Choosing a professional body piercer....

Body Piercing - Choosing a Body Piercing Professional

Choose https://www.facebook.com/mrwolfpiercing for over 10 years experience

Body piercing is fashionable at the moment, and piercing is available in specialist studios as well as some hairdressing salons and tattoo parlours. If you've decided to take the leap and have a piercing, there are things you should look out for to make your experience one that you won't remember for all the wrong reasons.

Ask Around

Ask friends and family with piercings who they would recommend. Find out if they used a reputable piercer - and ask them whether they were told how to look after their piercing properly, or how to remove the jewellery. Research online; ask for testimonials and pictures of happy clients. Any decent studio will be more than happy to show these off!

Some local councils keep a register of their approved piercers, premises which have passed strict hygiene and safety standards, and are regularly inspected by health and safety officers. It's a good idea to contact your local council to find out if they have any approved piercer lists or schemes.

There are also professional piercing associations such as the Association of Modern Professional Piercers.

http://www.synapsebodypiercing.co.uk/stand/ampp/

If a studio belongs to the association, they must display the AMPP Clients Charter in their salon...and follow it.

Check The Place Out

A few days before having you have the piercing, drop in to the shop and have a good look around.

• Do the premises look clean, and have wipe-clean surfaces (including the floor?) Ask to see results of spore tests - tests run to make sure that the sterilising equipment is working properly.
• Are they wearing surgical gloves, and can you see that they are changing them between customers?
• Do piercers look clean and tidy? Do they wash their hands regularly, and are any cuts on their hands covered?
• Are they using single-use needles and throwing them away after each client? Are they using a gun? Avoid anywhere using a piercing gun, as they can't be sterilised properly, and they use so much force to drive the stud through skin, they can cause tissue damage.
• Are other instruments left in the autoclave (steriliser) while not in use?
• Ask lots of questions. Find out about their experience, how long they've been piercing and where they learned. Do they have any specialist qualifications? Ask advice about the most appropriate jewellery for your piercing - any experienced piercer will be able to recommend what's best, advise you about aftercare and explain the risks without any hesitation
• Ask for their aftercare sheet, and read it before you even have the piercing done! A good piercing studio should have a standard aftercare sheet. If it tells you to use hydrogen peroxide, for example, it could indicate that they are not keeping up with industry standards.

Why Hygiene is So Important

If you don't pay proper attention to hygiene, you could end up with hepatitis or even HIV, Some strains of hepatitis can live for up to eight hours on dirty instruments if left at normal room temperatures. You could also end up with a nasty bacterial infection if the studio isn't following proper hygiene rules, which can develop into septicaemia or toxic shock. Both can be fatal.

What You Can and Can't Do

There is no statutory age limit for ear or cosmetic piercing in England or Wales, but some London Boroughs do impose license conditions which relate to the age of the client.

Under English law, anyone under the age of 16 can't have a genital piercing, as genital piercing under 16 is actually classed as an indecent assault. The same applies to female breast piercings, although boys under 16 may have their nipples pierced.

Body piercing needn't be painful in the long term. With some careful research and common sense, you can have a piercing to be proud of with no problems.

https://www.facebook.com/mrwolfpiercing

The Correct Body Piercing Jewellery for Hygiene

You're going to have a piercing - you know where you want it, but what do you want to put in it? Here's a guide to the jewellery best suited for all areas.

Come to https://www.facebook.com/mrwolfpiercing for a large selection of body jewellery.

Ear Lobe

The ear piercing is by far the most popular type of body piercing, either a single lobe piercing, or multiple piercings in the rim. There are many different parts of the ear that can be pierced, depending on how adventurous you are.

Once the lobe is fully healed, you can hang anything you like from it - whether you have a penchant for hoops, chandeliers, or you're a diamond stud fan. When you have the initial piercing, though, the studio will probably suggest that it's done with a stud, or what's called a 'ball closure ring'. Some of the more unusual piercings (such as the 'Industrial') use a barbell, which stretches from one side of the ear to the other. The usual healing time for an ear piercing is five to six weeks.

