I TOTALLY agree with Una McElveen (YouSay, September 7). Let's now put the Ely riots behind us and instead focus on and appreciate all the good that goes on in Ely. So here is one example.
Ely Garden Villagers would like to thank all those who took part in our sponsored walk on Saturday, August 27.
The walk was for a young lad who suffers with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and we are trying to raise enough money to send the family on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday, while he is still well enough to do so (Duchenne is the most severe form of muscular dystrophy).
We started the walk at North Ely Rec along with the Cardiff Hibernian (Ely football teams) under-13s and three players from the under-lOs. We walked down to the Wilson Road shops, then Grand Avenue, leading to "Victoria Park, then through
Canton and on to Sophia Gardens, to Cardiff Castle and finally ended up outside City Hall.
We would like to thank everyone who kindly put money in our charity buckets.
We have money still to be collected from people who sponsored the walk, so we are not quite sure of the full total raised at the moment.
What we do know is that to date we have raised £1,400 and although most of this will go towards a holiday for the little boy, 10% of all the money raised will go to the muscular dystrophy charity itself.
Anyone who would like to donate towards this good cause please send to: MD 84 Llewellyn Avenue Ely Cardiff CF5 4ED. Ely Garden Villagers are a charity-registered group and our charity number is: 1142300. Cheques should be made payable to Ely Garden Villagers.
Lynda Sullivan
Ely, Cardiff
Our councillors backed those plans and since winning our fight to save our green fields, our councillors know the Ely community wants something done with this land at Wilson Road.
We just want our fields left out of any future plans.
And this time, the community wants a proper consultation with regards to the land at Wilson Road.
Residents have contacted the Ely Garden Villagers many times with regards to the fly-tipping on this site.
We have been in regular contact
with John Jones from the council with regards to cleaning it up and he has made sure it has been cleaned up on so many occasions and is monitoring the site for fly-tipping.
Since winning our fight to save our fields, I asked Coun Goddard if we could have fencing around the Rec.
Her reply was "the council have no funding".
We had the same response when we asked the parks department for mini-posts and the same when we wanted our changing rooms repaired and the same when we asked for a
barrier to be erected around our football pitch when Cardiff Hibernian got promoted to go up in the league.
It seems there is never any funding when it comes to Ely.
However, with the help of funding from Tidy Towns, Neighbourhood Management, Communities First and Richard North, from the Channel 4 programme the Secret Millionaire, the Ely Garden Villagers managed to achieve all that the council said they could not fund.
now have nine football teams playing in Ely - with no help from our elected representatives.
Lynda Sullivan,
Secretary of Ely Garden
Villagers
Not one
Reply
I MUST disagree with Mr Prescott's letter (September 14). It must be nice to be so naive to the workings of your local councillors. Myself and my husband were
founder members of the Ely Garden Villagers along with Lynda and Peter Sullivan. I sent many e-mails to our local councillors and I always kept copies. The recipients of these e-mails were councillors Goodway, Finn and Goddard.
Not one of these elected members answered my e-mails, never mind getting in touch and asking if there was anything they could do to help their local community.
Tay and Neil Godfrey Ely, Cardiff
Fundraiser Rob is in the premier league
FOR most football fans, a trip to their favourite Premier League side's ground means a journey along the motorway or a trip on the train.
But one Cardiff football coach is planning a 1,000-mile fundraising trip around all 20 Premier League stadiums - on foot.
Rob Loader, from Ely, is set to walk more than 1,000 miles in just eight weeks as he visits every top tier stadium in an effort to raise £10,000.
The money will fund a once-in-a-lifetime holiday to the United States for the family of a young Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy sufferer from Cardiff.
Rob said: I’ve got to be honest, I’m a bag of nerves. I’m also a little bit excited I can't wait to get . started and get it under way. Waiting is the worst bit and I’m so close. It's a big task I’ve set myself."
Rob is aiming to raise enough to send the family of four on a holiday to Florida where the boy who cannot be identified because he does not know about his condition will be able to fulfil his dream of swimming with dolphins.
I’m pretty close to the family so it makes it a little bit more important to me," said Rob, who coaches the under-13s Cardiff, Hibernians side based at North Ely Rec.
"They are faced with the unfortunate knowledge that their son may not live past his late teens. They do a fantastic job and have a lot of strength to carry on raising him.
