Out of sight out of mind at Hirwaun Industrial Estate… we photograph the informal landfill site.
Building and household waste, electrical equipment such as fridge and vacuum cleaner, clothes, you name it, it’s being dumped in this corner of Hirwaun Industrial Estate.... 
The hilarious Welsh misery Rhod Gilbert returns to The Muni Arts Centre, Pontypridd with his brand new show Who’s Eaten Gilbert’s Grape? on Friday 26 October at 8.00pm as part of the It’s No Joke comedy season.
Rhod Gilbert started stand up in early 2002. In his first eighteen months, he was the only person in the UK to reach the finals of every major new talent competition in the country, winning an unprecedented four awards, including the most prestigious ‘BBC New Comedy Awards’. He has now emerged as one of the most promising and exciting talents on the UK and international comedy scene.
After being singled out as “One to watch” in 2005, Rhod went on to scoop the ‘Chortle Award for Best Breakthrough Act’ and then made a huge splash at the Edinburgh... 
The Mount Pleasant restaurant and inn was the venue recently for a MEET THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS buffet lunch to welcome the Australian penpal of Joan Rees. Lyn Fowler had been writing to Joan Rees for over 15 years.
They both had been Brownie Guiders and so Aberdare Trefoil Guild members were amongst the forty who attended the event. After lunch the visitors saw carousels of photographs projected on to a large screen on AUSTRALIA, PLACES IN SOUTH WALES, TREFOIL EVENTS, and of course the FAMILY.
Lyn and John only stayed for 5 nights in Aberdare as they had to return to London for the start of a 7 week tour which took them to Stratford, Bath, Cardiff, Pembroke, Ireland, Scotland for the Edinburgh Tattoo, York and back to London to continue to Budapest, and eventually Amsterdam and... 
St Catherine’s Church in Pontypridd will echo this weekend to sounds inspired by the town’s historic railway line to Barry.”Tirwedd Soniarus”, a sonic installation created by artist Abby Sohn, can be experienced at the church in Gelliwastad Road on Saturday, September 22.
The work is the result of Sohn’s research into the industrial remains of the disused railway line from Trehafod to Barry Pier.
“I located the stations and signal boxes along the route using historical railway atlases and Ordinance Survey maps. The musical composition includes samples from interviews, railway signal bells and bell ringing. Chords and melodic phrases were formulated by relating these locations to the notes of the eight bells of St Catherine’s Church,” said... 
Twelve years ago many families in Aberdare were devastated after a coach crash at Raglan claimed the lives of ten people from Aberdare. Thirty three other people were seriously injured. A memorial garden and benches were erected at Aberdare Park in memory of those who suffered and died in the Raglan Coach Crash, July 1995.
Photographs of the Raglan garden memorial are available in the Gallery.
aberdare park, History, photos,... 
Ladies from Powys and Brecknock Women’s Institute showed visitors to the Brecon Agricultural Show how to make traditional Welsh Cakes.
Lyn and John Fowler visiting Wales from Victoria, Australia were given a step-by-step demonstration in Welsh cooking by the WI.
Lyn and John were staying in Aberdare and were accompanied to the Brecon Show by their pen friend Joan Rees from Rhydywaun who took these wonderful photographs …... 
Menter Iaith are holding a Summer Club in Ysgol Rhydywaun. For further details call 01443 226386 All welcome.
Mae Menter Iaith yn trefnu Clwb Haf yn Ysgol Rhydywaun. Am fanylion pellach ffoniwch 01443 226386 Croeso i bawb.... 
South Wales Police confirm the following arrangements for the funeral of Father Paul Bennett :
On Tuesday 3rd April 2007, the funeral will take place of Father Paul Bennett who was tragically murdered outside his house on Wednesday 14th March 2007.
The Service will take place at 12:00pm at Saint Fagans Church, Windsor Street, Trecynon.
At 2pm a further service will be held at Llwydcoed Crematorium.
It is anticipated a large attendance of people will want to attend the service. Parking for vehicles will be made available at Aberdare Boys’ Comprehensive School, Cwmdare Road, Aberdare.
Gates will be open from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm.
* Photograph courtesy of John Rees photography.... 
