Category: Community Groups

Community Library March Events

WENVOE COMMUNITY HUB

Tel: 02920 594176 – during opening hours or wenvoelibrary@outlook.com

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For general enquiries you can email us at wenvoelibrary@outlook.com

MARCH EVENTS

Cuppa with a Copper – 2:30 Wed. March 13th

Wellbeing Group – 2-3 Friday March 15th.

Talks at the Hub – Gardeners’ Question Time 7 p.m. Friday March 22nd

Our horticultural experts: Mike Tucker and Joyce Hoy are waiting to answer your gardening questions.

Everything Welsh

To celebrate St. David’s Day, this month’s article focuses on Wales and the Welsh Language.

Clwb Clonc, our Welsh language group has been meeting for about eight years now and has been so successful that we have had to split it into two groups. Members range from native speakers to entry level learners.

We just chat and develop our speaking skills. There is no pressure to speak, and new members often find it useful to just sit and listen to how the language is pronounced and spoken. Members say that practising the language improves their vocabulary, builds their confidence, and advances fluency.

We work closely with Dysgu Cymraeg, and many of our members attend classes at Palmerston and other centres across the Vale. To support their learning, the Hub holds reference copies of all the workbooks used by these centres from entry level to proficiency and we hold the full range of the recommended reading books to support the courses which are available for loan.

This year, the Welsh National Eisteddfod, which is the largest cultural festival in Europe, is held in Rhondda Cynon Taf so we are planning a bus trip to join the fun. Further details to be released soon.

Whether you are a Welsh learner, a native speaker or just interested in Welsh history and culture, are you aware of the resources freely available to you from libraries across the Vale and from the Vale of Glamorgan Library page?

My Digital Library provides a fantastic collection of online resources – over 200 top e-magazines, 25,000 e-books and hundreds of e-audio books, e-comics – all for free, simply join the library! Scroll down the page to also find access to a selection of reference resources about Wales, free newspaper archives and family history resources.

People’s Collection Wales is a free website dedicated to bringing together Wales’s heritage. The Collection is full of fascinating photographs, documents, audio and video recordings and stories that link to the history, culture, and people of Wales. These items have been contributed to the People’s Collection Wales website by national institutions, individuals, local community groups and small libraries, archives, and museums across Wales.

The National Library of Wales offers a wide range of electronic sources, ranging from scholarly journals to encyclopaedias and newspapers. Ask a Librarian is a free online service that allows you to ask a question to the enquiries team at the National Library of Wales. The National Library’s dedicated, knowledgeable, and bilingual enquiries staff are available to answer enquiries which are based on the varied collections held at the library, as well as basic genealogical enquiries.

BorrowBox. Enjoying e-books and e-audiobooks? The BorrowBox website and app is now available in Welsh.

Dictionary of Welsh Biography This website contains over five thousand concise biographies of Welsh people who have made a significant contribution to national life, whether in Wales or more widely.

Geiradur Prifysgol Cymru is the only standard historical dictionary of the Welsh language. It presents the vocabulary of the Welsh language from the earliest Old Welsh texts, through the abundant literature of the Medieval and Modern periods, to the huge expansion in vocabulary resulting from the wider use of Welsh in all aspects of life in the last half century.

The Welsh Academy English-Welsh Dictionary online. A digital version of the Dictionary

Valeways Walks Really Are For Everyone!

LIVING WITH CANCER STROLLERS

Valeways Walks Really Are For Everyone! 

 

 

For the first walk of 2024 at Cosmeston, we had Anne celebrating her 80th birthday (with left over Quality Street from Christmas!!) and two teenagers accompanying their grandmother for a stroll around the park. And we stayed mud free…almost! Join us..all ages welcome!

 

Brynna

Brynna

Parking on the northerly edge of Brynna we took the track to the hills. It was a cold but beautiful sunny morning, and we were looking forward to some good views. Soon we came across a farm with lots of vehicles, some obviously still in use but many abandoned and one so deeply buried in brambles it was anybody’s guess how long it had been there.

