#Swansea Wales UK

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

STEVE IGNORANT -- PHIL FREE -- N.A. PALMER -- PETE WRONG -- PENNY RIMBAUD.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on English anarcho punk band CRASS (sans Eve Libertine), performing live at St. Phillips Community Centre, Swansea, Wales, UK, on September 24, 1981. 📸: Steve Rapport.

Didn't know more of these Swansea shots existed, so, these are a happy accident of sorts. Where the hell is Evie Libertine, though? 1981 had seen the release of the "Penis Envy" album after all, but you never see her in any shots at this particular gig.

Sources: https://mostlyrocknroll.com/products/crass-2 (2x) & X.

[seamusicpoetry]

A hot cup of coffee

Rhossili Bay, Gower,Swansea,Wales

[magentasky234]

More places to avoid/counter protest in the UK

(Courtesy of ukisnotinmocent on Instagram)

[theshatterednotes]

Dylan Thomas

[travelella]

Bracelet Bay, Mumbles Road, The Mumbles, Swansea, Wales, UK

Charles Lamb

[tabbpro]

Feature film 'Translations' has entered its final stages of post-production and Director, Kieth Wilhem Kopp, is seeking an Assistant Producer to join the team to assist with the distribution strategy.

Find out more and express interest on Tabb!

[jamienemeth]

Went for the cheese krakauer again this year, from the German Swing Grill & Bar at Swansea Christmas Market.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Hi! Could you tell us more about the hoopoe sighting, specifically from the human / social side? Are these bird watchers or regular folk? How did the word spread around? Are people coming in from further (definition pending) away or are these walking distance neighbours? Etc etc etc

Basically, this situation sounds fascinating but I feel like I'm missing as to how this is happening and what social rules have emerged. It doesn't look like there's press coverage or wildlife protection or the threat of a wild animal killing you like with the [sea lion? Seal? That one pinniped] incident. So, how is this all playing out?

ALSO, I'm writing a story in which a non-native bird arrives one day and that manages to bring together some of the neighbours, so this event is personally fascinating to me. Thank you so so much for your reporting.

Sure! So, first off for context, a hoopoe sighting in the UK is not unheard of, but super super rare. It's something that happens like... once every few years, maybe? But normally on the south east coast of England, it is super super super rare to get one in Wales.

Now, whenever you get rare sightings like this, it's mostly bird watchers who care, and who spread the news. Last year a golden oriole turned up in a scrap of woodland on the Gower - much like the hoopoe, just passing through - and within hours of someone spotting it and putting it on a bird forum, the twitchers descended, lol. As luck would have it I was leading a field trip in that woodland on that day, so I got to see about two dozen people turn up, singly or in small groups, over the course of about four or five hours, all armed with proper cameras and also good binoculars. I never saw it in the end, which was a shame, but I know where it was, because I saw the birders gather in a small, hushed crowd at one end as we were getting back on the bus.

In the case of this hoopoe, things are a bit more relaxed. Unlike that golden oriole, it was first spotted earlier this week, and has hung out every day along the beach at roughly the same spot. You can see how unbothered it is by humans, too, look:

So close! Look how close it came in the photos! And the path it's on is a cycle path; bikes going past merely made it raise its crest momentarily and then carry on feeding. This means it's been a more relaxed affair, because if you want to see it, it's bizarrely easy to find. The first two days had slightly bigger crowds, but by now the QUICKLY GO AND SEE BEFORE IT LEAVES fervour has gone.

With that said, it's still mostly birders and other environmentalists going to see it. I don't think local news has even covered it, funnily enough. A quick search for 'Swansea hoopoe' gets me bird watching websites, birding soc med groups, a YouTube video, and a news article from last year when a hoopoe turned up in an Aberystwyth garden, of all places. The Evening Post really should have mentioned it for local interest, actually, but nothing. Although, of course, that's probably helped keep crowds down.

But environmentalists are definitely sharing the news with each other lol, so there's that (especially on the local scene). WE are all very excited. Of the little crowd of about 10 people there today, most had proper cameras. Several were discussing RSPB sites. Many had English accents, which suggests they travelled in to see it (although of course that's not definite). So, it's mostly a specialist crowd, interspersed with locals who stop to see what everyone is staring at.

The difference with the walrus, though, is I think partly the level of exoticism (most people don't know what a hoopoe is, but have seen birds; by contrast, they do know what a walrus is, and most haven't even seen a seal), and partly impact. Wally was exciting regardless, but he also kept squatting on slipways and capsizing boats, leading to funny photos of lifeboat volunteers trying to shoo him away with a broom.

