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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Heledd Francis

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Heledd Francis. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

Before the lockdown we saw family every week and missing them has certainly been the hardest part.

We are now in week eight of lockdown, and I feel that to some extent that it’s taken us as a family this long to get into the swing of things. In the weeks beforehand, I was fiercely optimistic about how we would handle it, created a timetable of daily activities for myself and the children, imagined the books I would read and the new dishes I would cook, and resolved to make this a positive time for family.

A few days in, and I realised the reality would be different. With my husband at work as usual from Monday to Friday, working at the Heath, it felt like a rainy day during a school holiday, but with the added pressures of completing my own work and some work for the children.

I swung from feeling extreme pride that we were a household of two key workers, to guilt for sending our children to an unfamiliar school on the few occasions per week where I myself went to work in an unfamiliar school. I resented my husband somewhat for having to make very little change to his daily life, but then worried about him as more and more staff at UHW began to become infected. I kept trying to remind myself that we were lucky to have some semblance of a routine along with job stability but also fretted about the risk associated with our work.

But then a few weeks in, my daughter’s fifth birthday arrived. With it, came a change in pace, and a time to reflect on how different didn’t necessarily mean difficult. With no party to plan or family to accommodate, we asked her what she wanted for her special day. It was simple, she wanted pictures of family put up around the house, toasted marshmallows, and a piñata. We added in a few extras – a kitchen disco with face paints and a sing-a-long family zoom. Despite missing family and friends, it was a brilliant day.

From that day on, we relieved the pressure.

I began to follow the advice I was giving my own students, to attempt little and often with regards to school work, focussing on the essential skills.

We got into the swing of cooking together on the days that I was at home, and sending weekly post to grandparents and cousins that we missed terribly. We used the weekends for family bike rides and films, and appreciated the simple things – a garden, sunshine, birds stealing grass seeds from our undernourished lawn, packages in the post from friends.

The week before lockdown, our son was due to go into hospital for an operation to insert grommets. We expected the operation to be cancelled, and completely understood when we received confirmation that it was. I worried somewhat that it could now be another year before he was able to have the operation, and that his hearing and speech would continue to be an issue for him. It may be that this would have happened anyway, but we have really noticed that his speech has improved significantly over the past few weeks, a result perhaps of being at home and constantly listening to and speaking to his sister and I. This has been an unexpected lockdown positive!

Another lockdown positive has been the Zoom calls with friends far and wide. It’s taken a pandemic for my university crew to arrange a transatlantic virtual drink and we can’t understand why we didn’t do it sooner. The children have engaged in similar conversations with their friends, which they find difficult, but they enjoy seeing each other’s faces at least.

Before the lockdown we saw family every week and missing them has certainly been the hardest part. We send daily videos and have all planted seeds with the idea that as the flowers grow, the time we are back together will get closer (I can’t take the credit for this idea).

Although I work in a Hub school once or twice a week, this is based on a rota system. I miss my wonderful colleagues, but a weekly staff quiz over zoom helps with the lack of contact.

Despite my profession, I find homeschooling as frustrating as the rest of the population. My daughter in particular regularly wants to cycle past her school to remind her of her happy times there and to look forward to going back. All the staff at the children’s school have worked incredibly hard over the past few months to ensure that there are plenty of resources available for the children, they’ve provided regular feedback and reward points and spoken to them over the phone. They’ve even posted videos of themselves introducing activities to encourage the pupils. One two minute video of their wonderful teachers has inspired them far more over the past few weeks than their mother’s homeschooling has!

Grangetown in particular has shown an incredible sense of community during these difficult times. Everyone seems to be supporting their neighbours more than ever, but the visits from ‘Spiderman’ to make the children smile, a ‘plant swap’ for residents, free Candyfloss Fridays for children, Ramadan Relief food packages and the set up of the Grangetown Covid Mutual Aid to help those self-isolating receive food and medicines are a few of the wonderful things happening in our local community.

I often find myself using the phrase ‘when all this is over’ these days. When all this is over, I’m sure we will remember and continue the sense of community that this pandemic has encouraged. The world around us looks particularly beautiful at this moment in time, and I hope that we can continue to work together to keep it that way.

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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Owen

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Owen. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

Side plank tip: keep your hips high enough for a mid sized dog to rest her chin on your hips…

At 5:30pm on the evening of March 20 – a day before my birthday – I heard that our business was being shut down.

I moved back to Cardiff about five years ago to open The Studio. Previously, I ran my own personal training business in London, but slowly became increasingly disillusioned with the traditional gym model. The fitness industry is guilty of peddling dangerous fads and useless quick fixes. At The Studio we strive to offer the highest standard of training in a welcoming, boutique environment for all ages, genders and abilities. We opened in November 2016 and our community has grown ever since. We’re more than a gym, we’re working on linking the medical and fitness communities, working alongside GPs, Women’s Health Physios and Musculoskeletal Physios.
Especially under the current circumstances, we believe gyms need to offer more than the typical ’12 Week Transformation’. (100 burpies and that nauseous feeling after a workout isn’t ‘health and fitness’, that’s a PT trying to warrant their hourly rate by making you sweat, subsequently making you feel like you’ve worked hard.) This is so far removed from what we should be offering. We have a responsibility to help clients achieve their goals in a sustainable, intelligent way, helping them develop lifelong habits of healthy eating and regular exercise.

