CHILDREN from seven primary schools ran their hearts out in a competition of sporting might.
As the UK readies itself to welcome athletes from across the world for the London Olympics next year, Ely in Cardiff had its own version of the event.
For the second year running, the Elympics took place on North Ely Recreation Ground, organised by community group, the Ely Garden Villagers, Communities First and Ely Play Centre.
Chairman Pete Sullivan, and wife Lynda, who is secretary of EGV, featured on Channel Four's The Secret Millionaire.
And it was toy company director Richard North (the Secret Millionaire) who donated space-hoppers for one of the races.Pete said: "The day went really smoothly. We were going to have a break so the children could have a rest, but they wanted to carry on.
"If we can keep children interested in sport, it keeps them away from the road of crime and drugs.
"It's also about bringing the community together."
The winning school, St Fagans Church in Wales, beat Windsor Clive, St Francis, Millbank, Trelai and Coed y Gof.
AN AWARD-WINNING football team's dreams of promotion could be shattered because thieves have stolen the fence from around their pitch.
In just three years, Cardiff Hibernian, which was featured in Channel Four show The Secret Millionaire, have won promotion to the Welsh Amateur League.
But their aspirations may have been dashed overnight after thieves dismantled and stole part of the fence at the North Ely Recreation Ground to satisfy the relentless demand for scrap metal.
Part of the criteria for being in the Welsh Amateur League is that Cardiff Hibernians have a fenced-off pitch. Theirs had cost them £3,000.
Protest group Ely Garden Villagers had formed the football team to keep the ground in use.
Group chairman Pete Sullivan, whose wife Lynda is
secretary of the club,
discovered the theft.
He said: "Some of the fencing which went mound the recreation ground was stolen. We found they'd taken some of the pitch bar rier and have taken the pins out ready to come back and take more. We haven't even finished paying for the fence yet. We've got to raise £1,000.
"It's going to cost at least £500 to replace what was stolen."
Pete and some of the other Ely Garden Villagers, which formed as the result of a fight to save "the Rec" from being developed into housing, have been busy trying to weld the fence so it cannot be dismantled.
"We've managed to get a welding kit and generator for free from HSS," he said.
"We can't afford this. All
the money we've raised has been off our own backs. The council doesn't have the money to help us. We've been kicked in the teeth so many times, this feels like the final blow.
"I don't know if the Welsh FA will allow us to go up now. The whole idea of this was to get children into foot-
ball and away from antisocial behaviour."
A spokesman for South Wales Police said the force was aware of the issue of metal theft for scrap value and it regularly conducted operations to look out for suspicious vehicles and warn scrap metal dealers of their responsibilities.
Cardiff council's Nigel Howells said. "Cardiff council takes the matter of metal theft very seriously. Unfortunately the problem of metal theft to be sold as scrap can be damaging to the city and can affect local communities. I encourage residents to report any incidents to the police."
Ely Garden Villagers chairman Pete Sullivan, the group's secretary Lynda Sullivan and Hibernian member Jack Trigg at North Ely Recreation Ground where the fence has been stolen
PICTURE: Liz Pearce ©
Thanks for making fun day a success
LAST Friday a free fun day was held
at North Ely recreation ground. This
was the third year this event has been
running.
Three years ago the Ely Garden
Villagers were approached by the
police to work in partnerships along
with Ely Play Centre to bring the
community together.
The aim was to take away the stigma
Ely was left with after the Ely riots in
1991, and to change the way people
think of Ely.
This year was another great success –
we had a youth football side playing
the adults. It was a fun game to watch
with the youth winning on penalties.
I would like to say thanks to
Community Foundation of Wales for
funding this year’s event. With this
funding we were able to buy a sound
system, trampoline and mats and
provide free burgers and drinks for all
that turned up.
More than 200 people turned up for
the event, so a big thank-you to
everyone who attended for making this
event a great success.
Another big thank-you to South
Wales Police. I have sent a picture to
show how much the children enjoyed
chatting with police on horseback.
I would like to thank Anne, from
Communities First, and Chris, from
Keep Wales Tidy.
Last but not least a big thank-you to
Andy and all his staff from Ely Play
Centre for their ongoing support.
Lynda Sullivan
Secretary of Ely Garden Villagers
The recent police fun day in Ely, Cardiff
THE four nights of rioting in Ely during the late summer of 1991 created a stigma which still exists 20 years later, local campaigners claim.
Exactly two decades ago, the area was gripped by nearly a week of violence following a feud between rival shopkeepers over the right to sell bread.
At the height of the troubles, a crowd of 500 people confronted 175 police officers in riot gear in the area around the now-demolished Wilson Road shops, where the dispute began.
Pete and Lynda Sullivan, of community group Ely Garden Villagers, said guarantees of improvements in the area in the wake of the violence had not been acted upon.
Lynda, 48, said: “It’s 20 years later and people say ‘You’re from Ely, that’s where the riots were.’
“It’s as if it happened yesterday.”
Her husband, also 48, added: “There were tons and tons of promises made to make the area better, but all they have done is rip the shops down. It’s literally a fly-tipping area.
“The time of the riots was horrendous.”
The freight train driver said he still had vivid memories of the disorder.
“It was terrible, there were running pitched battles. There were guys on the roof of one of the shops chucking slates down.
“It wasn’t just Ely people [involved], people came from all over Cardiff to be a part of it.
“I can still hear all the noises, the bottles thrown and smashed and the helicopter.”
Carer Lynda said: “There were even threats people were coming down from London on a big coach.”
Three subsequent crown court trials resulted in 20 people being jailed for offences connected to the disturbances, with some offenders sentenced to as long as 30 months behind bars.
The couple, who set up their registered charity to fight council plans to develop playing fields in the area, said suggestions the riots had a racist element were wrong.
Trouble flared after Pakistani-born shopkeeper Abdul Waheed alleged a neighbouring store was breaching a covenant preventing them from selling bread and milk.
“People were saying it was over racist issues but it wasn’t, it was over bread and milk,” said Lynda.
Pete said: “There was a lot of disgruntlement with the youths, really. Ely, don’t forget, was one of the biggest council estates in Europe at one time.”
He called for development of the derelict site where the shops at the heart of the dispute once stood to allow the people of Ely to move on from the negative associations of the past.
“We’re still stigmatised by the Ely riots. They could change it if they just built houses on there,” he said.
“If a nice couple of houses were built on there, the memory would be gone.”
They described the site, on one of the area’s main bus routes, as an “eyesore”, and said it gave a bad impression to visiting football teams who have to drive past it when coming to take on Cardiff Hibernians at Ely Rec.
Pete, of Llewellyn Avenue, said: “With Ely Garden Villagers, what we are trying to do is take away that
stigma which we have been left with all these years.
“When we started the football and teams were coming up to Ely to play, they were petrified.
“Because of the Ely riots they thought their cars would get smashed up.
“It’s not really as bad as people think.”
by the Ely riots’
