Category: General Interest Articles

Articles of general interest on no particular subject

Talking About Poetry

Talking About Poetry

The Page Turners article in last month’s What’s On got me running, well ambling I don’t run anywhere these days, to my bookshelf and a half of 1960’s /early 1970’s poetry. I was mad keen on poetry at the time with my favourites being The Mersey Poets – Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten – with Patten being my Number 1. I still have their signed copy of the Mersey Sound issued in 1967. In fact, in yet another recent clear out I came across my massive size poster of Patten’s poem Spring Song. I don’t know what to do with the poster but I can’t let it go. My wife Jude has refused for it to go on display. The poem begins “I thought the tree was rather ordinary until yesterday when seven girls in orange swimwear climbed into its branches.” You get the idea. He did write some children’s poetry books too. Here is his opener from Gargling with Jelly called Squeezes

We love to squeeze bananas.

We love to squeeze ripe plums.

And when they are feeling sad.

We love to squeeze our mums.

It was all groovy and fab in those days with people walking round with flowers in their hair (although not in my village) and as Scott McKenzie and the Flowerpot Men told us going to San Francisco. I did go to Carnaby Street once though! I couldn’t afford any of the clothes so I caught the 60’s vibe by buying a collection of poems called Its World that Makes the Love Go Round. Yes, I have got the title right! How about this one from the collection by Alec Cornwell called Sociological Study 1: After Russell

God came down to Trafalgar Square

Preached Peace to the multitude gathered there

While quoting his sermon on the mountain

Four cops kicked him into the fountain

Saying, as they ducked his head:

‘This guy’s a medieval beatnik red!’

Alongside Patten my second fave was Rod McKuen. I have 7 books of his. Here is a 1960’s title of one of his books Listen to the Warm. Now there’s a 60’s title if ever there was one. His book opens with ‘If you cry when we leave Paris I’ll buy you a teddy bear all soft and gold.’ That got me thinking I could probably do as good as that so when I left home in 1969 to live in Germany and Spain I took with me an A4 empty book which stated on the front ‘Supplied for the Public Service’ below the Queens crown. (I had been an uncivil civil servant!) Two years later I had written over 150 poems. Do you want to read one? Come on you know you do! It’s entitled A Very Simple Request During a Norwegian Prayer Meeting.

See that squirrel on the tree

Happy Happy as can be

See that squirrel on the tree

Make it, Make it, Make it me!

If you have you any idea what it is about let me

know. On second thoughts maybe Rod had something I didn’t have. I have bought a couple of his LP’s at car boots in the past. Let’s put it this way his singing is an acquired taste and proved to be a taste I didn’t wish to acquire. I had thought of compiling a book called 60’s c**p poetry but realised mine were too bad to go in it!

I have to admit to readers in contrast to the above I also loved John Betjeman. It’s not a guilty pleasure because I enjoy reading his poems and I am confessing that fact to What’s On readers. I know lots of people made fun of him but in my eyes he could do no wrong. I love his poem Death of King George V set to music by Jim Parker. Brilliant!

As my eyes glanced along our shelves I counted 7 books of Leonard Cohen’s poems. Now we were, and are, big fans of Leonard. I digress here a bit but I never thought I would see him in concert but he came to the CIA in 2008. What me in tears never! Two hours plus of heaven. It’s time to get our Songs of Leonard Cohen LP out again. Sing along everyone “Suzanne takes you down to her place in the river……

I will call a halt to my meanderings and wanderings through our poetry shelf- and a half. I can hear the What’s On editors saying bring it to a swift conclusion Nige you have waffled on much too long. Before I sign off though I ought to say if there is a popular ground swell of positive comment (i.e. one person) I may do a follow up with meanderings through some of our 1960’s vinyl albums.

So I will finish by sharing with you my favourite poem of all time. Spoiler alert. It’s a bit heavy but I think appropriate for these uncertain times. The poem is by Steve Turner and it is called History Lesson.

History repeats itself.

Has to.

Nobody listens.