We’ve only ever had one goal at The Studio: to provide the highest quality training and customer service with honesty and integrity. And this is the first time that we find ourselves without any certain future.

I did the only thing I could at the time and distributed my equipment as fairly as possible between clients. The response was as overwhelming as it was unexpected. It struck me that many clients chose to take a barbell, when only a few months ago, they’d never even used one.

I’ve come to realise the connection my members have with a barbell. Those who have been training for any length of time appreciate its importance.

Many clients have achieved things they never thought they were capable of under a barbell. They’ve grown stronger, happier, healthier and more able. The barbell is a tool to maintain and improve health, and clients knew this would be threatened if they were forced to stop training.

My members’ unwavering support has been incredible, the generosity of continued monthly payments for the month of April, the purchase of credit packages, the offer of marketing help and even the offer of video editing. Looking around at my empty gym, after all my equipment had disappeared to grateful members, I realised that our clients’ connection with The Studio was stronger than I’d ever imagined. The response to online training and our latest program has been overwhelming. As a coach, you dedicate yourself to helping people achieve things they’ve never thought physically possible, and knowing that our clients have discovered something that they love, I am reassured that our small community of lifters will be there when this is all over.

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The People

Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: David, Pettigrew Bakeries

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from David Le Masurier of Pettigrew Bakeries. Please follow and support them as they keep you fed and in bread! We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

So we’ve been doing home deliveries for a while now.

We’ve had a lot of people ordering care packages, birthday gifts as well as essentials for themselves.

Last week, as we were finalising the daily orders for delivery, we spotted two identical addresses just the letter of the flat being different on each order. They were both for the same day and same building, but two different orders placed by two different people for two different addressees. To add to the coincidence they were both surprise birthday gifts, one for flat A and one for flat B.

When we got to the building to deliver there was only one buzzer, upon pressing it a voice answered and explained that both flat A and B share the same buzzer (weird) so who did we want for delivery? We explained, ‘well both of you!’

A few minutes later two strangers who live next door and share a door buzzer were both given birthday gift packages from Pettigrew Bakeries from their two friends, who also don’t know each other!

We all smiled, laughed a bit and they went back into their building wishing each other happy birthday and getting to know each other (at a safe distance).

A beautiful, random, brilliant little coincidence in this grim situation.

David (Pettigrew Bakeries)

Pettigrew Bakeries is the sister to Pettigrew Tearooms. An independent artisan bakery, baking real bread (really, really tasty bread!). They also stock a number of products from other Cardiff independent producers. Please PLEASE visit their website, order tasty treats from them, go visit their store in Victoria Park. Support our amazing local independents!

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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Jill Berrett

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Jill Berrett. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

Lockdown for me, far from limiting my life, has opened up a certain freedom and new opportunities which have given me back something of what I had lost.

One of the strangest aspects of lockdown for me has been so many people in the UK and around the world, joining in my lifestyle – one of having to stay at home. Although nothing like COVID-19, I know how a virus can devastate and change a life beyond recognition.

Over 30 years ago I got up one morning to get ready for work and collapsed. I could not move part of my body, and was hospitalised in the Heath where they thought initially that I had had a stroke.

Eventually after blood tests a viral attack was diagnosed from which after years of struggle I have only partially recovered with my mobility becoming increasingly poor over the years. Initially I kept trying to work and be active but I kept getting more ill, having been diagnosed with M.E. There was no treatment and it was some time before I realised how much I had to give up in order to rest and try to build some energy as I was running on empty.

Following a fall five years ago, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis and despite having no further falls I now have five fractures in my spine which led to my becoming, a year ago, a wheelchair user and mostly housebound.

Lockdown for me, far from limiting my life, has opened up a certain freedom and new opportunities which have given me back something of what I have lost.

Fewer cars on the roads has made a huge difference. I am not in the shielded group, and I can get out in the wheelchair using the roads, now shared with mobility scooters and cyclists – a joy. The pavements in my area are unusable for wheelchairs, being uneven and broken, usually leaving me marooned in the house. I can still drive a little but I have to be surrounded by cushions, it’s painful, and worsens my back.

Now my partner can push me down the road from home to use the paths along Roath Brook with me shouting ‘pothole ahead’! We can be amongst beautiful mature trees, clear water, ducks, squirrels and an ever increasing range of birds in just a few minutes.  As we pass dog walkers, people with buggies etc, all social distancing, there are lots of smiles and ‘hellos’.

Visiting the park

I am a member of Roath Writers and an Ekphrastic writing group and used to love going to meetings but as I became weaker and my back became fragile and painful making it difficult to sit in ordinary hard backed chairs I could no longer go to them.

Now I can attend a poetry book launch with others on Zoom, enjoy daily readings of Wordsworth poems by a variety of people recognising the remarkable voice of Leslie Caron at 88 years, as the 250th anniversary of his birth moves online.

I will also be able to attend The Hay Literature Festival as it moves online. I used to visit regularly until my mobility became too poor and access was too difficult. Now I will be able to share this with others again.

For the first two weeks of lockdown my greatest worry was getting food, as I was used to ordering nearly everything online for delivery into the house being unable to do my own shopping. Suddenly I couldn’t get supermarket delivery slots and the Welsh organic company that used to deliver regularly could not continue to provide this service.

