logo
Caerphilly Library gifted artwork from Ukrainian artist

Caerphilly Library gifted artwork from Ukrainian artist

The event at Caerphilly Library last week saw Olesia Miftahova, a Ukrainian artist and poet, donate the artwork as her exhibition at the library came to an end.
Both the library and Caerphilly County Borough Council were thanked by Ms Miftahova for their 'welcome, care, and solidarity' towards the Ukrainian community.
The library has become more than just a place to borrow books, with art clubs, conversation sessions, support groups, and cultural events helping Ukrainians to build new lives.
Representing Ukrainians in Caerphilly, Yulia Bond said: "Today was more than just the closing of an art exhibition – it was a moment of connection, reflection, and heartfelt thanks.
"The support we've received from Caerphilly Library and the council has helped so many of us feel seen, safe, and valued."
Councillor Jamie Pritchard, deputy leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, said: "It's been a privilege to meet with members of our Ukrainian community and witness the incredible talent and resilience they bring to Caerphilly.
"The artwork presented today is not just beautiful – it's a powerful symbol of gratitude, friendship, and hope."
Caerphilly County Borough Council is 'proud to stand in solidarity with those who have sought safety and belonging' in the country.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Caerphilly Residents Give their Vision for Town's Future
Caerphilly Residents Give their Vision for Town's Future

Business News Wales

time6 days ago

  • Business News Wales

Caerphilly Residents Give their Vision for Town's Future

Residents have begun sharing their vision for a key future target for regeneration in Caerphilly town centre. The Caerphilly Town 2035 team are running a series of summer engagement activities seeking the thoughts, experiences, and ideas for the future of the upper Cardiff Road area of Caerphilly, known as the 'Top of Town', running from the train station to the Twyn. The Festival of Ideas will see a series of events happen throughout the town across the coming weeks, where people of all ages and backgrounds will be encouraged to share their thoughts to inform future development of the area, culminating in a public finale on September 6. The Festival of Ideas began in early August with an event organised in partnership with Valley Daffodils, a charity for individuals with all disabilities and additional learning needs and their families. As the placemaking plan progresses, ensuring that Caerphilly truly serves the needs of the community who live, work, and visit the town is a key priority. The Festival of Ideas is designed to achieve targeted engagement with key communities from hard-to-reach groups to young people and families. The Festival of Ideas will reach its finale on September 6 with a public event in Y Banc and Windsor and Stockland Square. Residents and visitors are invited to come and have their say on the future of Caerphilly Town through a series of activities and interactive workshops. Ceri, founder and chairperson of Valley Daffodils, said: 'It's really encouraging – and important – to see inclusivity built into the plans for Caerphilly Town 2035. 'Census data indicates that Caerphilly has one of the highest proportions of disabled adults in Wales. This makes it even more important that this demographic is consulted and included in any plans that will affect the day-to-day of all who live in, work in, and visit Caerphilly. 'Valley Daffodils have been really grateful to be involved at various stages of the community engagement work done behind the scenes of the placemaking plan, and we're really excited to see how the town evolves as a result of the Festival of Ideas.' A Caerphilly County Borough Council spokesperson said: 'The Caerphilly Town 2035 plan has been bringing ambitious revitalisation to make Caerphilly the very best place to live, work, and visit it possibly can. 'With the opening of the container market Ffos Caerffili and the ongoing regeneration of Caerphilly Castle, we are already delivering much-needed change informed by the needs and wants of residents. 'To build on our success further, we are once again asking for your input to create the Caerphilly you want to see.'

Inside the Scottish charity working to demine Ukraine
Inside the Scottish charity working to demine Ukraine

