Category: Miscellaneous

Various items that do not fit any particular category

Date Days

Date days to offer families the chance to learn languages, crafts and circus skills in exciting new pilot

Families in the Vale are being offered the chance to do something different together this summer as part of a pilot scheme being run by the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s Creative Rural Communities Team.

The team are piloting ‘Date Days’ offering activities for school-aged children and their parents or guardians to try out together. These include French language classes, crafts, cooking, outdoor learning, relaxation, dance, circus skills and even military fitness sessions.

Cllr Jonathan Bird, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning, said: “The feedback our Creative Rural Communities team received from residents made clear that children in rural communities need more opportunities to do activities. That’s why we are now piloting this new scheme.

“As well as the chance to try something new, we hope it will offer a break from the stresses of everyday life and allow families to spend some quality time together. It could even be the start of a new lifelong family hobby!”

This project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014 – 2020 which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the Welsh Government and the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

The pilot will run from April until October. The activities will take place in four communities in the rural Vale: St Athan, Wenvoe, Rhoose and Ystradowen. There are a range of activities in Wenvoe including French language classes, Indian / Chinese cookery, circus skills, fitness and teambuilding challenges , forest school taster session and a stained glass workshop.

Families can find more information and book places at www.creativeruralcommunities.co.uk/datedays or via the ‘Creative Rural Communities’ Facebook page.

 

 

Wenvoe Spring Craft Fair

WENVOE SPRING CRAFT FAIR
Sunday 20th May

The Wenvoe Spring Craft Fair on Sunday 20 May is now nearly upon us and we are very excited! Entry is free so come and join us between 10am and 4pm at Wenvoe Community Centre and see a selection of excellent hand crafted items made by talented local crafters. You can buy gifts for the special people in your life or spoil yourself with something you wouldn’t find on the High Street. We have 25 traders attending including the Vale Cider company (who will be giving taster sessions), Tricycle Treats 1940’s Style stop-me-and-buy-one ice cream Trike selling delicious, locally sourced ice cream and we’ve even got a bit of science for the children. The Village Gardener will be there with a good selection of plants for sale and will be delighted to answer questions from visitors and Gwyndaf Breese makes a welcome return with an amazing array of his hand turned/carved wood crafts. We have body products, scented candles, jewellery, basketware, needle felted artwork ( these are gorgeous!), preserves sold in aid of the homeless, amazing preserved roses, peg art, hand drawn acetate greeting cards, hand made fudge (in the most incredible flavours and home made salted caramel sauce too), textile crafts and more.

The proceeds of the charity raffle this time will go to the Wenvoe Wildlife Group who will have a representative on hand with information about their very valuable work in the village. The latest prize acquired for the raffle is a voucher for Afternoon Tea for Two at the lovely Romilly’s Coffee shop at The Knap in Barry. Other prizes include a coffee table made by Gwyndaf Breese, a picnic carrier stocked with melamine table ware, a table cloth and a bottle of prosecco, a small garden incinerator filled with gardening goodies, an iced, home made and hand decorated cake, a Waitrose Teapot bird feeder, a bottle of dissarono, costume jewellery and lots more.

There will be hot and cold drinks on offer from the kitchen along with a selection of Home Made cakes which will include chocolate brownies, Victoria Sandwich, Lemon Drizzle, Walnut and Maple syrup cake, Terry’s Chocolate Orange cake, Cappucino cake and Ferrero Rocher cake along with Cheese Scones if you prefer something savoury.

This will be a lovely, community day so come along and catch up with old friends or make some new ones! You will all be so welcome, we hope to see you there. If you miss this one you will have to wait until November for the Wenvoe Christmas Craft Fair – how can you wait that long?

For more information you can contact the organisers, Glenys and Mike Tucker on 0792210972 or contact us on Facebook through the events page which can be found under Wenvoe Spring Craft Fair.

 

 

The Children’s Story

 

When Our Children Tell Their Story, They’ll Tell the Story of Tonight

Being a teenager can sometimes be terrifying. But when we say terrifying, we mean being terrified of showing up to a party severely overdressed, or earning a bad grade at something we believe we ought to excel at, or even being terrified of stress and our own mental health. We never mean being terrified of being shot at our place of education. That is a fear which should not be reserved for anyone, especially not the youth of today.

I’m not American. I’ve never experienced gun-violence. But it doesn’t stop my compassion from throwing itself in aid of my fellow teenagers across the pond. I mean, Eliza Gonzales and the revolutionary teens storming America and conducting the ‘March For Our Lives’ seem to be handling the battle. But, they shouldn’t have to be. It’s not a fight they should have to be a part of. They shouldn’t have to continue making speeches and urging the adults in Congress who should be looking after them to stop gun violence. They should be terrified of falling on their face in heels, in the same way we fear in Britain. They shouldn’t have to be fighting for their lives.