As the Wenvoe Page Turners said give poetry – and peace – a chance!

Nige Billingham

 

Book Review

BOOK REVIEW

“Barry Railway: Coal’s Last Burst”

This slim volume by erstwhile civil engineer, local historian and author Stephen K Jones has been produced to serve as an overarching summary to bring together several historical strands. These chart the 1880s development and growth of the Barry Railway and Docks to be the largest integrated coal exporting facility in the world and its gradual decline as the world’s shipping changed its fuel to oil from the 1910s.

Over the decades as the export coal trade declined, the docks saw new purposes as for instance the handling of American war materials in preparation for the D Day Landings, oil and banana imports. And let’s not forget the famous Woodham’s “resting place” where so many redundant steam locomotives awaited their new lives on heritage railways throughout Britain.

Woodham’s “resting place”

All in all, a very useful summary of all that concerns the Barry Docks prior to its re-envisaged status as a major waterside development from the 1990s on-ward. It may be obtained at a cost of £4.50 from the Barry War Museum at the Barry Island Station.

A Revolution Taking Place On Vale Streets

A REVOLUTION TAKING PLACE ON VALE STREETS

Have you ever had the feeling street lighting is not what it used to be? Not surprising when we can trace the history back to 500BC! Today the Vale of Glamorgan Council are well advanced in the latest street lighting revolution. LED streetlights are being installed in all residential streets as part of a £1.4 million investment project that will benefit the environment by reducing Co2 emissions and energy costs. But what are the advantages?

Street lighting seems to have started in China in what is now Beijing c500BC, when natural gas (from volcano gas leaks) was led through bamboo pipes to serve as a fuel for streetlamps. Ancient Romans used oil lamps filled with vegetable oil in front of their houses. They used special slaves, whose only duty was to take care of those lamps, to light them, extinguish them and watch that they always had oil. The first organised method of public lighting was in 1417 when the Mayor of London, Sir Henry Barton, introduced a law that all houses must hang lanterns outside when night fell during the winter months. It wasn’t until 1807 that London got its first gas lit street. Every evening lamplighters, men whose job was to take care of the gas street lights, were lighting the lanterns and every morning they were putting them out.

The Vale’s LED project promises a rather more sophisticated and efficient way of lighting our streets. The high startup costs must be balanced by the longer-term benefits. Over 10,000 conventional street lighting lanterns have been replaced by more efficient LED alternatives. The Vale claims the project will reduce ongoing maintenance and repair costs. LED lanterns can last for 20 to 25 years, or 100,000 hours compared to conventional lighting, which only has a life span of three to six years. LED lights are more efficient. A common problem with older streetlights, which contain mechanical clocks, is that their timing and lighting up times can be put out of sync, either by general power cuts or by insects jamming the mechanism. In both instances the clocks must be manually reset.

The environmental benefits extend to reduced energy consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions. LEDs are free from hazardous materials like mercury, making them much kinder to our planet. Plus, they’re fully recyclable, further tipping the scales in favour of sustainability. When Los Angeles swapped their old streetlights for LEDs, they cut down CO2 emissions by 47,000 metric tons each year. That’s equivalent to taking thousands of cars off the road! Imagine cutting your electricity use by 70%!

The Vale report that a key feature of the new system is that the new lights can be dimmed by 50% between midnight and 6am, when the higher lighting levels are not required due to the lack of pedestrian and road traffic. Many of us have peered out onto the street in the dead of night and felt that the lighting is less vibrant than it used to be, and some have commented on the potential security implications that may result. However, the Vale report that LED lights enhance facial recognition for CCTV cameras.

LED may be the tip of the iceberg. SMART streetlight networks are already being adapted for more uses. The potential is huge. Cities deploy air quality monitors and noise sensors alongside the lighting controls, gathering data to tackle pollution hotspots and excessive urban noise. In Christchurch, New Zealand, planners are exploring using this network to collect and transmit water meter data.

*You can report a street light fault to the Vale of Glamorgan Council using an online form or by telephone 01446 700111.

