As the sun was shining, this week our focus group took the opportunity to venture outdoors and get some exercise. The group walked around Bargoed park and then had a game of football, which left a few of us exhausted!

Discover the best dice casino sites in the UK for 2026. Expert reviews, top bonuses, game strategies, and safe licensed operators. Read our comprehensive guide. read our complete guide
Discover the best no ID verification casinos for UK players in 2026. Compare top sites, bonuses, and payment methods. Full guide to KYC-free gaming. read our no-ID casino ranking
A detailed 2026 guide to the best casinos not on GamStop offering instant withdrawals. Compare top offshore brands, payment methods, no ID verification options, and crypto speed – and learn how to cash out in minutes. read our full guide to casinos not on GamStop with instant withdrawals
A practical guide to the best non-Gamstop casinos for UK players in 2026, covering legality, bonuses, payment methods, and safe offshore play. explore casino sites not registered with Gamstop
UK credit card gambling ban remains in place, but offshore casinos still accept Visa and Mastercard. Our 2026 guide ranks the top 10 safe, non-Gamstop sites with reliable payouts, compares bonuses, and explains the real costs of using credit. compare the best credit card casinos available to UK players
A practical guide to the best UK casino sites accepting debit cards in 2026, with a ranking, payment speed data, and honest advice on bonuses, withdrawals, and safety. compare the best debit card casinos for UK players
Find out which UK casino sites historically accepted ecoPayz, why it left the market, and the best ecoPayz alternatives for 2026. Complete with a ranked comparison table of top operators. read our expert guide to ecoPayz casinos UK 2026
A no-nonsense guide to the best offshore casino sites that accept Jeton for UK players in 2026, with real operator reviews, bonus analysis, and payment comparisons. read the full Jeton casino guide
Our editorial team spent dozens of hours testing every UK casino that takes Skrill. Here’s the unvarnished list: which sites actually pay, which bonuses are a trap, and why Skrill is still the smart money mover for 2026. see our ranked list of Skrill casinos UK
A blunt guide to UK casino VIP programmes in 2026 — how they work, what perks are actually worth it, and which high‑roller casinos deliver the goods. No fluff, just facts and a ranked table of the top VIP casinos. read our definitive casino VIP guide
We’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who attended this week’s coffee morning held to raise money for Ukraine. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters we have raised over £200 so far, and this will be donated to the British Red Cross Ukraine Humanitarian appeal. If anyone would like to donate directly to them, the link is:
https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-crisis-appeal
Alternatively, there is still time to donate through Caerphilly People First, and if you’d like to do this you can contact Ffion Poole on 07488 350518.


At the beginning of March, Ffion Poole and Natalie King worked alongside Cardiff People First to train medical students on how to communicate with people with learning disabilities. The training involved going into a breakout room and holding a number of interviews with students, where the conversations included what Caerphilly People First does and people’s lives and hobbies. We really enjoyed this and hope we can be involved again in the future.
For the final week of our Winter Wellbeing project (funded by All Wales People First) the group took part in a mindfulness session, where they sat in a quiet room, and for 30 minutes listened to a recording to help us relax. After the session the group felt less stressed and said they will continue to practice meditation in the future as they found it so helpful.
As it was St. David’s Day, the group took part in a quiz about Wales, and they also celebrated Shrove Tuesday with some pancakes and fresh strawberries and bananas.

Ffion and Natalie recently attended a workshop run by the British Institute of Human Rights where people discussed the changes the UK government has proposed making to the Human Rights Act. They want to change the laws that were in place in the UK when we were part of the European Union. Caerphilly People First is one of the many organisations concerned by this because we believe that it will lead to people in the United Kingdom having their rights weakened. The UK government have opened a consultation to get the views of people on the proposed changes, but unfortunately this isn’t available in an easy-read format. This consultation is available until 8th March at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/human-rights-act-reform-a-modern-bill-of-rights
Our Chairperson Ffion says: We are worried about this as we have not had a say or had any easy read documents explaining why and how they are going to change things. We feel like we are invisible as people with learning disabilities.
For week 3 of our Winter Wellbeing course, the Tuesday Focus Group discussed the benefits of Vitamin C and Vitamin D, and compared foods to see which foods contain the most sugar and fat, and which healthier foods you can replace the unhealthy ones with. After this discussion, the group took part in a healthy eating quiz prepared by Carmarthenshire People First, following which the group made healthy carrot and coriander soup.

Here is the latest version of the Caerphilly People First newsletter. We hope you enjoy reading about our activities.
As part of Cardiff People First’s Winter Wellbeing programme, they held a period party event at the Grange Pavilion in Cardiff, which was attended by Caerphilly People First members, Ffion Poole, Natalie King and Hannah Thomas. They also invited the Cheeky Pants company to attend via Zoom, to answer any questions people had about their products, and also to advise them on how to make their information accessible for people with Learning Disabilities. There were lots of brilliant ideas and questions during this discussion. It was great to see everyone face- face after a very long, challenging time, and we’d like to thank Cardiff People First for the invite.

For week 2 of our Winter Wellbeing project the group mixed flower seeds into compost, then headed to Bargoed Woodland Park to throw them into the woods. We’ll go back and visit where we left them in late Spring to see if they have grown. The group was joined by All Wales People First, Chief Executive Joe Powell and Natasha Hirst from the Through our Eyes Photography Project who took some fantastic photos. It was a great session and the group feedback was excellent. We’d like to thank All Wales People First for funding the project, Carmarthenshire People First for providing training materials, and Fusion Torfaen & Caerphilly for the wild flower seeds.


If you shop on Amazon/Amazon Smile you can select a charity to receive a small donation when you purchase items. It would be great if you could choose Caerphilly People First as your designated charity – it only takes a few minutes and will all add up and make a difference. Thank you.