Category: Community Groups

Walking Group November Programme

Walking Group November Programme

Walkers meet at the front of the Wenvoe Community Centre. If you are interested in a walk, just turn up; don’t forget your lunch on an all day walk. When transport is required we car share. Contacts for this month’s walks are: Bert-20594418, Mike 01446 742269, V’Iain 20593221, and Ian 20594573.

 

Sat 2nd Nov:- Newton Green, Nr Chepstow . 7½ mile walk.

Meet at 9.30am .Mike (OL14)

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Thurs 7th Nov:- a walk round Cosmeston Lakes and into Penarth.

Meet 1p.m. at the village hall. . Bert

 

Christmas walk & lunch Thur 11th Dec. at the Horse & Jockey. We will need the menu choices and monies by Thursday 7th Nov. walk. so that we can finalise the information for the booking.

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Sat 9th Nov:- Park Penallta Countr Park. Approx 7 miles.

Meet at 9.30am. Ian

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Sat 16th Nov;- ChepstowPark Wood. Approx 7 miles.

Meet at 9.30am. V’Iain (OL14)

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Sat 23rd Nov:- Tylcha Fach, Tonyrefail. 7¼ mile walk

Meet at 9.30am Mike (166 & 151)

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Sat 30th Nov:- 14 locks 6.7 miles walk.

Meet at 9.30am Ian (152)

 

 

 

Abercraf

 

Abercraf

It was a lovely sunny morning at the end of August when we set off from Abercraf in a westerly direction. We walked along the river, the sun sparkling on the water. Passing through a kissing gate we noticed that its ‘gate’ had been dumped in the bushes nearby. Soon we were passing the Rheolau Arms and walking along the road in baking sunshine. We entered woodland, appreciating the shade and walked amongst the gnarled trunks of ancient trees. It was hard going underfoot at times, as it was quite boggy with no signs of a marked path and we climbed over or through a fallen tree. We came into open countryside and then arrived at the village of Cwmgiedd.

In 1943 ‘The Silent Village’, a British propaganda short film in the form of a drama documentary was made in Cwmgiedd as a tribute to the people of Lidice in Czechoslovakia. It was a collaboration of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, South Wales Miners Federation and the people of the Swansea and Dulais valleys. Part of the film is in Welsh with no subtitles. The 36 minute film is available on YouTube – just search for ‘1943 film The Silent Village’. In 1941 the villages of Cwmgiedd and Lidice were similar mining communities, though 984 miles apart. The film depicted what might have happened to the Welsh mining village if German Fascists had occupied it. The obliteration of the Welsh community is intended to parallel the events in Lidice the previous year.

On 27th May 1942 Jozef Gabcik & Jan Kis attempted the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich and he died of his injuries on 4th June 1942. Hitler demanded retribution and on 10th June Lidice was razed to the ground. All the 173 men of the village were executed, the women were taken to concentration camps and the children herded into trucks. To this day the fate of the children is unknown, only a handful ever returned home.

In 1947 ‘Lidice shall Live’ funds were handed over to Czechoslovakia and a new Lidice rose from the ashes, a foundation stone being laid 300 metres from the original site. It was noticed that corn in a particular field grew higher than elsewhere and horses refused to work there. This was the site of the mass grave, which is now home to a memorial.

In 1969 sculptor Marie Uchytilova was deeply touched by the tragedy and made it her life’s work to create bronze monuments of every child killed in Lidice. She completed the casts in 1989 and died suddenly later that year. Her husband completed the bronzes in 2000 and 82 statues now stand proudly in Lidice, looking down the valley. In 2015 a pear tree sapling (of a pear tree that was destroyed but regenerated) was handed over to the people of Cwmgiedd. It remains a living, permanent link between Cwmgiedd and Lidice.

Walking through the village we spotted a whole hedge of rosehips. At the northern end of the village we entered Coedwig Giedd forest. We followed forestry tracks along the river Giedd, though we couldn’t see it most of the time as it was hidden by trees and below us. We rested for lunch on some large rocks most of us seeking shade, as it was 27degC.

Emerging from the forest we crossed Nant Ceiliog and some boggy ground aiming for the rocky outcrop at Cribarth. We were surrounded by untouched wilderness with no sign of man’s influence in any direction (apart from the ubiquitous wind turbines in the far distance). It was well worth the climb – unusually we had climbed gradually until early afternoon. We disturbed a frog and then a newt in the long grass and realised that normally this area was a lot wetter underfoot – thank goodness for the dry summer.

Now we turned generally south and dropped quite quickly through the purple haze of heather laden hills with a patchwork of fields in the distance. Soon we were enjoying refreshment in the Abergraf Inn.

Walk 8 miles 1400ft ascent. Map OL12

 

 

Welsh Cycling Club of the Year

WENVOE WHEELERS

Welsh Cycling Club of the Year

Well what a year we have had so far! On Saturday 12th October Wenvoe Wheelers won the Welsh Cycling ‘Club of the Year’. To say we are delighted would be an understatement.