Eyebrow

Eyebrows are usually pierced with a barbell or a ball closure ring, and these can be fitted in a selection of different designs and sizes. You can, have your eyebrow pierced in several different places, but the most common place is on the outer edge of the brow. This type of piercing can take six to eight weeks to fully heal.

Madonna, Lip and Labret piercings

Piercings on or near the lip will nearly always be done with a stud. Healing time is around six to eight weeks.

Nostril

Nose piercings are usually fitted with a stud, as this makes the piercing easier to clean while it's healing. Nose studs aren't the same as ear studs, and don't have butterfly clips to keep them in place - they are bent into a horseshoe shape inside the nose, which stops them falling out. Once the piercing has fully healed, the stud can be swapped for a ball closure ring. The nostril can take up to 12 weeks to heal.

Tongue

Although you might not think it, a tongue piercing is said to be one of the least painful piercings you can have - although the few days afterwards can be uncomfortable. Tongue piercings are usually done with a long barbell, as there is likely to be a fair amount of swelling. This can be changed down to a shorter one as the swelling goes down and the piercing heals. The healing process for a tongue piercing will take about three weeks, and there can be a few days on soft food as the swelling dies down.

Nipple

A nipple can be pierced several times, and it can be a vertical or a horizontal piercing. When a male nipple is pierced, it's usually done with a barbell, ball closure ring or a circular barbell, and the best choice for female nipples is a simple barbell, for comfort.A barbell is always used for a vertical piercing. Once the nipple is fully healed, after about 12 weeks, the barbell can be changed for whatever suits!

Navel (Belly Button)

Navel piercing is another really popular fashion statement, seen on models and pop stars everywhere! The most common form of navel piercing, the upper piercing, is usually best done with a bananabell (a jewelled navel bar) or a ball closure ring. If you have the ball closure ring to start with, some studios will suggest that you change after a few weeks to a bananabell. Although the piercing isn't healed at that stage, the bananabell sits much closer to the body so this reduces the risk of catching on clothing as the piercing heals and the swelling goes down. Healing takes around six months in some people but can take as long as a year.

Materials

Always ask your piercer for their recommendations about which types of metal are best for your piercing. Generally speaking, any metal you choose should be a type that's known not to react to body tissues - some precious metals and surgical implant materials work well.

Good Choices for Body Piercings

• 14k or 18k white or yellow gold
• Surgical implant stainless steel or titanium
• Niobium

Bad Choices

• Sterling silver - it oxidizes (tarnishes) when it comes into contact with body tissues.
• Plated gold - the plating can rub off and the exposed metal underneath can react with your body to cause irritation and infection.
• Poor quality steel.
• Any type of fake gold or base metal jewellery, which may corrode when exposed to bodily fluids.

It's important that you take your time to decide exactly what jewellery you would like to wear in your piercing, and you'll probably find that there is a huge range of designs and colours that make the decision a difficult one. Either way, you're likely to be wearing your choice for a good few weeks or months while the piercing heals so pick something that's going to keep you happy for the long term - and always ask your piercer for their recommendations if you're not sure.

https://www.facebook.com/mrwolfpiercing

Kinky Ink....

FEATURE: KINKY INK

March 21, 2012

Female proprietors are a rarity in the tattoo shop industry but owner of Kinky Ink and Tattoohotspot, Denise Farrugia, is not a woman to be discouraged by tradition. Denise opened her first studio roughly eight years ago, breaking the industry’s macho mould and has since revolutionised tattoo shop culture. We visited Denise and some of her trusty artists, who are more like family than employees at Tattoohotspot, the older shop of the two, in up-and-coming Tooting market. The friendly atmosphere of banter and high spirits seemed far from the surly veneer of so many tattoo shops in London. Ventsmag enjoyed a captivating chat with the businesswoman who is also a mother of four and Woman Support Worker, helping female street-sex workers. We learnt how this inspirational woman overcame desertion and prejudice to stray from industry norms and arrive at her success.

How did you come to own your first shop?

