Cardiff Council Update: 21st August

Welcome to the last update of the week from Cardiff Council, covering: four more children's play areas in Cardiff will be reopening at midday this Saturday, 22^ndAugust, bringing the total now available to 104; Year 11 pupils from across the city received their GCSE results yesterday, many of which have been delivered virtually due to COVID-19; and the grateful mother of a Cardiff man who slept rough on the city's streets has sent a powerful message of thanks to the team that helped her son achieve real change in his life.

Four more play areas reopening on Saturday

Four more children's play areas in Cardiff will be reopening at midday this Saturday, 22^ndAugust, bringing the total now available to 104.

Play areas have been opened on a phased basis, following a safety first approach and with a view to ensuring that children across the city have some play provision in their local area as quickly as possible.

The four that will open from midday on Saturday, 22^ndAugust are:

Glenwood - Pentywn
Lascelles Drive - Pontprennau & St Mellons
Coleford Drive - Trowbridge
Heol Booker - Whitchurch & Tongwynlais

In line with Welsh Government guidance and health and safety legislation, all sites have gone through a COVID-19 risk assessment and the equipment and safety surfaces have been inspected by a qualified playground inspector, prior to re-opening.

Changes have been made to some play areas to help maintain social distancing and minimise risk of transmitting COVID-19. For example, some swing seats have been removed to ensure a 2 metre distance is maintained.

To help ensure safety, new signage has also been installed, asking families using the sites to:

wash or sanitise their hands, before, after and during using the equipment;
follow social distancing requirements;
limit visits to 30 minutes during busy times;
only have a maximum of one adult per child in the play area.

Poetic tribute to ‘life saving' homeless outreach worker

The grateful mother of a Cardiff man who slept rough on the city's streets has sent a powerful message of thanks to the team that helped her son achieve real change in his life.

Mum Philippa filmed a short video of herself reading an emotive poem she penned, paying tribute to a support worker who has helped Michael on his journey away from life on the streets.

The poem, and Philippa's story, give an important insight into the complex reasons that can lead to someone becoming homeless and how solving the issue is not as simple as providing a roof over a person's head.

Philippa thanks Sian Farrugia, an outreach worker in the city's Multi-Disciplinary team for

all the time and support she has given to help Michael get his life back on track.

The Multi Disciplinary teamprovides a range of support services to address the underlying support needs of individuals sleeping rough and in hostel accommodation, and has enjoyed considerable success supporting vulnerable individuals to rebuild their lives and achieve long-lasting, real change. The team includes a mental health nurse and social worker; drug and alcohol workers; access to rapid prescribing services, primary care nurses; a counsellor and therapeutic workers; peer mentors and primary care nurses.

In the poem, Sian is described as a ‘miracle worker' who has stuck by Michael during the most difficult year of his life, during which he spent time sleeping rough on the city's streets before starting to engage with the outreach team and moving into temporary accommodation.

Sian, who began her role in the MDT as an advocate before moving into her current outreach position, has continued to work with Michael over the past 12 months and he is now living in his own flat through the Supported Accommodation to Independent Living (SAIL) project.

Philippa praises Sian for the amazing job she does, for believing in Michael, for herempathy, knowledge, patience and care. She describes how people like Sian are actually saving lives.