free! free! free!
INSIDE: How the
Big Lottery Fund
is putting Lottery
money back
into your
community
WALES Issue 7
biglotteryfund.org.uk
“I had to
PAGE 32
shock her
three times
to bring her
back to life”
Michael Sheen
talks Lottery
PAGE 35
“I tested positive
in the PE toiletsg”e 10
Pa
Village SOS is an exciting
initiative from the Big Lottery
Fund and the BBC to help villages
set up fantastic community
businesses, such as selling
local produce, setting up a
community bus service or
saving their local shop.
Central to this nationwide
rural revival is the Village SOS
website and advice line,
which offers expert guidance
and support, as well as the
inspirational BBC One TV series
that follows the fortunes of six
innovative village enterprises
funded by the Big Lottery Fund.
.UK
VISIT ILLAGESOS.OR9G123*
WWW.VLL 0845 434
OR CA REE ADVICE
FOR F
*Callsfromlandlineswillbechargedatlocal
rates(3.4pperminutepeaktimes,1.7p
For more information visit www.awardsforall.org.uk and
download the guidance
perminuteineveningsand0.6pperminute
atweekends).Callsfrommobileswillvary
notes and application form or call our team for advice on
0845 4 10 20 30.
andmaybeconsiderablymore.
y Fund
Published by Big Lotter
Website:
k
www.biglotteryfund.org.u
Email:
rg.uk
[email protected]
5
Phone: 0300 123 073
a Quinn
Publishing director: Lind
Editor: Ben Payne
yn
Assistant editors: Osw
Jones,
Hughes, Claire Trainer, Sian
David Symons
ert Blow
Production editor: Rob
l, Jackie
Contributors: Alys Wal
Aplin
Production manager:
Emma Robinson
Translator: David Symons
Design: Tom Barnes,
Parker
Cathy MacMurray, Carmel
Brought to you by
In this edition of BIG magazine you can get a
taste of some of the projects in Wales that BIG
has supported.
Read about terminally ill Angela Davies who is
determined to live long enough to see her son
become a pilot and sings every week with a choir
that helps lift her spirits. And how 35-year-old
Lorraine Thomas has joined a walking group despite
suffering two brain haemorrhages, a stroke and
having her right leg amputated.
You can also read about a partially-sighted teenager
who was a chef on Blue Peter and a young mum who
pursued her dreams after becoming pregnant just
months before her GCSE exams.
We hope you saw the fabulous Village SOS
programme on BBC One which showcased new
village businesses that we funded, including two
from Wales. And as part of a spin-off more villages
can get support through our website and advice line
(see facing page).
We’re also appealing for people to email us their
favourite photos of Wales. And make sure you look
out for smart codes on some pages which, through
your mobile phone, can give you more access to some
great multimedia content such as videos and podcasts.
To find out more about funding opportunities in Wales
visit: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/wales
I hope you enjoy this issue.
Ben Payne
Editor
To receive BIG magazine free email
your name, address and phone
number to:
[email protected]
or phone 0300 123 0735
COUNTRY
WALES Issue
Issue x 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 3
PHOTOGRAPHY: SHAUN FITZPATRICK
Welcome!
BIG difference
10
Mother love
08
22
It’s
playtime!
There’s a
song in my
heart
G
I
B
e
d
i
s
In
BIG shorts
frEE! frEE! frEE!
INSIDE: How the
Big Lottery fund
is putting Lottery
money back
into your
community
WALES ISSuE 7
biglotteryfund.org.uk
PAGE 32
“I had to
shock her
three times
to bring her
back to life”
Paddy Sheen
talks lottery
6 Community Voice; Wales
Wild Land Foundation; NoFit
State Circus
8 Baglan Library Chill Out
Zone; Kids with Autism; Ysgol
Ieuan Gwynedd
PAGE 35
Real life
I tested positive
ts
in the PE toilePage 10
4 | 10“I tested positive in the PE
toilets”: Getting pregnant at
16 hasn’t stopped Ashleigh
Bates from pursuing her
dreams of a successful future
14“My head was killing me”:
After two brain haemorrhages
and 20 years of illness
Lorraine Thomas is walking
her way back to happiness
18 Transforming the lives of
transgender people: After
years of leading a double life
Debbie finally came out as a
woman to her wife and
children
22 Angela finds someone to
lean on: A good old singsong
every week helps Angela to
cope with her cancer
26 Olympic effort from Blue
Peter chef: 16 year old Jake
Sawyers on why being
32
36
Shocking
treatment
Mucky stuff
partially sighted should never
hold you back
30 Homeless footballers are
bang on target: A new street
football initiative in Swansea
is helping Chris Dowie cope
with homelessness and his
alcohol addiction
32 The lives of Bryan: For the
people of Barry volunteer First
Responder Bryan Foley has
been literally a life-saver
38 Wales in focus: Have a
shot at getting your photo
in our mag
Your BIG regulars
35My Lottery:
Hollywood star
Michael Sheen
on why young
people deserve a
Lotto help
36BIG magazine
challenge: BIG
staff Sian Jones
and Claire Trainer
get down and
dirty at Swansea
Community Farm
COUNTRYWALES
Issue XIssue
Find 7out
Find
more
outonline
more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 5
Britain’s Got Talent winner backs
£12 million Community Voice
winner of reality
Opera singer Paul Potts, the first
ed a £12 million
back
has
nt,
show Britain’s Got Tale
their own voice.
ities
mun
com
sh
Wel
give
to
me
program
d the Big
orte
supp
ot
Talb
Port
The singer from Neath
e, which will
Voic
ity
mun
Com
e,
ramm
prog
Fund
Lottery
ies and decisions
help Welsh communities influence polic
better met.
are
s
that affect them so their need
get my voice
me
ed
help
t
Talen
Got
“Britain’s
money will be
ery
Lott
heard and it’s great that
get their voices
ities
mun
com
h
Wels
help
used to
everyone has
that
vital
heard too,” says Paul. “It’s
affect them.
that
s
sion
deci
l
loca
t
abou
their say
le to shape
peop
r
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Community Voice will
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ing
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ons.
applicati
BIG shorts
Beavers make a
Welsh comeback
the Welsh
Beavers will be re-introduced into
years.
countryside for the first time in 900
n is
digio
Wales Wild Land Foundation in Cere
een
creating an enclosed habitat betw
a pair of
Machynlleth and Aberystwyth where
into their natural habitat
ed
duc
ntro
re-i
European beavers will be
in the Welsh countryside.
UK’s leading beaver
Around 50 volunteers and one of the
the project which
experts, Derek Gow, are involved with
to help pay for
d
received £5,000 from Big Lottery Fun
ion area has also
rvat
fencing and relocation costs. An obse
the beavers.
ut
abo
e
mor
been built for visitors to learn
ury but were hunted to
cent
h
12t
the
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Beavers lived in Wales unti
ughout
stor fiber) was once widespread thro
extinction. The European beaver (Ca
the
in
d
foun
oil
the
and
skin
d
ly-prize
the UK and was sought after for its high
fever.
and
es
dach
hea
for
icine
med
as
used
glands at the base of its tail, which was
6 | Fit for purpose
Circus is born
in the 1980s
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 7
PHOTOGRAPHY: JACK LATHAM
Founded in the 1980s by five Welsh college students
to raise money for Live Aid, the NoFit State Circus is
celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
The internationally acclaimed circus has a variety of
acts including tightrope walkers, trapeze artists, acrobats
Paul Evans on
and clowns.
the trapeze
As well as touring productions it gives the community
opportunities to perform themselves by holding evening and
youth circus classes for all ages, abilities and backgrounds.
