Category: News

ARTHURIAN LEGENDS IN WENVOE!

 

In autumn last year Wenvoe residents Eirwen Malin and Phil Thomas held the first of a planned series of house concerts featuring some of Wales’ finest storytellers. The next concert will take place at their home in Old Port Road on 17th May 2018 at 7.00pm and will feature a unique telling of the Arthurian legend ‘The tale of Jaufre’ by Storyteller and singer Anne Lister. This project forms part of a PhD thesis she is working on at the University of South Wales.

She first came across Jaufre while studying medieval French and Occitan at Warwick University, and was immediately struck by the way it has lost nothing of its liveliness and humour over the centuries. Jaufre is a rather serious young man, frequently caught off guard by events, but determined to succeed, and do the Right Thing.

Jaufre arrives at King Arthur’s court in time to witness an insult to the king, and promises to bring the villain, the very unpleasant Taulat de Rogimon, to justice. Along the way he meets the exceedingly beautiful Brunissen and falls in love—but there are giants to deal with, and demons, and dwarves, and a mysterious damsel with an underwater kingdom.

Although written at the court of Aragon, the romance was written in the Occitan language, which was usually reserved for troubadour poetry, and there has been much critical discussion as to whether it was always the only Arthurian romance in this language or whether we have, in fact, lost others. Some of the elements of this story will be familiar, if you know the tales of King Arthur, but—and this is where it becomes intriguing—not all of them. Some are unique to Jaufre. The tale survived in two complete manuscripts and some fragments, and went on to be re-told in chapbooks in both French and Spanish, and then later in a 19th century English translation. The Spanish chapbook was, apparently, one of the books to be found in the library of Don Quixote. The tale has also turned up in the Philippines, in oral tradition.

The entire tale would take far more than one evening to tell, and so it is fortunate that the romance is divided into episodes which can be related separately. If you think that all this sounds rather dry and academic then you could not be further from the truth! Anne says that the story is “..More Monty Python than Mists of Avalon … this is a richly comic tale and was probably always intended to be so”.

Anne Lister has many years’ experience as a folk singer and storyteller ( you can find out more at www.annelister.com ) and the house concert will be a rare opportunity to hear an experienced performer in an intimate setting. There is no ticket price as such. We would ask for a donation to cover costs and the storyteller’s fee. Any surplus will be donated to The Beyond The Border International Storytelling Festival.Places will be limited to 25 so please email philipthomas664@gmail.com or call 07870 212437 by 10th May to reserve a place and receive address details – last time we sold out! Please note – this is storytelling for adults. It is not intended for under 14s, but accompanied older children will be welcome. We hope to see you.

 

 

AGM Report

The Neighbourhood Watch AGM was held on 21 February with 18 members present and items from the discussion included:

There was a review of the Open Evening held in October 2017 for new Residents to the village and hosted by the Watch and the Community Council. It was felt that the evening had been successful and residents had been recruited to be co-ordinators for the new and growing areas of the village. With the increasing size of the village it was noted that the Community Council were proposing to erect notice boards in the new estates. The Watch was encouraged to use them to seek additional co-ordinators and provide information to residents.

The process of erecting Neighbourhood Watch signs in both The Grange and St Lythans Park estates had commenced. It involves completing documentation to obtain approval from the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

We received reports on the following issues which were followed up where possible:

• Flooding at the entrance to St Lythans Park.

• Use of footpaths by horse riders and a particular incident when the Glamorgan Hunt was the perpetrator.

• All day parking in Brooklands Terrace by non-residents and subsequent litter problems.

• Vandalism of a new wall at Cambrian Park.

 

Warning of a scam

The Safer Vale Partnership has made us aware of a group of scams in the Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff. A typical example is:

The victim was telephoned at 9.00am on a Monday morning at the end of February by a male who said he was Detective Inspector Collins, force number BE1263, from the Metropolitan Police and that her Lloyds bank account had been compromised. She was told that if she wished to confirm his identity she should ring 161, which she did. Another male answered giving his ID as Detective Inspector Martins.