I’ve spoken about gun violence before. The fact that I’m having to re-iterate so soon afterwards is a sign in itself that America is struggling. They shouldn’t be having an annoying Welsh girl telling them how to run their country. They should be aware of the many thousands of children who have died in mass shootings in schools across the US. They should be aware that by not doing anything, they are enforcing a death sentence on the many who only wish for an education.

Although I was not marching, my solidarity is with all those who did. To those not only in America, but all over the world. To those in London and Edinburgh and Belfast. To those in Belgium, Denmark, France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Israel, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Ghana, Mozambique, Puerto Rico and Canada: I stand with you.

There’s not much more I can say, except I hope they hear you and make a change. It’s too late for those who’ve lived through it, but maybe a change can protect those lucky enough to know nothing of American school shootings.

Maybe being lucky shouldn’t be the default. I know one thing for certain: I love the fact that I am part of such a strong generation. That when I look at the news I see the strong character you could only write about in films that are my age. My hope is that this has paid off. But I can only wish that those affected can finally get protection.

Protect kids. Not guns. Please.

By Tirion Davies

 

 

 

 

Village Show

 

 

As you may know, for many years now the Scouts have made sure that the village show runs smoothly but have now decided to end their involvement. This year they are handing it over but the 'show will go on'. In order to make sure that it remains an event embedded in the community, it will be run in association with the library and other local groups.

The categories for entries are very similar to the previous years and will shortly be published so keep your eyes posted! There may also be some new events that will engage the community and fill the day. These may include story time for the children and adults, fancy dress events and wildlife walks. Many hands make light work in an event like this, so if you feel that you would like to be involved, please contact us and we would be delighted to hear from you. Please get in tough with Heulwen or Sue on the following numbers:- Heulwen 07411178797, Sue 07880936301

I am sure that we can make this years event an occasion to be remembered. Thanks and we look forward to seeing you there

 

 

ARTHURIAN LEGENDS IN WENVOE!

 

In autumn last year Wenvoe residents Eirwen Malin and Phil Thomas held the first of a planned series of house concerts featuring some of Wales’ finest storytellers. The next concert will take place at their home in Old Port Road on 17th May 2018 at 7.00pm and will feature a unique telling of the Arthurian legend ‘The tale of Jaufre’ by Storyteller and singer Anne Lister. This project forms part of a PhD thesis she is working on at the University of South Wales.

She first came across Jaufre while studying medieval French and Occitan at Warwick University, and was immediately struck by the way it has lost nothing of its liveliness and humour over the centuries. Jaufre is a rather serious young man, frequently caught off guard by events, but determined to succeed, and do the Right Thing.

Jaufre arrives at King Arthur’s court in time to witness an insult to the king, and promises to bring the villain, the very unpleasant Taulat de Rogimon, to justice. Along the way he meets the exceedingly beautiful Brunissen and falls in love—but there are giants to deal with, and demons, and dwarves, and a mysterious damsel with an underwater kingdom.

Although written at the court of Aragon, the romance was written in the Occitan language, which was usually reserved for troubadour poetry, and there has been much critical discussion as to whether it was always the only Arthurian romance in this language or whether we have, in fact, lost others. Some of the elements of this story will be familiar, if you know the tales of King Arthur, but—and this is where it becomes intriguing—not all of them. Some are unique to Jaufre. The tale survived in two complete manuscripts and some fragments, and went on to be re-told in chapbooks in both French and Spanish, and then later in a 19th century English translation. The Spanish chapbook was, apparently, one of the books to be found in the library of Don Quixote. The tale has also turned up in the Philippines, in oral tradition.

The entire tale would take far more than one evening to tell, and so it is fortunate that the romance is divided into episodes which can be related separately. If you think that all this sounds rather dry and academic then you could not be further from the truth! Anne says that the story is “..More Monty Python than Mists of Avalon … this is a richly comic tale and was probably always intended to be so”.

Anne Lister has many years’ experience as a folk singer and storyteller ( you can find out more at www.annelister.com ) and the house concert will be a rare opportunity to hear an experienced performer in an intimate setting. There is no ticket price as such. We would ask for a donation to cover costs and the storyteller’s fee. Any surplus will be donated to The Beyond The Border International Storytelling Festival.Places will be limited to 25 so please email philipthomas664@gmail.com or call 07870 212437 by 10th May to reserve a place and receive address details – last time we sold out! Please note – this is storytelling for adults. It is not intended for under 14s, but accompanied older children will be welcome. We hope to see you.

