MAL POPE

I’ve waited 53 years to have this chat with Caleb Quaye. From the early days of Elton John to hearing a voice louder than Rock this is a story that needs to be heard.

As I’ve tried to come to terms with the news this week so many memories have come to mind. All of them with her smiling face, big voice, her generosity and kindness. She touched so many people and left an indelible mark on all those she met. That’s why we have all shed tears this week and that’s why we loved her so much.

I had gone to visit my future Mamgu In Law for afternoon tea and ‘bara brith’. ‘Mamgu’, I said, ‘why have you got a painting of a log cabin’. In her lovely West Walian accent she said, ‘That’s the cabin I used to live in’. I was intrigued and asked her where this log cabin was. It was then her voice changed into the broadest America accent I had heard this side of Carmarthen…’Scranton’.

It’s been quite the week hasn’t it? Record breaking temperatures have made even the most basic, normal tasks a little bit of a burden. As I checked the weather forecast and my daily commitments at the start of the week it was as if both were heading for a massive collision on Thursday.

This weekend is another one of those landmark weekends that gives us an excuse to stop for a moment and think about how the year has gone and what lies ahead. Tomorrow is the summer solstice marking the longest day in the year.

It’s been 60 years since my first World Cup and I’m just as excited for this one as I was for my first and here’s the reason why…

When we look at places like Silicon Valley or South Korea, Japan, China or Taiwan it is really hard for us to believe that we were once what they are now. How wealthy were these people? So wealthy that even the Bank of England decided to open a branch in the town. So wealthy they could afford to build The B.C.Y.C.

There is nothing new in wanting to remember those we have loved and lost. For thousands of years human beings have raised monuments or statues or created special places of remembrance. This week I have seen 2 very special examples of honouring a memory and taking the sadness of loss to create something beautiful.

On Thursday I stood in a room of Good Shepherds. All these tough, old, gnarly business men touched by the story of people at Matt’s House and the Swansea Community Farm going out of their way to look after the lost ones and they celebrated as well.

I know it’s wrong to feel jealous but as I looked out at the crowd that had gathered for the Swansea City Academy Awards it brought back so many memories and I thought to myself… I wish I could do it all over again.