I met a guy who was a tattooist and we fell in love. He was working for a tight knit community. He wasn’t happy working at this studio, so when we got together, after a while I asked him if he would like for us to open our own studio and he said yes. So I got a bank loan and we opened our first studio. It was really hard as I had no experience in doing anything like that and now when I look back, he wasn’t really up for it as much as I believed and I did all the work to set everything up.

So that’s how I got all my experience of knowing how to set up the shop because of all of the paperwork and the planning applications, because you have to get special planning permission.

I knew that in this area it would really work because there wasn’t really anything nearby that could offer the quality of artistry that I knew we could deliver, and because I had lived here a long time, I knew a lot of people in the area, so I knew immediately that would bring us customers and it did. It really worked well. It was just a tiny, one man studio but it used to have a queue outside of people waiting and from there we expanded, we got a bigger studio and we had that studio for about a year. Within that time the guy that I was with left me and it was a choice of either shut down the studio and completely cut off that type of income or take the risk of going into business on my own and seeing how it goes. I wasn’t really linked into the tattoo world as such, like a lot of big people who are involved in that industry, until I met this guy I hadn’t really had any contact with the tattoo world.

Is there a tattoo industry scene in London?

Yea it’s a scene and being that I’m an owner of two studios, there are still prejudices because I’m not an artist and because I’m not a piercer and because I’m just a businesswoman, even though I can run the studio from top to bottom. The only thing I can’t do is tattoo and pierce but everything else I can do and I have a deep passion for, you still get people that will say things like ‘oh are you an artist?’ and the minute that I say no they sort of snub you. There are a lot of people in this industry who just get the studio because of the money but I’m really interested in everything my staff do. There are lots of studios that are just like sweat shops, they just get tattooists in there, especially nowadays because the popularity of tattoos has really peaked; now you can buy tattoo kits from eBay, you can turn on the television and watch Miami Ink, London Ink, so all of a sudden its become very popular and people have begun to see that you can earn money from it.

And that’s what a lot of the tattoo studios are like?

A lot nowadays because its become really popular. People aren’t as educated around tattooing. It’s an art and an industry and it’s about people that have learnt through experience of tattooing not by someone that just buys a tattoo gun from eBay and a set of inks and decides to be a tattooist because they can tattoo mum and dad on the wrist of their friends. That’s not a tattoo artist and the guys and girls I have working for me have experience of working within the industry for a long time, so they can produce good work and they can produce good art and people that know about tattoos will know what is good art and what is rubbish.

What has been the craziest tattoo request?

The craziest tattoo that I’ve seen being done in the shop was a new age traveller who was really anti-America and anti-Bush. On the back of his neck in great, big, thick, black letters he had ‘Fuck Bush’ – and that could have double meaning really.

What is your clientele like here?

Even though we have only just moved here, we have been here eight years but we have only just moved into this studio, already we are getting a different type of customer coming in; more trendy, middle class, looking to get more and more work which is really good. Customer’s who appreciate quality.

What’s your favorite/ most significant tattoo?

Here (taps thigh) because it has my name on it, my husband tattooed me. It means a lot.

Do you think Tattoos have a bad name, gang associations or arouse discrimination in this country?

Where I come from tattoos are bad. I was always brought up that women especially, they don’t have tattoos. I come from a very strict Catholic family and every time I go to my country where all my family is, in Malta, everyone knows who I am and my family’s embarrassed. I know they’re embarrassed, it’s only because of my tattoos, because in that country tattoos are perceived as not very nice, especially on women, so I cover up a lot when I go there.

It’s only in the last maybe ten years that its become popular in England for gang tattoos. I know obviously in America, Mexico, Venezuela places like that its been going for years. My husband is an ex gang member, he’s from LA, he’s Mexican, and he’s absolutely covered in tattoos. I think actually, whereas 5 years ago it was all black and grey and more gangster style stuff, now it’s moving more into new school old school which is traditional tattooing like full colour, sailor jerry and that kind of style.

Do you think the popularity of tattoos at the moment is a trend? Do you think tattooing will die?

