SPOTLIGHT The royals, Cerys Matthews, plenty of pooches and Snoopy

Kate and William soaked up the festive spirit at Cardiff Castle

Royal visit

RIGHT ROYAL Students from Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University and the University of South Wales had the honour of meeting Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Cardiff Castle last month. As part of a 48-hour whistle-stop tour, Kate and William visited the city to meet local university students to hear about some of the challenges they have experienced during the pandemic, with a particular focus on mental health. For more: www.cardiff .gov.uk

Television

RALLY WITH SALI One of Wales’s most popular children’s characters, Sali Mali, is back; Cardiff -based fi lm and TV production company Calon has announced plans for 26 new episodes, and Cerys Matthews is on board too.

Originally created as books by author Mary Vaughan Jones, the fi rst TV series was made almost 20 years ago. This new series – which will once again feature Cerys Matthews singing the theme tune, and have Hollywood star Rhys Ifans providing narration in both English and Welsh – has seen the team behind it working tirelessly during lockdown to make the magic happen. It will run on S4C up to February 2021.

Cerys Matthews says, “To revisit this song so many years apart was something else. I loved it then and I love it now, though so much life has passed and changed from when I was fi rst presented with this gem of a tune. It was right in the middle of the earliest lockdown when I recorded this new version with its new words and arrangements. I’ve got to say it was pure pleasure; it was a refreshing change of scene – we all had to keep socially distant of course but to enter a studio to do something so familiar and enjoyable in the midst of something so unusual was great.”

Calon’s managing director Robin Lyons adds, “Every person involved, from the writers to the director and the production team across Wales, worked remotely, and I’m very proud to have achieved this end result in these diff erent circumstances. It was absolutely great to have Rhys and Cerys on board.” For more: www.calon.tv

Nicky performing at Brewhouse Cardiff back when the world was ‘normal’

Music

HOW FETCHING Cardiff Bay-based former X Factor singer Nicky Pendry has founded a free online game enabling families and friends to come together virtually during the pandemic and beyond. In Go Fetch Stuff , players are challenged to ‘fetch’ one household item – from a list of 1,200 – with just 45 seconds to fi nd it. Since its launch, 13.8 million items have been ‘fetched’. For more: www.gofetchstuff .com

Cerys Matthews will once again be singing the Sali Mali theme tune

Photography

POOCH PORTRAITS We just had to share these pooch portraits by Nathan Roach of Coal Poet Photography, shot at Motel Nights in Cardiff. Houndthemed Christmas photoshoots proved to be extremely popular for 2020; and these are some of our favourites we won’t fur-get… For more: www.coalpoetphotography.com

Cardiff artist Matt Joyce with his Snoopy sculpture

Arts

CREATING CHANGE The Welsh National Opera has commissioned and created a series of films under the collective title Creating Change, which challenge and explore the role of the arts in a time of crisis.

Conceived in response to the pandemic, each film holds a mirror to some uncomfortable truths about financial, social and racial inequality that have become all the more prevalent during these times, but also with a positive message about making change for the good.

The five writers involved have all been working with WNO on Migrations – a new opera commission which was due to open in Autumn 2020, but has been postponed to Autumn 2021. For Migrations, the writers were influenced by their own personal experiences of migration to create a series of stories. Creating Change expands on this by raising awareness around issues of social inequality and injustice that have been deepened through the Covid crisis.

Two of the films have been set to music by Welsh singer-songwriter sisters Eädyth and Kizzy Crawford. The films were released in December and are available on WNO’s website.

For more: www.wno.org.uk/creatingchange

Two of the films have been set to music by Welsh singer-songwriter sisters Eädyth and Kizzy Crawford Paws for effect

Charity

A DOG’S TRAIL Cardiff artists and school children are invited to unleash their creativity on a pack of blank-canvas Snoopy sculptures. Dogs Trust charity is gearing up for its first-ever public art trail in Cardiff in Autumn 2021, and it’ll showcase local talent like never before.

A Dog’s Trail with Snoopy, in collaboration with creative producers, Wild in Art, will see over 50 supersized Snoopy sculptures displayed across the city for 10 weeks from September to November 2021.

At the end of the trail, the Snoopys will be auctioned off to raise vital funds for Dogs Trust to continue to improve dog welfare in Wales as they prepare to open their newest rehoming centre in Cardiff in summer 2021. A ‘hero’ Snoopy was recently unveiled at the trail’s virtual launch event at the end of 2020 which was created by Cardiff artist Matt Joyce.

In addition, up to 130 smaller Snoopy sculptures, designed by schoolchildren, will form a key part of the trail. At the end of the trail, these Snoopy sculptures will be returned to their young creators.

Artists and schools can complete submission forms on the A Dog’s Trail website. Designs must be submitted by 22 February 2021. For more: www.adogstrail.org.uk