Category: Community Groups

November Walks Programme

 

Sat 5th Nov:– Efail Isaf and the Garth approx 7¼ miles. Mike. (151)

 

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Thurs 10th Nov:- Castle and Cathedral, a circular walk of about 5 miles. Bert.

 

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Sat 12th Nov:– Abercarn to Mynydd Llwyd through the forest 7½miles. Ian (166)
 

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Sat 19th Nov:- Merthyr Mawr & Newton 7½ miles. V’Iain (151)
 

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Sat 26th Nov:- Laleston and Stormy Down 7¾ miles. Ian (151)
 

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Thur 15th Dec:- Christmas walk and lunch. Let Bert or Colin and Judy know

 

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October Report and Coming Up

 

 

wi-01A welcome was extended to all at our October meeting and especially to our visitor, Ros. We hope she will join us again in the future.

Our speaker was John Sheen and using Christmas crackers in a in the shape of a clock face as a starting point, he produced twelve very different entertaining pieces, all with a Christmas theme. John’s qualification in teaching English and drama was evident when he brought humorous acting into his talk.

 

We received a thank you letter from Ty Hapus in response to our donation to the charity.

Members were reminded of several events within our link in the near future :-

Coffee morning- Dinas Powys, Nov. 5th

Christmas party- Dinas Powys, Dec 6t

Carol Service-Penarth, Dec 15th

Our November meeting will be “Call my Bluff” with guests from local W.I’s Visitors will be welcome. October raffle winner was Betty.

Members of our WI want to thank Phil. Morant for all the time and effort he’s devoted to the cleaning and staining of our memorial bench in the churchyard. which has now been restored to its original colour.

 

Many thanks, Phil.

 

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Cosmeston and Pen y Fan

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It was 20 years in October since the first outing of Wenvoe walking group. To mark the anniversary 14 people joined Bert and Gwyn at Cosmeston on a sunny afternoon. We explored its outer circuit and then headed for Penarth, returning via the cliff tops and housing back to Cosmeston. John and Jacky (also founding members of the group) were with us and Jacky had made a delicious celebration cake which we all shared. They also produced their photo album showing the group over the years – some people looked so young! At the end we visited the much improved café on the site and relaxed. Distance covered 2½/5 miles.

Pen y Fan

To get to the start of this walk we drove up the A470 past the Storey Arms and Brecon and through some pretty woodland to a National Trust car park to the north of Pen y Fan.

We donned our boots and immediately after starting we were heading uphill. Soon the climb was steep and a keen wind was blowing, the temperature dropping as we rose. We passed a footstepsimg3smcol at Allt Du where the wind was particularly strong and walked along the ridge of Cefn Cwm Llwch. Now we entered into the clouds which helped us forget that the ground was falling steeply away on both sides but also made it difficult to see each other at times. Even up here there were sheep and a couple of people behind us who had let their dog off the lead and had some difficulty in getting it back when it became interested in the sheep. We continued upwards at a pace we could maintain and were pleasantly surprised to find we had arrived at the summit (886 metres) as it suddenly appeared in the clouds. It was like Picadilly circus, there were so many people – lots of nationalities and school children amongst them having arrived by different routes. We stopped to take our summit photo and were awed to see a spectacular view as the cloud lifted slightly and we could see the surrounding ridges appear and disappear again as the clouds moved in waves. It was difficult to draw away and continue our walk.

Now we had a choice of whether to return via Corn Ddu or Cribyn, we opted for the latter as a few of us hadn’t been there. This meant quite a steep descent along Craig Cwm Sere in a south easterly direction along a paved path which continued up the steep climb to Cribyn (795metres). The cloud had cleared completely from Pen y Fan and we looked back at the route we had walked – amazing views and a real sense of achievement. It was 13.30hrs so we descended slightly to take some shelter from the perpetual wind and eat our lunch. On each of the summits we were surprised to see a few people wearing shorts and even footstepsimg2smone person in T-shirt and shorts as he was running.

Time to descend, there is a steep uneven descent from the top of Cribyn on its north side and looking back it looked like a pyramid.

We had very little company now as we continued our steady path downwards along Bryn Teg for some time. Nant Sere was in the valley between us and the ridge we had climbed in the morning. At last our descent was more gradual and we were crossing pasture land at Cwm Cywyn and our first stile of the day onto a lane. From here we kept to lanes and roads to walk around the base of the ridge that had taken us up to Pen Y Fan.

We were very happy to reach the cars and head home via the Bull in Libanus where we enjoyed some very welcome refreshment.

