About

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This is an image of the Old Bridge Pontypridd , built at the fourth attempt in 1756, by William Edwards over the River Taff, South Wales. Still standing, it was a miracle of engineering and innovation, the worlds longest single span stone bridge for 40 years.

I’ve been using it as the background image for What’s the PONT since I started blogging in 2011.

What’s the PONT is about learning. The things I’ve learnt or find interesting and want to share. Pont is the Welsh for bridge, and ‘What’s the PONT’ is also just that, a bridge.  I’m interested in learning and sharing knowledge for the greater good and because I think it is an important and hopefully useful thing to do.

Disclaimer. I need to say that these are my own personal views and opinions and have nothing to do with the views of the organisation I work for, or any of the other organisations I might have any connection with.

About Me. The things I’m currently interested in are:

  1. How people learn and share knowledge;
  2. Employee engagement, continuous improvement, innovation; and
  3. A better society and public services. 

I’m native of the South Wales Valleys, spending much of my life within about 10 miles of Pontypridd, which is why the William Edwards bridge is important to me. I’m a scientist by background. I’ve worked in a number of different roles from being a marine biologist, working with fisheries and waste water treatment.  Other things I’ve done include being a corporate planner, supporting democracy and public service improvement.

I currently work for the Wales Audit Office as part of the Good Practice Exchange Team. If you want to look at what we do, you can find it here:

The website pages: http://www.wao.gov.uk/goodpractice/goodpracticeexchange.asp

The blog: http://goodpracticeexchange.wordpress.com/

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This is me, Chris Bolton, a generic bald bloke. Middle aged, happily married for more than 25 years, three sons, dogs (4), cats (2), chickens (variable).

24 Responses

    1. whatsthepont

      Thanks for the comments David.
      Yes I am hoping to come to the event on Monday.
      Just have a few things to sort out first.

      Glad you liked the idea behind What’s the PONT.
      I reckon the Newbridge at Pontypridd should feature as on of the Welsh Icons.
      I’ll have a look at how I nominate.

      Hope to see you monday.
      Chris

  2. Katy Gilmore

    Rather than just be a “lurker” I will say how much I enjoyed the last 20 minutes with your blog. I’m really thinking about a little e-class born of my blog and discovered you in “researching” online participation. But I stayed because I enjoyed the malicious compliance stories, general literate tone, and image of that beautiful bridge. Thank you! Best, Katy Gilmore

    1. whatsthepont

      Thanks Katy,
      I very much appreciate your comments.
      The malicious compliance stories are all part the day to day here.
      The recent rain has held things up so there may be more to come, particularly as an ancient motorbike has been ‘discovered’ which the kids are itching to restore.
      Thanks again,
      Chris

    1. whatsthepont

      Thanks for the comments, much appreciated.
      Pontypridd, Newbridge is definitely a Welsh Icon.
      There are some pictures of it lit up with different coloured lights on the Pontypridd Town website http://www.pontytown.co.uk/photos.html.
      I enjoyed your Berlin graffiti post. I have left you a comment. Went there myself in May, was amazed by graffiti.
      Have written a piece on the love padlocks I saw on bridges I’m due to post soon.

  4. MitchP

    Hi Chris,
    I’m an editor for a software development news and tutorials site (dzone.com) and I wanted to see if you might be interested in having some of your blog content featured on a new topic portal on social business tools and methods. Shoot me an email and we can talk.

  5. Cat

    Dear Sir
    Hope I have the right email address.
    Found your name as a contact under wordpress communitiies in the UK – Wales
    Wondered if you could recommend to us please on any forums where we can advertise jobs for wordpress developers.
    We have already gone on WordPress.net, but as an expert we thought you might be able to help us with recommendations.
    We are a thriving graphic design and marketing agency in SW UK with an ever expanding order book and we want to make sure we advertise to the right candidates.
    Any feedback will be gratefully received.

    Kind regards
    Cat

    1. whatsthepont

      Hello Cat,
      Thanks for the message.
      A place you could look at is WordPress Users Wales.
      This is a voluntary group of people who are interested in WordPress and meetup every couple of months.

      The twitter account is @wordpresswales

      The blog is cardiffusers.wordpress.com

      If you make contact through either of these routes we can try to help out.

      Hope this is of use,
      Thanks for getting in touch.
      Chris

  6. dorristheloris

    Hi! I’m doing the Liebster award challenge at the moment – a way for bloggers to network and get to know each other and as part of it, I’ve nominated you for a Liebster Award! There’s more info about what this involves, including 10 ‘Getting to Know You’ questions here: http://wp.me/p14Til-8p

    (PS – If it’s not your thing then don’t worry – thought I’d nominate you because you always put an original spin on things, so I’m intrigued as to what questions you’d set for the next people!)

  7. phil owen

    well mr chris bolton! your description of the beacons reminded me of some of the days out sampling at blaengarw and sitting on landfill sites in the rain!! snakey – if you remember them nickname!

    1. whatsthepont

      Hello Phil
      I definitely remember a few damp days out in the hills
      Funny how the seem so happy when I look back, despite the awful conditions.
      It must be something to do with age.
      It’s good to hear from you.
      Would even better to catch up again one day soon,
      I still tell stories about some of the escapades from back in the day.
      Are you on Facebook or twitter?
      Chris

      1. phil owen

        not on either! being a teacher i try and avoid them! email is phil@tutormenow,co,uk – would be great to catch up

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