Welsh Cycling and British Cycling have, over the last few years focussed a great deal of energy into getting children into cycling, a very worthwhile aim but our club, as a road cycling club felt from the outset that we simply didn’t have the expertise, time, location or capability to offer road cycling to children. We are not an off-road club (which is what many other cycling clubs for kids do offer) and although many of our members do cycle off-road, we felt we could not offer this to youngsters.

Whilst we are open to anyone over 16 (accompanied on the road) when you look at our membership, we are probably at the other end of the spectrum, age wise! What we do is get adults into cycling and we have been very successful at it. So successful that we recently passed our 200th member mark.

We are first and foremost a social cycling club and although we have quite a number of speedy riders, the main part of our membership comprises a bunch of people who just want to ride, chat and eat cake, taking in the fresh air and scenery. Keeping fit obviously goes hand in hand with cycling but it is not just physical fitness that we all benefit from. You cannot go far these days without hearing about mental illness and how good getting out into the fresh air and taking some exercise is if you are struggling with those sorts of problems, especially with a group of like minded people. And of course, children take their cue from what they see the adults in their lives do. So if they see their parents, grandparents and their friends getting out on their bikes, it surely passes a positive message to the kids that cycling is a ‘good thing’.

We knew that our rivals offered cycling opportunities for kids and we knew that this was a strong point in the eyes of Welsh Cycling so we were a bit nervous about our chances of winning but we did! For a club that has only been in existence for 3 ½ years we think we have done pretty good.

The awards dinner was quite a smart ‘do’ held at the Cricket Academy in Sophia Gardens and so it was that a group of unusually smart cyclists turned up in their best clobber (no lycra allowed) for the evening. We had decreed that the men should wear DJ’s and real bow ties – cue much anguish on how to tie a real bow tie. Some of them couldn’t even figure it out from a You Tube tutorial but luckily one of us ladies came to the rescue. Our slate plaque was presented by Dot Davies (Wimbledot to some of you) and we hope to display it in the village, possibly in the pub.

One of the things which we think impressed the judges was our Valeothon event which started and finished in Wenvoe on the last Sunday in June. If you happened to be up and about at 8 am that Sunday you would have been amazed to see so many cyclists in the village. We had riders from all over the Vale and further afield taking part and the feedback we had was so good, we are doing it again next year. Personally, I think the participants gave us their vote of approval because of the Welsh cakes we supplied for the feed stations. Everyone loved them! We had the racing snakes doing the 80 mile route back in about 4 hours and at the other end of the scale we had the 40 milers pootling along at their own more leisurely pace. It was a fantastic day, helped by good weather (which seems a distant memory as I write this) but what really made it work was all the planning and hard work which went into it in the months leading up to it.

We have also run a second very successful ladies ride which happened in September – again in glorious weather (clearly we have a hotline to the weather gods). We will shortly start our winter programme of turbo in the village hall and watt bike sessions in a gym and next year look forward to our club trip to Mallorca. So if you fancy getting out on your bike, get in touch on facebook or find us at British Cycling

 

 

An Autumn Stroll

An Autumn Stroll

Autumn had definitely arrived for the October stroll. Shorts and t shirts were replaced with coats and bobble hats; blue skies and sunshine were replaced by grey clouds and cool breezes. The companionship and chatter on the walk were the same as ever: is there a better way to spend the first Thursday of every month? Fresh air, lovely countryside, gentle exercise and coffee….join us next month!

 

 

Tombland by C J Sansom

Tombland by C J Sansom

This is the seventh novel in the series
featuring the lawyer, Matthew
Shardlake. Set in the summer of 1584, Tombland
weaves a murder mystery around the Kett uprising in
East Anglia.
John Boleyn is accused of murdering his wife Edith so
the Lady Elizabeth (Queen to be) takes an interest in
the case leading to extra complications.
For most of us it was a thoroughly enjoyable read, the
descriptions made you feel that you were actually in
the camp with the peasants when they were preparing
for their rebellion. The solving of the murder took
many twists and turns, and the characters really came
alive. The author is a master of Tudor historical
fiction.
Some felt this was one of his weaker plots and it was a
real tome to get through – 800 pages. There was no
wandering in to a second book this month! A few
historical inaccuracies were noted, including one
regarding the emblem of Wales. However, these were
forgiven in a jolly good read. Highly recommended
and we gave it a score of 9.
Tombland has in fact been No I in the Sunday Times
Best Sellers list recently.
Tess rewarded us with some delicious cakes,
especially the Welsh Cakes (actually made by Alan)

 

 

 

English as She is Spoke!

Autumn/Winter Session

Our Autumn/Winter session began with the AGM. Listening to our chairperson’s report of last year’s talks and activities one realised what a good job Irene had done in organising the programme.