This was an excellent route, we had walked 7miles and climbed 2700ft – twice what we would normally climb -giving us a feeling of achievement and satisfaction even though we were tired; not bad for a group of 7 people whose total age was over 450 years! (Map OL12)

 

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“Persuasion” by Jane Austin

Our novel “Persuasion” was written in 1815 and published in 1817 six months after Jane Austen’s death. It was her last novel, and is still in print.persuasion

Through the eyes of the heroine, Anne Elliot, we learn of the intricacies of domestic and family lives involving her family, their friends and relations. The Elliot’s who enjoy the status of landed gentry live in Kellynch Hall, and are having financial problems because of Sir Walter’s vanity and spiralling debts. They socialise with the Musgroves whose son, Charles, is married to Mary Elliot, Sir Walter’s youngest daughter. Anne enjoys the company of the untitled and warm friendly Musgroves and their two daughters Henrietta and Louisa. Sir Walter is forced to rent his estate to Admiral Croft and Mrs Croft the sister of Captain Frederick Wentworth, to whom Anne was briefly engaged eight years earlier. She was advised and persuaded to break the engagement with Wentworth who was a naval officer at that time and of a lower status. Something she later regretted.

All human emotions (love, sadness, worries, joys) are experienced by Anne’s observations of the landed gentry, the landowner, and the naval families.

Bookclub review:-

Settled comfortably, we took ourselves back to the eighteen hundreds. This was not difficult with the help of Jane Austen.

With the beautiful language and long descriptive sentences we found that we were forced to read slower than usual and with care at first, but it did not take long to picture the locations of the events whether in Lyme Regis, where the group enjoyed the sea breezes, or Bath for the socialising and shopping.

Anne’s meticulous observations soon made us familiar with the interesting characters. Ann’s father and her older sister who were so preoccupied with class and the ‘right connections’ were outrageous and almost the opposite of the warmth, wit and comic situations of the Musgroves and Croft families.

Love was in the air for the young but Anne’s was not blooming at all.

Almost all in the group thoroughly enjoyed this novel giving it a score of 9 out of 10.

 

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IRON AND COPPER

 

 

wye-bridgesmThis year; 2016, saw a number of engineering anniversaries impacting on Wales, most of which concerned bridges, the 200th anniversary of Chepstow Wye Bridge was celebrated on 24th July with a number of events including a re-enactment of the 1816 opening ceremony. Designed and built by John Urpeth Rastrick FRS (1780-1856) it was opened on the 24th July 1816. A bridge with five spans, 372ft (113m) long, it was the third longest cast-iron arch road bridge in the world when built and it is now the largest survivor from the first fifty years of iron bridge construction. A civil and mechanical engineer Rastrick is remembered today as a railway pioneer. He built the first steam engine to run in the USA, chaired the Rainhill Trials for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1829, and built numerous railways in Great Britain.mayor The iron arches were cast at the foundry of John Hazeldine at Bridgnorth in Shropshire where Rastrick was the engineer. On the 24th July 2016 a procession was led over the bridge headed by engineers, as it was in 1816, with the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers; Sir John Armitt, leading the way. Until 1989 it carried the normal road traffic through Chepstow and across the Wye into England and still carries road traffic, subject to a 7.5T weight restriction, today.

 

 

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERANot quite as old, the Severn Bridge also celebrated a 50th birthday this year, on 8th September 2016. The 5,240ft (1,597m) long bridge was world’s first major suspension bridge to be built with an aerodynamic road deck it was also the lightest, and set the standard for future long span bridges, such as the Humber Bridge. Many people remember using the car ferries; Severn King and Severn Queen, to cross the Severn before the bridge opened. The Second Severn Crossing also celebrated a milestone this year, being opened on the 5th June 1996 – 20 years ago. At 5,134m long it is not a suspension bridge but a cable stayed bridge similar to the Wye (M48) Bridge – which also opened in 1966.

 

 

 

Another form of communications impacted on Wales 150 years ago with the successful completion of the laying of the Atlantic telegraph cable in 1866. On 27 July 1866 the quite Pembrokeshire bay of Abermawr became part of a trans-Atlantic

communications network with the laying of the fifth, and ultimately successful, telegraph cable between Valentia in Ireland and Trinity Bay in Newfoundland by Brunel’s Great Eastern steamship – the only ship big enough to take all the almost 2,000 nautical miles of telegraph cable required. Messages could now be transmitted from New York to Newfoundland and through the Atlantic cable to Ireland and across to Abermawr, being taken on to London via the SWR and GWR’s telegraph wires. Copper refined in Llanelli and Swansea provided the conductive core of the cable through which messages would be transmitted.