But gradually with a lot of hanging on the phone I got online slots restored and my local Beanfreaks have been brilliant at a busy time for staff, taking orders by phone and my partner can pick them up. And since then a lot of other companies who didn’t usually deliver have started to do so and I have a larger choice than in the past.

I have long appreciated my garden as I can get outside easily but never have I been so grateful for it as during lockdown. Freed up from FOMO, feeling that everyone else is having a busy active time that I can’t participate in and that I ‘should’ be doing more useful things. I feel that pressure less, my health has improved and I’m enjoying my third lockdown novel.

My deep hope is that as the lockdown is eased and people can return to their former lifestyles, opportunities to participate online will continue for disabled people and others.

I am a member of a global organisation called Millions Missing and this week is M.E. Awareness Week. Now more than ever we need more investment in biomedical research and treatment for this long neglected illness, and education for health workers as after this pandemic there is a real likelihood of more people struggling to recover from COVID-19 and having M.E.

Jill Berrett has lived in Cardiff for 40 years, having come from London to work in Cardiff Law Centre. She is now a writer and campaigner.

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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Katrina Rohman

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Katrina Rohman. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

Cardiff In Lockdown: from a woman in business to 1950s housewife

As a woman in my mid-thirties, I have created a life that I love. I have worked hard to climb the ladder, with few formal qualifications, to become a Marketing Manager in a field that I love – travel, tourism and food. My free time was spent enjoying the best the city has to offer with decadent dining and swanky events in the evenings and on weekends. As well as exploring the countryside or heritage buildings and with my partner Michael. All of that changed for me on 25 March, 2020, when I was furloughed.

I went from a busy social calendar to absolutely nothing. Like so many others, I am trying to fill my time with trying to get fit, a spot of DIY and of course making soda bread. Am I the only one that is completely fed up with this?

I don’t want to read another book or take another online self-improvement course. TV is tedious, and social media has become a bickering battlefield or is nauseatingly over-optimistic. (Don’t I sound like a grump!)

My days before lockdown were filled with meetings, reports, planning marketing campaigns and analysing how well the website, blog posts and social media was improving.

Now I clean the house from top to bottom, cooking healthy meals from scratch (something I used to love), while checking in with friends and family throughout the day. I count down the hours until Michael comes home from work. He works for the Police, and is so exhausted from arguing with people who flout the rules, that he wants to sit quietly and relax.

As I’m such a social person, this really does feel like a prison sentence to me. I wander around my cell all day, on my own. Once a day, I’m allowed to stretch my legs and walk around in circles in the neighbourhood. I also get to go out on parole, once a week, but this is only to do the food shop – something I detest anyway.

Immaculate kitchen

I completely understand that this is serious, I don’t mean to be selfish. I do not want my friends, family and colleagues to get this terrible virus or any of yours. Too many people have died, unnecessarily. I am not so naïve to believe that it’s going to go away overnight. I just need some sense of normal, even if it is moderated. However, saying that, I also don’t want the rules lifted too soon. It does need for it to be safe to do so.

I suppose after eight weeks, I just needed to have a rant and get that off my chest. Lockdown has clearly affected my mental health, and I am making adjustments to bring my wellbeing up to where it used to be. This is something I haven’t had to think about before. I have been starting the day with positive affirmations and enjoying exploring walks along the Taff Trail.

After the misery of the last few paragraphs, some things have changed for the better. People are shopping local, something I have been really passionate about for a long time. Cardiff has really changed over the last few years, fewer chain restaurants and more independent shops, and all of these seem to be thriving during lockdown. They have quickly adapted to getting their online shops up and running. Less fast fatty processed food is being consumed and fantastic fresh dinners delivered to your door. People are also cooking, baking and roasting. They realise that it doesn’t take that much time – and food tastes so much better. I hope this continues!

What have I learned from this experience?

  • We ask “How are you?”, mean it and want to hear the answer.
  • The people in your lives are everything, and your time should be invested in them.
  • Cardiff and the wider Welsh community are incredible, they support each other and local business.
  • The NHS is the heartbeat of our country, and the government now realise that more should be invested – if they will is another story. We should not be topping them up with fundraisers.
  • Our other first responders have not had enough limelight. I am giving a massive clap to the Police, Fire Service, Mountain Rescue, the Coast Guard, Paramedics, GPs and so many more that I have missed off the list.
  • I am a person who thrives on routine, it’s what keeps me focused and driven. It was something I won’t take for granted again.
  • If I am feeling motivated, I take advantage of it. If I am feeling down, I try to be kind to myself.
Soda Bread!

Katrina Rohman is a Marketing Manager in the tourism industry. She runs the website Real Girls Wobble, an award-winning lifestyle blog which looks to inspire readers with travel, food and drink, especially in Cardiff and the surrounding areas. She is a passionate cider drinker, a cooking from scratch advocate, a Cardiff City FC season ticket holder and Welsh rugby fan. Follow her on Twitter @RealGirlsWobble or on Instagram @RealGirlsWobble.

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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Charlotte Twin Made

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Charlotte of the awesome Twin Made. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

I keep getting the occasional feeling I caused all this because I really needed a week off – mine was so I could sort my garden out! Well, I got my wish and my garden isn’t looking much different!

In February, at least I think it was February, time is a weird thing right now, Ok, sometime at the beginning of the year my business got flooded, not once but twice! I know, I know, who moves into a basement right next to the Taff.

We were recovering from that, and business was getting back to usual and people started to contact me about the upcoming classes that I host.

