Homeless pair living in city centre park appeal for work opportunities.

Byline: Gregory Walton Reporter [email protected]

A PAIR of homeless friends who live in a city centre park are appealing directly to the people of Cardiff for work.

Ken Jones, 44, and Ron Rogers, 40, have become internet sensations after advertising their skills to passers-by on posters in the heart of the city centre on Queen Street.

The duo, who say they don't claim benefits and live in a tent in parkland in the shadow of the Hilton hotel, hope to find casual work in time for Christmas.

Ken, who advertises his services from the doorway of a vacant shop opposite M&S, told the Echo: "We're hoping that someone will give us a caravan and let us do nightwatch - or even let us put our camp up on their land."

Their posters ask "Have you any work for me?" and promise cheap demolition, recycling and security work.

"I had one at Christmas in Brighton, a site to look after and I lived in a portable building on a camp bed.

"They put a 19in flatscreen TV with a DVD player in it, a big pack of DVDs for us and loads and loads of food and drinks for Christmas - I stayed on that job from Christmas Eve to January 2," says Ken.

The companions have acquired something of an online following after a local student snapped Ron and his signs and posted the shot to Twitter.

They pitched their camp in Cardiff over the weekend and have been trying to woo prospective employers since.

Ken describes the Cardiff public as "very friendly".

"People have taken my phone number down. I spoke to a couple of the leafleteers, someone actually stopped. He took my number and I've got his. He wants us to sell stuff for him," says Ken.

"But there doesn't seem to be a great deal of work around at the moment."

And camping in the capital is proving a challenge too. Ken recently had to buy a new groundsheet for the tent. Their single-skinned structure leaked in the night.

The council also keeps a close eye on them, insisting they unpitch the tent every day.

"As soon as you mention you live in a tent, you're out. We call the Job Centre the Joke Shop - I'm on the agency books. One of them said 'I'm sorry we've got 2,000 people who want to work'", says Ken, a native of West Wales.

While they both admit that they face an uphill struggle to find work, Ken and Ron refuse to live on handouts.

"I don't claim benefits - I can't, I'm self-employed. I've got the paperwork in my bag.

"I go in the Job Centre for the craic. We don't claim benefits - not many people know that every two months we can have a food parcel if we need it but that's all," says Ken.

"I've worked in Barry, I've been in Brighton, Oxfordshire, South Wales. It's tough everywhere, Someone could offer us work today and we could work anywhere. But not yet."

Ken says that their ambi-tion is simply to buy back the tools of the trade that they need to earn a decent living.

"I used to have a bicycle and a trailer when I was in a hostel - the council removed it. The bicycle and trailer I used to ride around on collecting scrap metal. I used to speak to all the builders.

"People down.

and took doesn't around "I'd go up Newport Road asking for all the bits of cable and stainless. I also had a jet washer on it - but it blew up. It was petrol. I was on the roof - boom. My second man disappeared, the water cut-off and there was flames behind me." Undeterred by his experiences, Ken insists that gutter cleaning would allow both him and Ron to enjoy a comfortable standard of living.

"We don't need much to get by on," he says.

But winter is a particularly tough time for people in Ken and Ron's situation as building projects windup for the winter, homeowners hold back on home improvements and farm work all but dries up.

"Sometimes we get work doing the daffodils, I did that this year - 6p a bundle.

You've got to pick them, snip on an angle, band them and pack them in a case," said Ken.

"It's cash," he says philosophically.

number The two friends obviously rely on one another and their large German Shepherd, Bailey, who growls defensively when his masters are approached by strangers.

stopped there work Ken Jones Until a few days ago they had a third man with them. "There was three - but Craig's disappeared. One night he was there and the next minute he's gone," says Ken.

When asked if this worries them, Ron said: "We're used to it."

"People have taken my number down. Someone actually stopped and took my number, but there doesn't seem to be much work around at the moment. " Homeless man Ken Jones

CAPTION(S):

Ron Rogers appeals for work in Queen Street in Cardiff city centre

Ken Jones, left, 44, and Ron Rogers, 40, are living in a tent near the Hilton Hotel in Cardiff and look for work by standing in Queen Street with a biilboard and asking people to take them on ANDREW

PETER BOLTER

ANDREW JAMES

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Publication:	South Wales Echo (Cardiff, Wales)
Date:	Nov 13, 2013
Words:	889
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