SHORTLISTED FOR COMMUNITY NEWS AWARD 2020 AND 2019 - WALES MEDIA AWARDS

This is a community website for Grangetown in Cardiff, highlighting people, business, community activities, local news and things to do in the area and linking other websites and blogs.

This voluntary project - in connection with Grangetown Community Action - is the free, independent, online presence of the long-running Grangetown New s community paper, which has been distributed to 6,500 local homes at least twice a year for 40 years.

E-mail us on grangetowncardiff@yahoo.co.uk if you'd like to help, are local or would like to send any contributions for inclusion, or wish to advertise. Also if you'd like to be included FREE in our DIRECTORY,

You can also follow us on Twitter @grangecardiff and look for Grangetown Community Action on Facebook. We have a growing number of followers and are keen to encourage a social network to promote Grangetown community events, activities, issues, businesses and organisations.

Volunteers helping Grangetown coronavirus neighbours

A network of more than 150 neighbourhood volunteers are available in Grangetown to help people who find themselves in self-isolation at home during the coronavirus pandemic over the next few months.

The neighbourhood has been split up into different areas - where volunteers are operating in their immediate locality or street.

It has already helped 75 people and carried out at least 150 errands. The network can help people of all ages who may be stranded at different periods with no family within easy reach to help with the very basics, like picking up shopping, medicine or walking the dog.

Organisers say they have been "overwhelmed" with around 150 volunteers coming forward so far. Coordinators are organising each area - and match volunteers with requests.

Dafydd Trystan, one of the organisers, said: "We've got volunteers in place across Grangetown who can help with simple tasks, like getting milk, or picking up a parcel or prescription."


This is the map for how each area has been divided for volunteering.

For those needing assistance, see the map above and then the coordinators can be contacted as follows:

Local food businesses helping out

Vegetarian Food Studio - as well as still operating a pick-up and delivery service to customers - has been helping out local health workers.

The award-winning restaurant in Penarth Road has so far provided 2,450 hot meals to hospitals in Cardiff, including staff at the University Hospital of Wales.

Owner Jim Patel said: "We're doing our bit for the city - and for hard-working people too."

Meanwhile, Wild Thing Cafe in Clare Road - although closed - has started a community food delivery service. It has already raised £3,000 to help provide two deliveries a week.

People can donate online to help cover delivery and food costs, with staff volunteering their time.

"Every delivery contains food for three meals a day for three days," says owner Lauren.

The project has also bought essentials for families such as nappies, formula and baby wipes.

"We have also been providing Llamau with 40 prepped nutritious meals which they are distributing to their service users to add to their food box they already provide."

One of the volunteer coordinators Becky Kelly said: "‘I would say that the proactive nature of our group has offered reassurance to the local community.

"I was also relieved to know that there were 12 volunteers in my street alone which put my mind at ready when thinking how I might manage if I was unable to go out at all.

"In the early days of lockdown I supported a neighbour with shopping and, as the household were all in self-isolation, they were really relieved to know they had a support network to call on.

"On a personal level, I have loved getting to know new people in my local area and really hope we can maintain the network of volunteers once this is all over."

Councillor Ash Lister, co-chair of Grangetown Community Action, said: "Coronavirus has come as a shock and we are all wondering what will happen next but we want to build on a strong community spirit and ethos in Grangetown."

Dafydd Trystan added: "Quite a few volunteers used their one exercise a day to deliver leaflets - please be assured that volunteers are following strict guidelines on handwashing/hand sterilising as they leaflet.

"We've also had a few requests for picking up medicine - and where we can help we have. The big message is across Grangetown and Wales there's no need to be fearful, your neighbours are there to help."

The coordinators include local people with experience in social services and working with the homeless. Volunteers will be able to help with day-to-day things which can't be covered by usual agencies and departments, likely to be at full stretch over the coming weeks. Full public health advice will be taken.


Spiderman wishing Kathleen a special 86th birthday. 'All part of the service, Ma'am'

Meanwhile, one of our volunteers is a bit of a super-hero! Spiderman has been travelling around the neighbourhood keeping kids of all ages - and adults - amused and offering to help, as only really Spiderman can. If you draw or paint a picture, show it in your front window, and you'll get a wave.

All subject to whether he has a call to save the world, of course...Look out for the #GrangetownSpiderman hashtag and follow Whoisthatman? on Twitter


Click on the image above for full instructions and health advice for volunteers and residents requesting help - PDF document

The network has also issued health advice for both volunteers and residents they will be helping, so assistance, like shopping and deliveries, can be done safely. You can read the PDF document here. It also covers other arrangements, including paying for any shopping.