Approaching another farm, I saw from a distance, a woman in full riding regalia mount a horse and ride off. Getting nearer we could see that there was ice on the surface of a pond, a sheep covered in mud from head to toe apparently stuck in a feeding trough, as it attempted to negotiate a very muddy area to access the trough.

There were ducks on the pond, hens and quail wandering around the farmyard and a couple of geese. Our ‘horse whisperer’ tried to soothe a horse in its stable who seemed to have something caught in its throat – probably just a seed from the oats but it was causing obvious irritation.

Back out on open areas we could see the tops of wind turbines sat stationary on the hill. A tree trunk facing the full sun had a hole which was alive with honeybees buzzing in and out of the trunk, a few of them even seemed to be sunbathing as they perched with their backs to the sun on the edge of the hole.

Before long we were off the track and on mountain paths, crossing a field near Mynydd Hugh to the track which passes in front of the original wind turbines on the Taff Ely Ridgeway. When we reached the noticeboards, we had brilliant views of the channel and the vast field of turbines turning slowly. It was a still day and we wondered whether they were not producing electricity but being turned by motors.

As we continued the distinct outline of Tylor’s Town tip came into view. Then a member of our group pointed to some animals in a distant field ‘look how the long shadows of those sheep make them look like human beings staring our way’. As we got closer, we realised that they were not sheep at all but people on horseback all done up in their riding best

But curiously they didn’t seem to be moving.

It was lunchtime so we made our way to some rocks near the remains of St Peter’s Church. The church had a head stone for someone buried in the 18th C. We draped ourselves across the stones above and watched the ‘action’ as we ate. There were two Masters of the hunt dressed in red jackets, everyone else being in black. After a while we realised that there seemed to be a problem with the hounds: apart from a brief glimpse of a group of about six hounds descending the hill, we saw three individual hounds which one of the masters was calling from the valley just in front of us. But curiously most riders were just hanging around in the distant field.

As we resumed our walk, we realised that the riders were coming towards us along the path we were about to take, so we kept out of their way. We waited on the edge of a field as a long line of riders passed us. Later we met a few people who were leaving, and they said that they had indeed been watching the hunt rather than participating which meant that children could join.

Walking east a short way we spied the green Daffodil sculpture at Caerphilly and explored some tracks, then it was time to swing round to get back to Mynydd Coedbychan for the descent to the cars. Unfortunately, this bit of the walk was very wet and involved crossing a fast-flowing stream to an island before crossing a second stream to terra firma – it was clearly marked with footpath signs but once again rainfall had altered the terrain. Lots of encouragement was needed for some of us (me in particular) but as usual we found a way through.

At this point I spied my first buttercup of the season, just a tiny spark of yellow in the grass. Soon we gained the main track. Small groups from the hunt shared the track with us as they made their way downhill. After a sunny day the sky was darkening with clouds at dusk and the temperature was dropping as we arrived back at the cars.

A lovely walk on good paths, highlighted by the entertainment provided by the local hunt. Refreshment at a local hostelry rounded the day off nicely.

Walk 7.2m 1000ft Map OS151.

 

“A Spell of Winter” by Helen Dunmore

OFF THE SHELF

“A Spell of Winter”
by Helen Dunmore

This is an unsettling story of love and betrayal, which is dark and claustrophobic in parts, but a story we all wanted to finish. It is set in turn-of-the-century England, with a Gothic literary genre. Catherine and Rob Allen are siblings two years apart, who grow up in a world of shameful secrets. Their mother creates a public outcry by abandoning her family for a bohemian life on the Continent and their father is committed to an asylum in the country. So, the children are sealed off with their grandfather, maid, and tutor in a crumbling country estate. The main overseer of their childhood is the well-loved servant, Kate, but the predatory tutor, Miss Gallagher lurks around in the shadows. In true gothic fashion, terror, blackmail, violence, and eroticism collect beneath every dark surface. Although the characters are emotionally complicated, they remain absorbing, and it is hard not to wish for the ‘cloud’ to lift.