The FAQ was: is the class still going ahead? Umm, yes. I started to get worried and made my partner summarise the news to me. Things were getting strange, rumblings of a lockdown like Spain were being whispered about. I started hoping for a clear and specific lockdown of a few weeks. I had loads of shit I could get done and that garden wasn’t sorting itself.

My Birthday was on 19th March, everything we had planned got cancelled. I decided not to go and visit my twin in London. Ed and I wandered into Cardiff City Centre and picked up a lot of wool, some beers and doughnuts. The City felt like a ghost town and the beginning of an episode of Black Mirror.

As the UK Government bumbled its way into a lockdown, my fellow indie businesses were getting in touch as we discussed what to do. I started to cancel the next week of classes and then the next fortnight and then all of April and then reluctantly May’s as I was receiving emails, one by one, cancelling upcoming work, as days passed March dates were cancelled and then April and then before I knew it all the work and workshops I had booked in over the Summer had been cancelled, taking with it my income.

Most people have been amazing and understanding but I had a few demand their deposits refunded, this was heartbreaking as when people pay deposits it all gets used to buy and create kits ready for the workshops and pay things like rent and bills. I offered alternatives but in the end, for my mental health I refunded the few deposits, I was so lucky only a few went this route.

Panic set in. My partner and I are both self employed. He couldn’t carry on Dog Walking and even if he could, most customers didn’t need him as they were now working from home.

I worked through my online shops and took down all physical items. I had a full week of mood swings – manically laughing in the kitchen for no reason, a big old cry in the living room, stopped still in bedroom wondering what the fuckity fuck.

I set up a tip jar on my website, people, friends, family and even strangers were reaching out and offering help. Commissions started coming in, I was so grateful I was regularly bursting into tears. With those came lots and lots of unsolicited business advice – most of which was time consuming, above my skill level or something I already did, I got good at replying: Sure, thanks but they were all energy consuming. I needed to be doing more to help, the feeling of uselessness was setting in. I found the Scrub Hub and got involved in sewing scrubs. I felt useful!

I slowly started to put things back on sale on my website and started creating free downloads: colouring in and craft sheets. I worked on turning my sewing classes into kits – weirdly all stuff on my to-do-list which i just hadn’t got around too. I created guides and hacks. My business was still able to work and I set up a desk on the living room table – the perfect place to keep an eye out from deliveries.

My regular job is teaching people how to sew and make things from my colourful studio in the basement of Nos Da Hostel and Bar. I miss the faces I regularly see and teaching my classes.

My group of friends quickly set up a weekly quiz and soon followed by a family one – I am seeing friends and family far more often and laughing at home hair cuts and living for couples arguing over zoom!

The garden is slowly getting done and I am decorating my window, like a mad lady. Crochet and daily chats with twinny and friends are keeping me sane. I love how easy it is to cycle across Cardiff to deliver orders! We even took a Matisse inspired art class and I am having a go at paper art: Check out WinterCroft Masks and this Paper Prawn by Lisa Lloyd – things I would never have time to do before.

My pals at Green City have been hosting craft clubs which I have loved participating in and will be signing up for more!

Ed has started working for Deliveroo at weekends, a job he likes of elements of, but a gentle reminder: TIP YOUR DELIVER PERSON! They are out there, in a pandemic, delivering you delicious food! He sure misses the dogs and has fully embraced helping out a friend by feeding their guinea pigs!

Each time I say: When things get back to normal, I stop myself as I hope some good changes come out of this! I miss all the beautiful faces and social aspects of my job and I can’t wait to get back to Nos Da for a pint or two, but for now I will keep on keeping on with an occasional cry thrown in.

Stay Safe, Stay Sane, Stay Awesome!

Visit Charlotte and Twin Made – buy her things and keep her in business! Twin Made website | Twin Made instagram | Twin Made Twitter | Twin Made Facebook.

See all the free Twin Made downloads

Charlotte (with the pink hair!) and twin, Kathryn

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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Michelle Perez

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Michelle Perez, General Manager of Theatr Iolo. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

One of our small team for Theatr Iolo, became ill with symptoms of the virus early on, which meant that we decided earlier than most organisations to all work from home. We set ourselves up and made sure that the office was safe and secure to close up for the foreseeable.

I am Theatr Iolo’s General Manager. Our company produces shows and activities for children, young people and their adults. We regularly have shows in one of Cardiff’s theatre venues and we tour throughout Wales, the UK and internationally.

As things progressed it became clear that we would have to cancel the remaining dates of our show that was on tour (Chwarae – there was about a week of the tour still to go) and would have to postpone the tour we were due to go into rehearsal for in April (Owl at Home). We also had to postpone a project that involved artists visiting Cardiff from India and a future reciprocal trip by ourselves out to India, that we had just been awarded a specific grant for.

In a work sense, as soon as we established that our staff, wider team of freelancers and board were all safe, secure and paid, then we moved onto our partners, collaborators and stakeholders. Then we looked at what we could do to help others – How can we help?

In a home sense, I did much the same as soon as I had established that all family and friends were safe, well and had a plan, I tried to work out what I could do to help. I offered my services as a volunteer to drive prescription deliveries for a local pharmacy and posted my number through the door of all my neighbours and offered assistance, much the same as the rest of the general public, who were not deemed ‘key workers’.