The National

time10-08-2025

  • The National

Inside the Scottish charity working to demine Ukraine

Three years after the liberation of Chernihiv Oblast, the main threat in Budy no longer comes from the air, but lingers in the forests and sunflower fields. I'm two hours north of Kyiv with Scottish demining charity The HALO Trust, which has detected and destroyed almost 7000 explosive devices across 1.82 million square metres of land in the Chernihiv region, while 1.71 million square metres remain contaminated. 'Ukraine is now the most mined country in the world and the threats are different across the country,' HALO sub-unit commander Mykyta Kryzhanovskyi says. 'The impact of the Russian invasion is so huge that we'll have work to do for decades.' The Ukrainian Government estimates that an area larger than the size of Greece will need to be surveyed nationwide. As of December 2024, the UN reported almost 1,500 civilian mine casualties in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022. In a secured field, we are given PPE – body armour and visors – and a safety briefing by HALO staff. READ MORE: 'Absolutely crazy': Scottish jazz artist scores new film by Hollywood director Kryzhanovskyi, a former paediatric anaesthetist in Odesa, southern Ukraine, joined in 2023. 'I wanted to help my country on a larger scale and I saw that HALO needed people,' he says. 'I'm happy to be part of this global process now in Ukraine.' He jokes, asking if I – as a Scot – have been 'sent from HQ'. The HALO Trust, founded in 1988 and based in Thornhill near Dumfries, employs 58 staff in Scotland and 8700 worldwide. The organisation gained global recognition during Princess Diana's visit to Angola's minefields in the 1990s. In 2016, HALO began work in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions following Russia's 2014 invasion and has since grown its local staff from 400 to 1600 to help secure a safer future for Ukrainians living alongside these remnants of conflict. We watch as the staff present their tasks, referencing colour-coded maps of affected areas. Between March and April 2022, they explain, Ukrainian soldiers set up defensive positions on Budy's outskirts, laying anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines and enduring heavy shelling from multiple launch rocket systems, tanks, mortars, cluster munitions and small arms from three Russian-occupied villages nearby. The village remains damaged and civilians have been killed or injured by mines and unexploded ordnance. The main threats in this region, Kryzhankovskyi says, are tripwires loaded with grenades, submunitions and anti-vehicle mines. Blast scars from the fighting in surrounding fields are clearly visible in satellite imagery. Surveying the land from above using aerial photography and AI technology is revolutionising mine clearance. Image analyst Oleksandr Tereshchenko and drone pilot Serhii Pasholok demonstrate remote sensing using a large drone – a technique pioneered by HALO since the full invasion began, speeding-up the detection of war debris and minimising the risks of boots on the ground. 'We started with just the two of us,' Oleksandr says. 'With huge support from our colleagues in Scotland, this department has now expanded to more than 20 people.' The large drone surveys territory using a camera with high-resolution zoom capabilities, creating imagery that preserves scale. Using AI, a final map report is produced, pinpointing abnormalities on the ground for survey staff to focus on across vast swathes of land. While watching Tereshchenko's monitor, the camera hones in on a dummy blue mine as cows nonchalantly chew grass nearby. Drones aren't the only technology used in modern mine clearance. We look on as a Seppi Max 50 vehicle – controlled remotely by an operator wearing a VR headset and protected by an armoured shield – roams the ground. READ MORE: Anas Sarwar blasted as 'hypocrite' after branding Benjamin Netanyahu 'war criminal' These machines clear vegetation, tripwires and munitions, absorbing blasts from any explosions and accelerating the demining process with lower risks to staff. 'In this area, we had an incident involving our demining machine – it detonated a TM-62M anti-vehicle mine in a metal casing,' Kyrylo Holovko, Task Group Commander, says. The robot isn't entirely reliable: staff must sweep the area manually afterwards. Many of HALO's 1600 staff across six regions in Ukraine are internally displaced people who have reskilled to assist the war effort, and 30% are women. In the dense forests where the robot can't operate, deminers use metal detectors in a painstaking manual process. Wooden posts mark locations of detected and destroyed debris, with a description of the type of ordnance found, its depth and the date of clearance noted. 23mm and 30mm cannon rounds – with a lethal blast radius of one to five metres or beyond – are commonly found in this area. Our eyes widen as we pass a post marking a KTM-1 high-explosive projectile fuze, recently found at a depth of ten centimetres and cleared. On the edge of the forest, Viacheslav Baliurko is on his knees, manually excavating a small patch of ground. Before the full-scale invasion he worked in reproductive medicine, helping to increase Ukraine's birth rate – a task that became 'impossible' after the full-scale invasion began. Viacheslav Baliurko'I saw a HALO job advert online, I was curious and decided that this is where I would be most useful,' he says. 'Before, I worked to make sure there were children and now I work to make sure those children can walk freely and safely.' As Viacheslav scrapes away the soil in 5-10cm layers by hand, repeatedly sweeping each section with a metal detector and marking the areas where a signal sounds, the instrument buzzes. 'There's something here!' he says. Fortunately, it's just a scrap of metal, which he tosses aside into a bucket. The staff are keenly aware of the risks of such dangerous work. Maryna Kostiuk was previously a nursery teacher in Sloviansk, Donetsk region and followed her husband into the organisation after being displaced to Kyiv. 'I couldn't just sit at home, I wanted to do something useful,' she says. 'Sometimes it's scary because we understand that we work with explosive objects, but I really like the job and we follow all safety rules and instructions.' In December 2023, HALO Ukraine completed national certification in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), enabling greater efficiency while reducing the strain on national authorities. For the specialist technicians who dispose of complex ordnance including IEDs and booby-traps, the risks can increase. In May, widely-respected British EOD volunteer Chris 'Swampy' Garrett – founder of the mine clearance nonprofit Prevail, who worked alongside the Ukrainian Army and National Police – was killed alongside a colleague in an incident in eastern Ukraine. From the fields opposite, a whistle blows and the forest deminers walk to a safe area and remove their visors for a break. Kateryna Vechkanova, from Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, joined HALO two years ago. Today, she is scanning the forest floor for 9N210/9N235-type cluster munitions and other ordnance. Kateryna Vechkanova'We used to go outdoors as a family every weekend,' Kateryna says. 'I joined so that someday I can take my children to the forest and live as before. We will clear our land so that it can be ploughed, planted, walked on safely and we can breathe freely.' As the world's breadbasket, Ukraine's mine-contaminated crop fields have devastated the agricultural economy. READ MORE: Police Scotland 'on notice' for visit by JD Vance during UK holiday Since 2022, the UK government has contributed £12.9 million to HALO Ukraine, returning 688,760m2 of land. 'The release of agricultural land back to communities is enabling the production of corn, wheat, sunflower oil, and other agricultural products that are exported globally and is part of ensuring a stable global food market amidst the ongoing conflict,' says Calum Craig, policy and advocacy manager at The HALO Trust. In 2022, a Budy farmer was seriously injured after detonating a mine with his tractor while cultivating his crops. 'The work on these areas is very important for us, as many people were left without their regular income from agricultural activities,' says Holovko. 'In Budy, there are 72 beneficiaries to whom we will hand over these territories after clearance so that they can continue to safely use this land.' Elsewhere in the Chernihiv region, a family picking mushrooms were killed after their car triggered a mine in 2022. As the autumn foraging season approaches, Kostiuk wishes for the simple pleasure of spending time in nature with her child again. 'We really loved to walk in the forest and pick mushrooms,' she says. 'But now our forests are heavily mined and it's too dangerous.' In addition to demining operations, HALO teams organise mine awareness sessions for the community, teaching children and adults how to live safely in affected areas. 'So far, about 54,000 people in the Chernihiv region have been informed,' Kryzhanovskyi says. While HALO unearths the lethal legacies embedded in Ukrainian soil, the global conversation on future mine use is shifting. Since Ukraine and five other European countries recently announced plans to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel mines, citing an increasing Russian military threat, the issues surrounding mine use have been brought to the fore. 'The Ottawa Treaty is a key part of the human security architecture of tomorrow and one of the great successes of recent times,' Craig says. 'It has been instrumental in saving millions lives with more than 55 million AP mines destroyed since 1997 and over 30 countries now mine free. HALO believes in the rules-based international system and we urge all signatories to the Treaty to stay firm and adhere to global norms on landmines.' In the forest, the whistle sounds again as we prepare to leave. For this dedicated group of deminers, however, the work continues. They don their vests and visors once more. 'We don't have a deadline for our work,' Kryzhanovskyi says. 'I don't want other countries to forget that this problem is not solved. We're doing our best job and the war is still going on.' This reporting was supported by the International Women's Media Foundation's Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine's Unseen Frontlines Initiative in partnership with the Howard G Buffett Foundation.

