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Hi! I'm Helia.

Cardiff est Charlie, Sunday 11 January 2014

January 14, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Photojournalist Peppe Iovino went along to an event held in front of the Senedd in Cardiff Bay on Sunday, where Cardiffians gathered to show solidarity with the French community after the terrible events taking place in Paris last week.

From Peppe: “Cardiff people took to the Senedd square, united with the Welsh French community to demonstrate their solidarity after the terrorist French attack against the Charlie Hebdo satire magazine newsroom and the following 17 deaths. A square made by many different nationalities, religion beliefs, political ideals, social backgrounds and ages, families and students all together under one flag, one colour, the peace one, one silent shout to say We are Charlie, united global human tears under one flag, the peace: one.”

We Are Cardiff Productions

We Are Cardiff’s most viewed posts of 2014: in review

January 13, 2015 admin Leave a comment

This blog was viewed about 130,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it. And that’s a FACT.

The busiest day of the year was December 10th with 1,758 views. The most popular post that day was Cardiff Indoor Flea Market.

Check out our most viewed posts of 2014!

NUMBER ONE: Street Food Cardiff – food pop ups every weekend from now to Christmas!

The top of our list was the post about the pop-up food hall that totally occurred on Dumballs Road between October and Christmas. We went along to the preview night, which was epic, even though they ran out of squid ink burgers JUST before we got there, sad face. Looking forward to new big things from the creative crew behind this in 2015!

NUMBER TWO: Cardiff hidden gem – Rose Street flea market

At number two, it was a Cardiff ‘hidden gem’: Rose Street Flea Market, tucked away on Rose Street in Roath, and only open a couple of days a week. One of the best places in Cardiff to pick up your secondhand goods from!

NUMBER THREE: Cardiff Indoor Flea Market

Another post about a flea market – this time, Cardiff Indoor Flea Market over in Tremorfa. It’s a bit out of the way (unless you live just off Newport Road), but well worth the journey down there.

NUMBER FOUR: The Gower Pub, Cardiff 1895 – 2014. RIP

A sad post about one of Cathays’ best pubs, closing its doors for the last time in 2014. Photographer Jon Pountney went along to document the closing.

NUMBER FIVE “Malaysian – Cardiffian – a harmonious fusion between two cultures, two cities and two lifestyles” – Zainah

This one is a bittersweet entry in the top five, because a couple of months after we posted this story, KL Canalog was forced to close. Boo! I only went there to eat ONCE before it closed down, which is a CRIME against my belly, because frankly their mie goreng with a fried egg on top was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.

And that’s our top five posts of last year! Hope you’re enjoying January and it’s not been too hard on you so far.

Peas

WAC

The City

Cardiff news / blogs / links round-up for the New Year

January 9, 2015 admin 1 Comment

There has been so much stuff I’ve been bookmarking recently to post here on the blog, it’s getting ridiculous – so I thought I’d do a blog round up, like Hannah Waldram used to do when she was writing the Guardian’s Cardiff blog. Remember that? That was great.

Anyway.

DINOSAURS IN PENARTH
Just before Christmas, a seven foot dinosaur fossil was found on a beach near Penarth! EPIC FIND

RECYCLING IN CARDIFF
Cardiff Council are doing a consultation on recycling in the city. FILL IT OUT: http://www.surveys.cardiff.gov.uk/wastestrategy/

SAVE CARDIFF’S NIGHTSHELTER
Thanks to the generous donations of people like you, Cardiff’s Nightshelter has almost raised the £21k it needs to stay open. Please donate whatever you can, however small, to help those with nowhere else to go. Imagine being homeless in the bad weather we’re currently having … also the Nightshelter is the only place that accepts dogs, sometimes the only friend a homeless person has 😦 DONATE TO HELP KEEP THE PLACE OPEN: They’re so near their target! SAVE THE NIGHTSHELTER

THE GREATEST WELSH SONGS OF 2014
Music writer Dave Owens has compiled a tasty slice of 2014’s best tracks, as put together by Welsh bands (Wales Online)

RIP CATAPULT RECORDS
We were gutted to find out our favourite dance music specialist in Cardiff has closed down. RIP Catapult 100% Vinyl. There’s a Facebook group you can join if you’d like to share photos / videos and mourn its loss: RIP Catapult

WHY CARDIFF?
Friend-of-the-blog Neil Cocker recently wrote this piece called ‘Why Cardiff?’. If you’ve got friends who are thinking about moving here, why not send them this to help them along in their decision making!

