Category: Community Groups
June Events
WOMEN’S INSTITUTE
June Events
On June 4th we were pleased to be joined by members of the Wenvoe community and other local WIs at our meeting.
We were entertained by a fast moving, amusing and educational presentation on “Enjoying the Power of Plants” from Roger Crookes in conjunction with Pugh’s Garden Centres who provided seeds and 3 plants from the nursery for our raffle. Following a brief introduction on how he started in gardening Roger illustrated the many benefits plants bring to our lives including food, energy, enjoyment and exercise. He emphasised the importance of plants in combatting climate change and how garden centres were adjusting to the challenges it poses for us as gardeners.
Our next meeting is on July 2nd when we will be joined by members of the Stay Steady team.
Visitors are always welcome to our meetings. Please ring 07881 853032 for further details.
Carol Charlson (President)
Stress? What stress?
Pontrhydyfen & Llwyn-Onn
Pontrhydyfen & Llwyn-Onn
Pontrhydyfen
We parked at Rhyslyn, Afan Forest Park in late spring, and set off on the Richard Burton birthplace trail soon spotting clumps of cowslips.
Crossing the viaduct towards Bethel Chapel we looked down on the river and over to a second viaduct. As we turned the corner of the chapel, we noticed that high up in the stone wall was a gap filled with a different material; bees had obviously made this their home and were busy coming and going.
It was a lovely day, and we walked in dappled sunlight beside trees. This was yet another walk where we were able to see bluebells (one of 6 this year). A long line of at least nine bee hives sat along the edge of a field. Next, a line of caravans and motor homes were awaiting their summer excursions. A donkey and a horse took an interest in us and our equine lovers said hello.
As the day progressed it warmed and lambs could be seen gambolling in the fields. We had an early lunch sat amongst the roots of an old hedge line which also provided shade as the ‘hedge’ had grown to a line of trees. The view was a pastoral idyll of green fields, rolling hills and sheep with just a few houses in the distance.
At one point we could see Port Talbot steel works in the distance, quite odd as there was no smoke and no sign of activity. Since then, one of the main Tata steel cylinders has been demolished.
We were at the highest point of our walk and came across a bench with a heart-shaped dedication to a dog – ‘always by my side, forever in my heart’. It was now hot and the views expansive. The wall of a property totally overgrown with greenery had several pottery animals dotted about – a horse’s head, a pig and some sort of bird.
The return was a pleasant walk along the river and another bench with a dedication ‘Sit with me and watch the world go by’ – this time for a 26-year-old.
Before long we were back in Pontrhydyfen, and wandered over to the Bethel chapel café, where hot and cold food is available. ‘In 1984, hundreds of mourners, including locals, fans and A-list stars gathered here to bid farewell to Richard Burton.’ The place is full of memorabilia as well as some pithy sayings such as ‘skinny people are easier to kidnap, stay safe and eat cake’. So, we did as it was someone’s birthday and we sat outside in the balmy air to enjoy it.
As we walked back to the cars a friendly local chatted to us and pointed out the house where Richard Burton was born, rounding the day off nicely.
Walk 6.8 miles 1000ft Map OS165
Llwyn-Onn
We parked in the Forrest holidays site, west of the reservoir where a wooden sculpture of the BFG stands. This was an excellent route for a hot day with plenty of shade.
Although we were circumnavigating the reservoir, we could not see it for most of the walk. Birdsong accompanied us all day and there were bluebells once again but at the end of their display. The paths were edged by many orchids – early marsh, common spotted and others. An unusual yellow flower turned out to be common cow wheat and buttercups covered fields. White pignuts were plentiful in one area.
We sheltered in the cool shadow of a tree for lunch and were swamped by swarms of midges – some of us suffering for days afterwards with the resultant bites.
The old Taff trail proved very difficult in parts where the trees and shrubs were reaching across the path with a barbed wire fence on the other side. Towards the end of the walk the footpath disappeared so we changed route and walked beside the reservoir, stepping into it where gentle waves lapped the path.
At Garwnant visitor’s centre, information boards cover the geology of the Brecon Beacons and information on an arboretum. It was a beautiful hot sunny day and the walk ‘a bit of an adventure’. When we told a ranger at the visitor centre the problems on the old Taff trail. he said, ‘he wouldn’t go down there these days.’
We enjoyed drinks here and many of us also had ice-cream!
Walk 7 miles 1000ft Map OL12
Strange Greyish Formations
“The Names” by Florence Knapp
“The Names” by Florence Knapp
The book describes 3 parallel universes where a boy’s character is affected, partly by his name, but as much by the malevolent presence of his father and the effect he has on his mother and sister as well. Navigating through the sequencing of three stories was often confusing and was a challenge for some!