 

Travelling ‘What’s On’

TRAVELLING ‘WHAT’S ON’

Twenty years ago we invited readers of the magazine to take their copy of What’s On on holidays with them and take a picture of it in its new surroundings. We wish to try the event once again. Please provide a picture with at least a brief description of its location; you personally, do not have to appear but a landmark or interesting view would be great. If there is a story behind the picture even better.

Last time, besides travelling around Britain, the magazine visited the States, Europe, Africa, Australia, Nepal, China etc. How far or strange a location can we get a copy to over the next twelve months or so?

The Life And Times Of Mr J C Meggitt – Part 1

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MR J C MEGGITT – Part 1

 

In his article in the April 2024 Edition of What’s On, Steven Jones wrote about certain people who were notable in the early days of Barry’s development. One of these was named Meggitt. Here is the story of that man. J C Meggitt was born in Wolverhampton in 1858 and after leaving school he joined the firm of Shelton and Sons, Wolverhampton in the timber supply trade. His duties included travelling widely throughout Britain seeking business opportunities for expanding the timber trade.

His keen business sense lead him to believe that there were major prospects in south east Wales and to further develop his understanding of this area he joined Alexanders and Co in Cardiff who were at that time the largest importers of timber in the Bristol Channel area.

Whilst thus employed he was a diligent saver as he had ambitions to start his own business, which he eventually did at the age of 26. He posted the above circular just three weeks before the Earl of Plymouth ceremoniously cut the first sod for the new dock on 14th November 1884.

One cannot help but think that the young J C Meggitt had perhaps bitten off a bit more than he could chew. The nearest railway station at that time was at Penarth Dock, some six miles away. The local roads were undeveloped being narrow unsurfaced lanes totally unsuitable for heavy traffic. Some of the gradients were steep and the cost of transporting materials was inevitably high.

At that time only horse drawn wagons were available and in the early days of the venture as many as 30 horses were being used. As an alternative to delivering by road, small coastal vessels into Barry Old Harbour were used but the costs of loading at Cardiff, delays at sea, unloading at low tide and storage of materials near the original Ship Inn proved to be as costly as delivery by road. There was much double and triple handling of materials involved.

The tenacious Meggitt overcame the difficulties and proved to T A Walker, the main contractor for the dock construction, that he “could deliver the goods” at competitive prices and the new business continued to thrive. As it became evident that the Barry Harbour option was becoming increasingly unworkable, Meggitt moved his operations to Cadoxton.

It wasn’t just the dock construction that required vast quantities of timber for “false works”. Hundreds of houses and shops were being built which further increased the demand for timber. Until the new Barry Railway was functional some three years later the struggle with transporting timber persisted.

It is of interest to note that the imports of timber in those early days were from Archangel (Russia), Norway, and Canada. The supplies were negotiated though local agents.

In 1888 he went into partnership with his brother-in-law Mr D Sibbering Jones and the firm now known as Meggitt and Jones opened other depots and facilities in East Moors Cardiff, Gloucester and Aberystwyth from which places they supplied high quality timber to their respective hinterlands. At each of these principal locations, the firm operated large saw mills and the business continued to flourish.

…to be continued.

Tony Hodge

 

The Paget Room 122 Years On!

122 YEARS ON!
THE PAGET ROOM REMAINS A ‘HAPPENING’ VENUE’

Many of us have visited The Paget Rooms in Penarth. This much-loved Vale venue was a dance hall in the 1920s, the Regal Cinema in the 1930s and for the last 60 years or so host to a wide range of events, from drama, concerts, talks and art exhibitions to weddings and community meetings. The Hall, now a Grade II listed building, is still named after Alberta Paget, wife of the Earl of Plymouth, who leased the land to the original developers.