EAT OUT FOR CHEAP IN CARDIFF IN JANUARY!
Wales Online have got a good round-up of cheap offers for eating out in the city in January. Screw the diet! Cheap eats in January

SPILLERS RECORDS – NEW AND IMPROVED!
After the sad news about Catapult, we’ve got some GOOD news about Spillers – they’ve just moved into their new premises, just opposite where they were before – by The Plan cafe, in the old bookshop. The new address is 31, The Morgan Arcade – get yourselves down there and visit them. They’re open now! Spillers Facebook page

GETTING PISSED? GET TO GWDIHW BEFORE 8PM!
Gwdihw have got 50 PERCENT OFF EVERYTHING (yes, they mean everything) before 8pm through the WHOLE of January. AND they’ve got some wicked nights on throughout the rest of the month. If you’re looking for a place to get drunk in January, get the Gwd! Gwdihw Facebook

Have we missed anything? Let us know in the comments. And happy January!

xxx

Whats on

RIP: Catapult 100% Vinyl, Cardiff’s only independent dance music record store

January 8, 2015 admin 14 Comments

The death of the independent record store has unfortunately been a trope of the changing high street over the past 20 odd years. And it was with a heavy heart that I learned, just after the new year, of the closing of Catapult 100 % Vinyl, which had been Cardiff’s only independent dance music specialist for some years.

There’s an open Facebook group that’s been set up where people who loved the shop (and spent a lot of time there over the years) are encouraged to share photos, videos, and memories of the place. If it was a place you loved, please join (or leave comments beneath this blogpost): RIP Catapult Facebook group.

When I moved back to Cardiff for university in 2000, I went out wandering through the city centre looking for a part time job to support me through my studies. I ended up getting a job in Catapult and spending all my wages on music: vinyl, CDs, whatever. And it was the best investment I ever made.

I had some good times in that shop. Made some great friends there. And bought amazing music there.

I’ll truly miss it, and what it signified for dance music culture in Cardiff. Is this the end of drum and bass in the capital?

We had a couple of photo shoots in and around the shop, during the life of this blog. Here’s Adam Corner, who used to work there, and his We Are Cardiff story about Cardiff’s nightlife

The shop has its fair share of successful alumni too – people who’ve worked there have gone to start record labels, work at 1Xtra and Radio 1, DJ at festivals all over the world, and even top the charts. Below is a short film I put together about Lincoln (aka High Contrast), who I used to work with at the shop a decade ago (argh!), and the album launch party he had with Hospital Records in the store.

I’ve been meaning to do a proper post about Catapult since I started this blog. Guess it just goes to show you can’t wait forever on things you want to do, because life doesn’t wait.

The shop was a massive part of my younger days in Cardiff, as I know it was for so many others. And I’ll really miss it. RIP Catapult Records.

The City

Happy Flippin’ New Year!

December 31, 2014 admin Leave a comment

From your favourite source of alternative cultural Cardiff irreverence (that’s us, silly!), HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Whatever you’re going to get up to tonight, do yourself a favour and watch this.

‘It was the freshest move I’ve ever seen…’ – ha!

I expect every single one of you readers to bust out this dance move at least once tonight, aight?

Peas!

Helia

The City

Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2014 admin Leave a comment

From the few random folk here who work on We Are Cardiff, in the words of Gruff Rhys, we hope you are enjoying a Post Apocalypse Christmas!

Also, just in case you’ve eaten too much and are in need of a lie down in front of some really nice telly, why not treat yo’self to this lovely film, about Cardiff, that we made!

Have a great holiday. Peas on earth, yeah!

Helia
x

The City

Please help save Cardiff’s Nightshelter!

December 23, 2014 admin 1 Comment

We’ve posted a couple of pleas for help over the festive period so far – one was to donate items to the Huggard Centre, helping the homeless in Cardiff, and the other was to donate toiletries for Project Shoebox, helping women and children in shelters across Cardiff and the local region. We’ll post an update on Project Shoebox soon, but in the meantime we’ve got ANOTHER plea for help – this time to help keep open the Nightshelter in Cardiff.

