Heartbreak and Hope Wales in a Year

2012 saw the results of the latest Welsh national census.

But that's just a set of dry statistics.

It's not flesh and bones.

Amazing.

It doesn't show us how we really live, or who we really are.

Our hopes...

Our fears...

I don't want her to die in a hospital environment.

..Our dreams.

Throughout 2012,

we followed eight very different families, from all walks of life and

from all over the country, to reveal the real Wales behind the numbers.

The result is Wales In A Year, a unique and unfolding

insight into the incredible daily dramas of all our lives.

And tonight - Ty Carreg Farm's future is in the balance as Gruffydd goes under the knife...

..There's more heartache in Merthyr.

I'm so surprised she didn't break every bone in her body.

And Jahan witnesses the dark side of the drinks industry.

Open your legs a bit, mate, so you don't get sick on your shoes.

Wales, 2012, a land of 3.1 million people.

At some point in all our lives, we're forced to confront

the unexpected, and often daunting, challenges of serious illness.

Life expectancy in Wales has never been higher.

It's 78 for the average Welsh male and 82 for the average female.

But greater longevity also means more wear and tear.

It's high summer at Ty Carreg Farm in the foothills of Snowdonia.

But it's been a stormy time for 81-year-old tenant farmer,

Gruffydd Edwards.

The weather's been grim and to make matters worse,

Gruffydd is housebound.

Three weeks yesterday, I had the replacement hip surgery.

That's us handicapped quite a bit, but things are improving,

I wouldn't be able to lift my leg up that much a week ago, so it's improving.

This one's going all right, of course.

Oh, good God, I'm looking forward for the next three weeks to go quick

because I'm hoping I'll be back driving in another three weeks.

As long as Gruffydd is off his feet, the family is losing money.

His 31-year-old daughter, Carys, has had to give up her part-time

job to look after the farm - something she can ill afford.

And to make matters worse, another usual source of income,

their beehives, are in a bad way.

In a good year, the family is able to supplement its income with some honey money.

But this summer's rains have meant a shortage of pollinating plants,

very little honey and 300,000 starving bees that Carys needs to feed.

I've been buying loads of sugar. Won't be far off, over actually, a ton, by the end of this year.

So it'll be over a thousand pounds, easily.

I have to keep them alive.

It's been a bad season, that's why honey is so expensive.

Carys will melt all of this sugar into a syrup for her hungry bees.

It hasn't been a good year at all so...

But we still struggle on.

TRANSLATED FROM WELSH: Terribly unusual to have to feed the bees now, isn't it?

And whilst Carys takes care of the farm,

it's down to 76-year-old Alwyn to keep the house going.

Try and keep the place as clean as I can.

I know it isn't very clean today,

but I haven't been able to do things that I used to like to do.

In the hills above the farm,

Carys is preparing to feed the bees their syrup.

I would like to think that I'm like a bee.

Nobody works so hard than a bee or an ant.

Those are the most busy creature that you can have.

Honey is the bees' food store.

This hive, now, has got no honey at all, no stores.

The honey yield, this year, has been exceedingly poor.

Like this here now, five pound a hive.

To compare, on a very good year, you are looking to

get about hundred pound off the hive.

They'll eat that pretty fast. Next week, all of that would have gone.

Without bees, we people wouldn't survive.

Fruit and veg wouldn't be able, without bees to pollinate,

so somebody has to keep them alive.

And I just enjoy working with them, learning their way of life.

But it's a way of life that Carys can ill afford to keep going.

This land means a lot to me.

Cos my father and his family,

and his father before, came here over 100 years ago.

We've just worked so hard. Even when I was small, I'd give my life for this farm.

Never say never to see it end,

but if that day would come, I'd be very sad.

One in four Welsh people suffer from a life limiting illness.

For many, the illness strikes late in life.

Others though, tragically born with serious illness and disability.