The overwhelming need to help, the need to do ‘something’ was really strong in both my work life and home life. Maybe it was just a need to feel more in control.

With pressures of home working, home schooling, helping my wider self-isolating family and then looking after my youngest child with symptoms of the virus, some days have been challenging to say the least. However, there are also many rewards, re-connecting with my teenage children, sitting down at the table together for meals again, getting to know my neighbours, adding to our family with a new puppy and generally just slowing down and taking time to think, feel, listen and take notice.

All of these personal revelations happened in a work sense too, as a company, we have taken time to stop, think, reassess, trial and evaluate. We were in the process of updating our latest three to five year business plan and the application for the Arts Council of Wales Investment Review when the crisis hit.

Although initially gutted with a feeling that all our hard work would be wasted when this review was postponed, I have come to realise that all that hard work has actually helped us in this crisis and meant that we were able to react quickly, decisively and strategically.

Our values were clear across the organisation and were the bench-mark that we tested every decision against. A strong board/team and ‘our house in order’ going into this crisis meant that we had lots to fall back on. A sound Business Continuity Plan, strategic business plans, flexible budgets, HR policies and procedures, strong financial management and a healthy reserve all helped to secure and ground us pretty quickly.

We are also incredibly lucky to be funded by the ACW and for the crisis to hit when it did within our timeline of activity. We have been very fortunate and we are very aware of this and we really want to make sure that we use this privilege to be able to help others, to help our cultural industry survive in Wales and beyond and that we can continue to help beyond this crisis.

As a small company and being a relatively new team, we have all remained very busy with large to do lists of things that we hadn’t been able to achieve in the times we had been in post, so we have taken this time to catch up.

We want to make sure that we have everything in place in order to react quickly and efficiently as soon as some sort of normality returns. We feel that this will help the industry as a whole too if we are able to provide audiences, schools and venues with shows/activities as soon as they need them. This is monitored on a month to month basis in consultation with our staff, board and stakeholders and depends on the latest government and industry advice or guidelines.

Outside of helping the industry, our main focus was what can we do to help the wider community of Cardiff and Wales? What do we mean to our audiences? Our participants? What do they need from us?

Theatr Iolo exists to create theatre and cultural activities for children, young people and their adults, so what do children, families and teachers need from us at this time? And in the future?

We asked and we listened and decided that what they needed in the first instance was inspiration, resources and ideas to help entertain at home for home schooling or relaxing and/or entertain in schools for children of key workers etc. Also support that could help ease the anxiety and enormity of this pandemic and help children to make sense of it and how it affects them. In response to this we created posts and shared other suitable online resources on our website and social media.

To this end and for entertainment purposes, we also decided to online screen two productions; Llygoden yr Eira and Chwarae. Both shows are in Welsh language and particularly helpful for families with mixed Welsh language skills in the home and because there has been less Welsh language product being shared online.

We continued with our planned online launch of our bi-ennial Platfform New Writing Call-Out but also extended this to children and young people, and will be running a Young People’s Playwright Competition alongside the adult call-out. We are creating some online resources to help young people learn the skills needed to write a new short script to supplement this competition.

As our production of Owl at Home had to be postponed, we decided to film a series of short films based on the production as planned in the R&D phases of the project and use the actor George to create the ‘George at Home’ series. Ironically the show is based on the book Owl at Home and follows the sweet story of an Owl who lives alone and how he copes with his isolation. We decided early on that this production will resonate even more so with a young audience in this current climate and may help them to address their own feelings and experiences. We felt strongly it should continue to go ahead in some way and in whatever presentation format it ends up in. The George at Home series would be an introduction to the final piece and help our audience in the present.

We are currently developing some audio family shows in the form of ‘Bedtime Stories’ or for older children ‘Audio Books for teens’ with some productions that have already been created in our cannon of works or for new productions.

Although these are practical steps to address immediate needs, what we have offered so far still only services some sections of the community and that there is a number of children, families and teachers that aren’t able to access them currently. To this end, we are developing ideas of how to adapt our new, existing and planned shows to take them to the masses and include families who haven’t had access to theatre before for whatever reason. These ideas will be ever-changing and flexible in light of the new changes coming our way and that we do not yet know. However, we aim to use our creativity to address the inequality of our communities, provide work and income for our industry and ultimately are true to our values.

We would love to hear more from families, teachers, anyone, about what they think we could do to help our local community of Cardiff and beyond. So please get in touch at hello@theatriolo.com and/or follow us on social media @theatriolo or call us on 029 20 613782.

To find out more information about Theatr Iolo or any of the above activities to join in with, then check the website theatriolo.com.

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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Gwenno Uhi

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Gwenno Uhi. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

I’ve always wanted to be a stay at home mother, but this isn’t quite what I had in mind…

I had prepared reasonably well for the inevitable lockdown, because I was receiving almost daily updates from friends in Italy who couldn’t believe that we still didn’t have restrictions in place. I had a clear-out in the house, collected materials for homeschooling, ordered a keyboard and mouse from work to go with my laptop, and panic bought crisps. I made up the spare room for my sister who would be coming to stay with us from four streets away, and I even organised the medicine cabinet. Just in case.

But despite the prep and anticipation, my life hasn’t really changed very much. I’ve come to realise that I hardly ever went anywhere apart from work, pick ups and drop offs to school and nursery, church and the supermarket. This makes me quite well suited to lockdown restrictions, but the realisation of how little I did ‘in normal times’ was quite sobering. (And then I had to give myself a row for falling into the trap of thinking that all the domestic work and parenting I do on top of my full time job doesn’t count.)