DONATE TO KEEP THE NIGHTSHELTER OPEN

The Nightshelter opened in 1998. It was intended as a bridge between the street and hostel and originally was established as a time-limited winter shelter. It provides safety, warmth and food. Residents can take a hot shower, use the laundry facilities and enjoy a proper cooked meal. They also signpost people to longer-term solutions so they can escape the streets.

Residents have access to a support worker. Need assessments, risk assessments and support plans are produced. Resettlement, benefits and liaison with health, criminal justice agencies and gateway is part of the core service provided.

The Nightshelter provides 10 beds of emergency accommodation (plus two additional emergency beds that have never received public funding) in the Riverside area of Cardiff. Residents can access the Nightshelter between the hours of 7:30pm – 9:30am.

It has five shared bedrooms, a communal living room, kitchen, bathroom and WC. The Nightshelter is used by rough sleepers aged 18 and over, including vulnerable women and young people. Shockingly, in the last year, one third of those who accessed the service were aged 18 – 25.

In 2003, revenue funding received was £155,154. In 2014 approximately £97,000 was cut from the budget leaving just £60,000 to run the service. In 2015 the proposal is £0.

As a result of cuts to Local Authority funding, the emergency Nightshelter in Cardiff is in danger of closing. More than 250 people use the crucial service every year. Closure would mean an additional 10 to 12 people would be forced to sleep rough on the streets of Cardiff every night.

DONATE TO KEEP THE NIGHTSHELTER OPEN

We need to raise £21,000 to keep the shelter open. The shelter has already secured £20,000 towards running costs and is working hard with fundraising events and bucket collections to raise the rest. Keeping the Nightshelter open for the next 12 months depends on your generosity – we need this Crowdfunding appeal to reach its target so we can keep vulnerable people safe.

SO FAR the Crowdfunding appeal has raised over £4k. That’s great, BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH.

DONATE TO KEEP THE NIGHTSHELTER OPEN

Here are We Are Cardiff (bearing in mind WAC s a voluntary project that doesn’t make any money and relies entirely on voluntary contributions), we’ve donated £25. It’s not much, but if everyone in the city donated just ONE POUND the Nightshelter would raise over £300K!

If you’re yet to buy some loved ones their gifts, how about donating a little money towards helping keep the Nightshelter open – then tell your friends and family about their incredible altruism.

PLEASE HELP KEEP THE NIGHTSHELTER OPEN! DONATE HERE: NIGHTSHELTER CROWDFUNDER

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you – and please try and spare whatever you can to help the less fortunate at this cold and dark time of year, eh?

Helia

The City, Whats on

Butetown Carnival 2014 – in photos!

December 22, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Okay, so it was a couple of months ago now … but I forgot to publish photographer Jess Ventura’s lovely pictures from the Butetown Carnival! What a silly selsig I am.

If you’re super-keen, next year’s carnival is already booked in – join the Butetown Carnival 2015 Facebook event to keep up to date on it!

See you there next year? 🙂

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The City

Help homeless people in Cardiff: Christmas 2014 edition

December 14, 2014 admin 7 Comments

If you live anywhere south of Cardiff Central station, you may have seen the Huggard Centre, that sits at the top of Dumballs Road. Huggard is a Cardiff-based charity tackling homelessness and seeking to overcome the problems and barriers that force individuals to sleep rough on our streets.

That’s a big deal, right? Now, it’s Christmas. Whether you were one of those people battering others out the way for a cut price TV on Black Friday or not, hopefully you aren’t going to have to spend Christmas in the cold, sleeping on the street.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a roof over your head, and probably give and receive way more than you or your loved ones need this Christmas, how about giving something to those who have not?

This Christmas, while you’re heading to town and stocking up on bits and pieces for your family, could you maybe fill a couple of stockings with sundries and essentials for homeless and vulnerable people?

The Huggard Centre is looking for:

– toiletries, male and female
– disposable razors
– socks
– underwear, male and female
– scarves
– gloves

Also, stocking fillers! Things like:

– chocolates
– sweets
– books

Just think about having no family, and no friends to support you at Christmas. Could you provide a little Christmas cheer for someone less fortunate?

If it’s logistically impossible for you to drop anything off there, could you maybe arrange a raffle, or ask friends for donations this Christmas? If so, you can donate to Huggard’s Just Giving page.