In Newport, Gwent, three-year-old Alleysha Bullock was

deprived of oxygen at birth, leaving her with cerebral palsy

and brain damage that will severely limit her life expectancy.

She's done really well so far.

I, personally, think myself she'll last until about 17.

It'd be a push, I think.

Alleysha will require 24-hour care for the rest of her short life.

As part of that care,

her home is being adapted to help improve her quality of life.

So far patio doors, a ramp,

an electric bed and a bathroom hoist have been installed.

Today, a stairlift is being fitted.

Something for which Alleysha's mum, Charlene, is particularly grateful.

My back's absolutely buggered from carrying her all the time.

Too heavy and bigger now, more awkward now.

The work is being paid for with a disabled facilities grant

from the Welsh Assembly Government and its costing around £15,000.

If you just press it and let go.

In 2012, the total spent by the Assembly on disabled

facilities grants was £35m.

48 hours later, the dust has settled on the building work.

But there's still plenty of upheaval in the household

for the Monday morning school rush hour.

Downstairs, six-year-old Elleyah and Gran, Hermione,

are, pretty much, ready for their school run.

But upstairs, like most three-year-olds,

Alleysha's objecting to having her teeth brushed.

For the past two months,

Alleysha's been attending her local special needs school part-time.

She started off, she just went an hour a day to see how

she got on and now, at the moment, she does a session nine till one.

'But she loves it.' You love going to school, don't you?

You come back all happy.

It's easier for me, as well, obviously, it gives me a break.

It's nice, it gives me a break.

She loves it, she loves being there with all the children,

they've all got different major conditions.

The school that Alleysha attends is Maes Ebbw in Newport,

a special needs school for pupils aged three to nineteen.

It's one of 44 dedicated special schools across Wales, and Alleysha

is one of 14,000 Welsh pupils with special educational needs.

And again, Evan, go on.

Alleysha's teacher is Sara Stafford.

Alleysha's class is Foundation One, which is nursery-reception age equivalent.

Her class is more of a sensory-based class, because of her needs.

# Alleysha Bullock

# Alleysha Bullock

# Where are you? #

It's the first stages of her school life, so it's important that she

is confident and comfortable in school, you know, and she is happy.

Wow, fantastic noise.

So far, Alleysha's doing well.

Generally, she's got a good level of understanding.

She recognises us, she's aware of what's happening

and what she's supposed to be doing.

In just two months, mum Charlene's already seeing progress.

She doesn't say words, but she communicates a lot more,

which I'm thinking very well may be that when she's in school, you know,

she is communicating with the other children,

because, obviously, children understand each other.

And she seems to know what she's doing a lot more now.

Golly, you've got work really hard to get that head up, haven't you?

Good girl. Well done. Yeah.

Alleysha will never fully recover from the brain damage

she suffered at birth.

But her recent improvements have encouraged Charlene to

hope for longer term progress.

Your speech, from what they've told me, there's nothing stopping

her from talking, but I suppose it's just one of them things that,

if she's going to talk one day, she'll just talk

and I expect it'll just be off the spot, out of the blue.

She's improved loads.

In an ideal world, she'd go full time, but she'll go full time in September.

Whether Alleysha's health will be robust enough for full-time

schooling remains to be seen.

In the meantime, she is thoroughly enjoying her new surroundings.

On the Penydarren estate in Merthyr Tydfil,

the Foley family have more than their fair share of ill-health.

10 years ago, 46-year-old Jason Foley was attacked with

an iron bar that left him epileptic and unable to work.

Whilst his mother-in-law, 77-year-old Gertie Sage,

is blind and suffering from Alzheimer's,

a disease that is slowly destroying her memory.

It is left to Suzanne Foley to care for her mother and her husband,

as well as their two teenage daughters, Savannah, 17 and Lowry, 15.

Recently, Gertie's health has deteriorated significantly,

both physically and mentally,

leaving Suzanne and the family struggling to cope.

Can't leave her here now because if I go for 5 minutes lately,

she's screaming on the front door.

