Rapper wants good to come from bad after Ely riot

JM, left, and Karl Lovell, right, have spoken out about life in Ely, Cardiff

A teenage rapper has described the dangers of living in Ely where two boys died in an e-bike crash.

JM, 17, said music had helped steer him on the right path and called on other young people to lead the way in setting positive examples.

But others working in the area lamented cuts to youth programmes and youth centres.

A riot broke out in the area on Monday after Harvey Evans, 15, and Kyrees Sullivan, 16, lost their lives in the crash.

Harvey Evans, 15, and Kyrees Sullivan, 16, died in an e-bike crash

JM said the area has had "a bad name for however long Ely’s been about".

"But there’s always good that comes out of bad," he added.

"If you’re a certain teenager with certain people around you, you turn the corner not knowing if you’ll live the next minute.

"But then in other cases it’s also very good because a lot of places here can help you - like the North Ely Youth Centre - where I started off and this is what helped me.”

He said he wanted people not to “be a sheep” and help lead others with good examples.

He said: “Be the one they follow. That’s why I started rapping. Don’t be the sheep - be the shepherd.

He admitted he had made mistakes saying, “everybody does bad stuff”.

Joe Goode believes that more funding is needed for Ely community organisations

But he added: “I hope Ely’s remembered for everything good that’s ever come out of it.”

Karl Lovell is a music mentor at Ely’s Sound Progression which helps young people who want to be involved in music.

He worked with JM as a producer.

“It’s very hard to maintain funding for things like this because you’ve got to prove that you’re doing something with it,” Mr Lovell said.

“That means the provision is there one year that might be somebody’s complete pillar, that keeps them together, that keeps them from doing that over-the-edge stuff.

“And one year, you don’t get funding for it because of cuts and hard times.”

Rioting broke out after Harvey and Kyrees died

He said such cuts can shatter a person’s world leaving them with “nowhere else to turn”.

He said: “We need to add to the provisions that are here not take what we have already and lower it.

“There’s been a drop in the number of youth centres that are around - that doesn’t help the situation at all.”

Caerau Ely AFC secretary, Joe Goode, agreed there was not enough for young people to do in the area.

What was there, the 33-year-old said, was held together by volunteers.

“If they left, I wouldn’t like to think what would happen.”

Mr Goode said the district had been let down “massively” with the closure of the youth centre and money being given to “the wrong type” of organisations.

Tributes were left to Harvey and and Kyrees after their deaths

“The children need a central hub,” he added. “That’s why they congregate in groups, hanging around on the streets and looking for something to do, because they haven’t got anything to do in the evenings.”

Mr Goode said that while there was a “black cloud” hanging over the community now, he hoped it would pass.

But more funding for community organisations was needed, he said.

“We could create a structure if [the children] had champions to look up to, but as volunteers, we don’t get any funding,” he said.

“We are working nine to five and then doing everything else on top.”