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The Thursday Wenvoe Walkers’ Group undertook a walk on New Year’s Day from Cosmeston to Penarth and return. The walk is usually held monthly on a Thursday afternoon and generally covers some 5 miles with a cut-off for those people requiring a shorter route. On this occasion the weather did not deter any-one and 23 people turned up.
President Madeleine welcomed everyone to the meeting on 6th February and gave a special welcome to several new members, especially Ann Daniel, who was celebrating her 80th birthday that day.
Our speaker for the evening was our very own Maria Williams. Maria is a professional musician and teacher. She has sung in various parts of the world during an extremely successful career. Music is beneficial to physical and mental wellbeing – this was stressed as we travelled through various breathing exercises. With her amazing voice Maria sang a popular love song, a spiritual song and a third song about peace, war and freedom. We all enjoyed joining in with Maria’s singing and then we all sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ann.
Maria concluded her talk with a story about her recent visit to a church in the centre of London. She has visited this church regularly and has sung there. This church has been involved in the founding of many charitable organisations, such as Shelter and Amnesty International. It has a reputation for compassion gained through many years of engaging with poverty and deprivation. Hence the story we heard was very moving.
During refreshments we all thoroughly enjoyed the delicious cake kindly donated by Ann to celebrate her 80th.
WI business began with the announcement of the Glamorgan Federation events. Members were informed of a quiz to be held on 6th April at Culverhouse Cross and a board will be available next month for signing up.
A letter has been received from the charity “Dogs For Good” confirming that a local speaker will attend our September meeting, when we shall present a cheque – the result of our fundraising efforts this year.
Next month’s meeting will be on Thursday, 5th March at 7pm at Wenvoe Church Hall. Our speaker on this occasion will be Pam Cockerill. She will be talking about “Telling Tales”. Any visitors can always be assured of a warm welcome and there is no charge.
CRAFT CLUB
Wenvoe Community Centre
9:30-3:30 Mondays & Wednesdays
Bring your project and craft along with a friendly group of crafters who are interested in all kinds of textile work.
Learn new skills in patchwork, quilting, embroidery, feltying, crochet etc. Beginners and more experi-enced crafters welcome.
Just £72 for 12 weeks for either day, or you could sign up to both days.
For futher information, phone Linda: 02920 593679
The Sealwomans Gift by Sally Magnusson
These are some of our comments about this book, the debut novel for Sally Magnusson.
Beautifully written, loved this book, rich in wording, descriptions superb, incredible quality of writing, lots of humour even in dire circumstances, superb language, clear storylines, based on a historical event which makes it particularly interesting, no unrealistic ending.
So what’s it all about:- In 1627 Barbary pirates rounded the coast of Iceland and abducted 400 of its people, including 250 from a tiny island off the mainland.
Among the captives sold into slavery were the island pastor, his wife and their 3 children.
In this re-imagining Sally Magnusson gives a voice to Asta the pastors wife. Enslaved in an alien Arab culture Asta meets the loss of her freedom and her children with the one thing she has brought from home, the stories in her head. Steeped in the sagas and folk tales of her northern homeland she finds herself experiencing not just the separations and agonies of captivity but the reassessments that come in any age when intelligent eyes are opened to other lives, other cultures and other kinds of longing.
This book is about the eternal power of storytelling to help us survive. The novel is full of stories, Icelandic ones to fend off a slave owner’s advances, Arabian ones to help an old man die.
The Sealwoman was captured with Asta and lay next to her on the slave ship. Her gift was the saga she recounted which enabled Asta to find peace when she finally returned to Iceland after many years away.
As well as all our comments we further discussed how advanced the Ottoman Empire was, how hard life sounded in Iceland, the decline and fall of civilisations throughout history
Some quotes from the book: “Forgetting gets easier, thinking gets harder”: “It is important to be known”: “Men’s stories come through history, women’s don’t”.
Cowbridge to Ystradowen.
In contrast to most other Saturdays this winter the day dawned frosty and clear. What a relief after Storm Brendan and all the rain. We walked from Aberthin towards Prisk and Ystradowen in glorious sunshine. The views in all directions were brilliantly clear and we admired the beautiful country in which we live – a bit of sunshine makes all the difference. We saw several rams separated from ewes, donkeys, a llama and the first sighting of lambs this winter.
At Ystradowen we saw St Owain’s church and headed west passing a motte before turning south for our return journey. We found a relatively dry field where we basked in the sunshine while eating lunch . A caterpillar chose to crawl across one of our boots; it was carefully removed.
After lunch the ground was waterlogged in places even though numerous ditches have been dug to drain the land. On a lane we found one ditch clogged with leaves which two people valiantly cleared with their walking poles and the water gushed away. Fortunately we walked along the road, past Newton towards Newton moor; the fields had reeds growing in them and signs of recent flooding.