The former telegraph hut at abermawr01Abermawr, now a holiday cottage, actually predates the successful laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable by some four years and if we go back some fifteen years before that to 1847 we find that Isambard Kingdom Brunel had chosen Abermawr as the western terminus and port for the South Wales Railway. This was never carried out but the rural setting of the beach made it an ideal landing point for an underwater telegraph cable from Wexford, Ireland in 1862. Fear of German sabotage of the cable during the first world war saw soldiers being stationed on guard duty at Abermawr.

In 1866 the transmission speed of the transatlantic telegraph system was eight words per minute, by 1900 transmission rates of 120 words per minute were being sent reliably between continents. It was a system for business and governments, for example a ten word transatlantic message from the USA to Great Britain cost $100 or about £76 (today’s values about $2,600 or £1,980). The speed of cable borne news can be gauged with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, then the news took 12 days to reach British newspapers, When President James Garfield was shot in 1881, and it was reported within hours. Some 25 telegraph cables would be laid across the Atlantic by 1922 – the year that the Great Storm washed away the shore ends of the cable at Abermawr and the telegraph station closed.

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Offa’s Dyke

WHO WAS KING OFFA AND WHAT WAS HIS DYKE FOR?

offaYou have probably heard about Offa’s Dyke – but do you know who King Offa was and why he had a dyke built? Well – Offa was the King of the Mercians, a warrior tribe from central England, from 747 to 796 AD. He had seized power during a time of great unrest caused by friction between Wales and England in the border region. Offa was determined to quell the unruly Welsh and impose his authority and this he did by building one of the most remarkable structures of its time in Britain. It marked the western border of his kingdom and was to act as a defence against the Welsh.

The dyke was constructed at the end of the eighth century and consisted of a great defensive earthwork, with a ditch on the Welsh side and a high bank on the English side. It ran for 140 miles from the banks of the River Severn in the south to the mouth of the River Dee in the north. Because it was built so long ago there is very little known about who actually did the amazing amount of work and what it really looked like. But we do know that it was customary for the English to cut off the ears of every Welshman who was found to the east of the dyke, and for the Welsh to hang every Englishman whom they found to the west of it.

offasdykeParts of Offa's Dyke can still be seen in many places. The town of Knighton in Radnorshire has stretches of the dyke on both sides of the town, and at Kington in Herefordshire, there is a well-preserved section of this earthwork. The nearest part of the dyke to Wenvoe is around the Chepstow area and between Chepstow and Tintern. It is only about 40 minutes from Wenvoe to Chepstow by car on a good day, and just another 10 minutes to Tintern so it is an easy day out to go and walk along part of the great Offa’s Dyke. If you do so you will find many good pubs and cafes around that area and in the Wye valley.

If you have the time and energy you may wish to walk all of the Offa’s Dyke Path. It is a long-distance footpath following closely the Wales–England border. Opened in 1971, it is one of Britain's National Trails and draws walkers from throughout the world. Some of the 177-mile (285 km) route either follows, or keeps close company with the visible parts of Offa's Dyke. There are many miles where the dyke was not constructed as the geographical features such as rivers and cliffs made it unnecessary.

Traveling south to north, starting by the Severn Estuary at Sedbury, near Chepstow, and finishing at Prestatyn on the north coast, the walk will take an average walker roughly 12 days to complete. Following a man-made border and ancient monuments, rather than natural features, the dyke path crosses a variety of landscapes. The route crosses the Black Mountains, the Shropshire Hills, including the many ups and downs of the 'Switchback', the Eglwyseg Moors north of Llangollen and the Clwydian Range.

It is of course not necessary to walk it in one long hike, but rather one can break it into bite sized chunks by walking three offasor four days at a time. There are plenty of high quality B&Bs to stay at overnight on the way, with a room costing on average £65-80 for two people with breakfast. With a little planning one can take the train from Cardiff to various places on the route, walk for a few days and then take the train home again.

Walking through mid-Wales is particularly pleasant and quiet and it is possible to travel for a whole day without seeing anyone at all. If you do think about doing this walk it is best to go in a dry period so that the ground is not so muddy as to make it hard work. With good waterproof clothing you will not get wet but very muddy boots are heavy and that make it less fun. So make a plan for a long summer hike and remember that walking is very good for body and soul

 

 

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Harvest Thanksgiving

 

harvest01On September 28th we held our Harvest Thanksgiving afternoon. Members filled the tables with produce and Rev Jon conducted a short service. Margaret, as usual auctioned off all the produce in aid of this year’s charity, the British Heart Foundation.