I’m very fortunate to be able to do all my work from home, and my husband is a key worker who still goes to work five or six days a week. In this sense our employment situation hasn’t changed, unlike many millions of other people, and I’m extremely grateful for that. I do worry about my husband going out to work, though he would much rather that than have to stay at home all the time!

My “standing desk” set up

But of course some things have changed, and the truth is that I’m busier than ever. The main change is having my children at home all the time. We have a five-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son. I often work from home ‘in normal times’, but never under these conditions: fending off requests (demands) for food every 10 minutes, and breaking up fights and arguments in between. My daughter misses her friends and teachers, but isn’t particularly interested in video calls, apart from when it’s to my parents who live near Aberystwyth, who we definitely can’t visit. None of that waving at grandparents through net curtained windows for us. Their other grandparents live over 10,000 miles away.

I think that I would enjoy homeschooling my daughter for a while, if I didn’t also have to work full time. I’ve tried teaching, while working, and also keeping an eye on a toddler, with varying degrees of success (rarely her fault). Most of her school work is now done on Saturdays when I don’t have to type a coherent sentence, keep an eye on my inbox, or worry that one of them will shout “Dwi angen pŵ!” (“I need a poo!”) while I’m on a video call – this did actually happen.

In my head I keep worrying that I’m letting her amazing school and wonderful teachers down, I compare our lack of progress to filtered snapshots of other families, and I know that I’m really falling behind with baking banana bread, learning a new language, dancing on TikTok and exercising with a virtual personal trainer.

The one win we’ve had during the lockdown is the successful potty training of our two-year-old son, who is like the Hulk-man (as he calls him) crossed with a tornado. I still can’t quite believe how well it went.

Instead of constantly comparing myself with others, I try to remind myself of things I’m grateful for, because I know that there are countless people truly suffering at the moment.

These include being thankful that we have a garden (even though it’s a mess of concrete and soil, and features our old fridge); that my sister is here for the lockdown and provides invaluable company and childcare; I’m grateful that we’re all healthy; I’m grateful for the weekly Sunday night family quiz I have with my parents and siblings; I’m grateful for my church’s YouTube channel (Eglwys Efengylaidd Gymraeg Caerdydd, Cathays); and I’m grateful that the constant chaos that comes with our family means that it’s never dull, and the weeks really do fly by.

Part of our local walking route

A few weeks ago our daughter announced that she wanted to do something to raise money for the NHS. So last week, as part of the 2.6 Challenge she rode her bike up and down the grotty alleyway behind our house 26 times dressed as Wonder Woman, once we’d cleared away the broken glass, dumped appliances and two broken trampolines. At time of writing she had raised £920 for the Cardiff and Vale Health Charity. We’re extremely proud of her still, and taken aback by the generosity of everyone who donated, but I think it’s safe to say that she’s over it now.

I often find myself wondering what I would be doing if I was in lockdown by myself. All the books I could read, the box sets I could watch, all those lovely naps. But then I wonder how many people have actually found that middle ground during this time – not lonely or bored, but not chaotic and ridiculously busy either (and also, of course, not ill or suffering).

One of the things I enjoy the most during this time is waking up with the bedroom window open and hearing nothing but birdsong. I will really miss that when we’re back to ‘normal times’.

Gwenno Uhi is a civil servant and lives in Grangetown with her husband and two children.

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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Wendy Barkess

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Rhiwbina resident, Wendy. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown!

I am so lucky.

Normally at this time of year I’d be deep in festival land, preparing to go out in my little campervan to Chippenham, Upton and many more throughout the year. I’d have spent the long Easter weekend at the Camping Club Folk Dance and Song Easter Meet, where members from all over the uk gather for daily workshops in singing, dancing, musical instruments and craft, culminating in a grand finale concert. All cancelled, and for good reason.

At Chippenham and Upton I’d have been playing my concertina with friends for the Wild Thyme Morris side, and enjoying concerts with my favourite performers. I’d be preparing for my annual May walking holiday with my friend Sue, and this year for the first time I’d have been heading to Nantes for the Cardiff-Nantes Exchange visit. Maybe next year?

Here in Rhiwbina, where I live, I would have been fitting in much of my limited free time trying to coax veggies into life in my four raised beds, ‘baby’ sitting my 2 wonderful grandsons, hosting the U3a folksinging group in my house, going to Tenovus choir one evening a week, hosting a small folk band at my house, going to the ukulele bash once a week at a local pub. I’d be singing and playing at gigs in care homes, attending the Club de Francais, and two local book groups.

But, instead of all that, I’m at home, going nowhere. I fall into the category of vulnerable by age, but not vulnerable enough to qualify for special deliveries by supermarkets. And that’s where the luck comes in! I’m lucky enough to have weekly deliveries of fruit and veg; lucky that my daughter lives nearby and brings whatever I need. Lucky to have enough seeds left from last year to get my veggies in the soil and give them far more attention than they would normally have time for. Lucky that we live in an age of technology that means I can teach the boys French on Skype, continue most of my groups on Whatsapp and Zoom, and enjoy physical workouts with Joe Wickes and singing workouts with Gareth Malone.

