The central heating fired up automatically early this morning for the first time since spring, as the ambient temperature of the house dropped below its threshold. It was cold yesterday and cold again today, bright and sunny, and thankfully no rain. After breakfast I drove Ann and Clare to the train station before driving to Saint Catherine's to celebrate St Michael and All Angels with six others plugging a gap at Mthr Frances' request. Fr Roy Doxsey agreed to cover St German's, although I was scheduled to be there. Clare stayed in town and went to see the Richard Burton biographical exhibition in the Museum.
After the Eucharist, I collected this week's veggie bag, and completed preparation for next Thursdays Morning Prayer and reflection, ready to record and edit when I got back from my walk around the park. On BBC Wales after supper was a programme about the making of a new statue celebrating the life and work of Butetown's Betty Campbell, Wales' first black head teacher and anti-racist campaigner who died four years ago. Her image was chosen by poll to represent heroic Welsh women in history. She lived, worked and died at the heart of the community she served, and was as proud to call herself a Cardiffian as she was to say she was black.
I was surprised to find when I looked on the Wales on-line website at five o'clock, that there was only a brief mention in the breaking news blog of the unveiling of the statue today, and not even a mention of its location outside the new HMRC building in Wood Street. Admittedly, photos were posted on a new page by six o'clock, but news of the statue unveiling had been run by the BBC on the Today programme in the morning, and on a BBC news web page. The statue itself was featured on Radio Four's 'Front Row' programme at seven fifteen in the evening, on top of the TV programme I saw. The Media Wales building is a hundred and fifty yards along Wood Street from HMRC, how come they were so slow to report on this? I should point out that new BBC Wales HQ is also on Wood Street directly opposite HMRC but why were Media Wales editorial team lagging behind the Beeb, when this was happening on their block?
I think we're in for some terminological wrangling. Wood Street is the main thoroughfare running though that part of the city centre designated as the Central Square Redevelopment. Actually, Central Square is the open paved space with Brunel's Cardiff railway station 1920s facade on the south side and the back entrance of the BBC on the north. On the west side are numbers one and two Central Square, the BBC is number three. The east side of the square is where the new bus station complex is under construction. So Betty's statue is within the Central Square development, though not in Central Square, but Wood Street. If all early news reports omit to mention Wood Street, we can look forward to confusion!
Still, it's a great day for the city. I'll be donw there with my camera taking photos tomorrow, under orders from my sister June.
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