Tattooing will never die, but the mainstream, popular fashionable tattooing of the moment will die. What is happening, what we see a lot of here, is lots of crap come in, home made tattoos, kids buy their stuff off eBay and they start tattooing each other at home. A girl came in yesterday and she had done her own arm and it was awful. It’s the accessibility of tattooing. Tattooing used to be quite underground, even the studios would never be like this. Tattoo studios would be closed, you wouldn’t be able to see in, so the intrigue was there still, it kept it underground. You wouldn’t know what was going on in the tattoo studios and it was always some big hairy biker who was tattooing and he was tattooing his mate. I like to keep the shops really open so people can see what’s going on. So it takes away the mysteriousness of it but also gives the person the opportunity to see how it’s done. To see that we’re working in a clean and sterile environment, that there are women working here now, if they want piercings they can be pierced by a woman instead of some big hairy man who wants to do a nipple piercing. Now the appropriate people want to come into a tattoo shop to get good work, to have the opportunity to see that they are going into an environment that is welcoming. I make sure that all my staff are able to talk to people properly, have conversations with them and allow people to have the opportunity to sit down and talk about what they really want because it’s really close to my heart to not just allow people to get exactly what they want when they walk into the shop on an inpulse moment. Because it might not be right for them. We give them the opportunity to think about it, talk about it, draw it for them, and make sure that they’re really happy with what they have got when they walk out the shop, because at the end of the day it’s about my reputation. I make sure that everybody that works for me gives that customer the time to really talk about and think about what they want before they get a tattoo.

What are your plans for the future?

Building up business. I want to be doing conventions by next year. I want to take my whole crew of artists and go and do conventions, which is quite a normal thing to do. The London Convention is held every year in October at Tobacco dock off the high way in East London. There’s another new convention that’s going to be run by a different variety of organisers which can make it more accessible for good studios to participate.

Words by Anya Paul

Photography by Etienne Bruce

Tattoo photo courtesy of Tattoohotspot

Kinky Ink, 93 Battersea Rise, London, SW11 1HW

Tattoohotspot, Broadway Market, Tooting High Street, London, SW17 ORJ

The business behind getting high....

I have watched a lot of documentaries in my time and i always keep coming back to this one as it seems  to get involved in a different way to many other documentaries. It tells the story right from the beginning and how the government switches in and out of the legality of growing marijuana.

Im not saying it's a perfect cross section of the subject matter, but it's  the closests i've come to a neutral perspective. Please give this a watch and let me know what how you feel....

“BC’s illegal marijuana trade industry has evolved into a business giant, dubbed by some involved as ‘The Union’, Commanding upwards of $7 billion Canadian annually. With up to 85% of ‘BC Bud’ being exported to the United States, the trade has become an international issue. Follow filmmaker Adam Scorgie as he demystifies the underground market and brings to light how an industry can function while remaining illegal. Through growers, police officers, criminologists, economists, doctors, politicians and pop culture icons, Scorgie examines the cause and effect nature of the business – an industry that may be profiting more by being illegal. Written by Brett Harvey”

WEBSITE: http://www.theunionmovie.com/TheUnionWeb.html

Stream the movie: http://vimeo.com/5887468

Let's trip safe! Beginners guide to LSD....

We all know that summer is around the bend, all be it a long and winding corner. Along with this comes alcoholic frolicking around gigs, festival and other assortments of debauchery. We all like to experiment and we all like to give in to peer pressure. So I've put together this short but insightful guide to guide us through one of the best bit nasty treats of life.... Enjoy x

THE HISTORY AND INVENTION OF LSD

LSD was first synthesized on November 16, 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in Sandoz Laboratories in Basle, Switzerland. However, it was a few years before Albert Hofmann realized what he had invented. LSD known as LSD-25 or Lysergic Acid Diathylamide is a psychoactive hallucinogenic drug.
LSD-25

LSD-25 was the twenty-fifth compound developed during Albert Hofmann's study of amides of Lysergic acid, hence the name. LSD is considered a semi-synthetic chemical, the natural component of LSD-25 is lysergic acid, a type of ergot alkaloid that is naturally made by the ergot fungus, a synthesizing process is necessary to create the drug.
LSD was being developed by Sandoz Laboratories as a possible circulatory and respiratory stimulant. Other ergot alkaloids had been studied for medicinal purposes, for example, one ergot was used to induce childbirth.