NoFit was awarded £770,000 through the Community
Asset Transfer programme, a partnership between BIG and
the Welsh Government.
Currently based in temporary accommodation at the old Welsh
National Opera Building in Cardiff, the NoFit State Circus will now
move to a more permanent address, transforming the schoolrooms
attached to the Trinity Methodist church in Adamstown.
The money will also help to finance an increased number of weekly
workshops, master classes, training sessions and school holiday projects.
It is estimated that the number of people who will benefit will increase
from 17,000 per year to around 36,500.
Board trustee Mark Robson says, “Here in Cardiff we have a lot of
community members who do evening classes and we think as all of them
as
members of the circus, so we are all part of
a big family.”
BIG shorts
Starry night for Baglan
as Michael Sheen visits
The village of Baglan in South Wal
es was sprinkled with tinsel
town magic when Hollywood acto
r Michael Sheen came home
to open a gleaming new youth cent
re for young people in the
village where he grew up.
The star of blockbuster films such as
Twilight, Underworld, Alice in
Wonderland, The Damned United and
Frost/Nixon, opened a brand new ‘chill
out’ centre for young people on the
ground floor of Baglan Library, whic
h
received over £237,000 from the Big
Lottery Fund.
The new Chill Out Zone boasts a flat
screen TV, Playstation, Wii, a pool
table, a food outlet and computers with
internet access. A one-stop
shop for local young people, the proje
ct also provides a central,
community based facility where youn
g people can access
information, advice and support on yout
h issues as well as
learning and training opportunities.
Michael Sheen answers questions abou
t the Lottery on
page 35.
Awesome New Park for Kids w
Jumping for joy
8 | A flash mob performed by visually impaired young people
has helped launch BIG’s Bright New Futures programme.
Forty young people from performance arts group UCAN
Productions stunned the crowds at the Wales Millennium Centre
in Cardiff with an impromptu dance routine.
People queuing to see The Sound of Music matinee were then
entertained for 40 minutes by UCAN members singing in Welsh
and English.
Jake Sawyers, 16, from Port Talbot, who is blind in one eye
with 25 per cent vision in the other, took part in the flash mob
(see pages 26-29 for his story). He says, “There was a fantastic
reaction from the crowd. It was a fitting way to launch a
programme that aims to give young people more opportunities.”
Registration for the Bright New Futures programme has now
closed. In 2013, some £12 million will be awarded to projects
working with young parents and young disabled
people aged 14-25.
UCAN Productions
perform flash mob
reader app
Got a smart phone? Download a QR
h mob.
and scan this code to watch the flas
c3H
Alternatively, visit http://bit.ly/qyN
with Autism
Autism is
a lifelong
developmental
disability that
affects how
a person
communicates
and relates to
other people.
The condition also
affects how people
make sense of the world
around them. People with
Having fun on new gam
autism find it difficult to
e tops
tell others what they need,
how they feel and to meet other people and make new friends.
That’s why Ysgol Ieuan Gwynedd in Rhydymain, Dolgellau, north Wales, spent their
Awards for All grant of over £4,000 on installing new outdoor play equipment for
children in their newly established autistic unit. Playtime is now all the more fun with a
new range of play equipment including a picnic table and game top, net ladder combo,
monkey bars, springy beam and tyre crossing.
Nia Ellis-Brown is the local parent who applied for the Awards for All funding. Her eight
year old daughter, Mabli Brown, has autism and she has reaped the benefits of the project
already. “The kids at the school love the new play equipment, and the children from the
autistic unit and the mainstream unit are all mixing together, playing together and reaping
the benefits,” she says.
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 9
PHOTOGRAPHY: NICK TREHARNE, EYEIMAGERY, JACK LATHAM
FLASH MOB FOR NEW FUTURES
“
real life
I tested positive
A thousand anxious thoughts
entered Ashleigh Bates’ head when
the pregnancy test turned blue. But
she didn’t have time to stop and
think as the school bell had just
rung for her next lesson
PHOTOGRAPHY: EYEIMAGERY
A
ged 16 and just months before
sitting her GCSE exams, Ashleigh
Bates discovered she was
expecting her first child.
Ashleigh had only just
started to get her life back
on track after a troubled
time in her early teens.
She was dreaming about
the future and a
successful career but
the unexpected news
threatened to shatter
her plans.
“A lady in school gave me a
pregnancy test and I went down
to the toilets by PE and took it and it
came up that I was pregnant,” says
the former Welshpool High School
pupil. “I sat there for a bit and thought
oh my God and I went back up to see her
and showed her the test and I burst into
tears and I was like what am I going to do
and what am I going to tell people? I then
went home and told my ex-partner and he
was just like what are we going to do? And
we decided to keep it and that was it. 10 | It was a scary, scary day.”
Although shocked by the news,
Ashleigh’s family and former partner, who
she was living with, were supportive but
her school friends were more scathing. And
as well as coping with all these emotions,
and, before she could even start planning
”
in the PE toilets
“I burst into tears and I was
like what am I going to do and
what am I going to tell people”
Wales Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 11
real life
for the big day, she still had her GCSE
exams to sit.
“I was four months pregnant when I sat
my GCSEs,” says Ashleigh, “It was weird
because I was treated so differently to
everyone else. All the teachers had to be
informed that it didn’t matter what they
were in the middle of doing - if I needed to
go to the toilet, be sick, go home early to
have a sleep I could. I sat my GCSEs in a
room by myself because of health and
safety in case I tripped up on anything. I
felt weird. I felt everyone looked at me in a
funny way – not in a disgusting way but as
in oh my god she’s having a baby.”
A now heavily pregnant Ashleigh then
drew more disapproving looks from other
mums when she went to pick up her exam
results.
She says: “I was quite massive with
Archie and I remember walking across the
car park to the school and there were
mums who were with their kids to find out
their results and the looks when I walked
past – you knew they were thinking I’m
glad that’s not my daughter.”
During the months and weeks leading up
Ashleigh and
Archie are
enjoying life
together
to
12 | the birth her anxious thoughts spiralled.
“It was more of the thought of pain for
me,” admits Ashleigh. “Because I was so
young I’d never experienced anything like
that in my life. I’d read books and that and
I’d spoken to so many people but I was still
constantly worrying. I went into slow
labour with him so I didn’t have time to
worry that much because I was two
weeks early.”
LOVE
Archie was born in Shrewsbury on
6 November 2007.
“My ex-partner and my mum were there
when I gave birth and I cried,” beams a
proud Ashleigh, who won an award for
being the youngest breast feeder in her
area. “It was amazing just like when you ask
a 40 year old woman how they felt when
they saw their baby – it’s amazing and the
love is there straight away.”
