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Residents urged to check eligibility for Warm Homes scheme

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PEOPLE living in Mid and West Wales are being urged to check if they are eligible to join the 11,550 homes across the region which have already been adapted to make them warmer, greener and fit for the future under a Welsh Labour Government scheme. 

Between 2011 and 2024, 82,000 households benefitted from measures in their homes through the Welsh Labour Government’s Warm Homes Nest Scheme.

Joyce Watson MS, Labour Senedd Member for Mid and West Wales, said:

“I know that many of my constituents in Mid and West Wales are worried about their energy bills. The Welsh Labour Government recognises this and is spending £30 million this year to help cut bills.”

First Minister Eluned Morgan MS, Labour Senedd Member for Mid and West Wales, added:

“Thousands of eligible homes in Mid and West Wales have already benefitted from the Warm Homes Scheme, and yours could be next.

“In 2022-2023, the original scheme saved families on average £422 a year on their energy bills – real money that can make a real difference to people’s lives.”

The Warm Homes Scheme works by offering free, impartial advice to anyone and practical upgrades to eligible homes. These upgrades could include heat pumps, solar panels and better insulation, while appliances such as boilers can be repaired and replaced.

The Welsh Government also offers interest-free loans through the Green Homes Wales scheme, for homeowners who want to save energy but can’t afford the initial costs. 2,500 people in Wales have already engaged in the scheme.

Upgrading home energy efficiency is not just about saving money, but also helps save our environment. Reducing the energy that we use in our homes is one practical way to help the Welsh Government reach its commitment to net-zero by 2050.

Find out what support you may be eligible for by visiting the Welsh Government Nest Cymru website and the Green Homes Wales website.

Community

The life of a crime scene cleaner: Ben Giles shares his harrowing experiences

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SOME of the images that Ben Giles has confronted over the past three decades have been stomach-churning.

He’s seen the brutality of murders, corpses left to rot for weeks on end, young children who have been mauled to death by dogs, victims of fatal car crashes, and an ever-increasing number of tragic suicides.

As he tackled each new scene as founder and director of Ultima Cleaning, Ben’s sole focus was on ensuring that the job was executed professionally. But it was only when he began working on his recently published book The Life of a Crime Scene Cleaner, that the true extent of those harrowing experiences began to hit home.

“Arriving at a crime scene, my main drive was to get the job done properly, but this meant not really thinking about what had happened,” Ben told The Pembrokeshire Herald.

“It was only when I began working on the book and started going over some of the scenes I’d confronted that I began to realise what some of those families had gone through.

“Yes, some of the things I’ve seen have been horrific.”

One image that will never leave Ben is that of a middle-aged woman who had been bludgeoned to death by her husband at their home in Birmingham.

“It made me realise that people sometimes die in ways that we don’t think possible,” he said. “I’d recently got married, and I just couldn’t accept how anything like this could happen between a husband and his wife.”

The woman had survived for three days on the kitchen floor but sadly died as she was being taken to hospital by ambulance. The entire room in which she’d been murdered was covered by a fine mist of blood, and bloody handprints and fingerprints were all over the kitchen units. The drawers had blood inside them and their runners, while the washing machine had so much blood on it that it had seeped into the door and into the seal.

“In a few hours, we’d completely cleaned the room and were travelling back home to our own wives and families. But the emotion that we were all feeling as a team will never leave me.”

Dealing with the unimaginable

On another occasion, Ben and his team were asked to attend a property in Penrhiwllan, near Newcastle Emlyn, where a man had lain dead for eight weeks.

“The smell was horrendous,” recalls Ben. “His face and legs had been eaten by his dog, and the man had begun decomposing through the carpet. His body fat had gone into the concrete. There were swarms of bluebottles everywhere.

“This was one of the very first biohazard cleaning jobs I’d ever done, so obviously the expectations were considerable. And in those days, we didn’t have Google to refer to, so it was a question of using our own knowledge and initiative to ensure the job was done well.”

Building a business from scratch

In many ways, this strong sense of self-belief has been the undercurrent of Ben’s life journey.

He left school at the age of 16 with a handful of GCSEs and no inclination to pursue further education.

“I knew I wanted to carry on living here in west Wales but I also knew that the qualifications I had weren’t going to get me the job or the salary I wanted,” explains Ben.

And so he set up his own window cleaning business.

“I managed to make a success of it,” he explains. “By the time I was 17, I was earning more money than my schoolteachers, and when I was 18, I was able to buy my first house and car.”

That same year, Ben decided to diversify into different methods of cleaning, focusing on offices and schools. By the time he was 23, he had a workforce of 20 people.

His first job came courtesy of a client who worked with the Aberystwyth branch of Age Concern.

“She told me that a warden-assisted flat hadn’t been cleaned for ten years. The bath was full to the brim with human faeces, as was the toilet, and the place was crawling with flies. Both the flats on either side were empty because of the smell.