They told her that they needed her to withdraw £8300 from her account which they would then arrange to be collected from her address. The victim went to her bank at lunchtime and withdrew the money telling the cashier it was for house alterations.

A courier attended and collected the money at 2.00pm. He did not give a receipt and the victim has not heard from Police Officers since.

In other cases victims were told their cards had been cloned, they had been subject to fraud or a family member had been arrested. In all cases the caller claimed to be a detective and was very convincing. South Wales Police say that these scammers are extremely persuasive, use elaborate stories and can target anyone not just the elderly.

The Police ask everyone to be on their guard and to warn family members, especially those more

vulnerable.

Residents should be aware of such an approach and contact the Police via 101, or Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040, if it occurs.

Alan French

 

 

SNOW HIGHLIGHTS

I am sure for many the recent snow brought inconvenience, worry and hassle. Despite that here are my snow highlights:-

 Sledging (on a plastic lid!) with my three year old granddaughter Delyth down Church Rise – the first time she had seen proper snow. She loved it.

 The snow bringing in less common bird visitors to our garden such as redwing, fieldfare and brambling.

 The atmosphere in the Wenvoe Arms on the Friday and Saturday when lots of families called in for drinks and food after time on the Wenvoe piste.

 My daughter’s garden snowball igloo that with a lighted candle inside looked magical after dusk.

 The lovely scenes on a walk in the snow to the Horse and Jockey on the Sunday.

 

Did any other readers see less common wildlife in their gardens during the snow?

Nigel Billingham

 

 

Parish Events for March

This year the month of March came in like a lion and hopefully will leave as a lamb. The heavy snow fall, and the consequent drifting, confined a lot of us to our homes until we dug ourselves out. Thanks to Mike for doing a great job clearing the path to the church porch to enable access to the church for the Sunday morning services. Mothering Sunday was made all the more memorable with the presentation by our “Pebbles “ children on what their mothers meant to them. So a big Thank You to their leaders for organising this time in church in place of the sermon.

A recent meeting of the P.C.C revealed that we are still awaiting a reply to our request to the Wenvoe Community Council for the ash tree at the entrance to the Community Cemetery to be taken down as its roots are affecting the stone boundary wall. Also that when in full leaf it overshadows the 18th century headstone of Mary Morgan who died at the grand age of 109 years. This grave at present has a lovely show of daffodils in full bloom. The PCC Secretary has now sent a reminder.

Our financial situation is in good health, and donations to maintain the Building Fund are always welcome as we have quite an extensive programme of work planned for the year ahead.

BBC Radio Wales recordings…The Ministry Area has been chosen to record two programmes, to be broadcast on 28th October (Bible Sunday) and 6th January 2019 (Epiphany). The recordings will take place in St. Mary’s on October 8th 2018 and the support of all the congregations across the ministry area is needed to make this worthwhile.

More information about the formation of a Rectorial Benefice will be made available (but not to be discussed) to the Annual Vestry meetings before submitting it to the next ordinary meeting of the PCC on the 14th May.

A faculty will be presented to the Diocesan Care of Churches committee to allow us to improve the drainage at the East end of the Chancel by digging additional French Drains, a complication are the two box tombs which are in the way, which may have to be removed and re-erected close to their original position.

The Social Committee reported that 2017 had been a

busy year, and that this year the Annual Fun Quiz was a great success. The Lent Lunches have continued each Wednesday in Lent and the Agape supper on the evening of Maunday Thursday was also well supported. There has been no charge for these meals and donations were given for the Christian Aid appeal. The “Chattery” continues to be a friendly, enjoyable occasion on the 2nd Thursday of the month. Heartfelt thanks to the faithful small band of people who work so hard to make these occasions happen.