All the officers were re-elected and the main decision taken was that we would pay our £5.00 membership in September and then pay another £5.00 in January. This was voted through unanimously as it would give the club more income for our charity donations and speakers.

Our first speaker was John Richardson who gave a talk on the annoying use of English. John is a retired special needs teacher who has an interest in the theatre as well as the English language.

Having taught English to adult foreign students he was well aware of the idiosyncrasies of our language giving the word “ought” as an example of something that can be pronounced in six different ways depending on the word.

John spoke to us about the importance of correct grammar and how this is no longer taught in schools. As language is continually evolving new words are being introduced some of which John found particularly meaningless. Listening to Radio 4 was obviously one of John’s passions and he pointed out phrases that are frequently used but have no logical meaning such as “very unique”

Spoken English can vary from region to region and we learnt that this is due to the difference in the pronunciation of vowels. Also people have different ways of speaking depending on the situation.

After giving us examples of frequently used clichés John gave an amusing account of things he had overheard on buses.

This was a very thought provoking talk and I am sure we will all be listening out for examples of bad English when we are listening to the radio/television.

 

 

 

The Breast Centre Appeal

The Breast Centre Appeal

President Madeleine welcomed everyone to the meeting with a warm welcome extended to Sue Dickson-Davies, our speaker for the evening.

Sue is a Senior Fundraiser for the Breast Centre at Llandough Hospital. The Breast Centre Appeal raised the money to build the Centre. We had a most interesting talk about this wonderful place. Sue explained about the various ways in which the donations to the Breast Appeal are used, including complementary therapies, pamper evenings, lingerie evenings and sessions to build confidence. There is an ongoing Orchard Appeal – something that can be used by the local community as well as the hospital patients. We were delighted to donate a cheque for £400 to this wonderful charity and we admire all the excellent efforts of Sue and her colleagues.

After refreshments we continued with WI business. Members were reminded about the Carol Service hosted by Culverhouse Cross WI on 12th December at 7pm at Bethel Chapel. Names were collected for our Fish and Chip Supper at our next meeting. This will be on Thursday, 7th November at 7pm at Wenvoe Church Hall and will be a social evening.

 

 

Wenvoe’s Part In The Battle Of Trafalgar

Wenvoe’s Part In The Battle Of Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October, 1805) is probably Britain’s most famous naval victory. The main facts are well known. The Royal Navy led by Admiral Lord Nelson, aboard HMS Victory, defeated a larger combined French and Spanish fleet under the command of the French Admiral Villeneuve. In what was to prove a key event in the Napoleonic Wars, victory confirmed the naval supremacy Britain had established during the course of the 18th century. Nelson was shot by a French musketeer and died of his wounds. Villeneuve was captured, along with his ship Bucentaure and later attended Nelson’s funeral while a captive on parole in Britain.

What is less known, but of interest to us, is that Frederick Jennings Thomas, originally of Wenvoe, played a significant part in the battle. Frederick was born 19 April 1786, the younger son of Sir John Thomas, fifth baronet of Wenvoe Castle, and his wife, Mary. He entered the navy in March 1799 and by 1803, while serving on the Prince of Wales flagship of Sir Robert Calder, was present during several important naval actions. On 19 September of the same year, he was appointed Acting-Lieutenant of HMS Spartiate, an appointment that led him to the Battle of Trafalgar. During the battle the Spartiate, with Frederick playing a key role, forced the surrender of the 80 gun Spanish ship Neptuno. The Spartiate was damaged in the fierce fighting, but there were only three killed (two seamen & one boy) and twenty wounded.

Until 1814, Frederick served on the Spartiate and other ships in the Mediterranean, finally commanding the San Juan, flagship of Rear-Admiral Linzee at Gibraltar. The San Juan had been captured by the Royal Navy at Trafalgar following a heroic fight led by its commander, Don Cosme Churruca. During the battle, Churruca had ordered the Spanish flag to be nailed to the highest mast, as a way to tell everyone involved not to expect an easy surrender. With a decimated crew, and despite being mortally wounded as a result of having a leg torn off by a cannonball, Churruca refused to submit. Even following their Commander’s death, his officers kept their word. It was the last one alive who finally yielded, to save the ship and lives of the crew. In recognition of Churruca’s courage, the commander’s cabin on the San Juan was given a brass plate in his honour. All who entered it, including Frederick, were required to remove their hats as a mark of respect for a gallant enemy.

Frederick Jennings Thomas retired from active service in 1814 settling down to family life. He stayed in the public eye, writing on naval matters and even inventing a lifeboat with three keels, so designed to prevent capsizing. It also seems that he was the first person to propose a pier at Brighton. Having accepted the retired rank of Rear-Admiral, Frederick died near Southampton, on 19 December 1855.

 

 

 

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