Further advice/links:

We're asking anyone who wants to help - who doesn't live in the immediate Grangetown area, to think about helping a local group. There is a Cardiff Mutual Aid Neighbourhood Groups list here - and more are being added all the time.

The Grangetown/Leckwith Covid Network is on Facebook here

The Muslim Volunteers Group is on Facebook too

Click here for the online portal to book a coronavirus test in Wales

If you are after green recycling bags or have waste - please order online or via the council waste app. Grangetown Hyb is currently closed. There is a useful list of links to Cardiff Council services during coronavirus here.

Fortnightly general waste (stripy bag/black bin) will resume from June, with the first in Grangetown from Tuesday 16 June. Recycling and food waste collections will be weekly.

The Bessemer Close recycling depot is reopening from Tuesday 26th May but by appointment only - you have to register to book a slot and residents have a maximum of 12 slots a year.

The council also offers help and support for people who are self-isolating and have no family or other support, or are unable to afford essential provisions. Call the advice line on 029 2087 1071 or email: advicehub@cardiff.gov.uk See also the Volunteer Cardiff website for more information of where you can get help and support from.

If you want to do a solo litter pick in your street, contact @TidyGrangetown via social media.

Some Grangetown businesses are involved in online deliveries or operating under different opening hours but the position is fluid. You can check Cardiff Delivers.com if you want to use a local business.

Please email grangetowncardiff@yahoo.co.uk - or Grangetown News and Events on Facebook if you can help in any way with volunteering.

See also the Grangetown and Leckwith Covid-19 Mutual Aid Network Facebook group and there is a Share Cardiff link to other local groups here.

Local surgeries

Please keep up to date with changes in appointment arrangements at local surgeries:

Saltmead Medical Centre: 107 Clare Rd; Clare Road Medical Centre, 148 Clare Road Grangetown; Grange Surgery: 150-152 Clare Road also at The Health Centre Cambridge Street; The Corporation Road Surgery, 4 Corporation Road. Grangetown Medical Practice: Bishop Street and Grangetown Health Centre, 45 Cambridge Street

Latest Public Health Wales information on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

See also BBC News

If you are a Grangetown business which is offering an online ordering or delivery service, please let us know.

Turn your front windows into 'Grangetown Zoo'

The pandemic has put pay to plans for an art project in shops and businesss.

But instead, children and anyone else artistically-minded are being asked to post pictures in their windows over the weekend of the 30th-31st of May.

The Grangetown Art Trail is a two-day celebration of arts and crafts and aimed to create pop-up galleries.

The idea for the "Grangetown Zoo" is challenging you to put your artistic energies into creating your own work - with the captive habitat being in the window of your own home.

The Grangetown Art Trail is a grass-roots initiative run by local residents Charlotte Brown and Chris House. It works in partnership with Grangetown Community Gateway.

'After the storm, comes the rainbow'

By Jon Matthias

With limited exercise opportunities available because of the pandemic, I've been going out for a walk most evenings.

Sometimes I walk to a park or by the river, but sometimes i just walk up and down a few streets. Grangetown's streets are fascinating. Different styles of houses. Strange old outbuildings. All kinds of things to see.

Lots of homes have rainbows in the windows with messages of thanks to NHS staff and key workers - the people who are keeping the country going at the moment.

They are lovely messages and sometimes they give me the feels. One that said "Thank you Daddy and all key workers!" gave me a little heart pang. Another one said "Well done! Auntie Claire." I don't know if Auntie Claire has been able to see it, but I hope she knows she is a hero.

Its impressive to see the array of arty techniques on show. Poster paints and water colours, marker pens and coloured pencils, collages and cut outs. One house has a rainbow made from a row of tiny handprints on the glass. Another has different coloured paper hearts arranged in a rainbow. There is lots of bilingual messaging. Arhoswch adre! Ofalwch i ti!

In Pentrebane Street there is even a remarkable bilingual teddy bear called Chester who greets children in Welsh and English. I saw him one evening when it was too dark to take a photo and had to go back the following evening to try and get a picture when there was more light.

I've been putting photos of some of the rainbows on my Twitter feed @jongudmund. People like them. They are messages of hope for a future beyond this crazy time. As one piece of artwork said 'After the storm, comes the rainbow.'

Gasworks site bought for 500 new homes

Proposals for 500 homes on the old Grangetown gasworks site are being put forward by Cardiff Council has part of its affordable homes ambitions.