Messy Church – Messy Easter—The first session of Messy Church took place on Saturday 10th March in the Wenvoe Community Centre. The theme was the miracle of Easter and the Resurrection. There was a range of Messy Craft activities which included handprint Easter Chicks, edible Easter gardens, nail and wool woven crosses. Families also contributed to creating two large cross pictures by dipping their fingers in paint and printing their fingerprints onto the crosses which will be displayed in both churches over the Easter period. Many more activities also took place and the session ended with a delightful afternoon tea donated by the congregations of both churches. Messy Church regularly attracts between 50 – 60 people of all ages, so there is clearly a need in the village for this kind of worship.

A reminder and an invitation to the Easter Day Services at St Mary’s on Sunday April 1st. Please see the notice on the church gates and in the “Connections” parish magazine. Easter is known as the Queen of Festivals and a welcome awaits all who come to worship the Risen Lord.

Blessing to all our readers.

Parry Edwards.

 

 

Spring Craft Fair

WENVOE SPRING CRAFT FAIR

Sunday 20th May 2018

Community Centre 10am – 4pm

Not long now until the Wenvoe Craft Workshop™️ second annual Wenvoe Spring Craft Fair on Sunday 20th May. Save the date and come along and see a lovely selection of hand crafted items made by talented local crafts people! As well as some old favourites we have some extraordinary new products on offer from crafters who are new to our craft fairs. Vale Cider will be offering taster sessions and selling their delicious locally made cider to thirsty customers. We see a return of Tricycle Treats with their fabulous ice cream flavours on sale from a beautiful 1940’s style stop-me-and-buy-one trike. We also have locally made artisan fudge (and locally made salted caramel sauce!) on sale in some sensational flavours as well as jewellery, woven basket ware (our lovely crafter will be doing some crafts in action on the day), textile, paper, felt, natural body products, and a variety of different medium greetings cards to name but a few. We have a couple of wood work stalls with a much welcome return of Wenvoe’s very own Gwyndaf Breese, whose craftsmanship has to be seen to be believed. Mike, the Village Gardener, will be selling plants and giving out gardening advice to those who want it ( and very possibly to those who don’t! ). We also have a local couple who make and sell safe children’s scientific experiment sets which may well be demonstrated on the day so bring along your budding scientists! Why on earth would you want to miss all that? Then when you’ve shopped you can drop – in to the refreshment area where you can indulge in a hot or cold drink and a slice of home made cake. There are some lovely prizes in the charity raffle, including an item donated by Gwyndaf, and this time the proceeds will be going to the Wenvoe Wildlife Group to help enable them to continue their sterling work around the Village. A member of the Wenvoe Wildlife Group will be in attendance on the day to give visitors information about their invaluable work and maybe ( rumour has it ) have some wild flower seeds to give to those interested. Do come along, it will a good, entertaining day where you can meet both present and past Wenvoe residents and have a chat and a catch-up.

If you have any queries you can contact the Organisers, Glenys and Mike Tucker, by email at pukkatucker@gmail.com or by phone on 079 2210 9721.

 

 

ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND RUGBY

 

Second from the TOP

Didn't Wales do well in the end in the six nations rugby competition. All seemed well on the first weekend when we gave Scotland a shock. That woke them up a bit and improved their play. In the past I was always in awe at how France played ‘basketball rugby’ with high passes and adhesive palms before velcro was invented. Sadly, this year when we tried it against Ireland there was a leprechaun ready to intercept and steal a win away from us with a try. Not that we had had a great game. Ireland seemed to play ‘special rugby with a few dull phases. We seemed to play ‘ordinary rugby with a few special moments. It was a shame that Scotland pipped Italy at the post to deny them a consolation win to go with the wooden spoon. But our hard graft against France, and hard graft it was, edged us into second place in the table. In the words of many of my school reports: “satisfactory progress, could do better".