Every year, around 114,000 smokers in the UK die as a result of their addiction
Smoking kills around six times more people in the UK than road traffic accidents (3,439), other accidents (8,579), poisoning and overdose (881), alcoholic liver disease (5,121), murder and manslaughter (513), suicide (4,066), and HIV infection (234) all put together (22,833 in total - 2002 figures).
Smoking causes thirty per cent of all cancer deaths (including at least 84% of lung cancer deaths), 17% of all heart disease deaths and at least 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema.
Stopping smoking reduces this excess risk – stopping before age 35 can reduce a smoker’s health risks to the same as those of a life-long non-smoker... 
On a typical ‘Sporty Sunday’ in Aberdare hundreds of people are driven to the Ynys.
The Ynys Playing Fields, Michael Sobells Sport Centre and Aberdare Swimming Pool Car Parks are choked by cars.
A two-minute walk from the Ynys Playing fields there is the Aberdare Central Bus Station.
Empty.
We don’t do public transport very well.
People in the UK make more use of cars than any other European country despite having below average car ownership. The UK has the most extensive traffic congestion in Europe (in terms of the proportion of links congested). Public transport fares in the UK are more expensive than in other European countries with the exception of Denmark and Sweden. (Commission for Integrated Transport 2001)
How many cars can Aberdare sustain ? How many more... 
Peter Clarke Wales’ first Children’s Commissioner died early on Sunday, 21st January 2007. He was a good man who has contributed much towards the well being of children in Wales and beyond.
We choose to remember Peter Clarke in the words of John Holt, from his book “How Children Fail”, which travelled through Ysgol Rhydfelen in the eighties, as well as many other schools in Wales in the nineties and beyond :
“School tends to be a dishonest as well as a nervous place. We adults are not often honest with children, least of all in school. We tell them, not what we think, but what we feel they ought to think; or what other people feel or tell us they ought to think. Pressure groups find it easy to weed out of our classrooms, texts, and libaries, whatever... 
Iraq For Sale Film
Thursday 15 February at 8 pm.
Chapter Arts Centre, Market Rd., Canton
Tickets available from Chapter box office.
Organised in association with Oyster Clothing.
The film will be introduced by poet, Robert Minhinnick, who will also show a short film about his recent visit to Iraq.
*
Corporate Watch UK research and report on the corporate carve-up of Iraq.
Ann Clwyd, cardiff city hall, Chapter Arts Centre, corporations, iraq,... 
Plaid Cymru in Cynon Valley are going green.
To save on unnecessary use of heating, they have decided to hold all their Constituency meetings in a Telephone Box in Mountain Ash.
Pauline Jarman has been told not to chain-smoke for the duration of the meeting, Leslie has been told to see a doctor about the halitosis and to keep all speeches brief, and many hints were dropped for big Phil about losing a few stone so that all three can fit in the Telephone Box.
Dr Richard Wyn Jones from Aberystwyth University claimed some of the credit for Plaid Cymru’s innovation in Cynon Valley. “I would have preferred a small four-person tent as I advise in my recent book, but a telephone box is a good start.”
###
You have to dig deep and hard to find any news story concerning Plaid... 
Peter Clarke, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, passed away peacefully and with dignity at 6.10 am on Sunday morning (21 January 2007) following a courageous battle with cancer. His wife and sons were at his side.
Maria Battle, Acting Commissioner, said: “It is with great sadness that we have had to say goodbye to Peter, who established this organisation and worked so tirelessly to improve the lives of our children and young people. We all took strength from the tremendous courage that Peter showed in the face of his illness and from his continued determination to speak up for Wales’ children and young people. He has inspired his staff to take his vision forward. For those of us who had the privilege of knowing him and of working with him, it will be no surprise to know that up... 
The Aberdare Blog ‘limousine’ took at least half an hour to de-frost this morning.
It’s brrrrrr….. blinking cold in Aberdare today, near freezing temperatures for most of the day.
We spent a few hours brainstorming for a suitable image and phrase to describe the weather this week, and we came up with “a witch’s tit” and a snapshot of the Aberdare Blog-mobile.
Dear Reader, we spare no expenses to bring you only the very best from Aberdare.
aberdare, breast, humour, limousine, tit, Weather, weather this week,... 