But what about proper exercise, I hear you say? I’m lucky because last year I had health problems that meant I couldn’t walk much, but this year they are resolved and I’m back to my target of 10,000 steps. I have to do them in the garden, but now, in the rain, I can go out again, reclaim the empty streets, because most people prefer to walk when it’s dry. Before the lockdown, I hardly saw anyone walking on the streets in daytime, and in the rain, it’s the same.

I miss my friends of course, but we talk on the phone and text and Skype, etc. My sons live in Dubai and Singapore and are in their own lockdowns. I am so lucky that I don’t have parents living, they have been spared all this. I cant imagine a time when I will be unafraid to mix socially again.

I haven’t been in Cardiff long enough to have made longstanding friendships, but the most astonishing and heartwarming thing has been how friendly and helpful everyone has been.

I’m so lucky to be retired and well; It does concern me that there are many less fortunate than I who are struggling to get through this. I am full of praise for those who are brave enough to continue working at a time when people like me can hide away safe and sound.

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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Zoë John

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series is a tasty treat from Zoë John. We’re looking for your contributions, so please send your bits in to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown!

Lockdown has been extended in Wales, and with it continues this weird way of life. The age old question of ‘what’s for tea?’ is by far the most frequently asked question in my house, and is asked now, more pressingly than ever.

With the monotony and tedium of lockdown wearing us thin, the thought of our evening meal seems to get us through the day. Luckily we’ve been truly feasting during this time, and being in the
kitchen aids my sense of normality.

However, time goes on…lockdown continues… as does the endless stack of washing up…even tea options becoming seemingly dull.

Pining for the buzz of a restaurant setting, and a sense of occasion, I held a Taco Friday feast, fuelled by Margaritas, Mexican tunes and the lowest and slowest of pulled porks.

Inspired by cinco de Mayo, I decided to, quite literally, spice up our Friday night.

I made margaritas, classic and grapefruit, low and slow pulled pork, buckets of guacamole and garnished the tacos with hot pink pickles, and spicy jalapeños.

Regardless of cuisine, ‘family style’ is always my favourite way of eating. Sharing, styling and customising each taco only adds to the fun, then, scoffing them down very unglamorously.

I laid the table with the brightest of table-cloths, Mexican playlist on, and we ate and drank alfresco in Costa de ‘Diff…Less Tulum…but equally delicious.

I really recommend making the effort for a stay in feast. Who knows what cuisine will transport us somewhere exotic next?

The Lockdown Lollies!

For those working in hospitality, we’re used to high pressure and living fast. It’s part and parcel of the trade. When feeling over worked, I often dream of a slower lifestyle, and a healthy routine. When that slower lifestyle is dumped on us, however, with no definite end in sight, it can feel very overwhelming.

So, how should we keep occupied and entertained during lockdown?

…personify Ice lollies into ‘The Lockdown Lollies’!

Follow Zoe on Instagram @zojohn or her website alfresczo.

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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Claire

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from Claire. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown.

Life pre-COVID-19 wasn’t sustainable, but neither is this.

Who would have thought, even as recently as the start of this year, that in just three months, we would talk about pre and post COVID-19 worlds?

For those of us old enough, we remember life before 9/11, and 7/7, and knew that life after such horrific events would never be the same again. We all promised to learn lessons from both of these events, to treasure and experience life to the fullest and to hold on dearly to our friends and family. But did we really learn and stay true to those lessons?

I’ve lived in Cardiff for the majority of my adult life and now have a family home in the city where I live with my husband and four year old daughter. I work in Park Place in the city centre and my commute to work is a measly three miles, which I would ordinarily travel by car.

Over the last year, maybe longer, I have often wondered how life in the city could sustain the constant stream of traffic.

A three mile journey would sometimes take me over an hour. The 1.5 mile journey from town to my daughter’s school could take 45 minutes. Journey times like these were not the norm, but neither were they the exception. Cardiff roads were generally jam packed, regardless as to when and where you were travelling.

I would also find myself wondering how we could continue to exist the way we were. Everything was just so busy, for so much of the time. A standard working week was far surpassing my contracted hours, eating into the little time I had with my family and weekends passed by in a flurry of activities, parties and preparing for the next week ahead which consisted of… pretty much the same, apart from those precious snatches of annual leave.

But whoever would have wanted COIVD-19 to be the thing that changed the world again? A threat, not just for a targeted group of people who may have found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, but for every.single.person.in.the.world.

As we have heard, the virus has no boundaries, no borders and does not discriminate ( I think I may have to credit that little part to Nicola Sturgeon!). This is not something that those in prosperous countries can look at from afar, feel sorry for and then send help to those affected. This is in our communities, it’s in our hospitals and we live in fear that it will reach not only our doorsteps but also the doorsteps of our family and friends.

That fear is intensified ten fold when you are at home for all but an hour a day, if you even leave then, and there is no longer a “normal” day. Mondays to Fridays in the pre-COVID-19 world used to start for me at 6:15a.m. This still happens in the post-COVID-19 world. But instead of getting ready for work and hurriedly getting my daughter ready for school before having to leave the house by 7:50, I now walk downstairs to my kitchen and start my working day.

That is the first of only two constants in my day. What happens from approximately 8:00 onwards (that tends to be around the time my daughter gets up and comes downstairs) is a mish mash of school work for my daughter, full time work for my husband and I, meals, snacks, playing, pangs of worry and anxiety about the health of my family, and finally, back to a constant at 18:40… bath time for my daughter.