Having a baby meant the young mum
and her partner grew apart and then split
up. But they are still friends and Archie’s
dad is always there for his son. Now 20,
Ashleigh, who lives in the Welshpool area,
says she’s enjoying being a parent.
“I absolutely love being a mum and as
soon as I brought him home I
knew I was going to love it,”
she says. “A lot of people
thought how naughty I was
and undoubtedly thought
Archie would make or
break me but he’s made me
who I am now. I’m a good
mum. I know I’m a good
mum because I’ve put my
life into Archie.”
Ashleigh is hoping
her experiences will
help other mums and
has already asked the
BIG-funded Open Door
Family Centre whether she
PHOTOGRAPHY: XX
What BIG did
nched a
Big Lottery Fund has lau
Bright New
e,
mm
gra
pro
£12 million
lp young
Futures in Wales to he
abled people
parents and young dis
ir lives.
the
in
es
cope with chang
mme,
gra
pro
the
for
Registration
2013, has
in
ds
fun
ard
aw
l
wil
which
now closed.
can be a peer mentor when they open a
support group in the area.
“I want to help young mums,” she
explains. “When you’re a young mum you’re
put in a box. Some people look at you like
you are muck on the bottom of their shoe
and you are frowned upon. No one will say
it to your face but you can tell by the way
people look at you and it’s a horrible
feeling. I love Archie to death and I’d do
anything for him but people think you feel
differently because you’re young but
they’re wrong. I want to help young mums
see the positive side of being a young mum
and help reverse some of the ways society
looks at them.
“People think you feel
differently because you’re
young but they’re wrong”
“I have never watched a programme
about young mums that shows a good
mum who is using common sense to bring
up a child – it’s always about those who
start drinking or don’t know who the father
is and things like that. That’s how people
see it and that’s sad.”
Now looking forward to the future,
determined Ashleigh, who passed five
GCSEs, has just finished a three-year hair
and beauty course at her local college –
successfully juggling studying, working and
being a parent. She works at her mum’s
salon in Welshpool and one day aspires to
own her own business. And because she
has been able to pursue her dreams despite
obstacles on the way, she’s confident her
son, who starts school this year, has a
bright future.
“Like every parent I want him to do well
in school,” says Ashleigh. “I feel I’ve done
what I was meant to do with him – I’ve
done it in the right way. I want him to have
a good life, I want him to have a good
childhood, I want him to stay young for
longer than I did. I want Archie to know I
was a proud young mum but I also want
him to know how hard it was.
“I’ve loved being a young mum but I
don’t want people to get pregnant at 16
when their doing their GCSES because it’s
not a good situation to be in.” BIG
Got a smart phone?
Download a QR reader app
and scan this code to listen
to a podcast about Ashleigh
Bates. Alternatively, visit
http://bit.ly/qzMeew
Wales Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 13
real life
“My head was killing me”
Over the last 25 years Lorraine Thomas
has survived two brain haemorrhages,
a stroke, a leg amputation and a
suicide attempt but she’s now
starting to feel good again
PHOTOGRAPHY: NICK TREHARNE
L
orraine Thomas was aged just 28 when she
suffered the first of two brain haemorrhages
while pushing her son up a hill in a pram. And
what followed threatened to leave her life
in tatters.
At 35, when she had the second brain
haemorrhage, Lorraine also had a
stroke that left her with so little
sensation on her right side that,
when she was shot with an
airgun pellet some time later,
she didn’t feel it.
Then, after 11 years of
infections, blood transfusions,
pain and limited mobility
Lorraine suffered deep vein
thrombosis, had her right leg
amputated and was fitted
with an artificial leg.
“It was a horrific time in my
life,” says Lorraine, now aged
55. “I’m over the biggest
part now but it did once
make me attempt suicide. It
was thanks to my family that
I got through it. Nobody
expects a thing like this to
happen to them but it did
and thankfully I’m here today
to talk about it.”
When Lorraine suffered
her first brain haemorrhage
she was suddenly struck by
14 | PHOTOGRAPHY: XX
“I thought my husband
was a stranger”
a pain like being hit over the head and
temporarily lost her sight. Having lived in
the area all her life and knowing the streets
so well, she was able to find the house
her husband, Gwyn, was working on.
He took her home and phoned the
doctor, who immediately called
the ambulance.
“I was pushing my son up a hill
in a pram when it hit me,”
says Lorraine from Mountain
Ash in Rhondda Cynon
Taff. “I suddenly lost my
eyesight but I managed
to keep hold of the
pram – if I had let it go
my son would have
gone down a steep hill
and probably wouldn’t
be here today. I didn’t
know what was
happening to me – it
was scary.”
Lorraine was taken to
the Prince Charles
Hospital, Merthyr, and
then to the University Hospital of Wales, in
Cardiff. Although there was no need for an
operation she temporarily suffered reduced
feeling in her left arm and was discharged
after nearly a month on the ward.
Seven years later she was volunteering
at her local school and was offered a
permanent position, but her second brain
haemorrhage struck before she could take
up the job. One night she was woken by a
terrible headache and knew exactly what
it was. Gwyn had to leave her in bed while
he ran to fetch his mother, who lived a few
streets away, to come and mind the
children, aged just seven and nine, while
they rushed Lorraine to hospital.
“The second haemorrhage was
completely unexpected,” says Lorraine.
“Again, it was like being hit on the head
and I thought oh my God my head’s killing
me.”
Lorraine was in Prince Charles Hospital
for three days before going back to Heath
Hospital. While Lorraine was in the
operating theatre the haemorrhage
started to bleed again. Afterwards she
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 15
Lorraine relaxing at
home with her family
was told that had she not been in hospital
when this happened – it could have been
fatal. Three days after the operation Lorraine
suffered a stroke, which, to this day, has left
her with no feeling on her right side. She was
transferred to Rookwood Hospital in Cardiff
where she remained for six weeks.
The stroke seriously affected her memory,
and when her husband visited her she didn’t
know who he was, had no recollection of
being married or having two children. A
“Because I didn’t have any
feeling in that leg, I didn’t
really miss it”
short home visit was upsetting, as the
surroundings felt unfamiliar. Lorraine
returned home permanently to be faced
with having to re-learn everything from
scratch – she couldn’t even remember how
to cook.
“When I regained consciousness after the
operation I thought my husband was a
stranger,” she says. “And it was frustrating
not being able to do the things I did before
16 | and I hated being housebound.”
More trauma followed when, after a
shopping trip, she discovered that her right
leg, which had no sensation because of the
stroke, was covered in blood. She thought
she’d caught it on a nail and just not felt it,
but, after going back to hospital for an
x-ray, discovered she’d been shot by
an airgun.
Lorraine visited a specialist to have the
pellet removed but the stitches refused to
heal on her leg and an infection set in.
Lorraine endured 11 years of blood
transfusions and pain, until eventually when
she had deep vein thrombosis, her leg was
amputated and an artificial limb was fitted.
“Because I didn’t have any feeling in that
leg, I didn’t really miss it and I wasn’t shocked
when I woke up after the operation to see it
wasn’t there,” she says. “I just put my
artificial leg on and started walking great.”
While recovering from the operation and
determined to shed some of her 15 stone
weight, Lorraine heard about The Feel
Good Factory.
