Life through the lens: Rogerstone Labour councillor Chris Evans.

Family

This is my eldest daughter Kylie Taylor and my youngest daughter Poppy Joe Stowell-Evans.

They are quite simply the two most important people in my life.

Poppy is 10 and Kylie is 28 years old.

I like this photo because it so natural and was taken at the Three Mughals in Rogerstone when Kylie had come back for a couple of days from Australia about a year ago.

Friends

Here we have two of my best mates Jon Powell from @TheNewsagent in Newport and Jerry Secker from Newport Rises.

They are a group of people that I really enjoy being with; people that don’t moan they just get on with it, trying to do their best for our city.

They do their best and try to make a difference

This was taken in February last year outside Jon’s shop when we wanted to get things going with Shop Local. We were handing out Shop Local T-shirts and bags in an effort to create a buzz and get the positivity going.

Since then we have done Record Store Day, Independents Day, supported Newport Food Festival, Shop Local Saturday at Christmas and lots of smaller ‘pop up’ initiatives to support our city centre’s traders and business - the beauty is that people are working together, regardless of their politics.

NATO

This was taken outside the school US President Barack Obama was visiting during the Nato summit in September.

Newport Rises got behind the summit from the beginning and we made the most of it, with Jon Powell up at the Celtic Manor selling ice creams.

It just shows when Obama came to Rogerstone and we got to see him, well, it was more of a glimpse, but, the atmosphere was amazing

It was truly a historical day. I truly believe the whole summit could have been a turning point for our city, it gave us a once in a lifetime chance to build something positive on.

I’m wearing my Obama t-shirt, I bought when he was running for the presidential nomination and people were saying he hasn’t got a hope in hell of winning. But they were wrong, and he became a two-term President who changed things and visited my home town!

Family

This is my mum and brother in hospital.

My mum is in her late eighties and my brother Phil is in his late sixties.

Phil has Down’s syndrome and was rushed to hospital one day with pneumonia.

My mum was also taken in the next day and on Christmas Eve had an operation to remove a hernia from her bowel.

Mum is at home now and Phil is in a care home but I spent Christmas in the Royal Gwent Hospital. The staff there were just brilliant,

The whole experience, I guess made me realise what Christmas is all about - family, love, being thankful. I’m so grateful to still have by brother and mum around.

These people [the staff] did so much for my mother and brother; they were brilliant, they even gave me a Christmas dinner while I was there.

It made me realise how important Phil was to me and I now have chance to make the most of what we have.

Father

This is my dad Nannam Evans at home in Bedwellty.

My dad was an incredibly well-informed man who died of asbestos poisoning.

He used to run a farm and work at the steel works, he gave me so many second chances and taught me to speak up when I felt things were wrong.

I miss him a lot.

Music

I discovered Paul Weller in those ‘difficult’ teenage years, he’s been a huge influence on my life, helping inform much of my politics.

His lyrics made me want to go out and find out more the subjects he referenced, I read Huxley, Shelley, Wilde, Keats etc. because of Paul. I listened to The Beatles, Small Faces, The Who and lesser-known bands like Department S, The Questions, Anything But The Girl, Death In Vegas but Weller was, and still is, The spokesman for My Generation, he’s got some pretty sharp suites too!