Against this strange and secretive life, Cathy and her brother Rob develop a closeness so fierce that it eventually threatens to smother them both. The turning point in the story comes when Rob, in Cathy’s eyes, unforgivably runs away and she feels betrayed. She is left to build her life and relationships with two significant people who live close to her, her grandfather and Mr Bullivant. When World War I eventually bursts upon them all, Kate seems to find herself and learns quickly how to become self-sufficient. It’s only after she’s experienced this hardship that she’s given a second chance to be redeemed by love.

There is a slightly Austenesque edge to the characters and the book is intensely gripping if not slightly disturbing in parts. It is understandable why it won the 1996 Orange Book Prize. Our Book Club gave it a score of 8/10.

Isobel Davies

 

 

Searching for GOLD

WENVOE FORUM

Considering tomorrow today

Searching for GOLD

Do you know the colour of hydrogen?

Wenvoe What’s On readers may remember from school science lessons that hydrogen, in its normal state, is a colourless, tasteless, odourless and non-toxic gas. It is the third most abundant element on the surface of Earth, found in water and all organic matter. It is the simplest element and the lightest being 9 times lighter than air, which drove its use in the first part of the 20th century as the “lift” for airships until the Hindenburg disaster which reminds us that it in extremely flammable, in fact it is literally rocket fuel having been used particularly in combination with oxygen since NASA’s Apollo programme.

So hydrogen is light, abundant, non-toxic and flammable. These are all important properties that suggest Hydrogen might be part of the answer to replacing our dependence on fossil fuels in order to keep global temperatures down and avoid destructive and threatening climate driven events such as flooding and wild fires. However it seems that in this regard all Hydrogen is definitely not created equal.

Hydrogen is highly reactive, so it generally doesn’t hang around on its own but joins up with something else. It is created in the process of many chemical reactions but being so light it can quickly disperse into its surroundings. So to use it as a viable fuel it is generally created and captured and this is where the colourless gas of our science lessons becomes associated with a colour.

Black or Brown

This comes from the most environmentally damaging form of hydrogen creation. Black or brown coal is used to make liquid hydrogen but all the damaging products of coal combustion are released where the hydrogen is produced, and the low carbon emission hydrogen can be moved easily to other places that want low carbon fuel. It reminds me of times gone by when in order to supply London with smokeless coal to avoid “the smogs” much of the pollution it seemed was left behind in Mountain Ash and other places where the smokeless brickettes were made.

Grey

Grey hydrogen is made from natural gas or methane and though there are fewer pollutants than from coal, the process results in much the same sort of greenhouse gases being released as would have been the case just using the natural gas. Currently most of the supply of hydrogen is grey.

Blue

Blue hydrogen again is made from natural gas but using a process that captures the carbon and allows it to be stored. Turquoise In the blue part of the spectrum an experimental production method called Methane Pyrolysis produces Hydrogen and solid carbon. This may prove useful in the future as a low carbon fuel, if permanent storage or environmentally friendly use is made of the solid carbon Pink (or purple or red) We go back to the science lab at school again now. For many, H2O is the one chemical formula that they know, WATER. By passing a current of electricity through water it splits the water into two gases hydrogen and oxygen, which can be collected separately with no carbon resulting.

Pink, purple or red

hydrogen refers to hydrogen made by electrolysis using nuclear power. Green Using electrolysis of water with “green” renewable electricity sources, wind, solar, water turbine etc gives us the best hope for making hydrogen without adding to the greenhouse effect. NB Yellow Hydrogen is sometimes used for that produced using solar power.

GOLD

Geologists have long known that reactions between rocks containing iron and water produces hydrogen effectively the same process as rusting. However the assumption had been that the light hydrogen with its small molecule would seep out of the rocks and disperse, and no-one looked for any captured in the same way as natural gas was captured. Necessity, mother of invention has inspired new searches and big reservoirs are being found. Environmentalists fear that this search would uncover new oil and gas resources and that it will be hard to resist the pressure to exploit them and environmentalists will need to be proactive in combating that risk. To find large quantities of hydrogen that could be used in the same way as natural gas has could be a partial answer to many prayers.

