Last Sunday was one of those days that I spent most of it with a huge smile on my face and here is why.
Meeting people face-to-face is the best bit of running Cwmbran Life. I try my best to meet people in person to hear their stories. It takes a lot of time and creates even more work but I love doing it.
On Sunday 23 March, I found myself sat in Reg Hann’s living room, the man who had the idea of building Cwmbran Boating Lake, to give him a belated 100th birthday present.
The reason why I was there goes back to Sunday 11 February when I filmed this video below at the boating lake. Reg turned 100 on 9 February 2024 so a plan was hatched to create a special gift for him.
It led to a few days of my WhatsApp and email going a little bit crazy. Oh and speaking of WhatsApp, please join the new Cwmbran Life WhatsApp channel here.
It was an appeal for people to send me their favourite photos of their visits to the lake to show Reg what the place he created means to them.
Creating the VistaPrint book
I spent a few evenings on VistaPrint creating a hardback photo book containing around 215 photos. It was a juggle with portrait and landscape pics, not to mention some that couldn’t be used at a large size due to their low resolution.
It finally fell into place and about ten days later the book dropped through my letterbox. I contacted Katherine Hann, his daughter, to arrange a day and time to hand it over.
And that was why I spent Sunday afternoon with a grin on my face, after meeting Reg again to give him the present on behalf of Cwmbran residents. This is a short video I filmed.
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