Is it our name that forges our identity or living with decisions made by ourselves and others and the consequences they have on our personalities? Many Page Turners thought the book was more about the effects of the horrific domestic abuse that the mother had to endure, rather than the names the child was given. Indeed, many readers thought the descriptions of the abuse were overly graphic and extremely upsetting.
The book covered some interesting themes, including the maturity of the sister in protecting both her mother and brother in a maternal role, even though a child herself and a mother’s need to protect her children at all costs. But the violence Cora endured was the overarching memory of the book.
The overall score was 3, with scores ranging from 0 to 5. Not an easy read.
How Green Are My Valleys?
WENVOE FORUM
Considering Tomorrow Today
After 27 Years – How Green Are My Valleys?
Wales has a new government elected in an unfamiliar political landscape. This is not going to be a political piece, don’t be concerned, it just seems a good moment to take a look at our green credentials here in Wales not only at our valleys, but mountains, rivers, the sea around us, urban landscapes, post-industrial sites and more importantly what we the people of Wales do to improve or damage our own surroundings.
It’s fair to say that most of the world’s developed societies have used the wonderful resources that the planet and its nature provide as free gifts, contributing to economies built on the growth of wealth. There has been little consideration for the whole picture, the ecosystem. Some types of bees, for example, have been farmed and exploited for their honey but bees in general have no economic value, with their contribution as pollinators disregarded, their habitats destroyed and only recently the impact of their decline on our ability to feed the world’s population acknowledged. It’s been much the same with most of nature’s wonders.
Gradually those who have for decades been warning of the dangers of overfishing or campaigned for the return of beavers to the countryside or those who construct hedgehog highways have made their voices heard and slowly things are changing. Here in 2015 the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act was in the vanguard in making sustainable development a central organising principle for government.
It seems that it has made a difference, household recycling by local authorities in Wales was over 65% in 2022-23, a world leading rate and household carbon footprints fell by 37% between 2001 and 2020. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OEDC) and other international bodies reviewing evidence found that this overarching approach has resulted in improvement in health, education and wellbeing for the people of Wales. The 2015 Act inspired the UN Declaration of Future Generations based on sustainable development.
Currently Wales is considered an exemplar. Let’s hope it stays that way.
A Message from Sian Hops!
Hi – I just want to reach out to all of you fellow hop growers.
Our Hops haven’t materialised yet, even though I have planted my seeds in a pot after following all the instructions. We keep trying with the hope of having something grow when the harvest is due. Usually hop picking is around 5th September or maybe 12th depending on what sort of weather we have this Summer.
So far, it’s cold and windy. We are all hoping for some warmth for ourselves and our plants.
I hope we will have a get together in September and share a drink or two. I will be in touch nearer that date. If there is anything I can help with in the meantime, please let me know.
Sian
P.S. I wish WWO was in colour, for you to see the springlike bright green of neighbours’ hops.
(P.P.S From the editor of WWO.
If you know Sian, tell her that her wish has been granted. As readers of this are aware, all the illustrations are in Glorious Technicolour on the Web Version of the WWO)
To join our Facebook group, please ‘friend up’ with the GwenFo account @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1 and then jon the Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/635369267864402
Some further information and updates, blog site https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/. Any Wenvoe community member is welcome to join the Forum meetings, via Zoom, which are normally held 19.00 on the second Thursday of each month. E-mail gwen-fo.forum@gmail.com if you wish to join
Love To See You There!
Valeways Walks June 2026
“The Wonder” By Emma Donahue
“The Wonder” By Emma Donahue
One review described this book as, ‘Absorbing, truthful, beautiful’. Another as, ‘Powerful, compulsively readable.’ One member of our book-club described it as – ‘Dark, dismal, disturbing.’
It is fair to say that most of us found the book compulsively readable rather than beautiful!
The story is set in post-famine Ireland and follows an English nurse, Lib and an Irish nun who have been commissioned to watch over, rather than ‘nurse’, a supposedly miraculous 11-year-old girl, Anna, who has survived without sustenance for four months. It appears that certain local people wish to claim her as some kind of miracle. Lib and the nun are to provide independent evidence. There is an unexpected ending to the story.
As with Emma Donahue’s most famous novel, ‘Room’, most of this story is set in one dark room in Anna’s house and indeed the impression of most of the novel is of darkness; the bedroom, the weather, the peat, the lack of artificial light – an old lamp has to be requested in order to ensure surveillance during the night as well as the day.
A film has been made of the story, and this too gives an impression of general darkness in the way it was filmed.
The story is perhaps most about faith versus science and certainly generated a very lively discussion on many fronts. Overall, the group scored it at 7.