 

 

Spring Craft Fair

WENVOE SPRING CRAFT FAIR

Sunday 20th May 2018

Community Centre 10am – 4pm

Not long now until the Wenvoe Craft Workshop™️ second annual Wenvoe Spring Craft Fair on Sunday 20th May. Save the date and come along and see a lovely selection of hand crafted items made by talented local crafts people! As well as some old favourites we have some extraordinary new products on offer from crafters who are new to our craft fairs. Vale Cider will be offering taster sessions and selling their delicious locally made cider to thirsty customers. We see a return of Tricycle Treats with their fabulous ice cream flavours on sale from a beautiful 1940’s style stop-me-and-buy-one trike. We also have locally made artisan fudge (and locally made salted caramel sauce!) on sale in some sensational flavours as well as jewellery, woven basket ware (our lovely crafter will be doing some crafts in action on the day), textile, paper, felt, natural body products, and a variety of different medium greetings cards to name but a few. We have a couple of wood work stalls with a much welcome return of Wenvoe’s very own Gwyndaf Breese, whose craftsmanship has to be seen to be believed. Mike, the Village Gardener, will be selling plants and giving out gardening advice to those who want it ( and very possibly to those who don’t! ). We also have a local couple who make and sell safe children’s scientific experiment sets which may well be demonstrated on the day so bring along your budding scientists! Why on earth would you want to miss all that? Then when you’ve shopped you can drop – in to the refreshment area where you can indulge in a hot or cold drink and a slice of home made cake. There are some lovely prizes in the charity raffle, including an item donated by Gwyndaf, and this time the proceeds will be going to the Wenvoe Wildlife Group to help enable them to continue their sterling work around the Village. A member of the Wenvoe Wildlife Group will be in attendance on the day to give visitors information about their invaluable work and maybe ( rumour has it ) have some wild flower seeds to give to those interested. Do come along, it will a good, entertaining day where you can meet both present and past Wenvoe residents and have a chat and a catch-up.

If you have any queries you can contact the Organisers, Glenys and Mike Tucker, by email at pukkatucker@gmail.com or by phone on 079 2210 9721.

 

 

ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND RUGBY

 

Second from the TOP

Didn't Wales do well in the end in the six nations rugby competition. All seemed well on the first weekend when we gave Scotland a shock. That woke them up a bit and improved their play. In the past I was always in awe at how France played ‘basketball rugby’ with high passes and adhesive palms before velcro was invented. Sadly, this year when we tried it against Ireland there was a leprechaun ready to intercept and steal a win away from us with a try. Not that we had had a great game. Ireland seemed to play ‘special rugby with a few dull phases. We seemed to play ‘ordinary rugby with a few special moments. It was a shame that Scotland pipped Italy at the post to deny them a consolation win to go with the wooden spoon. But our hard graft against France, and hard graft it was, edged us into second place in the table. In the words of many of my school reports: “satisfactory progress, could do better".

Second from the BOTTOM

Eddie Jones recently had to apologise for insulting the Welsh and the Irish during an after dinner speech last June. Better late than never I suppose. Happily, Celts have a sense of humour. Sadly, he is arrogant enough to have meant the insults, and the super rich English Rugby Union and players have the same personalities. All water under the Severn Bridge. He set his squad up to ride roughshod over the other five teams, and he did win, just, over Wales. But the French cockerel pecked them in their ‘derrieres’. Ireland taught them the final lesson about all round fifteen man rugby. Gauls and Celts can smile while the Anglo-Saxons take comfort that they didn’t come last.

AyJay

 

 

New Dogs Trust Homing Centre

The charity have at last received planning for a brand new homing centre in Cardiff. It will be sited in Splott. With the number of stray and abandoned dogs in Wales totalling 4,900 last year, our only centre in Wales, at Bridgend is always full to capacity and the new centre, due to open in 2020 will go a long way to alleviate the pressure on Bridgend and continue to provide for the welfare of dogs in our country.

I have spoken on occasion of dedicated volunteer Jenny Thomas who has raised thousands of pounds for Dogs Trust over many years. In 2017 alone she raised over £30,000, enough to sponsor five kennels for a year and this by sorting and selling your unwanted stamps, albums and foreign currency. Please keep them coming as every one is gratefully received. As usual they can be picked up from the What’s On box or can be sent directly to Jenny Thomas, 15, Wentworth Ave, London, N3 1YA.

 

 

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