Category: Community Groups

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

“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.

St Briavels & Allt Yr Esgair

St Briavels & Allt Yr Esgair

St Briavels

St Briavels is in the Forest of Dean and on the Agincourt Wales trail which tells the story of the people in the river Wye /Forest of Dean area that played a role in Henry V’s victory at Agincourt.

Early in the walk we found ourselves in woodland surrounded by English bluebells, the scent heavenly. The contrast of the new green leaves on the trees and the light purply blue of the bluebells is one of nature’s annual treats.

An open stretch of ground led us past a majestic avenue of trees and near the river Wye. The pretty, white, single track road bridge came into view just above Bigsweir. We entered Cadora woods, a term used to describe a series of woods which form a continuous line of woodland covering the slopes of the lower Wye valley.

The path led us through a tunnel of bright yellow gorse. A bench had a sweet dedication ‘This bench was made by Jack for his fiancé, Scarlett. She’s not dead she just really loves this view.’

We followed a stream through woodland. Two of our dogs played a bit of a game. A spaniel went into the stream, and the other dog patrolled the bank stopping the spaniel from getting up the bank, then suddenly backed off. We relaxed for lunch in the woodland above the path.

The stream widened, and its banks were blanketed with the white flowers of wild garlic, even rocks in the middle of the stream were smothered in it. Steps appeared in the stream, these were tufa. Tufa is formed when calcium and carbon dioxide in fresh water rises to the surface and is exposed to air. Carbon dioxide evaporates; calcium precipitates and the minerals coat organic material.

Returning to St Briavels, a cricket game was being played on St Briavels centenary playing field where there is a memorial to the fallen of the two world wars. As we walked through the village the air was scented with lilac, purple and white, and wisteria. Wild roses, ceanothus, and Queen Anne’s lace hydrangea were all in full bloom. It was close to May 4th, and in a window, we saw Yoda (of Star Wars).

Walk 6.5miles 1100ft Map OL14

Allt Yr Esgair

In the words of the walk proposer ‘A surprisingly lovely walk up Allt yr Esgair to the east of the river Usk with good cake and the option to go to Talybont to have tea and stroll along the canal to view the osprey nest.’

Allt yr Esgair was a Bronze age burial site (4,000 years ago), an Iron age hill fort (2,500 years ago). Esgair means ridge in Welsh and Allt yr Esgair is a 2km long sandstone ridge with panoramic views of the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains.

We parked at the Venison centre with permission of the owners and took the Roman Road, a solid track which climbs gradually uphill with no steep sections. Either side of the track was a stunning display of white stitchwort with deep indigo bluebells, the air was heavy with scent.

Emerging into more open countryside gorse bushes appeared still surrounded by bluebells. The views were amazing Llangorse lake to the east, Pen y Fan and other hills to the west and the oxbow in the river Usk below us. Speedboats raced across Llangorse lake and later sailing boats appeared.

Llangorse is the largest natural lake in South Wales. Formed 11,000 years ago when the ice retreated, it would have been larger spilling over into the Usk valley at Bwlch. Mynydd Troed and Waun Fach dominate the skyline beyond the lake.

We met five different groups of Duke of Edinburgh award youngsters. An ancient hollow ash tree stood close to the path. Two people left us to look at the Osprey nest. We walked a circle at the top of the walk and then stopped for lunch choosing our favourite view – the lake or Pen y Fan. The return was along a path parallel to our outward route.

A woodpecker could be heard above us and someone with eagle eyes (and binoculars) spotted it, we stood still and watched for a short time. A kite flew high in the sky.

We experienced birdsong throughout the walk; it goes down as one of our best walks. At the venison centre, a welcoming team provided pots of tea and beer/soft drinks and cake. It is a farm shop and amongst other things they sell venison from their deer herd. A lovely way to round off the day.