Second from the BOTTOM

Eddie Jones recently had to apologise for insulting the Welsh and the Irish during an after dinner speech last June. Better late than never I suppose. Happily, Celts have a sense of humour. Sadly, he is arrogant enough to have meant the insults, and the super rich English Rugby Union and players have the same personalities. All water under the Severn Bridge. He set his squad up to ride roughshod over the other five teams, and he did win, just, over Wales. But the French cockerel pecked them in their ‘derrieres’. Ireland taught them the final lesson about all round fifteen man rugby. Gauls and Celts can smile while the Anglo-Saxons take comfort that they didn’t come last.

AyJay

 

 

I Had to Laugh – Social Media

 

I had to laugh at the item in March What's On ‘Living Without Facebook'. I love reading and it reminded me of some paragraphs that had jumped out at me.

I have recently re-read JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, first published in three parts in 1954-55. Every time I read it something new always surprises me and this time it was a short paragraph which brought to mind our modern focus on ‘seeing' news through social media, being kept informed by sound and video bites on mobile phones and i-pads. Some of the Fellowship of the Ring were returning to the Shire after the One Ring had been destroyed and the Dark Lord had been defeated. Pippin, the Hobbit, had earlier had a bad, frightening, dangerous experience looking into a Seeing Stone (a Pallantir) and seeing the evil eye of Sauron. In spite of that experience, he still yearned for

“ a Stone that we could see all our friends in, and .. We could speak to them from far away".

This seems to be 50 years ahead of it’s time, yearning for the powers of Skype, Facebook, Snapchat etc. But Pippin's earlier bad experience of naively using the seeing stone without parental or any other access controls also foretold the pitfalls and risks.

I have also been reading a 2014 book by Orlando Fires- a History of Revolutionary Russia 1891 – 1991. In these days news is spread by social media wild fires so it was interesting to read this in relation to the year 1916. Russia was transitioning from the Tsar’s autocracy, through the first world war and deprivation, into the dictatorship of the Bolshevik Communist Party. A resident of the then capital Petrograd was quoted.

“ Rumours filled the lives of all inhabitants. They were believed more readily than the newspapers….The public was desperate for information, for almost anything, on political subjects, and any rumour was bound to spread like wildfire. What gave these stories their power and significance was how far they accorded with the general mood and with previous rumours that had shaped that mood. Once a rumour, however fake, became the subject of common belief, it assumed the status of fact, informing the attitudes and actions of the public. All revolutions are based in part on myth.”

This seems to be 100 years ahead of it’s time when seen against the backdrop of social media frenzies, of anti-austerity momentum, of the disease of trumptweets and fake news, of the revolutions against established norms that seem to be commonplace.

Lastly, and more up to date is Dan Brown's Origin, 2017. One of his characters is sad because

‘What had been life's quiet moments of solitary reflection – a few minutes alone or on a train, or walking to work, or waiting for an appointment, could no longer be borne. People impulsively reached for their phones, their ear buds, their games, unable to fight the addictive pull of technology. The miracles of the past are fading away. Whitewashed by a ceaseless hunger for all-that-is-new sound and video bytes.”

Spanning over a hundred years, these quotes show that technology may change, but human behaviour adapts more slowly. On a lighter note, for many years I thought that the textspeak acronym LOL stood for Lots of Love. Finally I was educated that it stands for LAUGH OUT LOUD. Thank goodness I still can do just that…..

 

AyJay

 

 

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

 

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

The recent spell of cold and snowy weather couldn’t have come at a worst time for our native birds. By March stocks of natural food such as berries are dwindling at a time when birds are needing to be at their healthiest to breed and raise their young. When food is scarce especially when covered by snow our birds become even more dependent on the food that we put out for them and so with the advent of this recent spell of bad weather it was worth the struggle to get to my feeders to ensure that the birds had a plentiful supply of food and equally important drinking water as any other sources would be blocks of ice..

I was amazed at how my efforts were rewarded as over the weekend I saw an amazing variety of birds. I have listed the birds I saw and would be interested to hear if anyone saw any other species.

 

 

 

1 … 107 108 109 110 111 … 124