The Official Wenvoe Homepage
LIVING WITH CANCER
STROLLERS
Amazingly blue skies greeted the living with cancer strollers at Cosmeston. Two walkers had reasons to enjoy a celebratory walk, a birthday for one and the end of cancer treatment next week for another. Milestones for both. Another reason to celebrate was the almost complete absence of mud as we strolled around, but Helen did manage to point out one large muddy patch which the group navigated skilfully around
WOMEN’S INSTITUTE
Wenvoe WI met as usual on 3rd March at 7pm in the Church Hall.
On that occasion we were entertained by Debra John from Swansea who, having donned the apron and cap, regaled us with an amusing account of ‘life as an Edwardian Maid’. Her talk spanned from her duties throughout a normal day which began at five in the morning, to her evident disgust at the indolence of Footmen and the disruption caused by having the new-fangled ‘electricity’ installed in the Manor House.
Next month the WI will meet on 7th April, when the subject for the evening is King Richard III.
A warm welcome is ensured to all visitors.
Jan Young (President).
About Grace by Anthony Doerr
This is the author’s first novel.
David Winkler is 59 and is going home for the first time after 25 years. He has been a lover, a husband, a father and a hydrologist. Since he was a child he has been plagued by premonitions. In one he dreamt of a flood; dreamt that he failed to save his baby, Grace, and so left before he had to see it happen. The consequences of this decision marks the rest of David’s life, first as an exile on a Caribbean island, then as an old man, come back to Alaska to find his daughter. Throughout he is determined to photograph the ephemeral beauty of snowflakes.
We had all read All the Light We Cannot See, one of the author’s later books. We loved this and found About Grace what we can only describe as a ‘let down’ and a disappointment. We didn’t warm to David as a character, he seemed fickle and strange in his decision making.
There was some wonderful prose describing the warmth of the Caribbean and the incredible cold of Alaska. The Aurora Borealis with its ‘shivering emeralds and blues trimmed with red, jade, violets and an eerie green’ But this prose was so protracted and went on and on. Just how many ways can you describe a snowflake, we asked ourselves!
The score for this book was one of our lower ones, a 5, and we were unanimous in not recommending it as a good read.
The Stress Buster Strollers
The Stress Buster stroll this morning turned into the Four Seasons Stroll as the walkers experienced winter winds, spring showers, summer sunshine and autumnal chills. But this intrepid group held onto their bobble hats, kept walking and talking and welcomed the drinks that were served in bright sunshine at the cafe
CARERS WALK
The hailstones thundered down as the time drew near to start the carers walk and it seemed to be in jeopardy…would any strollers turn up in this weather? Of course, they did! Everyone gathered in their waterproofs, but fortunately the clouds parted, the sun shone, the wind dropped and the strollers had a dry and enjoyable walk around Friar’s Point and along the beach to Nell’s Point.
One carer who was having a difficult time had to miss the walk, but hopefully will be able to return for the next walk. Carers are kind, compassionate, thoughtful people who put others first….and sometimes their responsibilities can seem overwhelming. This walking group is full of good natured, considerate folk who can provide support and a listening ear. Join us!
Clytha
On a March Day in 2018 we visited Clytha and I opened my write-up of the walk with ‘snow flurries and hills dusted with white’. It was bitterly cold with icy winds which made us pull hats down to our eyebrows and on that day, we trudged through mud and flooded lanes. Four years on and a month earlier, the weather forecast was blustery with showers and heavy rain after 2pm but still relatively mild.
We travelled to the National Trust car park at Clytha Park. Our route, reverse direction to our previous visit, was described as a ‘snowdrop walk’ and we were eager to spot the gorgeous flowers which push up through the earth so early in the year and presage the advance of winter and the coming spring.
Our walk was based on a route from the National Trust website and took us on some permissive paths (allowed by a landowner) which are not shown on OS maps. We set off south, along the river Usk which was fairly full and came to a good strong footbridge, crossing a small stream, but it was tilted at about 10° – very strange. The river Usk is a designated SSSI, and a special Area of Conservation well known for salmon and trout. Otters, dippers, sand martins, kingfishers and bats live in or near this stretch of the river.
