Welsh Varsity has arrived

Throughout today the annual Cardiff v Swansea University, Varsity sports day is taking place. For all the match details visit: http://welshvarsity.com/

The majority of games will be held in Pontcanna fields and Welsh Institute of Sport, before the flagship rugby match in the evening in the Millennium Stadium.

Keep Wales Tidy (http://www.keepwalestidy.org/)
 have been recruited to manage the site for litter; so if you are taking food or drink to the site please use the litter bins provided or find one of the Keep Wales Tidy volunteers to give it too. Please don’t spoil the pitches and throw your litter on the floor

Consumer Advice Centre promotes StayPrivate service

As part of the Scamnesty drive to tackle scams and to protect vulnerable consumers, the Consumer Advice Centre of Trading Standards is promoting their Stay Private online service.

StayPrivate is a free and easy way of reducing the amount of unwanted mail and sales calls by bringing various marketing opt-out services together.

It’s a service offered by the Consumer Advice Centre in Bridge Street all year round, and allows consumers to register for the Mail Preference Service (MPS), Telephone Preference Service (TPS), and the Fax Preference Service (FPS)

In order to register, a consumer simply has to visit the office at 71 Bridge Street, Cardiff between 9 - 4:30, Mon-Fri.

World book night celebrated in Cardiff

Libraries across Cardiff will celebrate World Book Night on Monday April 23, with the event marked across the UK, Ireland, Germany and the USA

World Book Night is a celebration of reading and books, and sees thousands of people share books within their communities for people to benefit and enjoy. People from across the UK have registered to receive free books so they can distribute within their local community. The night is a great incentive to encourage library users new and old to go along to their local library and find out about the great services and events on offer.

Operational Manager of Cardiff Libraries, Elspeth Morris, said: “Reading a book can be a life-changing experience! World Book Night is a great opportunity to celebrate and share the benefits reading can bring to people who may not be avid readers. Libraries are fundamental to reading so naturally we want to see everybody reading, not just on World Book Night, but every night!”

Events taking place in Cardiff include -

Canton Library

Monday April 23 from 7pm - 10pm. Live music from local musicians, Philip Gross winner of Wales Book of the Year 2010 will read some of his latest work. Deborah Kay Davies winner of Wales Book of the Year 2009 will be reading from her work and there will also be poetry readings from Norman Schwenk. Get your free ticket now from Canton Library, Tel: 2022 9935, Email: cantonlibrary@cardiff.gov.uk

Fairwater Library

Monday April 23 ,meet local author Eileen Younghusband, Barbara Pontin and Annette Williams will be in the library are various times to read extracts from their work For more info, Tel: 2078 5583, Email: fairwaterlibrary@cardiff.gov.uk

Cardiff Central Library

Friday Apri 27th, World Book Night Quiz, teams of up to 5 people can battle it out to win the cash prize.
Starting at 7.30 the quiz is £1 per person and everyone who enters receives a free book! To register or for further information contact Grangetown Library, Tel: 2023 0526, Email: grangetownlibrary@cardiff.gov.uk


For more details on library events, visit www.cardiff.gov.uk/libraryevents Or you can Like Cardiff Libraries
on Facebook or Follow them on Twitter to receive the latest updates http://www.facebook.com/cardiff.central.library and http://www.twitter.com/cdflibraries

Free ticket to Varsity for a few hours of your time

On Wed 2nd May the annual Cardiff v Swansea University, Varsity sports day is taking place. The majority of games will be held in Pontcanna fields and Welsh Institute of Sport, before the flagship rugby match in the evening in the Millennium Stadium.

Keep Wales Tidy (http://www.keepwalestidy.org/) have been recruited to manage the site for litter; rather than pay an expensive private contractor, the University will make a donation to Keep Wales Tidy to support their amazing environmental work.

So, they need your help! We need to muster a team of volunteers to patrol the fields from 1 – 7pm

People who volunteer for a shift will be given a free ticket for the rugby match (price £10). There are 3 shifts: 1-3pm, 3-5pm and 5-7pm

So, if you would like to help please let Louise know the following info.

Name:
Preferred shift: 1-3pm; 3-5pm; 5-7pm
Contact phone number:
Contact e-mail:

If you have any questions, please just get in contact with Louise.