Today is Buy Nothing Day 2006. It’s day to switch off from shopping and live more. It’s a chance to opt out of the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy albeit for just one day in the year. And most importantly it is a day to ask yourself serious questions and reflect on how you live your life.
Here’s a challenge… Choose a day of Voluntary Simplicity.
Opt out of shopping, spending, buying, consuming for just one day.
Choose it.
Free yourself. Free up some time to reflect.
Experiment.
Go and collect acorns with the squirrels at Aberdare Park.
Plant a tree.
Hug a tree in public, close your eyes and listen. Don’t be embarrassed. The term tree-hugger came from the story of poor Indian women - the Chipko movement - who hugged their local trees to protect them... 
The trial of Saddam Hussein before the Iraqi High Tribunal for crimes against humanity was marred by so many procedural and substantive flaws that the verdict is unsound, Human Rights Watch said in a 97-page report released today.
“The proceedings in the Dujail trial were fundamentally unfair,” said Nehal Bhuta of Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “The tribunal squandered an important opportunity to deliver credible justice to the people of Iraq. And its imposition of the death penalty after an unfair trial is indefensible.”
Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty as inherently inhumane punishment and says that executing Hussein while other trials are ongoing will also deprive many thousands of victims of their day in court.
Ann Clwyd MP chairs the campaign... 
The Campaign for Real Ale, CAMRA, will be running Wales’ biggest beer festival at Cardiff City Hall next week. Featuring real ales from across Wales, the rest of the United Kingdom and for the first time beers from Germany, the 2006 Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival is set to be the biggest ever.
The Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival Cardiff City Hall Opens Thursday 23rd November 5pm-11, Friday and Saturday 24th-25th November 11-11 Admission 3 (5 after 5pm Friday) includes souvenir glass and programme
Further Information: www.gwbcf.org.uk
No... 
A good old-fashioned cold snap hits Aberdare after the hottest summer on record.
Some were more prepared than others to brave the freezing temperature…
In Llwydcoed the sheep looked happy and content in their thick wool coats.
Click for more sheep photography.... 
‘Is the Poppy Appeal still relevant?’ some ask. Sadly, events in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown us that, 85 years after the first Poppy Day was held to help soldiers returning from WWI, the cost of war remains the same. Every year many thousands of serving and ex-Service people and their families who have fallen on hard times continue to approach The Royal British Legion for help.
That’s why the Poppy Appeal is as needed now as it ever has been. Last year the Appeal raised a record total of £24.7 million and yet this only accounts for a third of the £75 million required to fund the Legion’s vital work. Much of this money goes to fund Poppy Support, the Legion’s range of welfare services set up to support those who have served and continue to serve in the British Armed... 
In the links, i have put a new category called “Blogroll”.
The links there are blogs that i read everyday and would highly recommend!
If you want your blog there drop me an email or a comment and i’ll have a look at your blog.
Dan xxx
Blogging» blogroll» blogs» Misc.» new category»... 
Its back!
You love it!
Blogging» Flickr» Fun» love» Misc.» Photo» totty»... 
At 6:50pm tonight two great shows will go head to head -
BBC One - How to Solve A Problem Like Maria
ITV - X Factor
Thankfully i dont have to decide which one to watch, as the Sky+ can tape them both
bbc» head to head» itv» maria» Misc.» Photo» sky» TV» X Factor» x factor»... 
First of all - Thank God!
Second of all - I want Ash to win!
Watching Pete talk about Heaven and his friend and if he does win he wont believe in heaven anymore - BOLLOCKS!!!
Ash has changed in the house, i think last night she saw what she WAS and did not like it. I hope she says how she is now - she comes accross as a very intelligent, strong & independent woman, and i like it!
Why should Ash win?
In her time in the house, Aisleyne has been called a bitch, slag, fucking slut, wigga, dick, cow, moose, wannabe black girl, hoochie mama, ghetto ho, hood rat, ugly, hideous, vile, revolting, fake, arselicker, drowned rat, easy, and the most evil woman in the entire world (thanks, Lea). In her time in the house, she has called Nikki boring, Lea manipulative, and Grace a bitch after...