Huggard’s services focus around our day centre open 365 days of the year, a 20 bed hostel with additional emergency spaces, 14 shared houses with tenant support that accommodate 52 clients. In extreme weather conditions they also open their day centre at night, to provide shelter for people who would otherwise be forced to sleep rough.

Being a homeless person sucks. If everyone in this city donated a Christmas stocking full of essentials, imagine how much Christmas cheer we could bring!

If you can pull together some extra Christmas gifts this Christmas, you can drop them off to the Huggard Centre on Hansen Street, just behind Cardiff Central Station (CF10 5DW). Tel: 029 2064 2000, or post@huggard.org.uk.

Alternatively, you can contact them on their Facebook page – they reply to comments, and are super grateful for any help they can get: Huggard Centre Facebook

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Whats on

Mary Bijou’s Nut Cracking Christmas Cabaret – Review

December 11, 2014 admin 1 Comment

We sent Darryl J Carrington along to Mary Bijou’s Cabaret to review it for us. Read on, and enjoy!

I was met at the door of the four elms by a grumpy looking reindeer and other curious looking characters. I was enticed in by the smell of mulled cider and friendly faces. What I found was a fantastic cabaret setting, with a lovely warm Christmas glow about it.

From the off, Mary Bijou did not disappoint, with the charismatic host George Orange opening the proceedings, welcoming us and making us laugh straight away with his quick wit.

What followed was a delightful mix of incredibly high skilled performers, presenting well thought out and witty acts. Each with their own take on Christmas happenings, like Anna’s Austrian hula hooping yodeler, who reminded me of that crazy uncle everyone has!

Laura Moys’ Christmas angel routine was very funny and showed off her incredible control on the Chinese pole.

Kitsch’n’Sync’s ice skating routine had me in absolute stitches, as they paraded a ridiculous dance around the stage!!

Paul Evans singing Santa baby, was also a massive highlight of the first act, having the audience screaming with joy.

Jani’s triple cloud swing was like no other act I’ve ever seen. Tying himself in impossible knots and releasing himself with death defying drops – a true craftsman.

Hannah’s singing ballerina was also beautifully executed, and showed what is possible when using the voice and aerial equipment at the same time, very mesmerising.

There was a great dance done by the Kitsch’n’Sync girls and Mark who made a lovely nutcracker ballerina.

As with all of Mary Bijou’s work, there was great use of physical theatre. Stories were being told in a very witty and amusing way.

I especially enjoyed, Anna and Tom’s ignored wife trapeze routine and Laura’s Virgin Mary on the back of a donkey smoking a fag gag.

During the performance some burglars got in and invaded the stage with a lovely dance/acro routine that surprised everyone! Where did they come from?

And some boxes danced and a pig and turkey emerged leading to the turkeys demise.

To top it all off George and Anna did a lovely ski workout, zat was full of laughs ya. That led into the wonderfully talented reindeer Adie Delaney, the big finale act that did not disappoint. With some really technical and impressive swinging trapeze sequences, she beautifully blended her character of a depressed reindeer that had us on the edges of our seats with excitement and laughter.

What a fabulous cabaret, one of the best I have seen. Was so lovely to see a Christmas cabaret that was not afraid to question the norms, but be incredibly amusing at the same time. I can’t wait to see the next outing by Mary Bijou.

For me; five stars!!!

Photographs by Tom Beardshaw

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The City

Help women in Cardiff refuges – donate unwanted toiletries for Project Shoebox

December 9, 2014 admin 5 Comments

Too much stuff in your bathroom cabinet? Project Shoebox are collecting shoeboxes filled with unwanted toiletries to make gift boxes for women in refuges in Cardiff and the South Wales area.

Good idea, right? Go into your bathroom right now and tell me you don’t have at least an entire shelf’s worth of stuff you never used. Half of it you probably haven’t even opened. Amirite?

This is a community project, which is an attempt to help the women who arrive at Women’s Refuges this Christmas. Many will arrive bruised, battered and with nothing more than the clothes they are standing in. And that is not cool at all.

Project Shoebox will collect together unwanted toiletries like shampoo, body lotion, toothpaste and brushes, put them all into shoeboxes, and make them into a gift to get these women started and remind them that people can and do care.

