Siwan Hill has raised £4,000 so far in five years – making 324 pots in 2024 alone
SIWAN Hill has been selling home-made blackberry jam to raise money for charity for the last five years – and not even cancer could stop her.
Mrs Hill, from Rhiwbina, started making the jam after her father passed away in 2017 – he had taught her to forage for blackberries when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire.
When she moved to Cardiff in 1982, Mrs Hill picked berries every summer – taking them to her parents to freeze – so her dad “could have a blackberry tart every day.”
After her father died, she used the remaining frozen blackberries to make jam, which she initially gifted to friends until her son suggested that she sell it.
Her first customers were neighbours and then she began selling it at Macmillan coffee mornings.
In 2019, Mrs Hill started to advertise the jam on the social network Nextdoor, and raised £400.
After retiring as a teacher at Ysgol Glantaf in 2020, the mother-of-one began promoting the jam on Facebook and WhatsApp.
This year has been the most successful to date, with 324 pots sold and £800 donated.
People “love it,” she said.
Keisha Morgan-Allwood, 29, who lives in Whitchurch, bought the jam this year. She said: “It’s freshly made and it’s fantastic, I wouldn’t go anywhere else to get jam besides hers”. She descibed Siwan as “such a lovely and kind person to talk to”.
The £3.50 pots have so far raised more than £4,000, mainly for Cancer Research Wales.
The cause is close to her heart. Mrs Hill was hospitalized with bronchiectasis in 2021, which led to the discovery of thymoma cancer.
Despite having surgery in August 2021, she still made and sold her jam, picking blackberries for it right in the lead up to the operation.
Three years on, she is now in remission.
The popularity of the jam has now spread. Requests come from all over Cardiff but has even had interest from as far away as Cornwall. Even when she has finished the jam-making for the year, Mrs Hill often receives multiple messages a week.
The jam-making process begins in July when Mrs Hill starts foraging for blackberries: “They are always really early in Cardiff,” she says.
Whilst taking daily walks, Mrs Hill looks out for berries to pick, returning with a garden bucket to fill.
“I love picking them,” she says. “I find it very mindful.”
At the end of foraging, Mrs Hill is left with “a whole freezer drawer full of blackberries”.
The jam is made in her home kitchen in batches throughout the year, sometimes up to 30 jars in a day. It’s cooked in a big saucepan, with “three and a half pounds of blackberries and three and a half pounds of sugar”.
Mrs Hill also reuses jars – sourcing them on social media – to cut down on costs and ensure more money goes to charity. She finishes the process by decorating the jars with stickers to help make it look more professional.
The largest portion of donations have gone to Cancer Research Wales, in memory of her brother, who passed away from cancer aged 23, and for her own battles with bowel and thymoma cancer.
Iwan Rhys Roberts, of Cancer Research Wales said: “Siwan is a long-standing and valued supporter of Cancer Research Wales”. He added: “We are truly indebted to her for her fundraising efforts.”
Mrs Hill’s fundraising shows no signs of slowing down, as she plans to keep on making and selling her jam for as long as she is able to.