We were pleased to find our first snowdrops, a small clump on the bank of the river. Soon we found a mat of white snowdrops in the undergrowth and a spread of bright blue and pink flowers of lungwort (pulmonaria) glowing in the shade. Lungwort is named after the white splodges on some leaves which resemble diseased appearance of the lungs. It is used by herbalists to treat coughs and bronchitis and can also be used as an astringent. Nearby were tight clumps of pink flowers on bare branches of viburnum. All cheering us on a grey winter’s day, especially when we found a carpet of snowdrops under a hedge which covered about 20ft.
A long line of mole hills would suggest a good population of moles here but who knows as… ‘Mole activity is usually greatest in late winter and early spring and moles are very territorial and in many cases the mole hills seen in a garden are the activity of just one individual. ‘
Leaving the river, we followed the road to Bettws Newydd. A small village which boasts a Grade II listed, stone well ‘Erected by those who love him, to the memory of William Richard Stretton of Brynderwyn, who died 24th March 1868’. The 17th century, Black Bear Inn emanated enticing smells of bacon cooking – willpower and the threat of rain later kept us walking.
Pretty black faced sheep stood framed by the outlines of the Blorenge, Sugarloaf and Skirrid on the distant horizon, clear at the beginning of the walk but now wreathed in dark black clouds and probably heavy rain.
Coed y Bwnydd beckoned us in. It was presented to the NT by Captain Geoffrey Crawshay in memory of Sgt R.A. Owens, RAF who died aged 21 in World War II. Snowdrops carpeted the whole of the wood, breath-taking! Later in the year you can see bluebells and orchids. We climbed to a hillfort; where human involvement goes back over 2000 years and sat on a tree trunk to enjoy a well-earned lunch.
Now we were on the final stretch. We passed Clytha castle, an C18th folly, in the care of the Landmark trust and available to rent, and the Clytha Arms. It started to rain but we voted to complete the walk rather than dash for the cars which were close by. We skirted Chapel Farm with the remains of Capel Aeddan, a chapel dedicated to St Aythean, thought to be founded in C12th. All that survives is an L-shaped wall footing but we couldn’t spot it. The stone may have been used on Chapel Farm, where a substantial C17th house with stone-mullion windows was added to a C16th stone house with upper crucks.
We went down into woods where one of us was inspired to give us a short excerpt from Hamlet! Then a short walk along Clawdd Brook and we re-joined the river Usk espying a red kite soaring above us and a buzzard being mobbed by crows.
Trees had provided colour all day. Early, yellow, hazel catkins could be spotted hanging and
blowing in the breeze. Birch skeletons stood with drooping branches covered in pink/ purple buds. And most notable, large clumps of Mistletoe had been a constant companion sitting high up in many of the trees. It grows in hawthorn, poplar, and lime as well as the apple trees with which most people associate it.
A lovely walk with excellent views and dry weather until after lunch with sunny spells, how lucky we are! Walk 8.7miles, 900ft. Map OL13
WENVOE FORUM
Considering Today and Tomorrow
Global gas prices have seen record increases over the last 6 months, with wholesale prices quadrupling in the last year. They are set to rise further, and with the knock-on effect to electricity production, the Ofgem energy price cap is due to increase by £693 from 1 April for around 22m UK customers. This will impact all of us to a greater or lesser extent, and Government is looking at a range of packages to help alleviate the financial situation.
A recent article sparked in me a degree of hope. Oxford scientists announced that they had smashed a previous record for generating fusion energy, hailing it as a ‘milestone’ on the path to cheaper, cleaner power and a cooler planet.
Nuclear fusion is the process that the sun uses to generate heat. By forcing together atomic nuclei, at high speed, energy can be released and used to generate electricity. Operating the power plants of the future based on fusion would produce no greenhouse gases and only very small amounts of short-lived radioactive waste. Proponents believe it could one day help address climate change by providing an abundant, safe and green source of energy.
The team at the Joint European Torus (JET) facility at Oxford generated 59 megajoules of energy for five seconds during an experiment in December, more than doubling a 1997 record according to the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
That is the equivalent energy needed to power 35,000 homes for the same period of time, or boil 60 kettles. The UKAEA claim the results “are the clearest demonstration worldwide of the potential for fusion energy to deliver safe and sustainable low-carbon energy”.