Risca Community Comprehensive School out of special measures
Risca Community Comprehensive School out of special measures

South Wales Argus

time06-08-2025

  • South Wales Argus

Risca Community Comprehensive School out of special measures

This follows a highly positive monitoring visit by Estyn, the Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales, in July. The inspection team found the school had made sufficient progress in addressing all five key recommendations from the previous core inspection. The arrival of a new headteacher has been instrumental in transforming the school's leadership culture. A strategic reorganisation of senior leadership roles has allowed leaders at all levels to work more collaboratively and effectively. Middle leaders now benefit from consistent line management, collaborative coaching, and development opportunities, all of which have improved their capacity to support teaching and pupil outcomes. The school has made notable strides in embedding literacy and numeracy skills across subjects. Professional learning initiatives have helped staff apply these skills contextually, resulting in more opportunities for students to engage in extended writing, critical reading, and mathematical reasoning. The implementation of the Risca Learning Charter has created a more consistent and restorative approach to behaviour and engagement. Staff and pupils now engage in constructive conversations to improve classroom dynamics, and internal interventions support pupils with behavioural challenges. Attendance has risen substantially, now exceeding the rates of similar schools. All previously identified health and safety concerns have been fully addressed. Upgraded fencing and gating systems now ensure a secure school site. A recent monitoring visit by Estyn formally removed the school from the 'special measures' category. Inspectors determined that the school has made significant and sustained progress in addressing all of the recommendations previously identified. Headteacher Martin Hulland said: "I am absolutely delighted with this decision from Estyn. "It's a tremendous boost for our entire school community. "Our dedicated staff have worked tirelessly to implement the changes required, and I am proud of every one of them. "Our fantastic pupils have been true partners in this journey, demonstrating improved attitudes to learning, self-confidence, and resilience. "We're proud of how far we've come and are determined to keep moving forward to be the very best school we can be. "I would like to thank the local authority, our governors, and our parents for their unwavering support." Cllr Carol Andrews, cabinet member for education and communities at Caerphilly County Borough Council, added: "This is a truly outstanding achievement for Risca Community Comprehensive School, and a reflection of the commitment and collaboration between staff, pupils, governors, and the wider community. "I am particularly pleased to see the improvements in pupil behaviour, attendance, and teaching quality—all of which are vital to a successful school. "Congratulations to everyone involved; this outcome is richly deserved, and I am confident that the school will continue to go from strength to strength."

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store