The pupils of Grangetown High have been busy getting to know their newest and tallest classmate – a 7-metre-tall giraffe outside their school.

The giraffe is a huge metal sculpture made by a local artist. The school’s headmaster noticed the sculpture in the artist’s garden as he drove past one day, and thought it would be perfect for his school. ‘I knew everyone would love it,’ he said, ‘because our basketball team is known as the Grangetown Giraffes, and they wear giraffes on their shirts. So I asked them to write a letter to the artist, asking how much it would cost to buy the giraffe. He was very kind and got it ready to deliver in six weeks – all for nothing! He arranged for it to arrive one Sunday morning, so that the pupils would see it when they got to school on the Monday – at that stage they had no idea that we were getting it.’

The artist, Tom Bennett, was a university professor of chemistry before he retired in 2006 and only took up metalwork a couple of years ago. But he had always been a keen artist. ‘I’ve always drawn pictures,’ he said. ‘I can even remember doing it on my first day at school – I drew a horse. I wanted it to be the best horse picture ever, but I don’t think I succeeded!’

Tom’s first project using metal was a bicycle for two that he and his wife could go cycling on together. ‘It was the most uncomfortable bike ever created,’ admits Tom, ‘so I gave up making bicycles and went into sculpture instead.’

‘The first metal sculpture I ever did was of a lion, which now also lives at a school. It started out as a cat, but it just didn’t look right, so I made it into a lion and put it in my front garden. It soon began to attract attention from passers-by. Some small children wouldn’t walk past the lion unless they could have a turn sitting and playing on its back. I think children feel that my sculptures look like actual live animals, and that’s what I want.’

Meanwhile the pupils at Grangetown High are very happy with their new classmate. ‘We’re going to hold a competition to give it a proper name,’ said one girl. ‘Everyone likes the expression on its face, so perhaps that will give us some ideas.’

Have you ever been cycling? This spring my older brother and I left the busy city and spent a long weekend cycling in the countryside. Our average speed was only around 14 kph, but that didn’t matter. We hadn’t come to break any speed records, or to get fit and healthy. All we wanted was some fresh air and a break from schoolwork. My bike only once went more than 30 kph, and that was when I raced my brother down the only hill on our route.

We really enjoyed cycling along flat, traffic-free country paths. There was plenty of spring sunshine, but it was quite cold, especially in the mornings. We didn’t mind, though – and we soon warmed up as we rode along. Our only problem was when my brakes started making a terrible noise. But I didn’t mind as it gave us an excuse to visit a café while a helpful bike mechanic had a look at it.

That was one of the best things about our route: every few kilometres there was a village where we could find everything we needed. All the local people were really friendly, too. However, most places we stopped at served chips with all the meals, which soon got fairly boring.

One night we were woken at 4 a.m. by a group of rugby fans singing loudly in the hotel corridor. We were tired and bad-tempered when we set off the next morning and very nearly got lost, but soon felt much more cheerful when the sun came out. That’s what I like about cycling – it’s simple and it’s fun. If you’re looking for a short break that’s active and cheap, then cycling is a great choice!