The Paget Rooms has long nurtured local talent and provided a platform for artists, musicians, and performers to showcase their work. It has also had its fair share of star performers. By all accounts the 2022 performance from the legendary Welsh rocker Andy Fairweather Lowe was sensational. Andy has a lot of material to work with being well known as lead singer with Amen Corner with hits such as ‘Bend Me Shape Me’ and ‘Hello Suzy.’ Andy went on to work with many an artist considered ‘rock royalty’ including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Elton John and Sheryl Crowe.

 

 

Perhaps the most famous though, was none other than Tom Jones whose appearance has an interesting background. In July 1965, Tom and his band the Squires responded to a request from the Penarth Round Table and appeared for free in aid of a charity to support two people knocked down and injured by a van in Cogan. In 1972, South Wales rockers ‘Man’ released their fifth album ‘Live at the Padget Rooms, Penarth’ complete with a mistake in the title!

Bringing things up to date, between 2019 and 2023, the Paget Rooms were used as the location of the college hall in the Netflix hit show ‘Sex Education’ starring Gilliam Anderson and Ncuti Gatwa, the 15th and current Dr Who.

So, what’s happening now? Well, the two examples below give a good idea of the variety of events held at the modern Paget Rooms.

On March 27th (7pm – 10pm) the Paget Rooms are featuring the National Theatre Live production of Dr. Strangelove. Seven-time BAFTA Award-winner Steve Coogan plays four roles in the world premiere stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s comedy masterpiece. Tickets cost £10.

April 11th sees a production called ‘3D Drama.’ Theatre Bara Caws present three light comedy/dramas on varying themes. Tickets, including booking fee are £16.50. These are Welsh language productions, although English précis will be available. Some strong language.

Perfumery – Did You Know?

PERFUMERY – DID YOU KNOW?

Eau de Toilette or Eau de Parfum?

While Eau de Toilette contains 5-9% of perfume oil, Eau de Parfum usually contains 8-14%. Eau de Parfums therefore last longer and smell more intense.

Natural or synthetic fragrances?

Perfumes with natural ingredients often smell different in batches based on the source of the ingredients, while synthetic ingredients usually have consistency in their smell and last longer.

Notes and different smell after application?

Perfumes are often designed with top, middle and base notes, and designed to smell differently based on the time after application. For example, some top note citrus scents smell stronger immediately upon application, while a lavender middle note may be sensed after some time from application as the top note evaporates.

Celebrating Three Engineers At Berwyn

CELEBRATING THREE ENGINEERS AT BERWYN NEAR LLANGOLLEN
Richard Roberts, Charles Bayer and Henry Robertson

On the 18 November 2024 a celebration of a Welsh, German and Scottish engineering circle, with local connections, took place with the unveiling of a plaque. The setting was Berwyn station (opened 1865) on the Llangollen Railway where Station Master Ben Jackson welcomed the special train from Llangollen station. The audience were warned that the handover address could potentially be three times as long as normal as this was about three engineers celebrated on ICE Wales Cymru’s first trilingual plaque!

Three engineers  a Welshman Richard Roberts (1789-1864), a Scotsman Henry Robertson (1816–1888) and a German Charles Beyer (1813-1876) who would become partners at some point in their careers, were connected to the locality and railways and locomotives. Richard Roberts was born at Llanymynech, Powys, close to the English border, some twenty miles away from Berwyn. During his early working life, he worked as a patternmaker and is remembered today as an engineer in the field of high precision machine tools who made a major contribution to production engineering and mass production. A prolific inventor, his automatic spinning mule of 1824 was mass produced by his company; Sharp, Roberts & Co., which would later build locomotives designed by Charles Frederick Beyer or Carl Friedrich Beyer, as he was christened. Beyer was a celebrated German-British locomotive designer and builder who is buried just a stone’s throw away, in Llantysilio churchyard. His house; Llantysilio Hall, was completed a few years before his death in 1874. He cofounded and was head designer and engineer of Beyer, Peacock & Co., the famous locomotive works at Gorton in Manchester established in 1854. Locomotive manufacturing continued up to the late 1950s. In 1966, after 112 years of operation, all production ceased with the company building nearly 8,000 locomotives. One built in 1856 for the Royal Swedish Railways, ‘Prins August’ is claimed to be the oldest working steam locomotive in original condition in the world.