She had kids phoning the police for her,

to say she'd been dumped.

No, gettin' the police onto me.

No, she had the kids to phone the police, didn't she?

-She called little kids in off the street.

-Yup.

And she just said she hopes you dies a horrible death.

Yeah, she told me that.

She's getting really nasty. It's not her.

# New York, New York

# A wonderful time

# Dee dee da dee doodle-ooo-dooo. #

I took her up the doctors last week,

they're going to refer her back to St Tydfil's

to see whether they can give her any medication.

She needs something now, because she's getting quite violent

and nasty with the kids and Jason.

She's been telling people that we stuck her in the wrong house,

it's not her house and we're dumping her places.

It's sad, it's cruel, it is, it don't seem like it's my mother any more.

The nasty things she does say, my mother would never, ever have said

that, especially what she says to the kids,

like, she said to Savannah, "I hope you go blind".

I don't take it to heart, because it's not, it's just not her speaking.

It's the illness she's got.

But she will be really cruel, like.

If I try and help, I'll say to her, my mother's gone to town, she won't be too long now,

she'll start shouting at me and saying, "I wish you were blind", and just cruel things.

But it doesn't upset me, cos I know she doesn't mean it,

because when you say to her later on what she said,

she'll say, "Oh, sorry, I'd never say something like that to you."

And she, like, can't remember herself saying it, so I don't take it to heart.

Oh, they're marvellous.

Can't fault any of them.

Sometimes I can, you know, cope and then another day,

I don't even know where I am.

And it's very frustrating.

-You can't remember what you're saying, can you, Mum?

-Huh?

-You can't remember what you're saying.

-What do you mean?

When you have your funny moments and shout at everybody.

-No, I don't, I don't shout at people.

-Yeah, you do.

-Oh, I don't. Do I?

-Who'd you upset this week?

-Oh, God, don't tell me. Who've I upset?

Well, Jason, Savannah, Aileen, remember that day?

You were out the front and you were shouting at them all.

-I didn't shout at Aileen, did I?

-You did shout at her,

she shouts back, though.

See? She remembers she shouts at Aileen, and she doesn't feel bad for shouting at me daddy.

-Who else have I upset?

-Oh, everybody in street.

-Have I?

-Ooh, well, I'm sorry.

-Don't worry about it.

Well, I'd feel guilty for about 20 minutes.

And then I'd go and do the same thing again.

No, they know me by now, in any case. They know me.

They know what I'm like. I can't help it, I don't do it on purpose.

It's just that the words come out and I don't know what they are.

They're all jumbled up.

It's another fun-fuelled weekend in Cardiff city centre,

and millionaire club and restaurant owner Jahan Abedi is

heading for a night out of his own.

It's a really good to see a very vibrant city centre -

good restaurants, good bars, people having a good time.

Lovely.

Cardiff is the drinking capital of Wales, a nation that has

the highest underage drinking levels in Europe, and where

45% of adults consume more units of alcohol than the recommended limit.

Every weekend in Cardiff, 60% of ambulance callouts

and A&E beds are used to treat alcohol-related incidents.

Drinking is an issue and bar owner Jahan knows it.

This is one of the places that does two pounds a drink.

You know, it doesn't mean it's wrong, I just think that when you

give something really cheaply, are you encouraging binge drinking?

Whilst Jahan acknowledges the problems,

he claims his upmarket bars don't attract the binge drinking crowds.

But far from just washing his hands of the issue,

he's at least prepared to try and do something about it.

Every weekend, the Cardiff branch of the Christian charity,

Street Pastors, can be found patrolling the city centre -

working closely with the police and ambulance services,

they hand out help, advice, water and even flip-flops to

the over refreshed, the bewildered and the distressed.

That's for Jahan.

Jahan supports the charity financially and, on occasions,

practically as well.

-Good to see you.

-How are you?

-I'm fine, mate, yeah.

-Keeping well?

Not too bad.

