20 years at the very heart of a city community touched by more than its share of tragedy

Canon Jan Gould has been a pillar of the community in Ely, Cardiff, for two decades as it has faced down numerous tough and challenging times. Abbie Wightwick reports

- Abbie Wightwick reports

DURING times of riot and hit-and-run tragedies, to births and national celebrations, Canon Jan Gould has been at the heart of life in the Cardiff suburb of Ely for the past 19 years.

As she prepares to retire from the city parish in one of the largest council estates in the UK, she says it's been a privilege to serve there and will miss it.

Canon Gould describes Ely as the strongest and most supportive community she’s worked in, and is quick to discard the tag it sometimes gets as “deprived”.

On the contrary - she says while people may not be as rich as in some areas, their wealth is in their shared history and mutual support.

While Ely may hit the national headlines for all the wrong reasons, Canon Gould says that’s only part of the story and there have been more highs than lows in her nearly two decades there.

“Ely is a really strong community where people care about each other. This is the strongest community I have ever worked in. People in Ely stand shoulder to shoulder in a crisis. It has some difficult characters, but every community does. Ely has wonderful, generous, and supportive people,” she said.

Canon Gould knows that people need to prove their worth before being accepted in Ely. She knew she had to get to know the community quickly when she arrived.

When she became vicar of Ely at the Church of the Resurrection in September 2006, Canon Gould - who was ordained in England in 1995 but had been in Cardiff for two years - admits she knew little about the area.

She knew she had to work hard to fill the shoes of the last vicar.

“All I knew really was that Ely was a very big council estate. I knew it was a place where people didn’t have a lot of money. I had always felt a calling to work in this sort of area so I applied for the job. For the first few months I lived in the shadow of Rev Morgan, father of First Minister Eluned Morgan, because he had been here 36 years,” she recalls.