Grangetown gasworks site photo

The 29-acre site has been empty for years - apart from the rare and remaining Grade II-listed gas holder, which dates from the 1880s and is protected by Cadw.

The council has now bought the land off Ferry Road next to Ikea from Wales and West Utilities and National Grid and build rented and affordable to-buy homes around the heritage landmark.

Local councillor and cabinet member for housing and communities Lynda Thorne said: "The acquisition of this site allows us to build more high-quality sustainable homes that are close to local amenities and open spaces helping us deliver an ambitious and wide-ranging regeneration in Grangetown."

There had already been ideas put forward by the Welsh Veterans Partnership, with the hope of incorporating some homes for veterans, on the site in the last year, revealed by Grangetown News.

The site has been part of the city's local development plan so development was in the pipeline but this would provide an opportunity for affordable homes locally, at a time when house prices are shooting up. The council said the new housing would be of "mixed tenure".

There is already social housing being built nearby off Clive Lane while further along, there are big plans to completely rebuild the Channel View estate and demolish the tower block.

Mrs Thorne, said: "The Ferry Road gas holder is a well-known Cardiff landmark and I think it's very exciting that the structure will be incorporated into the development of site, retaining a key part of Cardiff's heritage.""

Cafe for education centre

Grangetown Educational Centre - which has taken over from the old Buzz Cafe in Penarth Road - is applying for planning permission to open a cafe.

The centre, which offers language classes, tuition and an after-school club, wants to open a cafe in part of the building.

It caters for Grangetown's diverse communities, including lessons in Arabic and Islamic studies. The building, which formerly was used by local youth services, had been empty for more than a year before re-opening last summer.

Although currently closed due to coronavirus restrictions, it has been offering a translation service for helping to give advice in different languages.

Grangetown News autumn/winter edition out

The autumn edition of Grangetown News is out!

It includes news on the progress of the £1.6m Grange Pavilion, including an exclusive first interview with the newly-appointed manager.

We have features on one long-running shop that has closed - and a new business which has opened. A look behind the scenes at Grange Albion football club - and we will be also catching up (if we can!) with the folks involved with Run Grangetown.

There is also a special farewell message from Grangetown vicar Father David Morris.

There is now an online version here - and we are appealing for volunteer deliverers, especially for streets in North Grangetown and off North Clive Street.

Please email grangetowncardiff@yahoo.co.uk or go to our Trello board to register an interest in delivering.

Copies are distributed to 6,500 homes, shops and businesses. It is also be available in Grangetown Hub, local shops, venues and pubs and you will be able to view an online version above.

Grangetown News was shortlisted for a community news award in the 2019 Wales Media Awards in what is the publication's 40th year.

The newspaper - with website and social media presence - was chosen by the judges in the community news category. Can we take this opportunity of thanking all our readers, contributors, volunteer deliverers and advertisers for all their help and support over the years.

Now called Grangetown News, the first edition of the new-look 16-page full-colour tabloid newspaper came out in May 2016. Published by Grangetown Community Action, it has been a quarterly magazine format since 1978. In March 2019, it was shortlisted in the community news category in the Wales Media Awards.

Thanks for all those who have contributed and advertised - and also to our volunteer deliverers. If you can help deliver - email grangetowncardiff@yahoo.co.uk

Should you have a local news story or would like to tell the community about your organisation or school then our paper is a perfect way of reaching people!you are a local business/organisation who would like to advertise to the local community our paper is an ideal place to place an advert.

 Our rates are listed below:
  1/8 page - £40
1/4 page - £70
1/2 page - £110
1 full page - £200
1 full back page - £250

  The Grangetown News is still printed 100% in COLOUR, but is printed in a tabloid format, making your articles and adverts larger than ever! This is a pilot project which will hopefully allow us to increase readership through spreading more positive, local news stories. The editions are 16 pages. All articles submitted should be in a Word document (or jpeg for images / designed adverts - All images to be supplied high-quality 350dpi, colour pictures converted to CMYK) and sent to grangetowncardiff@yahoo.co.uk.

If you would like to discuss advertising in the Grangetown News, please feel free to contact grangetowncardiff@yahoo.co.uk, or call Ashley on 07572875804.

As well as more local news stories, there are features on local businesses and also sport. The paper has also been designed by Grangetown residents. Online versions of the features - with more photos - will also be put up later on this website But it's not too late if you want to get involved:

Other Cardiff community websites: Cathays Danescourt Lisvane Pobol Caerdydd Radyr Roath Rumney Splott St Mellons Tongwynlais Whitchurch/Llandaff North

© Grangetown Community Action and webmaster 2020. Last updated May 24th