Father, we pray for a quiet night,

for the peace of God to be on the city. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Every Friday and Saturday from 9pm until the early hours,

the Street Pastors patrol the city centre.

What we're looking out for is mainly people on their own,

particularly, if they are obviously drunk,

just to make sure that they're safe, make sure they know how they're getting home.

Everybody is having a good time but in three hours,

some of them are having too much of a good time, so they need water.

This is Street Pastor one calling Street Pastor two.

-Please respond, over.

-Go ahead, Gary.

The radio system is linked into the police CCTV room,

all the door staff have a radio and the police as well and if we

needed help, we could call for backup which would arrive straight away.

Lady absolutely flat out, think her drink's been spiked.

So called the ambulance and they're going to cart her off.

Mum and Dad are meeting them at the hospital,

so that's our job finished - hand over to the professionals.

Go and find somebody else, now.

The street pastors will attend anything up to 60 incidents

a night and after alcohol, the most common issue is girls' feet.

Non-stop.

Girls walk around with high heeled shoes on,

if they can't walk any further, their legs are hurting them

and we get called to jobs where they're all split open,

they're walking along on the pavement, so they do

supply flip-flops for 'em so they don't cut their feet.

-Thank you very much.

-Have a good night.

Key thing for us is when somebody is vulnerable,

got to get them home.

Cos if they're out here, they're a potential victim of crime, they're

a potential victim of hypothermia, you know, anything could happen to them.

After witnessing six raucous hours on the streets of Cardiff

city centre, what's bar owner Jahan's answer to binge drinking?

I think everyone has a social responsibility.

In any industry, you have a moral code that you have to stick to.

And if you are causing people to get wrecked in the middle

of the streets, and, you know, with the street pastors, it really shows it.

You know, why should they go out and, basically,

take care of people who are, basically, wrecked beyond recognition.

I mean, per unit alcohol, it's too cheap in this country.

If you look at it, people can go and get wrecked on under five pounds.

You know, I think a minimum price should be introduced

to have an effect on this.

Wales is not only a dangerous place to drink,

it's also a dangerous place to work.

Because Wales has the UK's highest rate of fatal or major

injuries in the workplace.

And the most dangerous industry?

Surprisingly, it's not coal or steel.

With a one in 20 chance of being killed on the job, it is...

..fishing.

Today in Milford Haven, it's the first day of the annual

Pembrokeshire Fish Week, a celebration of Welsh seafood.

Shawn Ryan is setting up stall at the Fish Festival.

As the owner of Wales' last two deep-sea trawlers,

the Mercurius and the Stephanie, Shawn is hoping to generate

some good PR for his ailing industry.

You know, you're not looking at making profit.

It's showing people what's here on the doorstep,

that's the big thing of today.

And what's on Shawn's doorstep is escalating costs,

smaller fishing quotas and heavy competition from bigger European boats.

As a Welsh trawlermen,

Shawn has always had one advantage over the European crews

only Welsh registered trawlers can fish as close as three miles

off the Welsh coastline.

All other boats must remain a minimum of six miles offshore,

but newly proposed legislation could be about to change all that.

We can't start fishing until we're three miles out,

that's as close as we can start fishing.

It's between the three and the six, that's what we're trying to change,

and we've been fishing there since I was a boy and a generation before that.

They're trying to actually stop us

fishing there with the size of boats we got.

You know, we're not always inside the six,

a lot of the time were between the six and the 12,

but when we go from the six to the 12,

were competing with things like that.

That's what we're competing against, a Belgian fishing vessel,

which has got between seven and eight times more horsepower than us,

we can't compete with them.

They come in then and it goes straight in the back of a wagon

and it goes straight to Belgium.

Today, Shawn has been invited to lunch with one of the men

behind the proposed new rules Alun Davies,

the Welsh Government's Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.

If you actually kick us out,

we're last two trawlers in Wales that fish inside that limit.

