More than 100 commuters an hour could travel from Penarth to Cardiff by boat as a Cardiff company takes the first step towards having regular water bus services.

At 25 minutes, the journeys on a fleet of five £90,000 boats, which would run every 15 minutes between around 7am and 7pm and stop at Cardiff Central station and Bute Park, could be quicker than commuting by car.

Yet company owners have criticised the Cardiff Council-controlled Cardiff Harbour Authority, saying the boats could go twice as fast if speed restrictions on the River Taff were lifted.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS big and small gathered in Cardiff yesterday to watch a film which was funded by donations from more than 300 people. Film director Franny Armstrong, famous for her film McLibel about a couple who were sued by McDonalds, “crowd-funded” campaign movie The Age of Stupid by raising more than £700,000 from investors. Yesterday environment experts and members of the public gathered at the Channel View Centre in Jim Driscoll Way, Grangetown for the free screening.

THERE is no smoke without fire for a local historian looking to brush up on his family tree.
Genealogy enthusiast and former steam train fireman Graham Williams, 63, is appealing to the descendants of a family of chimney sweeps to come forward and help him with his research.
Mr Williams, chair of the Canton Historical Society, thinks he may have distant relatives in Roath who are descended from his great-great-grandparents, who were Charles Elliott’s family of chimney sweeps.
He said: ”There’s lots of Elliotts in Roath and they are all descendants of these …

The tapping of laptop keys is a sound which has come to characterise cafés such as Starbucks, as freelance workers and entrepreneurs settle themselves in these spaces as an alternative to forking out high prices for their own offices. But accountant Mark Hooper is turning this culture on its head.
Mr Hooper has brought the growing craze of co-working, which has become massive in America, to Cardiff as an alternative to working alone in cafés.
Indycube is a concept Mr Hooper has been developing for the past five years, but the space itself has been situated in the ITV media centre at Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff, for the past six months.

PROPERTY investors who have benefited from a 50 per cent council tax discount have targeted Butetown and Grangetown as prime locations for purchasing second homes in Cardiff.

The two districts south of the city centre have more than a quarter of the capital’s unoccupied furnished properties. Butetown has 553 and Grangetown 295. At the other end of the scale, St Mellons and St Fagans have only 11 and six second homes.

Up to now these second homes and those properties unoccupied between lets have been eligible for a 50 per cent reduction in their council tax. But from next month the city’s 2,795 unoccupied furnished properties will be liable for the full amount.

On the hunt for a recipe to reflect Cardiff’s rich multicultural diversity, I headed to one of the capital’s most vibrant areas, Grangetown. The spiralling whiffs of ginger, garlic and myriad spices streaming out of the door of Lahore Kebabish in Penarth Road brought me straight back to the seething streets of south India, where supper was viewed as more of a challenge than a foodstuff.
Owner and chef Khalid Hussian, 51, moved to Grangetown from Pakistan 22 years ago, and his sons and cousins all help out in the eatery.
I …

Unstaffed tanning salons could soon be outlawed after a proposal by Cardiff North MP Julie Morgan today moved a step closer to becoming law.

The Sunbeds (Regulation) Bill would also make it illegal for people under the age of 18 to use sunbeds, with a fine of up to £20,000 for any salons caught breaking the law.

Cardiff councillors charged the taxpayer over £30 every day in travel expenses during the last financial year.

Forty per cent of the bill came from taxi charges after councillors argued the public transport in the city, including the council-owned Cardiff Bus, was not good enough.

A decade-old empty building on a housing estate was demolished on the request of Cardiff Council this week, despite protests from its owner and a petition with more than 150 signatures from nearby residents to save it.

Cardiff Council could be in line for a major shake up following draft proposals to redraw ward boundaries, in a move which one councillor labelled “gerrymandering”.

Deep in the heart of the South Wales countryside, a handful of men gather once a month at what they like to call the headquarters of the Welsh space agency. But this secret location is not an underground bunker, or a darkened room filled with maps. It is the Rose Inn in Redwick. This quiet village pub is home to the country’s top rocketeers.

A Cardiff Bay sports centre has had to put up new fencing after a spate of break-ins resulted in more than £12,000 worth of equipment being stolen, including a tandem bike. The Cardiff Bay Water Activity Centre in Jim Driscoll Way, Grangetown, has been broken into three times in the last month. Five Raleigh mountain bikes and four black Ridgeback NX3s worth £300 each and a silver tandem bike worth between £500 and £600 were stolen in the early hours of March 1.