With the help of a cash injection form the
Big Lottery Fund a run-down church was
transformed into The Feel Good Factory:
“Don’t tell me I can’t do things,
because this just makes me
want to do them all the more”
The group has opened a whole new world
for Lorraine. She’s made new friends, built an
active social life, and lost 5½ stone – a third
of her body weight.
Lorraine has gone away for walking
weekends, and completed a nine and a half
mile trek.
She says, “The walking group has helped
me lose weight, learn new things, keep
active and make new friends. I’m out of the
house all the time and I just love it. The
walking group has given me a better
outlook on life.
“I’ve made lots more friends and achieved
things I never thought I could do, being an
amputee. Don’t tell me I can’t do things,
because this just makes me want to do them
all the more – and I will. I’ve walked nine
miles and my stump was bleeding - it was
painful - but I wasn’t going to give up.
“I’ve walked along the Pembrokeshire
coast on a walking weekend, staying in a
youth hostel in Trefin: not many people with
an artificial leg can say they’ve done that.
“The Feel Good Factory is absolutely
brilliant, and they do amazing work with
their Lottery funding. It means everything to
me, because I now get out and about all the
time like I never could do before. Life before
was so monotonous, but now I have new
friends, I’ve learned new skills, and seen a
real boost to my health. They’ve turned my
life around.” BIG
Lorraine enjoys spending
time with her walking
group
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 17
PHOTOGRAPHY: XX
Bryncynon Healthy Living Centre, aiming to
boost physical and mental health levels in
the local area.
Lorraine called the factory who
encouraged her to join the Bryncynon
Walking Group.
The group was split by ability, so Lorraine
was able to walk with the group which took
things at a slower pace. That was three
years ago and since then she’s never looked
back. She now walks with the group every
Tuesday and Friday.
real life
Transforming
the lives of
transgender people
Debbie Roberts, chairwoman of Unique Transgender
Network in north Wales, talks about being “one of the
girls” and the challenges transgender people face
I
t was on a Sunday afternoon when Tony
gathered his family in the living room at their
north Wales home and presented a letter to
his wife and daughters to tell them that he
was in fact a female called Debbie.
Debbie, 57, is a transgender person and
has been hiding behind Tony all her life. But
she just couldn’t hide anymore and had to tell
the world who she is.
“There was no blinding light, it just felt like
the right time to tell them all,” says Debbie.
“I always knew I was different from the
other boys. I envied the girls and their
fabulous clothes, and I have dressed as a
woman since my early teens. I love being one
of the girls and expressing outwardly the
emotions and feelings that lurk inside, it just
feels so right.
“I am informed by my family that I was
always in trouble from the age of five. I went
to a Catholic school and the nuns were always
18 | dragging me out of the Wendy House and
making me play with the boys and their
trucks and cars and things. So it’s obviously
something that was evident from an
early age.
“For me, it’s not a lifestyle issue; it’s a way
of life. I’ve been hiding it all my life. I’ve been
trying to be a male and it’s been hard work. I
had to present this façade to everyone which
wasn’t real.”
Confused and with nowhere and no one to
turn to for advice and support, growing up in
Liverpool was difficult for Debbie who was
raised as a male called Tony.
“I was born and raised in a two up, two
down terraced house in Liverpool and you
weren’t brought up to show these things,”
she says.
“To be honest, people knew about gay
people but I honestly don’t think they were
even aware of transgender people. Kids used
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 19
PHOTOGRAPHY:
EYEIMAGERY
PHOTOGRAPHY:
XX
to lots of places as Debbie before I told my
family. It’s been difficult because I had to
forward plan everything. It wasn’t just
forward planning of how I would get to a
meeting; it was also about what I was going
to wear. I had a self-storage unit in Cheshire
which was like a walk in wardrobe that I used.”
In the process of divorcing from her wife,
she also understands the impact her coming
out has had on her family.
“In the last two years, my own needs
became so strong that it had to change,”
says Debbie.
“My wife never had a clue. She always
thought I was quite a feminine man, and she
was fine with me being transgender, but
what caused the rift is the deceit that went
on for so long. I know she needs a man in her
life and I can’t be that for her. My daughters
have been great and I’m staying with my
eldest until I sort out a flat for myself.
A double life
“I hid it from them for so long because you
For six years, even before coming out to her
learn to compartmentalise things. It’s like a
family, Debbie was chair of Unique
switch in my head. I could switch Debbie on
Transgender Network, a voluntary
and off but it became more difficult to
organisation supporting transgender people
switch her off because she
in north Wales and
Caroline Cossey
became more and more me.
west Cheshire.
You become very adept at
She admits it was
inventing excuses, finding
hard to keep both
reasons to go out of the
lives going and
house and things.”
she even had a
In hindsight, Debbie
secret wardrobe in
knows she should have
a storage unit that
come out years ago.
her family didn’t
“Hindsight is a great thing
know about.
but when you’re growing up
“Even when I
in the 60s and 70s in
was married I
Liverpool, you were
would become
expected to find a girlfriend,
Debbie as often as
find a wife, have children,
I could,” she says.
start a family and you
“I’ve been the
tended to follow that line,”
chair of Unique for
she explains.
the last six years
“Peer pressure
and I’ve been going
dictates that you
to conferences in
should do things
France and Cardiff
a certain way and
as Debbie. I travelled
to bully me because I was skinny and weak.
We’re talking the 1960s here and I wasn’t
aware that I was transgender then, so they
certainly didn’t know. I just knew the way I
felt in my head and I thought I was just the
only one in the world who felt this way.”
It wasn’t until Caroline Cossey, an English
actress and model who had a part in a
James Bond film was revealed in the News
of the World as a transsexual in 1981 that
Debbie suddenly realised that she wasn’t
the only one.
“I read the article and I thought wow!
There are others like me out there,” she says.
“One of my proudest claims is that I’m
now friends with Caroline Cossey on
Facebook. I’m just so made up that I’m
friends with a lady who made me realise
I wasn’t the only one all those years ago.”
real life
you do it, because you’re frightened
of anyone else finding out. You do
whatever is expected of you.
“I’m Debbie now and I don’t want to
go back!”
Liberated
Feeling liberated, Debbie, who works as a
housing officer for a housing association,
came out to her employers in January and
has been living and working as Debbie since
August this year.
“My colleagues in work have been
absolutely amazing and I couldn’t have asked
for more support,” she says.
“I’m Debbie everywhere now and it just
feels like the real me.”
Debbie is currently going through the
process of gender reassignment and is on
the waiting list for surgery, which is about
two years away and will involve having the
penis surgically removed. It has been a long
process but she believes it will all be worth it
in the end.
20 | “My journey began when I went to see my
GP who then referred me to a psychosexual
therapist in north Wales who is a specialist in
gender identity,” says Debbie.
“I went to see him and he organised four
or five one hour sessions. At the end of the
first hour, he said ‘Debbie, I think we’re
holding you back, you’re ready to move on.’
He referred me to a psychiatrist who said
exactly the same thing. Now, I’m only
waiting for blood tests to establish what my
hormone levels are and what needs to be
done to start hormone treatment.