Keep an eye out for news of a new gold mine.

 

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Flying High At Barry Island

CARERS WALK

The Carers strollers were flying high at Barry Island on the post-Christmas ‘let’s walk the mince pies and Christmas puddings off’ walk. High winds and grey skies did not put off these hardy walkers from enjoying the cliffs and beaches…some even had a Christmas pudding ice cream at the end!!

 

 

Recent Holiday Book List

Various Books Read over the Holidays

During the December meeting of The Page Turners each member contributed a book to a lucky dip. Whichever book was drawn, was to be read by that member and then discussed during the January meeting. The results are briefly summarised below and each book scored out of 10:

A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles. This novel tells the story of Count Alexander Ros-tov, who in 1922 is sentenced to house arrest and is imprisoned in an attic room in the Hotel Metropol in Moscow for many years. A book with humour and interesting characters, a very good read which is recommended and scored 8.

MRS VAN GOGH by Caroline Cauchi. The artist Vincent Van Gogh died in 1890, penniless and un-known. Joanne, married to Theo Van Gogh, Vin-cent’s brother, is determined to bring Vincent’s talent to public attention and works tirelessly for many years to achieve that goal. Our reader thought the novel, although slow at first, became very interesting and gave a score of 7.

THE BULLET THAT MISSED by Richard Osman. The third in The Thursday Murder Club series, it is recommended by our reader that the previous books in this series be read first. A really enjoyable novel with lots of humour scored 9.

CHRISTMAS IS MURDER by Val McDermid. This collection of twelve short stories is perfect for reading before going to sleep at night. Well written and atmospheric with various interesting characters. Al-so the perfect book to put on the bedside table in a guest room. Score 8.

THE OLIVE READERS by Christine Aziz. Our reader describes this book as a cross between the novels “1984”, “Harry Potter”, “Lord of the Rings” and “Animal Farm”. A dystopia novel set in a future with no past and is not recommended. Score 2.

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE by Maggie O’Farrell. An ex film star goes to live in the wilds of Ireland. This is a book about family and love, full of interest-ing characters, beautiful words and descriptions. Thoroughly enjoyed by our reader scored 9.

THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT by Maggie O’Farrell. Historical fiction inspired by the true story of the young Italian Duchess, Lucrezia de Medici, daughter of the Grand Duke Cosimo de Medici of Florence. At the age of 15, Lucrezia was married to 27 year old Alfonso, Duke of Ferrera, and becomes convinced that he is planning her death. Beautifully written, descriptive and interesting. Score 9.

 

January Meeting of Wenvoe W.I.

WOMEN’S INSTITUTE

January Meeting of Wenvoe W.I.

After three very successful meetings in December prior to Christmas, Wenvoe WI met on 4th January in the Church Hall. It was lovely to see everyone arriving looking well, despite the wet weather and the annual round of coughs and colds.

We held our usual January ‘Bring and Buy’ sale of unwanted Christmas presents and discarded household bits and pieces. This year I was astonished at the sheer variety of wares on sale – from new slippers, kitchen utensils, calendars, room diffusers to a new warm, cosy blanket. Altogether, we raised over £80, some of which will eventually be donated to our charity for 2024, Ty Hafan.

After the usual business, we had our cuppa and chocolate biscuits. This was followed by a Dingbats quiz.

Our next meeting will be held in the Church Hall at 7.00pm on 1st February, when we have a guest speaker – Mr Peter Cox (formerly of GCHQ at Cheltenham). Mr Cox will speak on ‘British Intelligence and the Ukraine War’.

New lady members and tasters are always most welcome.

Wenvoe WI wishes all readers a happy and prosperous New Year.

Jan Young (President)

 

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