Nearly one in six first class letters failed to arrive on time in Cardiff due to strike action last year, according to figures by Royal Mail. Only 84.3 per cent of first class letters arrived in Cardiff, the valleys and the Vale of Glamorgan the day after they were posted between September 7 and December 6, below the national target of 93 per cent.

Hidden between the close-knit terraced roofs of inner-city Cardiff are the white domes of a cultural gem.

Prayers at the Shree Swaminarayan temple in Merches Place, Grangetown, begin at sunrise just after 7am. Step into the long prayer room, a former nightclub floor, and you hear the jangling of bells and musical chanting.

The temple is the third biggest for the Swaminarayan (corr) Hindu denomination in Britain, after two in London, and the only one of its kind in Wales.

VERBAL volleyball between Councillor Neil McEvoy and former councillors at a community meeting suggested the new code of conduct is not working.
At a Police and Community Together (PACT) meeting on Wednesday, Coun McEvoy and former Labour councillor Michael Michael argued over the issue of whether the council had or had not gritted the streets and pavements of Fairwater during the recent cold period.
Coun McEvoy defeated Mr Michael at the last council elections in May 2008, and since then signs of their acrimonious relationship have regularly been on display at PACT …

Children from schools across Cardiff visited their local libraries this week to celebrate World Book Day.

And these year five pupils from St Paul’s Church in Wales Primary School, Grangetown, were one of 19 groups set loose in Grangetown Library, Havelock Place.

A LIBRARY which will celebrate its 50th birthday this summer has been promised a £150,000 upgrade by the deputy leader of Cardiff Council. But the funding has not yet been secured.

Councillor Neil McEvoy told residents at a Partnership and Communities Together (PACT) meeting at Pentrebane Community Centre they would see a refurbishment of Faiwater library in Doyle Avenue over the coming year. But the council budget for 2010-11 shows the funding for Coun McEvoy’s announcement has not yet been approved.

When given the challenge to go belly dancing I couldn’t help but scoff a little. This was going to be a piece of cake. Whenever I have seen belly dancing in restaurants or on holiday I have always thought how easy it looked. Surely it is just a case of shaking your hips, waving your arms above your head and showing your belly a bit. Oh, how wrong I was.

The owner of a popular Cardiff shop has announced it will close down to go online-only.
Irene Parow, of Rich and Rare on Cowbridge Road East, said she will continue to run the business through the internet after 13 successful years in Canton’s main shopping street.
The shop, which specialises in holy communion dresses and christening gowns, attracts customers from all over the world and holds regular fashion shows and exhibitions.
Ms Parow, 58, said the shop will probably close its doors at the end of May and operate solely through its website.
She …

Palestinian olives were on the menu in Cardiff today as part of Fairtrade Fortnight.
Speakers from Oxfam and the Palestinian Farmers Union addressed shoppers in ethical store Fair Do’s in Canton and told them they were helping 9,000 farmers in Palestine by purchasing olives and olive oil from the Middle East.
Thomas Cazalis, co-ordinator of the union’s olive oil programme, said the industry was vital for the farmers. He said: “There is a meaning beyond the product itself. It’s a question of dignity for the farmers and opening the world to these …

It is Cardiff as you have never seen it before – transformed into a toy town by a keen photographer.

Mark Rosoman snapped alternative landmarks like the IKEA store and the Royal Mail sorting office in Penarth Road, Grangetown, using a special technique called “tilt shift” to make them look as if they had been shrunk.

Inside the 17th century smithy, a blacksmith hammered away at a strip of metal glowing from the heat of the forge. Sparks flew off the hot iron as a hinge slowly took shape beneath the soot-darkened beams – and Cheryl Cole stared out from a copy of the day’s Metro nestled in the corner.
The mix of eras is typical of the modern, hands-on approach of St Fagans National History Museum, Wales’s most popular tourist destination.
Founded in 1948, the open air museum is set in the grounds of St Fagans castle …

The drop-in lounge at Inroads, one of two of Cardiff’s drug rehabilitation projects, could be the back room of any residence save the drug-related literature peppering the wall and coffee-table. This is what they pride themselves on. Avoiding regressive semantics about whether drug addiction is a disease or a poor lifestyle choice, Inroads make no claim to ‘curing’ people, they are their to offer help and support.

Come rain, shine or even snow, there is one group in Cardiff who never fail to pull on their waterproofs, dig out their wellies and brave the elements in order to help those who need a little care.
Meals on Wheels, based in Fairwater, Cardiff, has been running since 1975, delivering piping hot meals to those who cannot cook for themselves. The service runs 52 weeks of the year and is thought of by many as “the Cinderella of day services.” For many it is not only a food service but …

It could be described as an own goal by Cardiff Council. Their flagship alley gating scheme, which this year had a £110,000 budget, has been widely praised by residents for its role in cutting crime. But the gates have another use, too – as playthings for youngsters.