Great news I thought, except that the article went on to say that the practical benefits would not be realised for 20 years, at the earliest, more likely during the second half of the century.
In the slightly nearer-term, wind and solar-power generation is developing along with better insulation projects, heat pumps, hydrogen boilers, energy efficiency schemes and community energy generation, they are expensive but will eventually ease the economic problems and help to address global warming.
So, what can be done to help bridge the gaps in the meantime? Various websites offer a range of energy- (and money) saving tips that can help.
The Which website offers 10 key ways to save on energy bills, see below (with more detailed information on their website). The eco-friendly habits website (also below) offers 37 specific tips for both money-saving and energy conservation, and the
U-switch website (also below) offers a staggering 98 tips. We hope some of these will help.
10.Consider the wider range of quick energy-saving tips
Finally, if you want to be part of the ongoing Forum discussion and help to shape any future schemes for Wenvoe, please get in touch, via gwenfo.forum @gmail.com.
For further reading / information:
https://phys.org/news/2022-02-scientists-britain-fusion-energy.html
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/price-cap-increase-ps693-april
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/cutting-your-energy-bills/article/how-to-save-on-your-energy-bill/10-ways-to-save-on-energy-bills-aX2RS8b8llMR
https://www.ecofriendlyhabits.com/how-to-conserve-energy/
https://www.uswitch.com/energy-efficiency/free-energy-saving-tips/
In the meantime we’ll be keeping a look out for schemes available in Wales to help those finding energy price increases difficult to manage. We will put information on our Blog site https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/
Any Wenvoe community member is welcome to join the Forum meetings, via Zoom, held at 19.00 on the second Thursday of each month. Next meeting 10th March. E-mail gwenfo.forum@gmail.com if you wish to come along.
Snap by Belinda Bauer
On a stifling summer’s day, eleven-year-old Jack and his two sisters sit in their broken-down car, waiting for their mother to come back and rescue them. ‘Jack’s in charge,’ she said. ‘I won’t be long.’
But she doesn’t come back. She never comes back. And life as the children know it is changed for ever.
Three years later, mum-to-be Catherine wakes to find a knife beside her bed, and a note that says: I could have killed you.
Meanwhile Jack is still in charge of his sisters, of supporting them all, of making sure nobody knows they’re alone in the house, and – quite suddenly – of finding out the truth about what happened to his mother.
But the truth can be a dangerous thing …
A taut, suspenseful new novel from award-winning thriller author Belinda Bauer in which a woman being menaced by a knife-wielding home invader is connected to a string of burglaries in a quaint bedroom community, and the brutal murder that left three children motherless three years before.
The group scored an average of 7 for this quirky and well written thriller. Overall, it was described as an easy, enjoyable read.
There were a number of threads which initially some found quite confusing but it was interesting to see how these all came together at the end. Good descriptions of characters and environments in the story although there were also a number of unrealistic situations. A number of the group would recommend it to others to read
OFF THE SHELF
Book Review for Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The plot is simplistic and was written as a comedy about rural life in the 1920s. When it was first published in 1932 it was not without its critics, but it did sell very well. Flora Poste, the main character, was orphaned at 19 when her parents were both carried off by the 1919 Spanish flu epidemic, and she was left penniless. Her only option is to throw herself on the charity of her remote Sussex relatives, the Starkadders who live in Cold Comfort Farm. This desolate and ominous place is full of miserable, brooding, and overpowering characters, where even the animals are all full of gloom. Big Business the dominant bull, reigns over a hopeless herd of Jersey cows, ridiculously named: Graceless, Pointless, Aimless, and Feckless. They do all add to some memorable, comical, and bizarre accounts, such as the references to the cow with three legs, which reminded one group member of the cleverly written Monty Python sketches. Cousin Amos preaching hellfire and damnation to the congregation of the Church of the Quivering Brethren is another such high point in the book.
As the rustic mayhem unfolds, Miss Poste, who is a modern bossy-boots, decides that it’s her mission to bring a “higher common sense” to the lives of her relatives.
There were divided opinions on the book as some felt that there were too many questions left unanswered, the ending was too simplistic and there was a condescending pitch that the Starkadders’ lives needed ‘mending’. Generally, a well-liked book and the group scored it 7 out of 10.