Skirting Cowbridge we crossed the Aberthin road to climb a hill, following a footpath. A blocked footpath forced us down a quiet road for the final stretch. (Walk 7.75 miles 650ft Map 151)
Barry
The forecast was that Storm Brian was going to blow hard with intermittent heavy showers. Still 13 brave souls set out from Cold Knap and quickly moved down to the lake to seek shelter from the wind. Many seabirds had the same idea and we even saw a black swan on the lake.
We walked over to Barry’s Whitmore Bay via Jackson’s Bay, Clements Colley Walk and Nell’s Point. Returning after a well -earned drink to Cold Knap we agreed that all cobwebs were blown away and we felt refreshed and very glad we had ventured forth. (Walk 5 miles)
Cowbridge and Sigingstone.
The weather forecast was sunshine and showers but we only saw sunshine in the distance and had more than our fair share of showers. We set out from Llanblethian Church near Cowbridge, along the Valeways Millennium Heritage trail crossing a very full Factory brook.
We crossed a field where the remains of a World War II runway are visible and as we approached Siginstone, found an Air crash memorial slate which marks the 40th anniversary of a tragedy. ‘On Sunday 12th March 1950 a Tudor V Aeroplane returning from Dublin crashed 200 yards from this spot as it approached Llandow Aerodrome. 75 Welsh rugby supporters and 5 crew died. There were just 3 survivors. In Belfast the day before Wales had won the Triple Crown.’ The plane had done many relief trips to Berlin before crashing on its return from Dublin. Fans had a lot of luggage (souvenirs?) and it is thought this caused the crash. As a result airlines introduced baggage weight limits.
Next to the air crash memorial stone is Sigingstone Pond. We chatted to a man who lived in the house next to it and he told us that his father had the farm above the pond and cattle used to come down to the pond to drink. His grandfather would fill buckets at a tap in the wall above a spring and carry it up to the farm.
At the Victoria Inn, Sigingstone we turned onto a stretch that was particularly muddy with muck coming over boots; most of us carefully skirted the edge but one person ventured into the worst of it! We were relieved to emerge onto a long path between two hedges glowing golden in their winter coats.
We took the road to Crossways House passing what appeared to be its own sewage processing plant. The boundary wall at the front of the house proved an excellent place to sit and eat our lunch.
Between Penllyn (north of A48) and St Brynach’s Church are a series of coffin stiles, which consist of two stiles side by side with a wall between them on which a coffin could be rested as the stile is climbed. St Brynach’s Church was for centuries the parish church of Penllyn and remains its burial ground even though it is a mile away. It is thought that the stone traces of settlement close to the church are of Romano British origin and the ‘village’ was wiped out by the Black Death (14thC). The church boasts ‘no electricity, lighting or heating’.
Although the stiles on the Millennium Way were well maintained most of the others were pretty poor, sometimes surrounded by mud and there were plenty of double stiles! We stopped at the Bonvilston cafe for tea and they served us even though they had shut the dining room. (Walk 7 miles 650ft Map 151).
Planning For the New Year
President Madeleine welcomed everyone and extended New Year greetings to all present. We were delighted to have 3 visitors – Sandra, Debbie and Diane. We certainly hope they will visit again.
Our speaker for the evening was Stephen Allen. Stephen is the Chief Officer of South Glamorgan Community Health Council (the Patients’ Watchdog). His wonderful talk was packed with information and stories regarding the work of the Community Health Council – from its involvement in “Save the Sam Davies Ward” campaign (Barry Hospital) to advice on submitting complaints about the NHS.
Changes will soon be taking place. The Community Health Council will become a new Citizens Advice Bureau. The new body will cover social care as well as health care – something which can only be a positive move forward.
After refreshments we proceeded with WI business. Members were thanked for all their contributions towards our December Christmas party evening. It was announced that a Christmas card had been sent to Pat Williams at the home in Porthcawl where she is still spending time. Glamorgan events were read out. Then each member voted for one of the five resolutions listed and explained in the recent edition of WI life.
Our next meeting will be on Thursday, 6th February at 7pm at Wenvoe Church Hall, when we will be enjoying “Musical Moments with Maria”. Any visitors can always be assured of a warm welcome and there is no charge
‘A Winter Book’ by Tove Jansson
‘A Winter Book’ by Tove Jansson. This is a quirky collection of short stories by an author more renowned for her children’s books about the Moomins.
On one level they are an easy read but also have depth and gravitas. They are written from the point of view of a naive child and are simple and non- pretentious. The descriptions of scenery are vivid, and it is easy to picture the situations and even smell the smells from the text. A sense of humour pervades the stories which reflect the bohemian upbringing of Tove. We all enjoyed the stories and recommend giving the book a score of 8/10.
