The Official Wenvoe Homepage
If you’ve travelled along Ffordd y Mileniwm from Palmerston to the Barry Waterfront, you will have passed by one of the most iconic buildings in the area. This imposing building looks out over Barry Island – but at one time it faced the busy Barry Docks and housed the Docks Offices. At the end of the nineteenth century a […]
» Read moreAs widely publicised, this month sees the National Health Service, celebrate its 70th birthday. The man most closely associated with the foundation of the NHS was a Welshman, Aneurin Bevan. Most of us will have at some time passed the statute of Aneurin Bevan at the west end of Queen Street and also seen the striking painting of the […]
» Read moreFor thousands of years scarecrows have helped save crops from birds and other animals and provided an outlet for human creativity. Scarecrow genealogy is rooted in a rural lifestyle. The Egyptians used the first scarecrows in recorded history to protect wheat fields along the river Nile from quail flocks. Farmers installed wooden frames in their fields and covered them with […]
» Read moreSS WENVOE – A STORY OF BRAVERY AND TRAGEDY The 2,979 tonnes merchant steamer the SS Wenvoe was built in 1894 by the Gray Company of Hartlepool and owned by a prominent Cardiff shipping family, the Morels. Ships like the SS Wenvoe, which were used to transport a variety of cargoes, helped Cardiff to become a port of worldwide […]
» Read moreREDRESSING THE BALANCE On occasion of her death in April 1894 at the age of 69, the popular Evening News, while recognising her great charitable work, described Wenvoe’s Gertrude Jenner as a picturesque, eccentric and pathetic character. She was in fact a fearsome crusader for women’s issues and good causes. Her campaigns for political, legal and social justice brought […]
» Read moreST DAVID – WALES AND BEYOND St David was born in Pembrokeshire around 500 AD to Sant, a prince of Cardigan, and St Non, the daughter of a chieftain. Little is known about his life. He was brought up near Aberaeron and is said to have been baptised by St Elvis of Munster. David was educated at a monastery under […]
» Read moreSTEPPING BACK TO A TURBULENT TIME North-west of Tredegar, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park, our local walking group came across the famous Chartist Cave. In the autumn of 1839 this remote cave was reputedly used by Chartist rebels to plan, make and stockpile weapons in advance of their famous protest march on Newport in November […]
» Read moreThe history of the airport extends back to the1942 when the Air Ministry requisitioned land for training Spitfire pilots. After WW2 the airfield was abandoned. The man who decided Rhoose could be the site of a new airport was David Rees-Williams (later Lord Ogmore). In1945 Rees-Williams became an MP; then when Minister of Aviation he identified a great need […]
» Read moreFROM DUNKIRK TO WENVOE The film Dunkirk, currently on release in cinemas, tells the story of the Dunkirk evacuation between 26 May and 4 June 1940. This is the story of the miracle of Dunkirk – the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk in northern France, an evacuation code-named Operation Dynamo. In the film a […]
» Read moreIn the years after WWII there was a surge in demand for air travel. This was largely met with aircraft that had been sold off as surplus to requirements. People began to realise that travel by aeroplane was something available to everyone, not just the rich. A Cardiff entrepreneur chartered an aeroplane to fly from Landow airfield to […]
» Read more