 

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October started with a rousing fanfare, when Lt Col Geoff Kingston, a retired bandmaster, who has conducted many military bands at ceremonial occasions, told us of the origins of the well-known marching songs of the First World War .We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon and thanked Lt Col Kingston for having travelled all the way from Newquay to be with us.

 

 

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On October 12th Rosemary Scadden, a regular visitor, gave us a talk on Sea Shells .She brought her collection along, most of which were collected during the many years she spent living in the Solomon Islands.

We will be taking names and deposits for our Christmas dinner on December 14th, during November, the venue still to be decided

 

November diary of events:-

Nov 2nd. – Bingo

Nov9th. – Philip and Enid Benton -Cycling holidays

Nov 16th – Dean Powell-Glyn Housten -A Black & White actor.

Nov 23rd – Quiz

Nov 30th. – Anecdotes with Joyce

 

 

 

September Events

1309036687[1]We met in the church hall on Sept. 1st, our first meeting of the autumn session. Our speaker was Elin Jones from Ty Hapus (Happy House) in Barry which opened five years ago as a result of fund raising by Justine Pickering whose mother, at 54 years had a rare form of dementia. Ty Hapus was originally set up to support young people living with dementia but on a Thursday, people over 65 years are welcome at the day centre which is linked to the Alzeimer’s Society for training and support and the staff work very hard to encourage participation in any social groups available, such as a golf group, fitness group and music and poetry are often introduced.altzeimers01

Ty Hapus looks forward toward moving to new premises at Barry Community Hospital at the end of the year where two gardens will be available for their use so there will be many interesting challenges ahead.

As a result of our fund raising during 2016 Madeleine was able to present Elin with a cheque for £450 00 which was gratefully received on behalf of Ty Hapus and all members of Wenvoe WI are thanked for their hard work and effort in raising this sum.

After refreshments it was down to business. We were reminded of forthcoming events within the Glamorgan Federation, especially the Harvest Supper, on Oct 10th, hosted by Culverhouse Cross WI. Final plans will be discussed at our October meeting. Raffle prize went to Phyllis.

Next meeting is on October 6th, Church Hall at 7pm when the speaker will be John Sheen (uncle of Michael) and his subject will be “A Christmas Cracker”. Visitors are welcome

Kitchen Renovation

kitchen01Wenvoe Village Hall has recently undergone a kitchen renovation thanks to the support of a grant from the Big Lottery Fund. A much needed revamp which will benefit all users of the hall. The hall provides a valuable service for the local community and the work of the volunteers to keep it running helps to provide a venue for all.

 

 

The hall is available for a birthday parties or special occasions with or without a licensed bar. If you wish to check availability please email wenvoevil-lagehall@yahoo.co.uk

 

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Love Running #Wenvoe

 

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In the early summer a group of people, many who had never ran, before became a popular sight in the village as they did their group raining runs around the village and playing fields on Monday nights. The plan was they were eventually going to run the Cardiff 10k race. In the first month or so it felt like a tall order. How could people who had never run further than the garden gate complete on of the biggest distance races in Wales?

oct-run-2We discovered that if you could walk that with the right training everyone could from “couch to 10k” in 10 weeks! There is a saying that friendships are formed in adversity and it is true that many who didn’t know one another became great friends as they gradually ran further and sometimes faster each Monday. Whether people would admit to enjoying the experience of running, It was certainly the case that there was a sense of achievement after a run.

In seemingly no time race day arrived. With group leader, Gary Smith, conveniently sporting a badly sprained ankle, all other members of oct-run-1the club turned up for a group photo with the Love Running Cardiff group before joining the thousands who were running the race. At the sound of the starting pistol, the weeks of training kicked as the runners raced around the capital and through the parks for a 6+ mile experience of a lifetime. As they crossed the finish line, the sense of achievement was evident. With medals around their necks, water being gulped and high fives being offered at every opportunity the smiles and conversations continued all morning!

Well that was Sunday 11th September and by Monday 12th, regardless of muscle ache and pain they group were back running around the village pledging to continue throughout the winter!

oct-run-3To Join Love Running #Wenvoe just turn up outside the Village Hall, 8pm Mondays

For further information visit www.valevillagechurch.org.uk or call Gary Smith on 07782 305738

 

 

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