And even funnier photos of him sinking the boats of rich toffs as they watched helplessly on and underwent the five stages of grief.

And, actually, he came visiting in lockdown, when people couldn't travel far and couldn't gather indoors, but you could go to Tenby and stand on a cliff, and I do think that played a part. But, as I say, most non environmentalists just don't know the hoopoe is even there to get excited.

Anyway, I hope that is at all useful! Good luck with your story.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

From September 2022. "Just a cold."

(Note: the most recent studies show the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart failure, and stroke can last upwards of three years in anyone who has had a covid infection. This older article was posted to emphasize that our knowledge of the risks isn't all that new or unknown, like some people like to pretend.)

By Christopher Sharp

As time goes by the world is learning more and more about the complications which come as a result of a COVID-19 infection; the risk of blood clots is just one of them.

Blood clots can occur at any time and cause a range of potentially fatal conditions such as heart attacks or strokes. Normally, their risk can be mitigated by improved cardiovascular health through regular exercise and a balanced diet. However, their risk can also be increased by other factors such as existing infections. One disease which can increase the risk of a blood clot developing is COVID-19. A recent study published by Health Data Research UK shows just how long that risk lasts for as the UK enters autumn.

The data was published in the Circulation journal by a group of researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Bristol, Edinburgh, and Swansea who studied health records across the entire population of England and Wales between January and December 2020.

From this research they ascertained the risk of a fatal blood clot developing as a result of COVID-19 lasted for 49 weeks, almost a year.

Overall patients were 21 times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke in the first week after becoming infected with COVID-19. This figure dropped to just under four times more likely after four weeks.

As a result, they say their research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in an additional 10,500 cases of strokes, heart attacks, and deep vein thrombosis, increasing the burden on the NHS at a time when it was at its most stretched.

With regard to the long-term risk of blood clots, the likelihood of a potentially fatal clot in the arteries dropped to just under one-and-a-half times between weeks 26 and 49 and just under twice as a likely for clots in the veins.

This isn’t the first time COVID-19 has been associated with an increased risk of blood clots; this paper adds to growing body of research on the long-term health impacts of even a mild case of Covid

Previous studies have shown COVID-19 can increase the risk of heart failure, heart attack, or a stroke by over 50 percent regardless of all risk factors. However, while these studies make for unnerving reading, the authors say the risk of a fatal clot as a result of COVID-19 remains low.

Professor Jonathan Sterne of the University Bristol said in a statement: “We are reassured that the risk drops quite quickly – particularly for heart attacks and strokes – but the finding that it remains elevated for some time highlights the longer-term effects of COVID-19 that we are only beginning to understand.”.

Subsequently, while the risk is low, this does not mean that health officials and governments can relax. While case numbers are low and the illness caused by Covid can be relatively mild, this doesn’t mean the virus isn’t still a threat.

Furthermore, although the virus is mainly problematic for the old and the vulnerable, this doesn’t mean young people haven’t or won’t be affected by the virus too, as multiple studies reveal as much from the latest research in the United States.

Meanwhile, Professor Angela Wood from the University of Cambridge said: “We have shown that even people who were not hospitalised faced a higher risk of blood clots in the first wave.

“While the risk to individuals remains small, the effect on the public’s health could be substantial and strategies to prevent vascular events will be important as we continue through the pandemic.”

One study, recently made available in the Radiology journal by the Radiology Society of North America, has found that COVID-19 can cause lasting lung damage in children and teenagers.

As this data suggests, this isn’t necessarily the case. The children and teenagers who recovered from COVID-19 showed persistent lung damage after undergoing an MRI scan.

Senior study author Dr Ferdinand Knieling said: “We conceived this study when the evidence for long- or post-COVID cases in adults was growing. This was also when the first patients with unspecific symptoms were seen in our department, and parents started to ask about an association with a prior infection.”

Dr Knieling’s department used a new MRI scanner in order to safely assess the damage done by COVID-19 to the young people affected, looking at changes in lung structure and function in 54 participants.

Despite the small study cohort, long Covid in children is a genuine problem. Data from the ONS (Office for National Statistics) published earlier this year found around 98,000 children in the UK suffer from the condition.

However, as those who have fully recovered may have experienced changes to their cardiovascular system, the number of children impacted could be much larger.

Dr Knieling added: “Persistent symptoms after COVID still cause diagnostic odysseys, and this is especially true for young people. Our findings illustrate that caring for these patients is a multidisciplinary challenge.”

Overall, alongside the blood clot research, this study demonstrates how far-reaching the COVID-19 virus will be even after the pandemic in question has ended.

