoid exercising (slightly more difficult when clients are muted but face expressions can speak thousands of words!).

Personally, I took this time to sign up to as many classes and workshops as I could myself. I thought since my holidays are postponed that will be my treat for this year! I asked my clients and friends for recommendations and ended up trying a few different classes that were run from different places in the UK, Europe and USA (which was an interesting experience, as I miscalculated time difference!).

Missing the studio space

And yet again I consider myself lucky that I could participate in workshops with people from Belfast, Kairo, Berlin and Paris as it was a fab experience and a good laugh. I’m regularly attending two classes run by Cardiff based Yoga Studio (Stretchy Suzie’s) and love every single class, especially on my ‘deflated days’.

On exactly those days I also try and remember that this won’t go on forever and that myself and so many other people around will probably see their families again at some point this year. And definitely, on those days I realise how lucky I am, as myself and all my loved ones are healthy and mostly in good spirits. And in the meantime, I will keep myself busy, thinking about ways how we can improve and diversify our online classes!”

Visit the Cardiff Pilates Studio website.

Want to write for Letters from Cardiff in lockdown? Find out how here…

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