Category: News

Reiki Share Group

 

Reiki Share Group in Wenvoe/Vale of Glamorgan.

What is Reiki? – Reiki is an ancient healing method that originated in Tibet but seemed to have disappeared from use until the 19th century, when Reiki was again used and practised in Japan by Mikao Usui and is now practised worldwide. It is not a religion nor does it subscribe to any one religious group but it nevertheless, in my opinion, does have a 'spiritual' aspect to its use.

Reiki is a natural and simple healing method which uses the hands of the practitioner to allow energy to flow through the body to heal.

Reiki can be used alongside other conventional or complementary treatment and often helps to provide emotional support during recovery.

The relaxing nature of Reiki can be very helpful to people especially at difficult times in our lives. We can all feel overwhelmed or disconnected, sometimes there is a real sense of isolation, both emotionally and spiritually. Reiki treatments can bring feelings of peace, centeredness and an ability to cope better with the challenges of life.

Reiki can be beneficial in circumstances that are short term, but can also support people dealing with long-standing conditions, helping to bring comfort, acceptance and a more positive outlook.

It is used to help with many ailments such as headache, stress, stomach disorder and aches and pains etc. But you should always consult a qualified medical practitioner if you think you have any illness.

Are you a Reiki Master/Teacher or attuned to Reiki 1 or 2? Come along and work and socialise with like minded people.

Would you like to come along and try a Reiki treatment, with the group, free of charge?

I have recently been made a Reiki Master/Teacher and am looking to form a Reiki Share Group to meet in Wenvoe.

The group will be non profit making with meeting subscriptions collected used to hire a hall and purchase small amounts of refreshments etc.

Any money made from ongoing Reiki treatments, as a result of membership of this group, will be donated to a Penarth based charity working in India.

This Reiki share is not a profit making venture.

The charity, HEAL UK & KISES UK, purchases food, daily for children working on rubbish tips and/or who are living in poverty and buys tents for them to have somewhere to sleep.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the share or would like to come along and find out more, please contact me:

Michael Edwards, Telephone 07403 700216, so that I can gauge interest in forming the 'share' and hold an initial meeting in Wenvoe

 

 

June News

 

 

In last month’s “What’s On” mention was made of the “French Drains” being dug on the south side of the nave to cure the dampness creeping up the walls inside the church. That was delayed but the good news is that it is now happening. Talking to Mike our “digger” and Justin the archaeologist in attendance, during the “dig”, an amount of bones were found in the excavations, which is not surprising in a churchyard, but it revealed that years ago it was common to dig a new grave where burials had been interred before. When this happens the bones are collected together and re buried in the ground adjacent to the fresh burial. There has been talk of “French Drains” for some now and the name originates not from anything to do with the country across the English Channel, but to an American, Henry Flagg French 1813 – 1885 of Concord, Massachusetts who designed the trenches filled with a perforated drain pipe and different grades of aggravate to drain water away from penetrating the walls of buildings.. We know they work, as the similar drains dug around the base of the tower some years ago, has made the interior walls much drier than they were.

At the recent visit of the Archdeacon, Peggy Jackson, she raised the possibility of opening the church during the week for visitors to call in to look around. Our insurer the EIG is in favour of keeping church building open wherever possible and while the PCC expressed an interest in pursuing the matter, a number of concerns were raised regarding security and safeguarding of the building when it was left unsupervised. This will be discussed further as the concensus was that it would be a good idea to keep the church open rather than locked up.

The “Evening Entertainment” in the Wenvoe Community Centre was well attended and thanks must go to Johnny Tudor and Olwen Rees, who during the evening entertained the audience with showbiz details and songs. The evening raised a goodly amount towards the fund to enable Miss Helen Ormrod to be on The Mercy Ship helping to provide health care to impoverished parts of the world. The next event will be the Silent Auction on July 7th , when the marine artist Nick Rees has kindly donated a signed limited edition print “The

early evening light, The Holms, Bristol Channel” .

A forthcoming event will be another evening on June 23rd in the Wenvoe Community Centre with weatherman Derek Brockway and Nicola Smith will again be sharing lots of funny and entertaining things that have happened in their careers with the BBC. Nicola was born in Wenvoe and raised in Walston Road. Her Grandmother, Margaret Barton will be remembered by many in Wenvoe when she and her husband Thomas Barton farmed at Garn Farm

A Family Fun Quiz is planned for Saturday July 14th at 6 pm in The Church Hall, Tickets are £10 per family or £3. Single. Tickets on sale soon.

 

The Food Bank in Barry continues to be well supported

 

, and the Tussel Trust thanks the churches for contributions to the Food bank. In short supply this month are tinned potatoes and tinned meat in gravy. As always every item of food is very gratefully received. The Food Banks have been in the news recently as more calls are made on their resources where Universal Credit has been rolled out, and so many people have difficulties in making ends meet while awaiting their welfare payments.