Study links: www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.060785

(The link in the article is broken, but I think this is the radiology article link) pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.2020202543

[theholmwoodfoundation]

THE HOLMWOOD FOUNDATION PILOT EPISODE CAST/CREW - PART ONE

REBECCA ROOT - MADDIE TOWNSEND/MINA HARKER

Rebecca trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time for the National Theatre (UK and Ireland tour); Rathmines Road for Fishamble at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Trans Scripts at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts; The Bear / The Proposal at the Young Vic; and Hamlet at the Gielgud Theatre and Athens International Festival. TV, Film and Video Game credits include Monsieur Spade, This Is Christmas, Irvine Welsh’s Crime, Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon Forbidden West, Heartstopper, Annika, The Rising, Sex Education, The Gallery, The Queen’s Gambit, Finding Alice, Creation Stories, Last Christmas, The Sisters Brothers, Colette, The Danish Girl, Flack, The Romanoffs, Moominvalley, Hank Zipzer, Boy Meets Girl, Doctors, Casualty, The Detectives, and Keeping Up Appearances.  Radio credits include Clare In The Community, Life Lines, The Hotel, and 1977 for BBC Radio 4. Guest appearances include Woman’s Hour, Front Row, Loose Ends, Saturday Live, and A Good Read.  She plays Tania Bell in the award-winning Doctor Who: Stranded audio dramas. Rebecca has also recorded numerous documentary narrations, audiobooks, and voice-overs. Rebecca is also a voice and speech coach, holding the MA in Voice Studies from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

SEAN CARLSEN - JEREMY LARKIN/ JONATHAN HARKER

Born in South Wales, Seán trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. He has worked extensively in audio drama, television, theatre and film.  Seán is perhaps best known to Doctor Who fans as Narvin in the Doctor Who audio series Gallifrey and has appeared on TV in Doctor Who - The Christmas Invasion and Torchwood. Recent TV credits include Mudtown (BBCiplayer/S4C), Dal y Mellt (Netflix), His Dark Materials (BBC1), All Creatures Great and Small (Channel 5), A Mother's Love (Channel 4) and Series 5 of Stella (Sky1).  Films include supporting leads in Boudica - Rise of the Warrior Queen, cult horror The Cleansing,  the lead in Forgotten Journeys and John Sheedy’s forthcoming film ‘Never Never Never’

SAM CLEMENS - ARTHUR JONES

Samuel Clemens trained at the Drama Centre London and is an award-winning director with over twenty years’ experience. Samuel has recently written and directed his debut feature film ‘The Waterhouse’ with Take The Shot Films & Featuristic Films and represented by Raven Banner Entertainment, which is due for release this coming year.  In addition, he has directed fourteen short films, winning awards all over the world including shorts ‘Surgery (multi-award winning), A Bad Day To Propose (Straight 8 winner 2021), Say No & Dress Rehearsal’. Samuel also directs critically acclaimed number one UK stage tours and fringe shows (Rose Theatre Kingston, Swansea Grand, Eastbourne, Yvonne Arnaud, Waterloo East Theatre) and commercials include clients JD Sports, Shell and Space NK. Samuel is also a regular producer and director for Big Finish Productions & Anderson Entertainment. He has cast, directed, produced and post supervised numerous productions of ‘Doctor Who – (BBC), The Avengers (Studio Canal), Thunderbirds, Stingray (Anderson Entertainment), Callan, Missy, Gallifrey’& Shilling & Sixpence Investigate’ and many more. Samuel has directed world class talent such as, Sir Roger Moore, Ben Miles, Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Alex Kingston, Frank Skinner, Rita Ora, Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley, Rufus Hound, David Warner, Celia Imrie, Samuel West, Youssef Kerkour, Sophie Aldred, Ian McNiece, Colin Baker, Olivia Poulet, Stephen Wight, Jade Anouka, Mimi Ndwendi, Michelle Gomez, Peter Davidson, Paul O’Grady and many more. Samuel is one of the founding members and directors at Take The Shot Films Ltd and is Head of Artistic Creation and Direction. Lastly, Samuel is a regular tutor at The London Film Academy, The Giles Foreman Centre for Acting & The Rose Youth Theatre and is a member of The Directors Guild UK. As for upcoming projects, Sam is currently in pre-production on his next feature film “On The Edge of Darkness”, which is based on his dad’s stage play “Strictly Murder”.