Up to 8,000 new jobs for Cardiff could be at risk after inspectors blasted plans for an International Business Park next to the M4.

Cardiff City manager Dave Jones takes his team to Preston tomorrow, but he’s not looking for revenge for the Bluebirds’ 6-0 drubbing there last season.

Preston blew Cardiff away at Deepdale four games before the end of last season, a defeat that cost them a place in the play-offs and a shot at the Premier League.

But Jones insists his side are not thinking about revenge. He said: “It’s been well documented the hurt we suffered there last year and people say we should use that as a yardstick or as motivation to beat them. But it doesn’t work like that.

A finalist in Miss University held a ladies night at a Cardiff exercise studio yesterday to help raise fund for a children’s charity.
Emma Peters, a masters student at University of Wales Institute Cardiff, is raising funds for The Joshua Foundation, a charity which creates life experiences for children suffering with terminal cancer.

VULNERABLE residents of a Cardiff sheltered housing complex have spoken out following Cardiff Council’s decision to close their former day centre.

The decision to close the day centre at the Worcester Court complex in Holmesdale Street, Grangetown, was taken as part of a plan to centralise council services in 2006.

It was classified as a “luncheon club”, which are designed to be open to anybody who wants to attend.

But resident Chris Lomax, 66, said while the status had changed, the way it was run had not.

AN ORGANISATION responsible for running community projects throughout Cardiff has been heavily condemned by a Government committee, even though local people have called it a success.

The Communites First project, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, has spent £214million of tax payers’ money since its launch in 2001, and a report published yesterday suggests, after severe managerial failures, there is no justification for its existence.

An interview with Simon Hoare, the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth, at his home in Atlantic Wharf, Butetown.
Mr Hoare spoke about MPs’ expenses, his experiences of campaigning against Alun Michael, devolution in Wales, public sector cuts and the future of South Wales’s economy, among other topics.

CARDIFF’S driving test centre is to perform a basic manoeuvre as it relocates just around the corner.
The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) confirmed they will be relocating from their current location at Norbury Road, Fairwater, to another site they have already identified within the Fairwater area.
Pamela Matthews of the DSA said: “We have not submitted a planning application to the Council, but we are currently in negotiations with the landlord.”
She said there will be no redundancies as a consequence of the move, nor will there be any new positions created. She …

An interview with Alun Michael, the MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, at his constituency office in Cathedral Road, Riverside.
Topics included the International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay, a hung parliament and working with Plaid Cymru, whether he has been damaged by the expenses scandal, devolution, fighting a general election through social media, and banning khat.

The usual subtlety of Oscar Wilde’s watertight script is executed with zestful aplomb but a pantomime villain and a village idiot detract somewhat from the play’s antiquated magic.

The student produced play opens in the charmingly understated set of Algernon’s front room. The two self-styled Earnests comfortably settle into musings on marriage and the delights and dreadful duties of a life of leisure as they bicker to the backdrop of austere bookcases and grand chaise longues.

“Progressive” is not a term often applied to religion, but it is the cornerstone of belief for Cardiff’s Bahá’í community.
Bahá’ísm is one of the world’s youngest faiths, and its message is simple: all the world’s transcendent figures – such as Jesus, the Prophet Muhammad, Krishna, and Buddha – are true messengers from God, and are part of a recurring phenomenon of leaders sent to earth to spread His word.
In other words, Bahá’ísm is interfaith because it integrates the key figures of all religions, believing they are all sent by the …

Cardiff residents face a council tax hike after South Wales Police approved a five per cent rise in the amount they request for their annual budget. The decision to endorse the £257 million budget will add more than £7 to the annual council tax bill of the average home in the city.
The rise is a pre-emptive move to bolster the police’s resources after Chief Constable Peter Vaughan warned the force could be “facing a financial black hole in the next few years” with significant cuts expected from 2011. Addressing South …

The dragon writhed and roared destroying the offerings placed before its voracious maw. Well, almost. Chinese new year celebrations kicked into full swing this weekend as members of the Cardiff Chinese Cultural Association organised and performed the Dragon Dance on Cardiff’s Tudor Street.

A cat lover from Llandaff today urged the owners of a stray half-Persian cat to come forward before she is forced to give him away to a cats’ home.
Ann*, who regularly takes in stray cats, has been looking after the pedigree animal for a fortnight, after he first appeared outside her home around six weeks ago.
She already has five rescue cats of her own, so she cannot afford to keep him much longer. She has contacted all her neighbours, placed adverts in the press and intends to ring round local …

A Cardiff community centre has received exactly the same grant money for over a decade even though the real value of the sum has decreased dramatically.