“The gender reassignment surgery is about
two years away now. Growing up, I always
felt my body was wrong, now I am being
given the chance to rectify it. I’m just waiting
for the NHS to give me the go ahead.
“When I was growing up, my sexual
orientation was confusing. I had some
counselling a few years back and they
established that I was like a heterosexual
female. I would certainly like a boyfriend
one day.”
PHOTOGRAPHY: XX
Breaking down barriers
Debbie was bullied and teased growing up
and she still believes that a lot of stigma
exists regarding transgender topics, which
she puts down to a lack of education.
Through Unique supporting individuals and
providing information and diversity training
to the wider community, the group works
to break down barriers and help
transgender people accept themselves
and find acceptance from others.
“When people engage with you, they
realise you are just a normal person,”
she says.
“The only difference is that your brain is
the opposite gender to the one on that little
piece of paper they give you at birth. It’s all
about education really. The more you talk to
them, the more they understand. This is the
whole ethos of Unique – we will talk to
anybody who is prepared to listen to us.
“If I can educate one person and they tell
even more people, then the word spreads
and that’s got to be half the battle. Lots of
TV channels have made programmes about
transgender individuals and transgender
issues over the last six years and I think
that’s making people realise that it’s not a
weird, perverse thing. It’s the case that our
brain says one thing and the body says
something else. There’s nothing you can do
about it, it’s there and inherent in your head.”
She added: “I think the best way to raise
awareness is through education. Long-term
we need to be educating children in schools.
If we can stop the stigma in schools, then it
can only make the future better for us.”
A new future
So what does the future hold for Debbie?
“I want to have surgery, to have a gender
recognition certificate, a female birth
certificate and to basically carry on doing
what I’m doing with Unique,” she says.
“I just want to be me and make sure that
Unique is still going from strength to
strength. That’s the most important thing.
Support for transgender people is the best
thing they can have. Lots of us aren’t as
strong as I am and they can have health
issues. As a community we do get a lot of
attempted suicides because they can’t get
to where they need to be quickly enough
and this does impact on their mental
well-being and that of their families.” BIG
What BIG did
The Unique Transgender Network
took
part in the Gender Fluidity project,
a
research and support development
project ran by the Welsh LGBT
Excellence Centre in Cardiff and fund
ed
through the Big Lottery Fund’s Awa
rds
for All programme. The aim of the
project is to develop a stronger supp
ort
network for transgender people.
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 21
real life
PHOTOGRAPHY: BETINA SKOVBRO
Angela finds
someone to lean on
Finding her voice: Angela with
husband Glyn and son Joshua
22 | other-of-two Angela Davies puts
everything she’s got into singing the Bill
Withers’ classic Lean on Me.
Looking at and listening to her and other
members of the choir you would think that
their future was full of hope.
For many, thanks to the weekly singing
sessions, it still is, but when you discover
members have suffered or are battling
cancer, the Lean on Me lyrics take on an
extra poignancy.
It’s as if every word and note is a tonic
against the dreadful disease which has left
Angela from Caerphilly terminally ill.
Like many of us, she put the horrifying
thought of cancer to the back of her mind,
hoping it would never happen.
But faced with the reality, the 50-yearold admits to being ready to curl up and die
until she discovered a new inner strength
through singing.
And after exceeding the two years she
was given by doctors, Angela’s renewed
determination means she expects – not
hopes – to live even longer and see her
“I wasn’t a human being any
more – I was just this thing
trying to survive”
14-year-old son, Joshua, fulfil his dreams.
“They gave me two years about three
years ago but I have not taken any notice of
that and I’m not giving in,” she says. “I have a
boy of 14 who wants to be a pilot and I’m
going to see him get his wings so I’m not
going to give in no matter what they say.”
After going undiagnosed for years, despite
Angela complaining about health problems to
doctors, she received the devastating news
she had ovarian cancer in 2007. The former
beauty therapist then learnt that the disease
had spread, affecting many of her organs
and, after a serious operation, she
underwent a course of chemotherapy but
later developed inoperable secondary cancer.
“I was so angry and I thought I’ve got to
channel this anger somehow,” explains
Angela, whose parents died within eight
weeks of each other at the beginning of the
Left : Angela and Glyn on their
wedding day and above: Angela
endured surgery and months
of chemotherapy
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 23
PHOTOGRAPHY: XX
M
real life
year. “I’ve never said, ‘Why me?’
because it’s one in three people
and I’m just one in three
people. There’s nothing special
about Angela Davies – I’m just a human
being like everybody else so why shouldn’t I
get cancer?
“It got me a little bit down because I
thought I’ve got to see my boy grow up and
then I started not wanting to go out,
wouldn’t get out of the house, just wanted
to be with my boys. I just saw myself as this
thing – I wasn’t a human being anymore, I
was just this thing trying to survive.”
Angela’s spirits were lifted, when, during
her treatment and after receiving counselling
from the cancer charity Tenovus, she heard
about the Sing for Life choir. After some
initial reluctance to join, her husband Glyn
and Joshua persuaded her to go just three
weeks after it started. Angela, who needs
morphine for pain throughout the day and
takes a host of other drugs, is now full of life
and an accomplished soprano.
And she loves it so much that she
persuaded Glyn and son Joshua to join too.
“I’ve never looked back,” says Angela. “The
choir has given me another purpose to live.
I’ve got a family but I’ve also got a Tenovus
family. They’re lovely, lovely people who
know what it’s like to lose somebody or are
going through it themselves.
“It’s given me something to enjoy again
and I’ve started to take a pride in my
appearance again. I’ve put on the old Angela
again - the old outgoing Angela – not this
shell of a person that was just sat at home
waiting to die.
“And whatever happens I’ve now told
my family that they will never be alone if
they find people like those in the choir
and I’ll always be there anyway – in their
hearts.” BIG
‘The Sing for Life choir has been a
lifeline,” says Angela’s husband, Glyn
.
“When somebody tells you you’ve
got two years to live, you either take
it and
curl up and die or you do something
to fight back. She’s into her fourth
year
now –thank God and thank the choir
and thank Tenovus.”
24 | PHOTOGRAPHY: XX
Angela singing with husband
Glyn and son Joshua
Singing for your life
The School of Healthcare Studies at
Cardiff University discovered that Sing
for Life helps alleviate depression and
.
improve the well-being of its members
ie
McV
dia
Clau
e
utiv
Tenovus chief exec
says,“Sing for Life gives those with
cancer a space to come together in a
fun, positive and energetic way and
focus on something other than their
cancer.”
Angela Davies says,“It’s fantastic that
people such as myself who are going
to
through this terrible disease can come
d.
goo
feel
,
sing
ds,
frien
e
a place to mak
“You can be feeling absolutely
dreadful, but you want to come here,
because you know by the end you’re
going to feel so good because you’ve
sung your lungs out and been with
ul
people who love you. It’s just wonderf
r
ove
all
en
happ
to
that that’s going
Wales because of this Lottery funding.”
What BIG did
Tenovus cancer charity was among 30
Welsh groups sharing in the Big Lottery
Fund’s £20 million AdvantAGE programme
aimed at improving the lives of older
people. A grant of nearly £1 million will
enable Tenovus to establish 15 new Sing
for Life choirs for cancer patients over 50
years old, their families, carers, friends
and those who have been bereaved
through the disease across Wales.