Initially this partnership, with Richard Peacock, ran into funding problems bringing the famous contractor Thomas Brassey into the picture. Brassey persuaded Henry Robertson to become a sleeping partner in the venture. Henry Robertson was born at Banff, Scotland, he went to Aberdeen University taking up mining engineering but later concentrating on railway engineering. Sent in 1842 to report on mineral properties at Brymbo, he revived the Brymbo Ironworks and promoted the North Wales Mineral Railway which he would engineer with Thomas Brassey as contractor. Then the Chester to Shrewsbury line, with the Dee and Ceiriog viaducts, followed by the line from Ruabon to Llangollen, Corwen and Bala. At Brymbo he oversaw the changeover to steel production in 1884 as well as being an MP. In 1871, he built Palé Hall, a grand house eighteen miles away, where he passed away in 1888. The Llangollen Railway has a function room named in his honour at Llangollen Station.

Just a few years before the 1860 Act for this railway was obtained, the poet laureate; Alfred Lord Tennyson, was staying at Llangollen. It therefore seemed appropriate to incorporate part of a line from Locksley Hall as a railway motif and to acknowledge Richard Robert’s automatic spinning mule; ‘Let the great world spin for ever …’

Stephen K. Jones

 

Five Mile Lane’s Hidden Past

FIVE MILE LANE’S HIDDEN PAST

Most of us will have been familiar with the old narrow twisty, turny, downright dangerous section of the A4226 “Five Mile Lane” immediately north of Barry. The Vale of Glamorgan Council had plans to improve this section of road but before construction could commence a range of environmental studies had to be undertaken.

It has been long known that this area has a rich historical heritage spanning the preceding 6000 years. Witness the evidence provided by the neolithic burial chambers at St Lythans and Tinkingswood, the unearthing of various Bronze and Iron Age structures and artifacts locally and the well known remains of Roman villas at Barry Knap and Witton Lodge, the latter being actually on the alignment of the Five Mile Lane.

So, alongside special environment studies, the Council and the Welsh Assembly Government commissioned the archaeological investigations firm Rubicon Heritage in the period 2017 to 2019 to add to the knowledge previously gained in earlier studies.

The “dig” undertaken by Rubicon encompassed the full extent of the footprint of the envisaged new road. The revealed treasure trove of burials (some 456 in number), artifacts, foundations of buildings and the like exceeded all expectations. In fact, beyond the pre-historic and Roman attributes, it also revealed a surprising glimpse into early medieval life (5th to mid 13th centuries).Prior to this study that medieval period of Welsh history had been poorly understood. For instance it was found that during this period pre-historic burial mounds were re-purposed as witnessed by some 378 burials in that period. This image is of a Medieval Christian burial located within a re-used Bronze Age burial monument.

In summary, the dig uncovered a previously unknown multi-period landscape which has been used in many ways since humans first settled in this area.

The archaeologists were able to trace the development of this swathe of land, uncovering many surprises along the way.

One cannot help but wonder how much more of our history lies buried in the Vale of Glamorgan for future generations to discover.

The purpose of this article has been to present a brief overview of the study and the findings to date. For a comprehensive insight visit https://www.rubiconheritage.com/ publications-and-articles.html and follow the links to Volumes 1 and 2 of their Five Mile Lane articles.

Alternatively, copies of those publications have been placed in the Wenvoe Hub for reference.

Tony Hodge, who thanks Rubicon for permission to reproduce the illustrations.

Fun Fact: The Five Mile Lane as we know it is only four miles long. The missing mile is now Pontypridd Road, Barry.

Cows Bulls And Other Challenges

COWS BULLS AND OTHER CHALLENGES

As we walked into the quiet village of Rhémes Notre Dame in the Italian Aosta valley the village clock rang out the time. It was half-past three in the afternoon and still very hot. The sundial on the church spire looked down on us with the inscription “Nos jours passent comme l’ombre” or our days pass like shadows.