LSD - Discovery as a Hallucinogen

It was not until 1943 that Albert Hofmann discovered the hallucinogenic properties of LSD. LSD has a chemical structure that is very similar to the neurotransmitter called serotonin. However, it is still not clear what produces all the effects of LSD.
According to a Road Junky writers, "Albert Hoffman deliberately dosed himself [after a milder accidental dose] with just 25 mg, an amount he didn't imagine would produce any effect. Hoffman got on his bicycle and rode home [from the Lab] and arrived in a state of panic. He felt he was losing his grip on sanity and could only think to ask for milk from the neighbors to counter the poisoning."

Albert Hoffman's Trip

Albert Hoffman wrote this about his LSD experience, "Everything in the room spun around, and the familiar objects and pieces of furniture assumed grotesque, threatening forms. The lady next door, whom I scarcely recognized, brought me milk… She was no longer Mrs. R., but rather a malevolent, insidious witch with a colored mask.”
Sandoz Laboratories, the only company to manufacture and sell LSD. first marketed the drug in 1947 under the trade name Delysid.

LSD - Legal Status

It is legal to buy Lysergic acid in the U.S. However, it is illegal to process Lysergic acid into lysergic acid diethylamide.

NOW FOR THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO LSD

How do I take it?

Most people will tell you to leave it under your tongue for 15 minutes or until it dissolves, however swallowing the tabs is not a problem, the only difference really is that it may take a little longer to hit you.
Liquid should just be dropped onto the tongue or on your hand and then lick it off. If it is a sugar cube just then stick in your mouth and let it dissolve.

How long does it take to start working?

You will usually start coming up within 45 minutes. This is more apparent on higher doses. It is a lot less noticeable on smaller doses because the range of effects is a lot smaller on lower doses, therefore after an hour you may only be noticing the same effects as you would after half an hour on double the dose. The effects will continue to build for around four hours or so and then will plateau for a couple of a couple of a few hours before you start to come down. It is not unusual for hallucinations to come in waves at this point. People often think they have come down at this point but don't let it fool you. YOUR STILL TRIPPING. The whole trip should be over in about eight hours with another few hours, generally, before you are able to sleep/

How do i store it?

Put it in a cool dark place preferably in an air tight bag and wrapped in some tin foil. If you can then leave it in the fridge, but realistically if your only saving it for a week or two then it doesn't really matter where you leave it. Just keep it out of the light and somewhere it isn't too hot. LSD is more durable than people give it credit for. I've had sheets and vials sitting around my room in a cool dark place for months with no noticeable difference in potency.
Make sure its in a safe place where people who shouldn't find it wont find it. Especially if u have younger siblings or children.

Average price?

This all depends on where you are in the world. In America from what i gather $10 a hit is average, with people paying sometimes $15-$20 your probably getting ripped off at that price. They will usually be cheaper if your buying 10 or more.

Dosages?

For the first time user ask your dealer how strong it is and what he/she recommends. They will know better than anyone. However a general rule of thumb is that one tab is going to be mild, with no obvious hallucinations. People often come away from their first trip thinking that LSD is over rated, they just simply had only a threshold dose. Two tabs will be a more profound experience, and usually more enjoyable. Don't be afraid of taking more tabs, as LSD is non toxic and you cant overdose from it. That being said i don't suggest doing more than 2 hits for your first time.

What does LSD come on?

The most common is tabs (blotter paper), usually 1/4" pieces of paper, sometimes bigger.
Then there is liquid, which will either be dropped straight onto your tongue or put on sugar cubes or lollies etc.
Least common these days are microdots (LSD in tiny pills) and gel tabs (LSD in gel capsules).

Can acid make you go crazy?

