I went to the AUOB March for Independence in Barry

Back in 2020 I joined Yes Cymru, the independent movement for an Independent Wales. I'm still a member although the organisation has been through the mill and lost its edge a bit. However, I had yet to join in a March for Independence, so when I heard one was being organised for Barry I knew this was my chance to go along and take part. 

My friends Sara and Leanne have been to a few of these marches, with their kids, and they took me under their wing for the day.  We started out in the Indy Market looking at the various Annibyniaeth swag produced by a few different organisations. There were stalls from Plaid Cymru and the Green Party of Wales, as well as some social actions groups, the Felin Drafod think tank, face-painting for the kids, Barry Round Table selling hot dogs and burgers, other food vans and so on. 

I ended up buying a t-shirt and a cap and collecting lots of free stickers and a couple of badges. I also got given a Flemish flag by one of the members of the Flemish independence movement. There was a sizeable group of them there in an overall crowd that was estimated (by the police) at 5,000-7,000 people. 

After marching in a loop of Barry town centre, led by a large dragon puppet operated by someone inside it, we gathered in King Square for some short speeches. It got a bit warm on the march as the weather had turned surprisingly sunny (and I had a child on my shoulders for some of it!)

It being 'All Under One Banner' there were speeches from a couple of the political parties who were represented. But my favourite speaker was Anna Arque i Solsona, an independence campaigner from Catalonia. 

Anna made the point that there are millions of people in the regions across Europe that are seeking greater autonomy and independence, it's not just a few people in Cymru seeking annibyniaeth. I was also impressed by how willing she was to have a go at saying a few sentences in Cymraeg. There was also a video shown with people from independence movements across Europe - from Sardinia to the different regions in Spain to South Tyrol and one or two I wasn't able to place geographically - and I found that very inspiring. 

I've had several conversations with people over the past few years and the big question I get asked is 'Can Wales really survive on it's own'. But the way things are going in the UK, I'm not sure Wales can survive in the status quo. A couple of speakers referred to the UK as a failed state, and although that might be overstating it, it definitely feels like a failing state. The challenge is to generate enough hope that change can come and it will be change for the better.

Monthly round up - October 2024

It feels like winter has suddenly arrived. The clocks have gone back. It's getting dark as I finish work. And all of a sudden it's November! Time for a review of the month just gone. 

The week before the clocks went back I was working on a filming project in various locations around Barry. It included some shooting on the Knap at sunset, so I got some lovely photos. 

The film will tell the story of Jacob, one of the young people involved in the programme I work in. We were a great little team, with our freelance videographer, Sarah, and my colleague Rhys joining us for the second day of filming. We finished on Barry Island, where else. 

In other work-related news, I had a great time meeting up with Heather who I worked with for seven years in the diabetes network. Heather has now retired and when we met up for lunch in Cardiff Bay, we had such good weather it was sunny enough for us to sit outside!

Our good friend Clare had a big number birthday (40) and we made her pose for a photo with us at her birthday party.

Another former work colleague, Ruth, was at the party too. We worked together a long time ago in the comms team at Care for the Family. 

A fairly random highlight from the month was going to an evening presentation by the Grangetown History Society. It was about the massive gasworks that used to exist not very far from our house. If you go to Ikea, you can still see the steel skeleton of one of the massive gasometers. I was a bit late getting to the talk, so have borrowed this picture of the presenter from my friend, Fiona.

In addition to lots of archive pictures of the area, there was a useful explanation about how a gasworks functioned, and how they produced gas by burning coal at a very high temperature without much oxygen. There were hundreds of miles of pipes transporting the gas all across Cardiff and as far as Pontypridd. It was used for street-lighting and domestic and industrial use. 

I made it to my second monthly Keep Grangetown Tidy litter pick in a row. I'm not sure why we all stood around the post-box for the group photo. 

The litter-pick had been postponed by a week because of a storm. As someone said, if we had gone out on the original date it would have been more of a litter-chase than a litter pick!

I collected some big items, including a large abandoned suitcase. I'm pretty sure it didn't have a body in although to be honest, I didn't dare check. 

But my biggest prize was the entire front of a car. Clearly someone had had a shunt and they decided not to take their bumper home. Instead they dumped it on a piece of waste ground next to the road. 

Anyway, that sets a new high bar for ridiculous finds on a litter-pick, overtaking the abandoned aquarium I picked up once. 

Our house has been an ongoing project since February. We now have the replastered hallway and landing painted! We have also had some carpentry work done. There is one last big bit to do - sorting a new understairs cupboard and putting down new flooring in the hallway. It feels like we are on the home straight. I'm really hoping we can get it sorted in time for Cathy's birthday.

And finally, my football round up. I went to five games in October - three at Barry Town, one at Cardiff Draconians, and the Women's European Championship Qualifying play-off between Wales and Slovakia. At one of the Barry Town games I met the new club mascot, Derek the Dragon. 

I went to the Wales game with Sara. It was our first game together since watching Penrhiwceiber Rangers win their league title back in May. 

I also earned a Futbology badge for my 75th game at Jenner Park. Happily, it was a game that Barry won. 

And here is my running total for the season so far!

Balancing act

Took a trip to the Knap in Barry yesterday. Weather wasn't great at first but then the sun came out. I amused myself by building some rocky towers.

They weren't the tallest towers but it was a bit too windy for them to stay up when they got to a certain height. However, every time they toppled meant I had the fun of starting over.