Christian Aid appeal for 2018

The count of all the monies raised in the house to house collections, gift aid, Lent lunches and the funds raised at the Gwenfo School non uniform day came to £2,670.38 which is a wonderful result. Many thanks to the organisers, the collectors, the Lent Lunchers, and Gwenfo School for their support in helping to raise this amount of money for Christian Aid, Da Iawn Diolch.

John Custance R.I.P

We were saddened to hear that John Custance had died suddenly. He had been in hospital and released home when he had a relapse and was readmitted to hospital. John was a regular communicant in church and he helped in so many ways. His technical background with the sound systems in the BBC enabled him to install the loudspeakers for the playing of a recording of church bells in the tower of the church. He devised the automatic machine for drawing the winning numbers of the 200 club. He was also involved in the Christmas Post with the Wenvoe Scouts and in recent years had helped with the Chattery meetings in the Church Hall. He will be sorely missed by Jackie and his family and with all his friends in church and community. “Well done thou good and faithfull servant”

 

Now that summer is officially with us, we wish all readers a happy holiday and a return, refreshed for the Autumn programme of activities in planning in church and in the community

Parry Edwards

 

 

 

Photography Exhibition

 

A YEAR IN THEIR LIVES

& OTHER WORK

Twyn Yr Odyn photographer Roy Carr has spent the last year developing a documentary project on sheep farming, taking an interest in the Cynon Valley where he has worked with three farms.

He has charted key events in the farming year: lambing, shearing, hay making, ‘dipping’, selling and winter grazing, capturing the interaction between people and their animals as he tells the story of a farming year.

There is an intimacy about his photographs which comes from the relationship he developed with the people working the land, providing an insight into their work.

Roy explained that this posed challenges:

“I come from a landscape background. I spent hours carefully composing an image and waiting for the light. It was a slow, meditative process as I tried to communicate my connection to, and passion for the outdoors. People hardly ever featured in these photographs.

Here people are central. I wanted to capture them and their way of life, so I had to look for them and get to know them. My people skills were important as I was making photographs in their homes and they could ask me to leave.

I moved from a very slow, deliberate approach to being much more spontaneous, responding to the action in front of me. Still, the patience I had learned in landscape photography proved useful as I waited for people or animals to come into a space which had the potential to create an interesting image.

I relished the idea of creating a body of photographs and the project has gone in different directions as it progressed. In part this is because I started from a position of ignorance. As I learned about what the farmers did and how they did it, there new possibilities.”

This project features in an exhibition at the Cynon Valley Museum in Aberdare (open Tuesday to Saturday 10am until 4pm) running from 15th June until 14th July. He will also be displaying some of his landscapes.

Roy will be giving a walk-through talk about the exhibition at 2pm on each of the Saturdays that the exhibition is on. The Cynon Valley Museum is on Depot Road (next to Tesco), Aberdare, CF44 8DL, telephone 01685 886729. He can be contacted at roycarr6 @gmail.com

 

 

I Just Turned Eighteen

I just turned eighteen – and I mean just. But I don’t ‘feel’ eighteen. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to feel like, but I’m pretty sure I don’t feel it… But turning eighteen has made me reminisce about the past eighteen years, and there are a few people I’d like to thank.

Firstly and most obviously, my parents for just, making me really… but really – thank you parents for giving me all the support anyone could ever wish for, even when I do things which are really stupid! Secondly, my brother for sharing a sense of humour with me, and always making me feel as though a rubbish day can have a little bit of sun. To my family and friends, thank you for making me feel worth when it’s hard not to see past the failures. And thank you to everyone – even the kind strangers on a bus who offer you a seat, or an American till worker helping me figure out what change I had in New York – for helping my experiences to have a flicker of fun in them all.

Thank you, also, to all those who have helped me to gain enough experience for my future – to everyone who reads my blog, to those at the BBC for letting me gain work experience (and to the woman who made it happen!) to everyone reading this now, you’ve helped me so much – and to the organisers of What’s On, I thank you for giving me the opportunity month after month to do what I love.

This year has been a bag of mixed emotions. Although my exams were the most stressful they’ve ever been (well, until this year) the results day was worth it, by setting me up comfortably for this year’s exams. When my friends and I managed to survive climbing over mountain after mountain and treacherous terrain during our Duke Of Edinburgh Award (without those ladies I really don’t know if I’d have finished, but the endless laughter of the absurdity of the least outdoorsy people managing to fall in cow poo every five seconds made the treks bearable). When I got offers from all of the Universities I had applied to – and that my first choice university was my lowest offer! Getting the chance to speak on BBC Radio Cymru on International Women’s Day was one of the most exciting things I think has happened in my life. Completing my last show with my stage school after acting for eleven years.

