In times of economic doom and gloom, it is nice
to see that Swansea still has its fair share of
characters able to see the lighter side of life.

Take Ian Ambrose, the managing director
of Prestige Ironing. Since 2006, the former
member of the Royal Parachute Regiment has
been running a successful business in Swansea
providing busy professionals with crisply ironed
shirts on a daily basis.

But Ian is also a fan and active participant of
the little known sport of Extreme Ironing. He has
successfully photographed himself ironing in a
number of extreme locations, such as on top of
mountains and even in a canoe, in recent years –
all in the name of charity. But the publicity he gets
as a result isn’t too bad either.

Here at Swansea Life we love people like Ian.
They live their lives to the full and make life far
more interesting for the rest of us. There’s also
a few more fun-loving characters featured in
these pages.

A good example is all those who took part in
the RNLI raft race in August. It made for a great
spectacle and raised a lot of money for charity in
the process.

Talking about fun-loving and mildly eccentric
characters, we also like Eddie from Blazers
Caravans quite a lot at the moment. It is his
diamond featured on the front of this magazine.
A more glamorous, unique and valuable prize has
rarely been seen in any magazine competition in
the UK.

It takes vision, creativity and guts to come up with
and execute a competition for which the prize is
one of the biggest diamonds you will ever see.
And it really is jaw-dropping close up.

But it also shows an audacious and
entrepreneurial spirit that is fantastic to see in
Swansea, especially in tough times. Well done
Eddie. And if you want to meet the man himself
– and his Angels – go and see him at Blazers
Caravans off Fabian Way!

The rest of the magazine is not quite as eccentric
but what it lacks in quirkiness it more than makes
up for in its delivery of colourful, spellbinding
and informative content. Discover your autumn
fashions with Lara Johnson, fi nd out about future
interior design trends with Lesley Taylor, eat more
but feel better with Gary Lockett and get fi t at
work with Tara Hammett. What more could you
want? Enjoy.

Wyn Jenkins
Editor