Riverside Writers

Riverside Writers is a grouping of writers and gentle activists who will reflect the lives of people who live in Riverside, the outside forces that affect their current and past health and wellbeing, and their ability to plan for the future.

Riverside Writers will bring you stories from the lives of people who are living with the reality and complexities of inner-city life in Cardiff – the largest city in Wales and the 13th largest city in the UK. Riverside is a ward or zone of Cardiff. Cardiff is the Capital City of Wales. Cardiff was established as the capital of Wales in 1955. Since 1964, it has been home to government offices for Wales and since 1999, with creation of devolved levels of control and responsibility to Wales from the UK Government, it has been the seat of the Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament.

Wales is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to the east and sea to north, west and south. It is one of the generally recognized six modern Celtic Nations clustered around western Europe, specifically Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany in France. These nations have a Celtic language that is still used. Parts of north west Spain, in particular Galicia and Asturias have sometimes been seen as Celtic due to their unique culture, unlike the six nations, no Celtic language has been spoken there into the modern era. Riverside is a densely populated inner-city area which, from its beginnings, has had a strong element of cultural diversity. It is relatively young as an Urban Centre and its earliest communities reflected the people who built the expanding city, in the 1920’s and 30’s. 

The Riverside Writers will gather stories from three groups of people who have a greater likelihood of experiencing health inequalities and have particular sets of circumstances that cause differentiation in their day to day life. These are: 

  • Women from longer established Asian and African Communities encapsulating their experience of caring for larger families together with other caring responsibilities on low incomes and mixed educational achievements.
  • Individuals and families from mo​re newly arrived migrant communities including African, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European living with the circumstance of integration, language and literacy, and low income.
  • Individuals in a range of circumstances of recovery. These would include living with substance or alcohol reliance, mental health difficulties, and the effects of other life occurrences.

Riverside is rich with artists, writers and wandering minstrels and in these perplexing and disorientated times, it does well to remember the hearts gaze.

The Lonesome Folksinger

The Lonesome Folksinger
Pads the walkways 
Peering into windows
Trying all the doors
The song of the suddenly corpse
In his head
The tune they brought back from the wars

He sings his songs
To empty bars
Serenades deserted streets
A low growl comes
From the bowel 
Of the dance hall
Resonant yet discreet
Its Mama Rose

She takes him aside
Her hearts gaze 
Penetrates his bewilderment
Conveying more than words can muster
Begging him to be sure
As the days of glitter lose their lustre
Always to remember 
Many walked this path before