Walk 7 miles 1300ft Map OL13

A Stroll with Derek

LIVING WITH CANCER STROLLERS

A Stroll with Derek

 

Living with cancer strollers, Cosmeston Valeways President, Derek Brockway joined the strollers at Cosmeston on a gloriously sunny day. Our Weatherman Walking brought along beautiful blue skies and warm temperatures as we enjoyed our walk around the lakes. Thanks, Derek, for joining us on our festival walk…and organising the sunshine.

May Events

WOMEN’S INSTITUTE

May Events

Our meeting on May 7th was the AGM and the Committee and President were re-elected for another year.

Our June 4th meeting will be an open meeting, in conjunction with Pugh’s Garden Centre’s, with Roger Crookes as our speaker. Roger’s work these days is focused mainly in helping the teams and customers of Pugh’s Garden Centres, teaching gardening in a special school near Pontypridd, and connecting with gardeners from all over the world via his YouTube channel. Roger will be giving us a pictorial presentation titled ‘Enjoying the Power of Plants!’ celebrating many of the important (and sometimes surprising) benefits of plants to our lives. Entry is £5 to include refreshments and some seeds. There will also be a raffle. (See page 7).

We hope that you will be able to join us for this event.

Please ring 07881853032 for further details.

Carol Charlson (President)

Wenvoe Wheelers 10th Birthday!

WENVOE WHEELERS 10th BIRTHDAY!

Well, who would have believed that we would be celebrating 10 years as a cycling club back in 2016? I remember thinking I had better join since someone had gone to the effort of setting up a club where I live. There aren’t many of us who live in the village who are members, but we are now a club of around 200, most of whom live in Cardiff, Barry and surrounding areas. Most of our rides start at the Wenvoe Arms which is of course, our unofficial HQ and where we always have a warm welcome from Jenny and Digby. Indeed, on some Saturday afternoons you’d be forgiven for thinking it was our own clubhouse, with so many of us in the bar or the garden

We’ve been very busy over those last 10 years. We grew from a club of about 20 to 30 people, running two groups going out each Saturday morning to 4/5 groups now and around 60 plus riders. We have a social group who are the slowest and chattiest who do about 35/40 miles; our intermediate group who do about 40/50 miles; then our inbetweeners (so called because they are in-between the pace of the intermediate and steady groups) who do about 50+ miles and then the Steady group (speedsters) who will do anything over 60 miles at an average speed of 20 mph. Every group stops for coffee – otherwise there would be a mutiny, and we are always on the lookout for good coffee stops. Recent good finds are Colliers Rest just off the A472 and the Ynyswen Farm Shop just outside Treorchy where you can get a sublime ciabatta sausage sarnie. One of our favourites is Coffee Co at Ogmore which has a great cake and savoury selection, good coffee and a view! Our ride leaders are trained to lead our groups which involves a day in the classroom and on the road with British Cycling or Welsh Cycling and gives you a level 1 certificate.

Saturday morning rides can be a trip out to Llantwit Major, Ogmore, Porthcawl through the lanes or perhaps up to Llanwonno, Caerphilly via Draethen, or maybe out east starting from Newport Road to go to Usk or Monmouth. Further north, we can ride up and over the Bwlch (3 different ways) or the Rhigos which are significant climbs or something even tougher such as the Tumble just outside Abergavenny. We usually have a club weekender once a year which involves a 100ish mile ride on the Saturday an overnight stop and then a shorter ride back on Sunday. Recent destinations have been Hay-on-Wye via the Bwlch, Rhigos and Penderyn; Gloucester via the Gospel Pass; Portishead via Cheddar Gorge; Bath; Worcester; and the Mumbles. This year we are heading to the Isle of Wight for a complete circuit of the island but only the Steady group are riding there – as they are a bit mad.

We try and ride every Saturday morning but sometimes the weather defeats us and believe me there is nothing more miserable then fighting against a headwind in a downpour or hail (which is what we had for our 10th birthday ride on 11th April). What we really love of course is a nice sunny day with a gentle breeze.