"He's a really good kid, a normal kid, and I want to give them something back."
Rob, a diehard Liverpool fan,
20 grounds - and 1,000 miles -in eight weeks
November 27 Leave from Western Leisure Centre, Ely, Cardiff
November 29 Visit Swansea's
Liberty Stadium
December 4 Visit Villa Park,
home of Aston Villa, and West
Bromwich Albion ground The
Hawthorns
December 5 Visit Molineux,
stadium of Wolverhampton
Wanderers
Decembers Visit Stoke City's
Britannia Stadium
December 8 Visit Everton's
Goodison Park ground and Anfield,
home to Liverpool
December 9 Visit Wigan Athletic's DW Stadium and Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium
December 11 Visit Manchester
City's Etihad Stadium and
Manchester United's Old Trafford
ground
December 12 Visit Ewood Park,
home to Blackburn Rovers
December 18 Visit the Sports
Direct Arena, home of Newcastle
United
December 19 Visit Sunderlarid's
Stadium of Light
B January 8 Visit Norwich City's
Carrow Road home
January 13 Visit White Hart
Lane, the Emirates Stadium and
Loftus Road - the grounds of
Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and
Queens Park Rangers
January 16 Visit Chelsea's
home, Stamford Bridge, and
Fulham's Craven Cottage ground
January 25 Arrive back in Ely
added: "This is one holiday but it might be the one thing they can think about when they are going through hard times."
The 37-year-old has so far organised a place to stay for around a third of his overnight stops, but
has packed a tent and is prepared to brave the elements if necessary.
He plans to take a week off to
spend Christmas and New Year
with friends in Rotherham, while his 38th birthday on January 7 will be spent walking towards
Norwich City's Carrow Road ground.
Rob will begin his 1,000-mile trek when he leaves Western Leisure Centre at 9.30am tomorrow.
Anyone wanting to sponsor Rob can do so at www.elygarden villagers.co.uk
Community Stalwart’s defence of city suburb
A COMMUNITYchampionin a suburb labelled the most deprived area in Cardiff has defended her home as the capital’s “forgotten city”.
Lynda Sullivan, 48, a grandmother of three, lives on Llewellyn Avenue, Ely, with the street forming part of an area known as “Ely 2” by Welsh Government statisticians.
This week it was named as the most deprived area in Cardiff – ahead of parts of Splott and Butetown.
Ely 2 is comprised of North Ely Recreation Ground and the former Wilson Road shops – the site of the Ely Bread Riots 20 years ago this week.
volunteers are working hard to shake the stigma still attached to the riots and say being described as deprived is “upsetting”.
There are a lot worse places than Ely, but we are always being rubbished,” Mrs Sullivan said.
“I absolutely love Ely, there are so many lovely people who have given
us so much backing to get this estate back on the map.
““Even though we have worked as hard as we can, we still feel like we are the forgotten city – it’s laughable.”
Five parts of Ely were this week ranked in the top 10 most deprived areas in Cardiff by the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2011.
The Index, which takes into account income, employment and housing statistics, identifies which areas need extra resources.
Mrs Sullivan, a carer, is secretary of the Ely Garden Villagers, who have raised around £70,000 during the past four years to transform their community, including “The Rec”.
“We want the park to be treated with the same respect as all the other parks in Cardiff, the difference is we have to keep asking, even begging, for funds,” she said.
“We want people when they come into Ely to think: ‘It’s not as bad as they say it is’.”
Ely and Caerau Communities First co-ordinator Dave Horton said the efforts of residents deserved recognition.
“There are literally hundreds of people who are contributing to improving the area and that doesn’t always get reported,” he said.
One of around 50 current projects involvesas solar panel fitters, with plans to install them on homes throughout the suburb.
“The riots are part of the story of Ely, but the people of Ely want to put forward other parts of the story and that includes a great community spirit,” said Mr Horton.
Young charity walkers
show community spirit
IN RESPONSE to Jonathan Prescott (YouSay, September 14), it is shameful nothing has been done in 20 years since the riots to improve the site at Wilson Road.
In the Echo a while back, Councillor Brian Finn said he walked the whole of Ely along with Coun Susan Goddard.
However, it seems they failed to see or chose to ignore the ongoing fly-tipping at this site, which was part of the deal when the planners wanted to build on our only playing fields in Ely.