All equipment provided, no experience required.

louise.tambini@keepwalestidy.org

Tel: 02920 726976

Wales Coast Path Clean Up

In preparation for the opening of the Wales Coast Path on 5th May 2012, Keep Wales Tidy have organised a weekend-long event to clean as much of the path as possible of any unwanted litter and to showcase the fantastic Welsh coastline – and the search is on for willing volunteers to come and help.

The ‘Wales Coast Path Clean Up’ takes place on the weekend of 27 - 29 April 2012 and Keep Wales Tidy along with local community groups will be organising events along the whole length of the path. This is a great opportunity for the people of Wales and visitors alike to spend a couple of hours discovering the path and picking up unsightly litter at the same time.

If you would like to take part in an organised clean up or if you would like to arrange your own event on your favourite part of the coast path please visit the Keep Wales Tidy website http://www.keepwalestidy.org/ for more information or e-mail coastpathcleanup@keepwalestidy.org

More information on the Wales Coast Path can be found on the Countryside Council for Wales website http://www.ccw.gov.uk/

Unity News issue 8 now online

Issue 8 is now online at http://www.cardiffdigs.co.uk/unity.htm

UNITY news is your opportunity to find out about how the universities and student unions of Cardiff engage the community.

This issue includes information on Student Volunteering, Fairtrade, Environmental Champions and our latest Get It Out For Cardiff Partnership among others http://www.cardiffdigs.co.uk/getitout.htm

We have installed a shiny new reader which should make it easier to read; click over the issue to view in full screen and flick through the pages.

We have also launched a new enews subscription service so that you can keep updated on news, issues and campaigns. Sign up to receive enews on the link right off the homepage:

http://www.cardiffdigs.co.uk/

Also you can now follow us on twitter @cardiffdigs

Get It Out For Cardiff; YMCA first collection

On Friday the Get It Out For Cardiff YMCA team undertook their first collection. I am thrilled to say that they collected 53 bags of re-usable items from our banks so approximately a third of a ton has been donated and saved from landfill already.




From left to right Andrew Jenkins YMCA manager,
Kieran McCann Student Liaison Officer, Lucy Prisk Waste Management


The Get It Out For Cardiff team working on the re-use charity side of the campaign launched the new partnership with 14 re-use banks installed and trialled across key student locations. The YMCA have joined the scheme and re-use banks will collect clothing, textiles, small electrical items, books, CD’s DVD’s year round.

The banks are located around Cardiff University, Cardiff Students Union, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Liberty Living and Victoria Halls across Cardiff a pin point map of the locations can be found here other sites are being identified and installed as the scheme progresses.

This allows the scheme to become a year round campaign that targets other key move out dates as well as the end of term. The YMCA will use the materials and any proceeds from the collections to directly reinvest in projects and services for homeless people at the Cardiff YMCA Housing Association.

Each year at the end of term Green Zones are installed across halls of residences and unions to collect re-usable items for charity. Last year the scheme to collect re-usable items that previously would’ve been destined for landfill was a resounding success with over nine tonnes of items collected.

The end of term Green Zones will work in conjunction with the re-use banks and continue to collect food for FareShare and kitchen items that will be stored over the summer by Cardiff Self Storage and sold at the start of term with all proceeds going to charity.

Get It Out For Cardiff is a Keep Cardiff Tidy partnership. The re-use campaign is lead by the cities Student Liaison Officer, Kieran McCann and Lucy Prisk from waste management. Kieran said:

“We are always looking at inventive ways to increase the scope of re-use so I’m delighted the YMCA has come on board with the partnership. This allows us to develop the scheme year round, increase re-use, continue to divert items away from landfill and benefit charities and the local community. This really showcases ongoing partnership commitments to civic pride and dedications to recycling”

Andrew Jenkins, YMCA manager said: “We are thrilled to be involved and come on board with such an innovative scheme. With the funds from donations we will develop more training placements on the YMCA Volunteer Scheme and invest in projects and services for homeless people at the Cardiff YMCA Housing Association. Our sincere thanks to Kieran, Lucy and the team for pulling this together”

Campaign information including pin point google maps of the locations of the Green Zones and YMCA banks can be founds via the website:

http://www.cardiffdigs.co.uk/getitout.htm