“We cleaned the property that same day for a fee of £2,000, and I knew that by deodorising it and doing everything possible to clean it, we’d created an opportunity for the other flats to be let out too.”

A business built on expertise

Under Ben’s directorship, Ultima has been split into three categories:

  • Ultima Cleaning, specialising in crime scene and biohazard cleaning;
  • Ultima Academy, which offers specialist biohazard training to organisations such as police and prison officers, British Aerospace, and immigration officers;
  • Ultima’s Environmental Network, facilitated by some 400 operatives throughout the UK.

The company has also worked closely with leading pharmaceutical companies to develop pioneering cleaning materials for severe cleanup operations, while a mental health specialist is always on hand to support any staff members affected by their work.

Ultima remains the sole British company that can offer a two-hour call-out, operating from its centre in Newport, Gwent.

Selling Ultima Cleaning

In 2022, Ben made the difficult decision to sell Ultima Cleaning.

“When COVID hit, I was going to bed at 3am and waking up at 6, when there’d be 20 jobs already in, waiting to be sanitised. We were absolutely everywhere, and it nearly exhausted me and the team.

“So I suppose it was this that made me take stock of where I am today.

“Over the years, it’s become obvious that people love hearing about the work we do as loads of people love crime, and the most popular question I get asked has to be ‘What’s the worst thing you’ve ever had to clean up?’

“But people are also interested in my own personal journey.

“And this is why I decided to write the book. OK, so I’m a much better cleaner than I am a writer, but I’ve always kept a diary of my jobs, and this has helped me to select between 30 and 40 of the most interesting ones for the book.

“At the end of the day, I’m a normal guy from Cardigan who’s worked hard, who’s had a firm belief in everything I’ve done, and who’s succeeded.

“But the business has made me appreciate my life, my family, the wonderful people around me, and my home near Cardigan.

“Ultima has taught me a great deal about life, but perhaps the greatest thing is to forget the word ‘no’. If I’d said no to so many of those jobs over the years, there’s no way I’d be where I am today.”

The Life of a Crime Scene Cleaner is available from Amazon on Kindle (£7.99) and paperback (£15.99).

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Crime

Mother accused of murdering six-year-old son set to appear in court

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A MOTHER accused of murdering her son and attempting to kill her father is set to appear in court next month.

Karolina Zurawska, 41, of Cwm Du Close, Gendros, Swansea, is charged with the murder of her six-year-old son, Alexander Zurawski, whose body was discovered at a property in Swansea in August last year. She is also accused of attempting to murder her father, 67-year-old Krzysztof Siwi, on the same occasion.

Zurawska was due to appear at Swansea Crown Court on Monday but was not produced from custody. A plea hearing has now been scheduled for March 3. She remains in custody.

Following Alexander’s death, his family described him as a “very kind child”. They said: “Alexander was always well-behaved and never naughty. He was very clever and very mature for his age. He had great understanding of facts. Alexander was always helpful, always eager to assist with cooking and cleaning.

“Alexander spoke both English and Polish and would often correct his parents with their English if they got words wrong. He was amazing.”

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Entertainment

The Fureys at the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven

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ARE you fans of the legends of Irish music and song? The FUREYS, renowned for their hit songs ‘I Will Love You’, ‘When You Were Sweet 16’, ‘The Green Fields of France’, ‘The Old Man’, ‘Red Rose Café’, ‘From Clare to Here’, ‘Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway’, ‘Leaving Nancy’, ‘Steal Away’ and many others, will hit the Torch Theatre stage this March.

The oldest of the brothers, Eddie Furey left home in 1966 and travelled to Scotland at the time of the great folk revival, where with his brother Finbar, he met and shared accommodation with then unknown folk singers Billy Connolly, Gerry Rafferty, Tam Harvey and Alex Campbell.

In 1972, Gerry Rafferty wrote ‘Her father didn’t like me anyway’ for Eddie. BBC Radio 1 presenter, the late John Peel, made it his single of the year.

They are particularly proud of their UK chart success with songs such as ‘I Will Love You’ and ‘When You Were Sweet Sixteen,’ which in turn helped bring Irish folk and traditional music to a completely new audience. The band made their Top of the Pops debut in 1981.

Eddie Furey recalls how “many musicians have told us we influenced them after hearing a record from their parents or grandparents’ collection”. Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics has credited Eddie with teaching him his first chords on the guitar while still a teenager. Eddie would return the compliment by joining Dave on stage in Paris for a jam during the latter’s wedding to Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey.

Their emotive songs stir many emotions, tears and laughter, sadness and joy.

Tickets for The Fureys on Thursday 27 March at 7.30pm at the Torch Theatre are priced at £26.00. Visit the website for further details www.torchtheatre.co.uk or phone the Box Office on (01646) 695267.

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