Yes and no. We have probably all heard the story of our friends friends cousin who took LSD and is now in a mental institution because he thinks he is a glass of orange juice and that if he tips over he will spill. This story is pure A-grade bullshit.
Closer to the truth is that some people (not all) who have some underlying mental health issues may have a bad experience from LSD, however that rarely continues after the trip. We are talking very few people.

What is a bad trip and how do I avoid one?

The best rule to avoid a bad trip is to have a good "set" and "setting"

The "set" is your mind state at the time of ingesting. You want to be in a happy state of mind, with no major life problems getting you down. If your calm and relaxed about going into the trip then your half way to having a good trip.

The "setting" is where you are who you are with and the general feel of your environment. So you want to be somewhere you feel safe (at home a friends place, a local park etc). It is a good idea to have some music that you like that you feel comfortable listening to. And to have good people, whom you trust, around. Things can get awkward when you are tripping with strangers or strangers are around you when your tripping.

During the trip something negative may happen, or you may think unwanted thoughts, this isn't necessarily bad but in your current state of mind you may not be willing or wanting to deal with. When this happens just remember that you need to take the good and the bad but don't let the bad overwhelm you.
A change of lighting or putting on some different music is a good way to change the mood of the environment and is usually enough to put your mind onto a different path.

WHAT SHOULD I BE AFRAID OF?

Usually the worst thing that can happen is:

Feel like you are in a place that is going to harm you and is hard to escape from

Feel like you are the subject of a massive joke by a whole social group

Feel as though your life has reached such a pinnacle and has lost so much resemblance to what you remember being 'reality' that the only conclusion that makes sense is that you have died

Feel as though you are an ant drowning in an ocean, or something of similar epic self-diminishing quality

Feel as though you cannot move without doing something wrong

^^^ These are potential outcomes of a negative vibe in a trip. IT can be good to plan, in your trip, only a few small things: be able to escape these predicaments if you start to feel encroached. Thus plan or designate as the trip comes on, 'safe zones'. It is important to know where your safe zones are and how far there is between them, and if you keep track of this, most trips can steer for the better when you realise that you are feeling threatened and find an appropriate change of scenery
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London Tattoo Convention, the greatest show on earth!

Welcome to the International London Tattoo Convention @ Tobacco Dock. 

  Welcome to the 9th Year of The London Tattoo Convention to be held on 27,28,29th September 2013.

Advance tickets will be available on line soon with our new ticket website“Kingpin Tickets”.

We are currently having tests run to satisfy ourselves of efficiency and security. It may take another 2 weeks sorry for the delay!

The show has grown from modest roots to become one of the most heralded and respected shows of its kind anywhere in The World. It has showcased some of the finest tattoo work from many of the finest Artists in The World and it continues to lead where others follow!

It’s evolution goes far beyond being just a Tattoo Convention, it has grown into a full on Lifestyle event encompassing many aspects of Tattoo Culture attracting Global audiences and media coverage.

With visitor numbers increasing year on year we have strived to maintain an extreme quality of event in an ever demanding environment. WE have teamed up with the new management team of Tobacco Dock Venue Reborn to bring our event even further than we previously could have imagined!

With huge investment in this historic building we now have the opportunity to offer better facilities, be it the new internal toilet blocks on both sides of the upper building or the recently opened Great Gallery that features over 14.000 sq feet of space. Our commitment to the Venue has given us an unprecedented vision for the future which will see this amazing event continue to evolve for years to come!”

Welcome to London 2013 http://www.thelondontattooconvention.com/

Proud to be my fathers son, Con Minoli & Son's, Blackwood

Four who were there at the beginning and are still going strong today; Chris Pitt talks to a quartet of bookmakers who started out on that historic day in 1961 - and whose shops survive to this day.

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/9037548.Blackwoood_bookmaker_marks_50_years_of_success/

Con Minoli & Sons Ltd The northern Italian town of Bardi lies about 50 kilometres southwest of Parma in the upper Ceno valley. Back in the late 19th century its inhabitants were living in poverty, there was no work and they were barely able to scrape a living.