If you kick us out, there's no point

in having any Welsh vessels, I might as well sell them tomorrow.

Well, you've got... It's only the six mile...

Yeah, but you push us outside the six, yeah,

and then we're competing with two big Belgian's.

We can't compete with that. It's a total waste of time,

and that'll be 30 jobs gone in Milford Haven.

And it's not only that, it's all the rest that goes with it.

I understand that, I understand that.

But what we want to do is to create a statutory framework that enables

you all not just to fish today, but carry on fishing into the future.

And the work that we do, across, in Brussels

and Luxembourg last week is all about creating that sort of

policy framework, so that we can start investing in Welsh fisheries again.

And, you now, if we can do that, then we will have succeeded.

I think it's fabulous...

The Minister seems to be making all the right noises,

but what does Shawn think?

They always seem to listen when you're talking to 'em, but we'll wait and see.

That's all you can say about him.

You know, I've seen it so many times where they say one thing

and it's only to keep you happy.

Realistically, I don't think he'll listen.

I think he's got too much political pressure on him.

That's my own feeling.

And it will only be a matter of weeks before Shawn finds out

whether his gut instincts are right.

In Merthyr, just three weeks after we last filmed with Gertie

and the Foley family, there's been a devastating turn of events.

Gertie has suffered a very serious fall.

It's lucky we had those monitors on in there.

-It was me, my mate, Alan, was by there.

-Savannah.

Savannah, you, weren't it? Lowry was here.

We could hear the bump, she must have hit every step,

every stair coming down. It's 13 stairs in these houses.

I thought she'd broke her neck, she was just laying at an angle on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

She was trying to, just blowing in her face and I was calling her,

"Mam, Mam, Mam", but she was losing consciousness all the time.

She fell from top to bottom, and when we came in here,

she was lying, her head was more or less under the shelf.

How she survived it, I don't know, because if she come from top to

bottom, and that's what it sounded like when we heard her on the baby monitor,

I'm so surprised she didn't break every bone in her body.

Gertie broke her shoulder and several ribs in the fall,

and has multiple bruising over her body,

but she is conscious and in a stable condition at Mountain Ash Hospital.

It is sad, just like a bag of bones being chucked in a bed,

there's nothing there of her.

And the bruising all down there, she broke that. No.

I have been blaming myself, because I wanted to put a baby gate

there to stop her.

But people said, "Knowing her, if she's so determined,

"she'll climb over the top of it."

You seem to, well, you can't exactly blame yourself, but I always think that

if it had been a baby gate there, she wouldn't have wandered up the stairs.

But there's always ifs, there's always a big if, like.

Savannah's been quite strong,

I thought she would have been the one who'd have been the worst,

but she's quite level-headed, you know,

she's making plans now for when she comes home and

she'll go in there and she'll sleep in there every night to look after her.

Lowry's just been crying all the time, Lowry have.

She's not very good with it.

And more worrying for Sue is Jason's reaction.

My mother and Jason have always been,

they've always got on really, really well.

He went over to see her the other night and he just

walked in the room and, more or less, walked straight back out.

And he hasn't been right ever since.

Cos he lost his father a couple of years ago,

and it brought back so many memories of his father,

he hasn't been eating, he hasn't been drinking, oh he's...

So I've got to look out for him now and my mother,

because when he goes like this, he usually lands up having a fit.

Gertie will remain in hospital for the foreseeable future.

The family can but hope that she will make a full recovery.

It's a waiting game now, isn't it?

That's all it is now, just make sure she gets better.

It's always going to happen one day, but you know, for my mother,

if anything happened to her now through falling down the stairs,

I don't know how I would cope.

She's always been there.

Every day of my life I've seen my mother, I've been with her,

you know, don't bear thinking about.

Next time in Wales In A Year - there's a christening...

-I baptise you in the name of the Father...

-..A wedding...

-Yr wyf fi, Anita.

-Yr wyf fi Anita...

..And an engagement.

Knotted at last.

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