The core grant funding from Cardiff City Council for South Riverside community centre has stayed at £28,035 since 2000 when they received additional funding. The sum in 2000 would now be worth more than £7000 more in real value yet the grant has remained the same.

The Schiavo family are offering home made Sicilian food at great prices. Inside, there are a handful of solid wooden tables, a bar along the window for Sunday’s peoplewatchers and Italian music playing.

A CARDIFF cafe to help deprived young people get back into employment is to reopen.

The Cardiff Council-owned Buzz Cafe in Penarth Road, Grangetown was once a colourful meeting place for young people, who could use the next-door information centre to learn new skills and get careers advice.

Now the managers have been given £9,000 in funding to revamp the venue after a leaky roof destroyed another room in the building.

Almost a month since an earthquake shocked Haiti a CD to help raise funds for the devastated community has been launched in Cardiff.

Chris Rees while in Haiti in 2002
Steve Garrett and Welsh singer/songwriter Chris Rees visited the Caribbean island in 2002 to work with schools in the north of the country as part of The Haiti Fund.

A BOXER, I am told, has to be special. He has to be disciplined, focused and self-motivated, three qualities which are not synonymous with the stereotypical teenager of today.
But when I was buzzed through to Phoenix Fitness in Cowbridge Road, Ely I met two such examples of the characteristics the sport instils.

Fifteen-year-old Chris Mardon of Heol Trenewydd, Caerau and 14-year-old Craig Wilford of Heol Pant Y Deri, Caerau were lacing their trainers and preparing to go for a standard four-mile warm-up run as I entered the sweat-smelling gym.
Kevin Moore, 46-year-old …

LOCAL residents are “up in arms” about plans to hold two major concerts in a 10-day period at Cardiff City Stadium this summer.

Welsh band Stereophonics are playing a sell-out show in the 32,000 seater venue on June 5, while an announcement about the act or date for the second show has not yet been made.

But Canton councillor Ramesh Patel has accused Cardiff City football club of “moving the goalposts” on an agreement not to hold concerts at the Leckwith Road ground.

A WAR of words has broken out after a Cardiff greengrocer said officials were not doing enough to stop anti-social behaviour which has left all the windows of her shop smashed.

But a local councillor and the police have rejected the claims, saying they were not made aware of the issue.

DESPITE police initiatives to tackle illegal street musicians, one Cardiff busker is not singing off the same hymn sheet after she was spotted playing an accordion just across the road from a police station.

A young woman played the instrument for at least two hours opposite Somerfield in Cowbridge Road East, just a stone’s throw from Canton police station last Saturday.

Beer festivals still seem the last preserve of the alpha male, the heady scent of hops in the air, burly arms pressed together, men eager to get a taste of the latest ale with its suitably odd name. Women enter at their peril, or gather shivering outside the tent waiting to pick their errant beer-expert up off the floor at closing time.
Of course it’s an exaggerated picture, but walking into one of these bastions of masculinity as a woman can still turn heads. Not so at the NosDa beer festival …

A CARDIFF school was host to BBC’s The Big Questions, a programme discussing the big moral issues of the day. The show, hosted by Nicky Campbell, came to Michaelston Community College in Michaelston Road, Ely to discuss the questions surrounding assisted suicide, the payment of ransoms and inter-country adoption.

The topical issues were discussed by members of the audience and special guests LBC Radio talk show host James O’Brien, Falklands war veteran and charity campaigner Simon Weston, and General Synod member Christina Rees.

AS DARKNESS fell, mist crept through Llandaff cemetery and a shiver ran through the spines of the gathered crowd. Chilled breath hovered over the stone graves as Jim Cowan began his tale. By day, Llandaff is a delightful village, just outside of Cardiff city centre. By night, however, the moon rises high, the streets are silent and it is the setting of the Llandaff Ghost Walk.
Brave souls are invited to join a group walk through the grounds of Llandaff Cathedral pausing every now and again to listen to tales of …

AN EX-CON, performing artists and a group of youth workers will combine to help youth offenders turn negative experiences into positive tunes.

North Ely Community Centre, Pethybridge Road, Ely will host 30 young offenders over a six-week period in their music studio and will work to produce individual songs and a group album.AN EX-CON, performing artists and a group of youth workers will combine to help youth offenders turn negative experiences into positive tunes. North Ely Community Centre, Pethybridge Road, Ely will host 30 young offenders over a six-week period in their music studio and will work to produce individual songs and a group album.