In search of a better quality of life, many of them chose to swap the Ceno valley for the valleys of Rhondda and Cynon and emigrated to south Wales, where they became known for setting up cafes.

Constantino (Con) Minoli came over in 1912, aged six, with his two brothers and their mother and father. The family settled in Rhymney and opened a cafe there. Then they opened another one in the village of Pontlottyn.

It was in those south Wales valleys that Con met Clementina Gambarini, whose family had also arrived from Bardi, and the pair were married in 1936. Two years later they moved to Blackwood and opened a cafe which they called Everybody's Cafe.

Con's son Enrico, known to all as Rico, recalls: "Every village and hamlet in the valleys used to have an 'Italian shop'. They were mostly farmers in Italy and when they came over they were prepared to work all hours. Girls wouldn't go into a pub on their own but they'd go to the Italian cafes for a cup of coffee. A lot of my friends met their future wives there.

"My father started taking bets illegally when he was about 20 but he got raided by the police and never did it again until he got married and his sons were born. He and his brothers were very interested in dog racing - there were lots of flapping tracks in the area at the time.

"In 1955, when I was 18, my father's brother Lazzaro was making a book at a flapping track in New Tradegar. I used to go there twice a week and clerk for him. In those days there was a maximum of eight races.

"My father had a cafe in the high street in Blackwood [where the betting shop is now] and he paid me pounds 5 a week, but when I was clerking with my uncle for a couple of hours twice a week he'd pay me pounds 5 a night. I was on 15 quid a week with my board and lodgings paid for, which was more than a top collier around here was earning. I felt like a film star!

"Then I went in the Air Force for my National Service in 1956 and did my two years. When I came out in 1958 the pub opposite the cafe had lost its bookie's runner. Every pub had a bookie's runner in those days but this one had just finished."

Rico's father suggested he and his brother Gino should try taking bets there. The landlord wanted a bookmaker to help his trade so they began to take bets in the bar of the pub. The firm of Con Minoli & Sons was established in 1958 and they quickly built up a round that saw them collect betting slips from various cafes, shops and houses.

Rico continues: "We had an advantage because I was only 20, Gino was 19 and all the other bookmakers were middle-aged or old so we appealed to the younger element.

"At first we weren't even taking a tenner a week but the family were well-known and had a good name throughout the town for the cafe. After a few weeks we'd built up a profit of pounds 13, but then a fella had a pounds 1 bet and won pounds 12 so we had pounds 1 left and had to start again!

"We never got raided because by the time we started there was talk of betting shops being made legal. When they did become legal in 1961 I went to apply for the licence in Tradegar Magistrates Court and we were the first to open in Blackwood. We set up in a shed at the side of the Butcher's Arms.

"There were ten betting offices in Blackwood - we had three - but none of them were taking any money. I never thought that we'd make a living out of it. I just thought that maybe we'd have a few quid at Christmas.

"In those days we had only one Exchange Telegraph blower, which was in our office in the shed next to the pub. Our other offices had no information at all and they had to phone up for the results.

"The other firms in the valleys had an Exchange Telegraph but it was located in their head offices, to which the public didn't have access but, as we didn't have a head office, we had it in the shop and the public could hear it.

"It was a big novelty and people would come from the surrounding villages to our shop to listen to the shows and the commentaries.

"We had a shop in the Red Lion in Blackwood, one in the Valleys Club and a shop in Cefn Fforest, so I got a fella to wire it up to give commentaries to those shops. It was illegal as I was supposed to pay for a blower at each shop, so I used to give the commentary. I'd get the commentary off the blower and relay it. I used to try to make it sound like a tight finish!" Until 1987 Con Minoli & Sons continued to operate from a shed at the side of the Butcher's Arms. Then they converted their cafeon the opposite side of the high street to a betting shop. Although the name appears on the high street frontage, the betting shop itself is now located downstairs.

Rico's son Nino began working for the family business in 1980 and now runs the operation, although his father is still very much involved. They continue to trade as Con Minoli & Sons Ltd and now have three shops, one in Blackwood, one in Cefn Fforest and one in Pontlottyn.