Bedtimes are pot luck for her at the moment, probably as she is completely out of sync, having no structure of a school day to adhere to, and range from any time between 19:30 and 22:00. Where she gets the energy from I do not know.

By ten pm, I’m beyond exhausted. People said to me at the start of lockdown that this would be the quality time we have craved with our children for years. I can categorically confirm that there is little in the way of quality family time at the moment in our household.

I feel more self inflicted pressure than ever to ensure that the repercussions of COVID-19 don’t unleash themselves on the career I have worked and fought so hard to build.

The instinct to protect my daughter, instilled in me since I carried her in my tummy. That’s at the forefront of my mind from morning until night.

I worry that the virus will make its way to my mum, who works at a village Co-Op, and through her to my dad who has had cancer, is a diabetic and is a poster boy for the “high risk” category if ever you needed one.

At times, my home feels like a pressure cooker. The intensity of a day just builds as the hours tick on. Until its bedtime. The house is quiet, the streets are quiet and slowly but surely, the pressure reduces. Life pre-COVID-19 wasn’t sustainable, but neither is this.

That being said, my husband and I have had moments of sheer clarity during these chaotic times – normally during weekends and slightly fuelled by alcohol!

We have made decisions as to how our lives and ultimately, our family life, will change for the better so we can actually live in the post-COVID 19 world, not just exist.

Follow Claire on Twitter @clairewilde30

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Letters from Cardiff in lockdown: Catriona James

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Today’s instalment for the Letters from Cardiff in lockdown series comes from theatre-maker and performer Catriona James. We’re looking for your stories, so please contribute to Letters from Cardiff in lockdown! 

I want to write an uplifting letter. Today that feels easier. The sun is shining; I ate lunch in the garden with my partner and admired the flowers that are emerging.

I bought and moved into this flat in late October, so each plant’s appearance in the garden this spring has been a surprise. I’ve enjoyed the changing patterns of light – celebrated as each new sunbeam needles its way into my kitchen.

Yesterday was a different letter. Grey sky, a cold wind. I was tired and sad. So was my partner. Not because of each other, but still, it’s hard to comfort another when our own reserves are running low. And so much of the sadness is situational and the solutions are beyond our control.

Lockdown has been a complex time.

And at the same time, the most simple of times – my life stripped down to basics. I’ve taken a lot of joy in the simplicity. I like living with my partner – it was a near-impulse decision as we realised lockdown was coming, for them to move in with me temporarily. And probably the best decision, because not being able to see them for an undefined period of time would have been so hard.

We cook good food, and bake bread. We’ve built raised beds in my garden, and planted seeds. We take long bicycle rides and make the weekly veg shop and fortnightly braving of the supermarket a lot more pleasant for each other. We camp in the garden and make the effort to organise date nights at home.

We introduce each other to our friends and family over video calls. We started drawing on the calendar in the kitchen, a small picture of each day’s highlight. It makes me smile when I look at it, but it also brings to mind the time-marking of a prisoner – a colourful version of a five bar gate tally scratched into a wall.

We became unwell, and we recovered. We both had symptoms of what may have been mild COVID-19. We isolated. We looked after each other and felt grateful for friends who brought us food and groceries. We got off lucky, this time, if that was indeed what we had. I don’t take this virus lightly – I never did. Even with mild symptoms I found myself at times crying with exhaustion and fear.

We try to work. Someone said on social media – You’re not working from home. You’re at home during a crisis, trying to work. I’d credit them if I could, but I don’t recall where I saw it.

I’m a theatre-maker and a performer. I’ve been fortunate that all the work I was contracted for when the lockdown started has been honoured, so while money is a concern, it’s not an overwhelming one yet. To be clear: I’d rather have the work.

Some things have been possible – I did a 15-hour improvised performance called Crack of Dawn on 2 May as part of an online festival called GIFT (Gateshead International Festival of Theatre). Originally meant to be in-person in Gateshead, the festival organisers took the imaginative leap of moving their programming online.

This isn’t possible for all performance work, and it isn’t how I want to make or engage with most of it. I want a live audience. I want to be part of a live audience. I don’t know when this is going to happen again. I enjoyed performing as part of GIFT but I also found myself wondering if it was the last time.

I want to write an uplifting letter. But over the past few weeks, I’ve come to accept that I am grieving. Part of looking after myself, and being able to help others around me, is navigating that grief. It comes in waves. I’m not mourning the loss of the arts industry – there’s a lot that was wrong with it, like much of the “normal” that came before this.

Other people have articulated those problems and what needs to change more clearly than I can. But for me, personally, working in the arts had been very difficult for a long time and it was just appearing to get easier. Then overnight much of what I had been looking forward to melted away, some of it likely forever. I’m trying to be balanced about this. I know that other things will emerge that I will also love and enjoy, but that will not erase this loss.

Occasionally I consider that I’m living through a time that may define the rest of my life. It’s no small thing. So I’m trying to be kind to myself. I’m trying to be accepting, and take what lessons I can from this experience. I am astounded by our capacity to adapt. The things I thought I wanted may well be different in a few months, and that may not be so terrible. I’m trying to remain open, trying not to hold too tightly to anything. I’d like to be surprised by what could emerge.

Follow Catriona James on Twitter @catjames or her website catrionajames.com. 

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