ATTILA PUSKAS - DRACULA

Attila Puskás is a native Hungarian Voice Actor born in Transylvania – Romania, so Romanian is in his bag of tricks too, but most of his work is done in English, in a Transatlantic Eastern European Accent, but is quite capable of Hungarian, Romanian and International Eastern European accents, plus Standard American. His voice range is Adult to Middle Aged (30-40+) due to his deep voice. Vocal styles can range from authoritive, brooding to calming and reassuring and much more. He’s most experienced in character work, like Animations and Games, but his skills encompass Commercials to Narration as well. He’s received training through classes and workshops, pushing him to the next level to achieve higher standards. Now on a journey to perfect these skills and put them to good use!

PART TWO: HERE

PART THREE: HERE

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

AH, THE FAMED SWANSEA, WALES GIG -- THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED CRASS GIG EVER?

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on two photographs reportedly purchased on eBay of English anarcho punk bands CRASS and D.I.R.T., performing live at St. Phillips Community Centre, Swansea, Wales, UK, on September 24, 1981. The photos were eventually used as part of "The Art of Crass," an exhibition in Leicester, England, in June 2016.

Source: www.flickr.com/photos/seancuttlefish/25362133763 (Flickr 2x).

[invisibleicewands]

Welsh theatre to host conversation event with Michael Sheen

Welsh actor Michael Sheen will dive into his experiences in the world of film and theatre and discuss the inspiration behind his most iconic roles at a special event in Swansea this weekend.

The 50-minute Q&A session which will see one of Wales’ most celebrated talents speak candidly about his passion for the arts and his life in the spotlight.

In Conversation with Michael Sheen is part of the inaugural Swansea Arts Weekend and will take place at the Dylan Thomas Theatre in Swansea on Saturday (October 5) at 12:230pm.

The theatre holds a special place in Sheen’s heart, as it was here that he gave one of his early performances with the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre.

Returning to the venue now as an award-winning actor, Sheen continues to inspire audiences worldwide with his compelling portrayals of complex characters and his dedication to the craft of storytelling.

His most recent work includes his portrayal of Prince Andrew in A Very Royal Scandal, Nye Bevan at the Wales Millennium Centre, and bringing Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood to the National Theatre.

His other standout performances include Frost/Nixon, The Queen, Good Omens and Twilight.

Beyond his remarkable acting career, Sheen is also known for his commitment to social justice and the promotion of the arts, making this event even more meaningful.

His passion for fostering creativity and supporting the next generation of talent will undoubtedly inspire those in attendance.

He will also discuss his early steps in the industry, providing invaluable advice for aspiring actors and creatives.

Michael Sheen said: “It’s a brilliant opportunity to celebrate and support all our local creative talent, whether professionals, community groups or passionate enthusiasts.

“We have such a rich, creative history here and it’s wonderful to be able to share it with each other and the world.”

This event is an exciting addition to the diverse activities happening as part of Swansea Arts Weekend, showcasing the city’s thriving cultural scene.

Councillor Elliott King, Cabinet Member – Culture, Human Rights & Equalities – at Swansea Council, said: “Welcoming an internationally recognised actor of Sheen’s calibre to the Dylan Thomas Theatre will undoubtedly bring inspiration to the city’s creative industries.

“We are delighted that Michael has chosen to work with us to support Welsh arts, and we know the Q&A session will provide unique insights into all he has learned over the course of his career.

Swansea Arts Weekend is all about connecting people with culture, and In Conversation with Michael Sheen puts these aims into practice.

“Engaging with the arts brings marked benefit to communities and individuals, and we are thrilled to offer this opportunity to hear from an icon of the Welsh creative scene.

“We hope visitors and locals enjoy the event, and that it inspires long-term engagement with the arts and cultural venues here in Swansea and beyond.”

Swansea Arts Weekend is supported by the Cultural and Tourism Anchor at Swansea Council and funded by the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund.

The Arts Weekend, running from 4th – 6th October, encompasses art exhibitions, workshops, new commissions, live music, comedy, dance and interactive classes.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

In love with Venetia and her sister’s art shop where she sells her upcycled painted furniture. Dammit, I wish they weren’t based in Swansea, Wales, UK!  I used to finish pieces like this before I moved to an apt. and all I have left is a grandmother’s clock.

So dreamy. 

Love all the decor, even the walls.

Love this piece.

I would buyin’ up a storm.

And, they cake and coffee, too! 

You can sit and have your cake looking out the window, isn’t this just lovely?

Moody maximalism (for every decor) group member post

[have-you-been-here]

Swansea, Wales, UK

[thesilicontribesman]

The 'Red Lady' of Paviland Skeleton Reconstruction, 33,000 years old, Swansea Museum, Wales.

One of the oldest skeletons in the UK and one of the oldest examples of a ceremonial burial in Western Europe.