SO WHAT CAN YOU SEND?
Anything from your bathroom cabinet that’s unused or very nearly unused. Think basics like toothbrushes, shower gel, shampoo – but also anything nice like cosmetics or face cream is very welcome. If you’re unsure, ask yourself: would you feel comfy giving this to a friend? If not, recycle it. There’s a big list of ideas further down this post.

WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR DONATIONS?
The Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay have been kind enough to donate some disused office space for a donation station! When you have your shoebox goodies ready for collection, post a message to the Project Shoebox Facebook page and they will arrange a time for you to drop off. The organisers work full-time, so collection will mainly be in the evenings or weekends.

In case you don’t know where the Coal Exchange is, here’s the address:
Coal Exchange, Mount Stuart Square,
Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, CF10 5EB

UPDATE!!! THE LAST DAY FOR DONATIONS IS MONDAY 15 DECEMBER!!

IDEAS!
You can choose to donate individual items or make your very own shoebox gift. Feel free to get creative but here are some ideas:

New toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Shower Gel
Flannels/sponges
Facial wipes
Deodorants
Hairbrushes/combs/bobbles/clips & grips
Sanitary products (sealed)
Sample packets
Moisturisers
Perfumes
Body Creams/Face creams
Body scrub
Make up/ Make up bags
Nail polishes / Nail polish remover/ Files & Clippers
Cotton wool
Hairspray

The women’s shelters have also said they are desperate for colouring books and pencils, so feel free to add in any of these sorts of things for the children.

You can also choose to make, or donate things for, a baby box with things such as nappies, baby wipes, cotton buds, baby wash, small soft toys, etc.

THIS IS THE PROJECT SHOEBOX FACEBOOK PAGE. IT IS A REALLY REALLY WORTHWHILE CAUSE SO PLEASE DONATE WHATEVER YOU CAN.

Still need persuading? Look at this cute picture of a puffin for a while. It might help.

Also, if the whole consumerist binge of Christmas is making you feel a bit queasy, hold tight! We’ve got a couple more posts over the next two weeks telling you how you can help some local Good Causes.

Sincerely,

The We Are Cardiff Christmas Monkeys

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The City

Cardiff Indoor Flea Market

December 8, 2014 admin 7 Comments

One of the best off-the-beaten-tracks spots for vintage lovers in the city has got to be the Cardiff Flea Market. Hidden away in an industrial estate just off Newport Road, you’ve got to know where you’re going … but it’s definitely worth it when you get there!

I sent photographer Ben Kirtley along to take some snaps, and reader Alan Storey was good enough to get in touch with some info about the place.

Cardiff Indoor Flea Market is located at Unit 2, Clydesmuir Industrial Estate in Tremorfa, Cardiff.

It was the brainchild of David Raine, a South African now living in Chepstow. He inherited a huge building which had not been occupied for eight years and the work he and his partners have done on restoring the massively leaking roof and preparing the whole building for occupation is nothing short of astonishing.

The market opened on Saturday, 19 July and combines antiques/retro, crafts (known as Which Kraft) and general purpose stalls.

There approximately 60 permanent pitches at the market with new sellers arriving all the time. There is also space for one-off car boot trading and plans to expand to an adjacent building on the estate, which will cater for car boot sales and live auctions.

Already, the market has created a unique, friendly atmosphere which is sadly lacking at many similar markets. There is a café area providing hot and cold drinks, bacon sandwiches, toasties and stunning home made cakes.

The market is open on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 5pm with plans to increase the number of opening days in the near future.

Like all new establishments of this nature, it is still very much a “best kept secret” but it won’t be for much longer. Say you visited it before it went mainstream!

Cardiff Indoor Flea Market – Facebook Page

Photographs by Benjamin Kirtley

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NUMBER ONE: Street Food Cardiff – food pop ups every weekend from now to Christmas!

NUMBER TWO: Cardiff hidden gem – Rose Street flea market

NUMBER THREE: Cardiff Indoor Flea Market

NUMBER FOUR: The Gower Pub, Cardiff 1895 – 2014. RIP

NUMBER FIVE “Malaysian – Cardiffian – a harmonious fusion between two cultures, two cities and two lifestyles” – Zainah

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A blog about Cardiff, its people, and the alternative arts and cultural scene!