For more information about Tenovus visit
www.tenovus.org.uk
Got a smart phone? Download a QR
n
reader app and scan this code to liste
ela.
Ang
to a podcast interview with
Alternatively, visit http://bit.ly/o3tejp
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 25
real life
Olympic effort
from
Blue Peter chef
For many people watching Blue Peter is part of growing
up but the thought of appearing on the show is beyond
their wildest dreams. 16-year-old Jake Sawyers
did more than just get his hands on the coveted Blue
Peter badge – he actually helped present the programme
J
ake Sawyers has a long line of amazing
achievements – the latest being to help
promote the 2012 Olympic Games.
But the one memory that stands out for
him is presenting Blue Peter. After a tough
selection process, Jake was resident chef on
the programme for two years. As well as
cooking in the studio, he rustled up meals on
a cruise ship with celebrity chef Marco Pierre
White, appeared on Ready Steady Cook and
prepared a feast for the Welsh rugby team
before a World Cup match.
And the teenager from Port Talbot just
happens to be blind in his left eye with only
25 per cent vision in his right.
“I was watching Blue Peter and they
announced a competition called Can You
Cook It?,” says Jake. “You had to enter online
and fill in questions and answers like what’s
your favourite food? What would you cook
for a dinner party? They emailed me back
to say I had got an interview in Cardiff,
which was amazing because I’d got past
the first stage.
26 | “I had to go up to Cardiff and had to chop
a fruit or vegetable and I chose a leek
because I’m Welsh so I chopped and talked
about that and it got me down to the final
three in Wales. They then chose me and
another girl and we went to a boot camp in
England. The final 12 from throughout the
UK were there and we had to take part in
lots of challenges. Like we had to milk a goat
and talk about it, be on a roller coaster and
talk about our favourite foods – that was a
really fun experience. And then from the final
12 we were down to the final three and we
had to go to the Blue Peter studio and cook
soufflé and talk about it as if we were on the
show presenting and they announced I was
the winner.”
Every month between 2007 and 2009
Jake appeared on the show meeting and
having his photos taken with a host of
celebrities. He describes it as the best
experience in his life but it wasn’t until the
end of the selection process that he revealed
he had a visual impairment.
“I was watching Blue Peter and
they announced a competition
called Can You Cook It?”
Wales Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 27
PHOTOGRAPHY:
NICK TREHARNE
PHOTOGRAPHY:
XX
Jake and his brother with
the Blue Peter team
real life
Jake swims with a dolphin
“It’s not that I wasn’t going to tell them I’m
visually impaired because I didn’t want them
to know but it’s not one of the main things
you mention,” he explains. “It’s not like ‘Hi!
I’m Jake Sawyers, I’m visually impaired’. It’s
good for people to know and to inspire other
visually impaired people but at the same
time I don’t want other people to think I won
it because I’m visually impaired but because
of my skill.”
Although born with a visual impairment,
the former Cefn Saeson School pupil has
refused to let it rule his life and has taken
in his stride obstacles he’s faced while
growing up.
“I used to enjoy going to the eye hospital
in London every year because I liked going
up to London,” he says. “But I remember
wearing these huge Harry Potter circle
glasses, which I used to throw down drains
because I hated them so much.
“As I was growing up in primary school I
became more aware of my visual impairment
but not in a bad way. I just thought people
asking questions was great and I enjoyed
getting all the attention. In comprehensive
school I was really aware I had a visual
impairment. We have a large visually
impaired unit at school. I guess that was the
first time I was aware there was a lot of
other visually impaired people in the world.”
Jake in the Ready
And it is the bonds Jake has
Steady Cook studio
formed with his peers that has
kept him positive.
He says: “I’m fine about being
visually impaired. You’re quite
proud to be visually impaired
because you are in a community
of visually impaired people who
are dealing with the same things
and it’s nice to talk about it
28 | sometimes and share experiences.
“Sometimes I feel held back but it helps if
you have a magnifying glass or a laptop.”
Jake says his family and friends have been
supportive and he’s never been the victim of
bullying. But everyday things most of us take
for granted can be a challenge.
“If I’m in a large crowd it’s hard to notice
people,” he explains. “If I’m in a shop it’s hard
to see prices on things – just little things like
that add up. But not many people notice at
first and they are really shocked when I tell
them because they don’t see me as visually
impaired.”
What BIG did
BIG has launched a £12 million
programme, Bright New Futures in
Wales, aimed at helping young
parents and young disabled people
cope with changes in their lives.
Registration for the programme,
which will award funds in 2013,
has now closed.
impaired people and people from
school and your friends all mixed into
one and you’re doing drama at the same
time which is one of my loves.”
Yes you can
Jake is also a keen athlete and is looking
Looking forward to the future and with his
GCSEs behind him, Jake has started studying forward to 2012.
He says: “In school I’m the county sports
drama at Neath Port Talbot College. He is
ambassador for Neath Port Talbot. With
already practising his thespian skills at the
one of my friends we are promoting the
BIG-funded UCAN Productions where
Olympics in 2012 and every year we go to
members, who are all partially sighted,
the National Junior Games with my sports
organise plays, dance and music workshops.
team. I’ve been going there for six years and
“Being visually impaired has given me lots
we win medals and that is a really great
of opportunities like UCAN and visually
experience as well.”
impaired clubs and I know lots of people
across the country,” he says. “It’s like a huge
Jake has a clear message for other people
network of visually impaired and blind people who are blind or visually impaired.
“Don’t stop being who you are,” he says.
which is great because we’re all friends.
“Don’t try to hide it. Don’t try to ignore the
“I’ve had some great experiences with
fact you have a visual impairment or are
UCAN. They come to my school each year
blind because you’ve got to accept it. In
and we put on a show for parents and
schools I’ve heard lots of people not wanting
teachers and anyone else who wants to
come and that’s been a fun experience
to use their magnifying glasses or anything
because you’re in a network of visually
and have gone out of their way not to use
them because they’ve been
Jake and his brother
bullied or something but you’ve
get snapped with
just got to get up and do it really
MasterChef’s
and live your life with it.” BIG
Wallace
Gregg
Got a smart phone?
Download a QR reader app
and scan this code to watch
a video interview with Jake
Sawyers. Alternatively,
visit http://bit.ly/o86AwG
Wales Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 29
real life
RE
A
S
ER
L
L
A
B
T
FOO
S
HOMELES
!
T
E
G
R
A
T
ON
G
BAN
It’s not just Swansea City’s new Premiership
football team that’s given Wales a big boost
this year – a new street football initiative
based in Swansea to support homeless
people is also hitting new heights
G
oalkeeper Chris Dowling has pulled off
some great saves on and off the pitch.
When the 31-year-old first signed up to
Street Football Wales four years ago, he was
sleeping rough in Swansea after splitting up
with his partner. This triggered serious
alcohol addiction which was so severe that
he needed to drink before a match – sudden
withdrawal could have killed him.
“I was drinking alcohol under the
supervision of staff in a controlled way in
order to keep myself safe,” says Chris who
likes to be known as Dowie. “This helped me
realise that harm reduction was possible.”
