{"id":44669,"date":"2018-11-27T15:39:43","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T15:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=44669"},"modified":"2018-11-30T10:11:51","modified_gmt":"2018-11-30T10:11:51","slug":"cardiff-character-alan-edge-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/culture\/cardiff-character-alan-edge-2","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff Character: Alan Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alan moved away from Newcastle to leave his psychological battles behind and found happiness and love in Cardiff<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46504\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_5212.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4032\" height=\"3024\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Alan Edge moved to Cardiff from Newcastle four years ago<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UK government appointed the first <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/health-45804225\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minister for Suicide Prevention<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> last month in the wake of government-level discussions on the importance of ending the stigma around discussing mental health issues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecalmzone.net\/help\/get-help\/mental-health\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One in four people<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will experience a mental health problem at some point in their life, says CALM, a leading suicide prevention charity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alan Edge, 43, owns and manages <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.princesandpaupers.uk\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Princes and Paupers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> vintage and bespoke clothing store in <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/thecityofarcades.com\/arcade\/castle-arcade\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Castle Arcade<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Cardiff city centre,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0and moved to Cardiff after facing mental health issues in Newcastle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Alan describes himself as a creative, deep thinker. He says: &#8220;I&#8217;m tenacious, loving, ambitious and honest &#8211; too honest.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>His life used to be \u201cerratic and volatile,\u201d he said, but now Alan is a calm and friendly Northerner, happily married and enjoying living in Cardiff, having faced his psychological battles and learnt to deal with change.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Musical background<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Alan\u2019s background is a musical one. He used to work as a record dealer in Newcastle, his hometown, selling second hand vinyl records.<\/p>\n<p>He also had his own record label and was a member of a band for \u201can exhausting 13 years,\u201d he says, but now he runs a vintage shop which aims to capture the fun and quirkiness of vintage style.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Moving to Cardiff<\/strong><br \/>\nAlan moved to Cardiff four years ago.<\/p>\n<p>In his thirties, he felt like his personal life wasn\u2019t working out, so when approaching his forties he decided he needed to move somewhere new.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI started to blame Newcastle for how tough things were getting, but actually it was me\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>After a particularly rough day, and being robbed, Alan decided he needed to get away.<\/p>\n<p>He no longer felt settled in Newcastle, he explains: \u201cI started to blame Newcastle for how tough things were getting, but actually it was me.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I needed the change and it\u2019s hard to change when you\u2019re in the same environment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_46542\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 234px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-46542\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Alan-Edge-edit-234x312.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"234\" height=\"312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Alan-Edge-edit-234x312.jpg 234w, https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Alan-Edge-edit-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Alan-Edge-edit-576x768.jpg 576w, https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Alan-Edge-edit-810x1080.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Alan-Edge-edit-1350x1800.jpg 1350w, https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Alan-Edge-edit.jpg 1352w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alan feels happier in Cardiff than Newcastle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0 \u00a0This need for change summarises Alan&#8217;s feeling that often we all struggle \u00a0 with psychological battles that we have to deal with and support ourselves through.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 After moving to Cardiff, Alan had the opportunity to start again, but was also able to continue doing something he enjoys: reworking and tailoring bespoke and intricate vintage clothing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZjZckJo0HQM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI feel like Cardiff has a really nice energy\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alan loves the \u201ccreative atmosphere\u201d in Cardiff. H<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">e says: \u201cI feel like Cardiff has a really nice energy. People are doing things and there are so many little pockets of creatives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alan\u2019s creative trajectory is firmly rooted in the arts. His vintage and reworked clothing appeals to creative types and performers, he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although Wales is much colder than the North of England, Alan believes the people are quite similar: \u201cWe share a lot of history with the mines, and we were both screwed by Thatcher!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s a similarity and warmth in people, it made it [moving to Cardiff] a smoother transition than it could have been,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Psychological battles<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through the smooth transition, Alan believes moving to Cardiff was the turning point in his life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI felt like I\u2019d rinsed myself dry in Newcastle and didn\u2019t feel like I had anything left creatively to give,\u201d he explains.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But he also admits he felt like he didn\u2019t have a choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Psychological battles shaped his motivation to do what he could to make things work out: \u201cI think a lot of life is a psychological battle,\u201d he says, \u201cyou learn every day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cChange can be really hard, but it\u2019s also really important\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alan lives by various mantras and believes cliches exist for a reason.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He says we should all do things properly, fight back properly and not be afraid of change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cChange can be really hard,\u201d he says, \u201cbut it\u2019s also really important.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alan believes no one should let fear stop them from doing anything and that history never repeats itself. &#8220;It\u2019s never the same outcome twice,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46554\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/alan-landscape.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4032\" height=\"3024\" \/>Alan tailors bespoke and quirky vintage clothing in his shop <em>Princes and Paupers<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alan moved away from Newcastle to leave his psychological battles behind and found happiness and love in Cardiff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":169,"featured_media":46504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[11248,664,1211,12346,12347,10181,139],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v14.9 - 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