Footpath Along the Alta Via 2 High-Level Route

We were hiking a high-level route through the Italian alps and this was day six, so we were now fairly fit. Our route was called the Alta Via 2 which runs across the grain of the alps, it took my wife Isobel and me ten days and we walked 143 km. Much of the route passes through the Gran Paradiso National Park and the paths in many places are well made because in 1856 King Vittorio Emanuele 2 had created a Royal Game Reserve and tracks had been laid to allow his entourage to move easily between the hunting lodges. This ensured good hunting for the King but also protected the native Ibex and chamois which were in decline. The ibex, in particular, was hunted because it was regarded as a “walking pharmacy “as their blood, horns, bones and even droppings were used in a variety of remedies. The paths were now two hundred years old, but in parts, the ancient paving was still in place that was originally laid so that the baggage train of mules carrying cooks, food and cooking equipment could be set up in the hunting lodges before the arrival of the royal party. When we found these paths still in good condition, they speeded up our pace considerably.

Our hotel the Galisia, was in the centre of this small pretty village and we soon settled in and ordered cold beers to drink in the sunny garden. We chose a table and sat down to relax and stretch our legs after the hard day of hiking. But no sooner had we settled than there was a virtual eclipse as the sun disappeared. We realised that we were in a high sided valley and the whole valley was now in shade. The lack of sun also meant that the clothes we had worn and washed were now not drying as we hoped – but worse things have happened. Our stay in the Galisia was comfortable and the supper they served was tasty and substantial. With coffee we drank Genepy the “digestif” flavoured with wormwood which grows wild on the alpine pastures. It was a fitting end to my birthday.

The next morning, my diary records, that breakfast was a spartan affair with no meats or cheese, just bread and jam and coffee. So, we did not linger as the pass we had to climb was at 2840 metres and we were at 1722 metres. There was a challenging vertical kilometre to climb before midday. Our path out of the village soon led to a narrow wooded valley down which a stream tumbled. We zig-zagged steeply up through the pine trees until the path levelled off and we got our breath back. This was pleasant walking and we had made a good dent into the height we had to climb.

We soon came to pasture with a small shepherd’s hut and around it was a herd of Valdostana Castana, the native cows of the area which are noted for their “vivacious and warlike temperament”! We have met many types of cows over the years and our standard tactic is to take a long detour around them, however frustrating that can be. But on this occasion, we were constricted by the raging torrent of a stream on our left and a high cliff to the right of the path. Now some cows will continue to chew the cud as you approach, others will drift away out of timidity but this small herd of about fifteen full-grown animals were walking fast towards us. There are many records of walkers being trampled to death in these circumstances, so we decided to back off and retraced our steps. Just behind us was a large rock about the size of a delivery van. I called to Isobel to climb up fast – she replied that she could not do that with her rucksack on. Her back was to the cows as she considered the sides of the rock upon which I was now perched. When I said that the cows were now very close, she suddenly found that she could climb up and join me after all. From this safe but uncomfortable stance, we could see that the leader of the herd was a large bull with horns about four feet across. He was now pawing the brown dry soil with his forefeet and eyeballing us from about thirty feet. I felt he would have been able to get at us where we were so I suggested to Isobel that we drop over the large boulder to the streamside where there was a ledge before the long drop to the stream below. Isobel replied quite firmly that she was not able to climb over to the ledge where I was now standing. Then the bull moved forward and suddenly Isobel found the strength and courage to vault the top of the boulder and join me on the ledge while avoiding looking at the drop to the stream. Being safe we now began to see the funny side of things and so we shared some sweets and the minutes passed by. Before long the bull had been lured away by some pretty cows and we were able to climb back down to the path. We did reach the col, or high point, before midday and only stopped for a bowl of polenta at a high mountain refuge before descending to our day’s objective the attractive but modest ski resort of Valgrisenche, where we celebrated our safe arrival with two large pink Magnums.

 

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