Last year, his alcoholism triggered
seizures, but, despite sometimes suffering
attacks during match days, he continued to
play football for his team, the Next Men.
“This year I’ve successfully reduced my
drinking from daily to occasional,” he says.
“My physical appearance has improved
dramatically and so has my performance
in goal.”
In June, after managing his alcohol
addiction for several months, he was called
up to represent Wales at an overseas football
tournament where he was named most
improved player and player of the
tournament after his team won 13 out of 16
matches including keeping three clean sheets.
30 | Selectors said he
was picked because
of his “incredible”
determination over his
four years with Street
Football Wales.
“My physical appearance has
improved dramatically and so
has my performance in goal”
This determination was tested just before
the start of the tournament when Chris
received the devastating news of the death
of his dad and a childhood friend who had
been like a brother to him on the streets.
“Through my grief I remained in control of
my alcohol addiction,” says Chris, who is
now living with a family member and is
re-building a relationship with his daughter
who he hadn’t seen for years. “I’m really
proud of myself and others have said it’s
testament to my hard work and
determination.
“I have a new found love of life and I
enjoy showing others how great Street
Football Wales is. It proves that changes
can be made regardless of the size of the
challenge faced.”
Street Football Wales
T
hanks to an award of £172,520 from
The money will also mean a boost to
the Big Lottery Fund, the Street Foot
ball the international team as the best
Wales programme will create a Wales-w
ide
footballers from the league will be
street football network for homeless
people.
selected to represent Wales in the
The cash injection means the existing
Homeless World Cup. Research show
s
project in Swansea will reach out to an
extra
that the programme has positive soci
al
500 people. And because coaches wor
k
impacts for participants: 92 per cent
alongside the housing association Gwa
lia Care have new motivation for life and
more
and Support, players will also be able
to access than two-thirds
advice on housing, health, education and
move on to
employment.
education or
Chris Dowling
Welsh international and Swansea City
FC
employment.
star Ashley Williams is a patron of Stre
et
“The street
Football Wales.
football project
“I’m passionate about Street Football
Wales. is a fantastic
It’s important to give socially-exclude
d people initiative and its
hope,” he says. “Playing for a football
team
future is now
gives people an opportunity to make
friends
secure for the
for life, to feel part of something and
to feel
foreseeable future thanks to the Big
important.”
Lottery Fund,” says Andrew Belcher,
Keith Harris, chairman of Street Football
assistant director of Gwalia Care and
Wales, believes the country has been
crying
Support.
out for something like this for a long time
.
“When you see the positive
“We can make an impact on more peo
ple’s
differences that have already been mad
lives, and there will be a lot of support
e
going
to people’s lives, this is really
on around the football,” he says.
encouraging and rewarding.” BIG
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 31
PHOTOGRAPHY:
NICK TREHARNE
PHOTOGRAPHY:
XX
Street footballers pre-match team shot
real life
f
o
s
e
v
i
l
e
h
T
Bryan
He may not fly around town in a cape like Superman but
mortgage adviser Bryan Foley is a hero to many families in
the seaside town of Barry and has saved countless lives in
the area – even bringing people back from the dead!
PHOTOGRAPHY: NICK TREHARNE
A
s a volunteer First Responder,
49-year-old Bryan knows only too
well how a quick response time can mean
the difference between life and death.
“We go to most incidents apart from the
ones that can put the volunteers’ lives at
risk,” explains mortgage adviser Bryan,
who’s been a First Responder volunteer for
more than six years.
“When there are no ambulances
available, you are people’s only hope. I’ve
gone to jobs where I’ve dealt with
someone who had
suffered a cardiac
Bryan is
arrest and died. I
ready to
finished defibrillating
respond
that patient and then
responded to four
more calls one after
another. You’ve just
got to pick yourself
up after each one
and carry on. It’s
difficult for people
outside the
organisation to
understand why
we do it.”
32 | A Christmas to remember
One person who is eternally grateful to
Bryan after he saved her mother’s life last
year is 33-year-old Rhona Benavent
from Barry.
When her 61-year-old mother, Dionisia
Macatangay, on a holiday visit from the
Philippines in July, went into cardiac arrest
at her Barry home, she thought her mother
would die.
“She was grey and had stopped
breathing,” says Rhona, a deputy ward
manager at Llandough Hospital.
“I screamed for my husband to ring 999
and started to administer CPR. I’d done
CPR a long time ago in the Philippines but I
never thought I would be using it on my
own mother.”
In just over three minutes, an emergency
call brought Bryan Foley with a defibrillator
to her home in Maes y Cwm Road. In less
than a minute, he was being informed by
the defibrillator machine that a shock
needed to be administered to Dionisia who
was in cardiac arrest.
He had to shock her three times to bring
her back to life. After receiving hospital
treatment, Dionisia is now fully recovered
Bryan is one of over six
ty dedicated
volunteers in the Vale
of Glamorgan
who form the vital Vale
of
Glamorgan Ambulance
Service First
Responder Scheme. Th
e BIG-funded
project provides a lifelin
e for people
who are at risk from he
art attack,
cardiac arrest, who are
having
breathing difficulties or
have
suffered injuries in the
home.
Initially set up to answ
er calls to
defibrillate patients suf
fering from
cardiac arrest, the gro
up now
respond to around 140
different
categories of calls ran
ging from
people suffering with
abdominal
pains to children who
have
something lodged in the
ir throat.
The group was called ou
t over 500
times in Barry last yea
r.
Bryan in action
following her brush with death and feels
forever indebted to first responder, Bryan.
“Without us, she might not have survived
the ordeal,” says Bryan.
“When you take those events into
account, they’re special.”
Her mum Dionisia cheated death and
celebrated Christmas with her husband
Matthew and her two grandchildren
last year.
Back from the dead
Another man brought back from the dead
has praised Bryan and another volunteer
who saved his life.
Bill Rodd, 74, was shocked six times by
the ambulance service First Responders
before regaining a pulse. Twelve months
later he made a remarkable recovery.
The incredible resuscitation was carried
out at his Barry home by Bryan and fellow
First Fesponder, Maurice ‘Mo’ Carey.
Bryan explains, “We gave him oxygen and
the defibrillator readout said ‘shock advisable’
so we shocked him and we continued to
shock him with CPR in between.
“Then suddenly Mo shouted, ‘We’ve got
him back’. I was so surprised I had to count
his respirations again. I couldn’t believe it.
We had given him six shocks but the guy
was breathing again.”
Bill Rodd says: “I can only thank them so
much for what they did. They’re all a
wonderful bunch of people.”
Bryan has no doubt in his mind that the
service they provide is essential. “I think
that every call the group has responded to
has been a success because if there is a
patient there who’s suffering, even if
you’ve just gone there to hold their hand
and calm them down, you’ve helped
alleviate their suffering.”
“Even if the patient has died, at least
you’ve arrived there and taken some of the
burden away from that relative and you’ve
been there for them. Every call you
respond to has emotion attached to it.”
Bryan can expect a call anytime of the day
or night and has even had to leave his
shopping trolley in the local
supermarket to respond to a call.
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 33
PHOTOGRAPHY:
XX XX
PHOTOGRAPHY:
About the Vale
real life
Despite his positive outlook, he
described some of his more
frustrating and traumatic calls.