Seventeen has been brilliant. It’s also been hard. But with the summer on its way, and the prospect of getting in to University spurring me through my exams, I can’t wait to see what eighteen has in store. With my last day in secondary school next week it seems that eighteen has a great beginning. And the fact that I can drink (legally)!

Thank you to everyone who made seventeen great. Let’s make eighteen spectacular.

By Tirion Davies

May News and Events

 

The month of May opened with the feast day of St. Philip and St James, known to many as the feast of “Phil and Jim”, and May Day brings to mind the young maidens of the village dancing around the May Pole. How things have changed, with May Day being associated with parades, gatherings of working people to air their grievances and demand better working conditions, and the Bank Holiday transferred to the first Monday of the month. This year the weather was glorious and many a picnic or barbeque was organised to take advantage of warm sunny days after the long cold winter.

The good weather continued until Messy Church on the 5th May was held in the Gwenfo School grounds, when the theme of the afternoon was the Exodus of the Isrealites from Egypt to the “Promised Land”. Much fun was had in the children’s painted footprints being printed on a roll of paper symbolising the long trek all those years ago, and the inners of toilet rolls were made into representations of Moses who led the people out of slavery into freedom. The session ended with food and toasted marshmallows around the camp fire. All in all, once again a good gathering of parents and children who would not normally attend the more formal services in church.

Early in the month, Jude Billingham, gave a presentation in church, to introduce the Christian Aid appeal this month, featuring the building of homes in Haiti and other islands devastated by hurricanes and storms, which are strong enough to withstand the force of the winds and rain. We heard how one such house sheltered over 50 people during the storm, when their flimsy houses were destroyed, saving their lives and keeping them safe while the storm raged. These are simple houses that can be built quickly for around £50.00, and the appeal is focused on provided as many of these homes as quickly as possible. The house to house collection took place in the week commencing the 13th May and the result will not be known until mid June. This year the planned Big Brekkie did not take place, but the school has arranged a Big Breakfast at Lunch time and a no uniform day on Friday 18th May to raise money for the appeal, plus the money raised at the Lent Lunches and Agape supper there was also a collecting box in the local shop, the end result could be greater than last year.

Work started on digging the “French Drains” on the South side of the church, which means digging down at least a metre in depth. Archeologists were on hand to supervise the excavations for any artefacts and bones that might be found in the trenches. A new “soakaway” was also constructed under the path to the porch, to drain the rain water from the roof. This work was carried out by Mike who also dug the other drains last year. This work in necessary to eliminate damp creeping up the walls of the Nave, and is being funded from our Building Fund, using money received from the appeals made from time to time to top up this fund. St Mary’s is a

Grade 2 listed building in constant need of work to keep it in good order. Contributions toward future work will always be acceptable.

The Feast of Pentecost was celebrated on May 20th, this is commonly known as the “Birthday of the Church” when the Holy Spirit descended on the Disciples gathered in the Upper Room and is 50 days after Easter. A week later Trinity Sunday began the long season of “Sundays after Pentecost” lasting until The Kingdom Season” in the Autumn.

The three parishes have been responding to the appeal for Helen Ormrod SRN to raise money for her to be on The Mercy Ship which provides health care to impoverished place around the world. Helen has to raise £3000 to be able to be part of the team on board. Already there was the “Guess the Weight of the Simnel Cake” and “How many mini eggs was in the jar” and on the evening of Friday 25th May an “Evening of Entertainment with Johnny Tudor and Olwen Rees” was held in the Wenvoe Community Centre to help swell the fund.

St. Mary’s needs a new Gift Aid Secretary. Allen Oliver and Lynn are retiring after 16 years in office. This post is very important to St. Mary’s and St. Lythan’s churches to enable tax rebates to be collected from HM Customs on gift aid donations. At the Annual Vestry Meeting Allen and Lynn were thanked for the contribution they have made over the years. Now we seek a replacement Gift Aid Secretary to continue this work, for without the tax rebates our church finances would be not be as healthy as they are.

Thank you for taking the time to read this

Parry Edwards

 

 

WENVOE VILLAGE SHOW

WENVOE VILLAGE SHOW SATURDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER


Just a quick reminder of the village show. The full list of entry categories will be published next month and will include produce, crafts, photography and flowers. There will also be community events during the judging period based in the village to entertain adults and children alike. We are still happy to accept help from anyone interested, so feel free to contact us and we would be delighted to hear from you.
Thanks from Heulwen and Sue, available on the following numbers – Heulwen 07411178797 Sue 07880936301
I am sure that we can make this years event an occasion to be remembered. Thanks and we look forward to seeing you there

 

 

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