We have a lot of members who ride abroad, whether just for fun or in a sportive event. A few are really intrepid: one of our members has done Paris-Brest-Paris – 1,200 km which has to be completed inside a certain time. Two of our members regularly do 400km plus events, last year’s mega ride involved starting in Italy and finishing in Finland inside the Arctic Circle.

One of the best things about the club is the friendships that have been made. It’s quite unusual I think to find ‘blokes of a certain age’ making new friends but that is definitely a thing in our club. We also have a healthy number of ladies in the club riding in all groups who have made lasting friends to the extent that many of us do stuff together outside of cycling, in actual clothes not Lycra.

 

And talking of Lycra, I guess you will have seen us in our blue and white kit. We get our club kit from Pactimo who make it to order and over the years we have had several design refreshers with subtle variations on the previous design. We are very pleased with our 10-year anniversary jersey which is a colour reversal i.e. blue on white, we think it looks great.

So, Happy Birthday to us! Here are some pictures of our recent birthday party at the Church Hall with one of our members providing the pizza – thank you very much to Backyard Dough Co. Absolutely fabulous pizzas, if you want to know

 

 

April Events

WOMEN’S INSTITUTE

April Events

Due to the Church Hall being used for the Maundy Thursday Supper, we held our April meeting on March 26th and, after some initial mishaps with the paints, members showed their creative sides and, judging from the laughter and lively chatter, an enjoyable evening was had making Easter sun catchers.

Our next meeting is the AGM on May 7th when the Committee for the next year and President are elected.

Please make a note in your diaries of our June 4th meeting, at 7.30pm. This will be an open meeting with Roger Crookes, who has been working in the gardening industry for around 50 years, giving us a pictorial presentation titled ‘Enjoying the Power of Plants!’ celebrating many of the important (and sometimes surprising) benefits of plants to our lives. Watch out for further details.

Visitors and prospective members are always welcome to our meetings. Please ring 07881853032 for further details.

Carol Charlson (President)

Picking out the Positives

WENVOE FORUM

Considering Tomorrow Today

Picking out the Positives

So many stories, reports, opinion pieces and forecasts clamor for our attention and nag at our emotions. The news, it seems, is always bad and the potential consequences are always predicted to be dire either economically or environmentally and often both. It’s hard not to join in the weeping and the wailing so here is a positive story in the twists and turns of the road to electric vehicle dominance.

As has happened before, the sudden recent turbulence and the exposure of our dependence on the reliability of supply in the oil market, has raised consumer interest in electric vehicles. On previous occasions interest has subsided once the crisis was passed but this time “experts in the field”, policy makers, civil servants and academics suggest that for many consumers, the figures add up and the move to electric vehicles for the private car has passed what has been described as a tipping point in lower and middle income economies with the exception of China where government policies and interventions have been a significant factor.

This tipping point is fuelled by a number of factors with overall cost and convenience of use being high on the list. A 2025 report from BEUC, The European Consumer Organisation, indicated that in much of Europe the lifetime cost of owning electric vehicles was already lower than their petrol/diesel equivalents for medium sized cars and cost savings for 1st, 2nd and third owners would very soon extend to small cars in response to market demand. Improved batteries and the development of the charging infrastructure have given the individual more confidence in their electric vehicle for greater distances travelled. It is also possible to use your EV as part of the household electricity system and smart use of its battery can reduce bills and help make best use of solar power generation if you have it.

As an individual one can feel heartened that it seems likely that now EV purchases are good economic sense for households who can also feel better about their carbon footprint and lower the air pollution not least in the vicinity of their own home. There are of course currently some other factors to address in the transition from fossil fuels to electric cars. The mining of required chemicals is often dangerous and not well regulated everywhere, the effect on local economies based on car manufacture can be badly affected if the transition is not well managed. But overall the transition to electric vehicles is seen as a positive step for the environment.

This article has been informed by a discussion paper from the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics (Elliot, Harper and Nguyen-Tien)

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

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