“The worst sort of call you could go to is
when you’re going to cardiac arrest and
you’ve got a red traffic light in front of
you,” he says. “I look at those situations
and I look at a situation where I was called
one day to a six-week-old baby turned
blue and not breathing, and, in fact, they
were very close to where I lived, and I was
round there before you could say ‘Jack
Robinson’. And the baby was limp, and,
psychologically, in my mind, I know it’s
going to happen one day, it’s I’m not going
to lose a baby on my watch! I got in there,
the baby was limp, mum gave me the child,
and, just as she gave me the child, the child
started crying and it was the best thing
since sliced bread.”
A devoted volunteer and an advocate for
volunteering, Bryan understands how
important it is for people to give up their
spare time to support initiatives in the
community.
“When people stop you in the street and
thank you for helping their relative, it gives
you a great sense of satisfaction,”
says Bryan.
“But I don’t do it for accolades – I just
know that being in the community, one can
make a difference. The more equipment
and volunteers we have in each community,
the more lives that can be saved – that’s
just a matter of fact. For every minute that
ticks away, there’s a ten per cent less
chance of survival. Without the volunteers,
we wouldn’t exist and that’s why I’m
passionate about volunteering.” BIG
What BIG did
The Vale of Glamorgan Ambulance Service
First Responder Scheme received nearly
£5,000 through our Awards for All
programme. The Big Lottery Fund is
encouraging more groups in Wales to
apply for funding through the
programme. Application forms are
available from www.awardsforall.org.uk
or by phone on 0300 123 0735.
Bryan and the team
with Bill Rodd who was
brought back to life
n, go to: http://bit.ly/gbRteY
listen to a podcast interview with Brya
To34 | We ask some of Wales’s well-known
personalities some burning questions
about the National Lottery
Hollywood star Michael
Sheen, who hails from
Baglan, Port Talbot, took
time out from his busy
schedule to officially open a
BIG-funded youth centre in
his home town. Here he
answers some questions
about the National Lottery.
1. Do you think the National
Lottery plays an important
role in improving the lives
of people in Wales?
If the Baglan Youth Centre
is anything to go by, it
definitely makes a
difference. The young
people at the project were
telling me how much
they’re enjoying it. I used
to love coming here as a
youngster when it was a
library. It’s been beautifully
done out.
2.Do you feel a personal
desire to give something
back to your local
community?
I think it’s essential that
people stand up for their
communities. Too often,
people take things for
granted and think that
amenities and services will
always be there.
3.What would you have
wanted the National
Lottery to spend money on
and how would this have
improved life for you and your
friends in Baglan where you
grew up?
I was very interested in the arts
being involved with acting and I
had a really good drama
department in my school. With
the cuts we are facing, it would
be great to see the Lottery
putting more money into youth
theatre and things for young
people to do that are
constructive and allow them to
express themselves.
4.You’ve played the part of a
Prime Minister on numerous
occasions. If you were Prime
Minister for the day, what
would you champion as your
good cause?
I’d fund a lot of youth
projects. My priority is about
community and having
places where young people
can go and relax, enjoy and
express themselves.
5.Do you play the National
Lottery?
No, I’d rather the money goes
to someone else who
deserves it
more than
I do.
Got a smart phone?
Download a QR reader
app and scan this code
to watch a video
interview with
Michael Sheen.
Alternatively, visit
http://bit.ly/nyLAGw
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 35
PHOTOGRAPHY: NICK TREHARNE
My lottery
MAG
BIG
lifeCHALLENGE
real
Down on the farm
In this edition’s BIG mag challenge, Sian Jones and Claire Trainer
from our Newtown office went head-to-head at the BIG-funded
Swansea Community Farm to see who was the best farmer
FIRST CHALLENGE: MOVING COMP
OST
FROM ONE TUB TO ANOTHER – TW
ICE
CLAIRE: The first task of the day was
shovelling
compost. Now I’m no expert but I
just thought it
composted itself? We were greeted
by five large
concrete areas of compost in vari
ous degrees of
decay. We were told to shovel the
compost from one
area to the next. This stuff was hot;
it was steaming.
We were told before we started that
we’d get a facial
and I thought it was a joke, but it
wasn’t.
PHOTOGRAPHYNICK TREHANRE
SECOND CHALLENGE: Fencing
SIAN CLAIRE
1-1
36 | SIAN CLAIRE
1-0
CLAIRE: The next job was fencing. This
sounded promising, it’s clean and the sun
was starting to peep out from behind the
clouds. We were introduced to farm
volunteers Chris and Adam and told that we were
competing against them. Sian was equipped with
a hammer. Buoyed by her success with a pitchfork
she begun to swing desperately at the wood and
after several failed attempts at hitting the staples
into the fencepost she had to admit defeat –
excellent I thought, I could thrash her at this one! I
bashed the staple into the wood.
SIAN: This is a job which needs to be
done weekly to fight diseases such as
e-coli. We were given a wall, a bucket
of water and a scrubbing brush each – I have
to say that my scrubbing brush did have twice
as many bristles on than Claire’s had, but, in
my defence, it was also half the size.
CLAIRE: Sian was at an advantage: she
was the same height as the walls and
barely had to bend. She had beaten me
again. Damn, this girl was good!
SIAN CLAIRE
2-1
FOURTH CHALLENGE: HERDING THE DUCKS
SIAN: By the time we’d finished our
third challenge, we were exhausted,
so we were chuffed when Chris
asked us to herd the ducks out of
their pen and down in to the yard. This
was by far the easiest challenge of the day
as the ducks already knew where they
were going and all we needed to do was
follow them!
SIAN CLAIRE
3-1
And the winner is... Sian!
CLAIRE: At the end of the day it was
revealed who was the winner of the BIG Mag
challenge. Chris took one look at our wellies
and deemed Sian the winner as her wellingtons
were much dirtier than mine.
Swansea Community Farm is open
Monday to Satruday from 10am to
4pm and is free to visitors.
For more information visit
www.swanseacommunityfarm.org.u
k
SIAN CLAiRE
3-1
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 37
PHOTOGRAPHY:
NICK TREHARNE
PHOTOGRAPHY:
XX
THIRD CHALLENGE: CLEANING THE ANIMAL HOUSE
real life
Wales in Focus
PHOTOGRAPHY: XX
Here are some great pics taken by the members
of Clwb Camera Dyffryn Ogwen in north Wales.
The group received Awards for All funding to buy
new equipment. If you would like the chance to
see your picture in this space email your snaps of
Wales to [email protected]
Pony pictured in Carneddau, Snowdonia.
38 | PHOTOGRAPHY:
XX XX
PHOTOGRAPHY:
Ffocws ar Gymru
Dyma rai lluniau gwych a dynnwyd gan aelodau
Clwb Camera Dyffryn Ogwen yng ngogledd
Cymru. Mae’r grŵp wedi cael dyfarniad Arian i
Bawb i brynu cyfarpar newydd. Os hoffech gael y
cyfle i weld eich llun ar y dudalen hon, anfonwch
eich ffotograffau o Gymru i
[email protected]
WALES Issue 7 Find out more at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk | 39