Category: News

Parish News

ST. MARY’S PARISH CHURCH NEWS

 

CHURCH HALL FOR SALE IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

A recent special meeting of the PCC was convened to discuss how St. Mary’s church could be made to fit the changing nature of the church. How we use it for worship and to what other uses the building could accommodate church activities in the future. Over a hundred years ago, the building we use today was greatly changed, and has been a wonderful resource in the village for so many memorable events. The Church Hall or the Reading Room, as so many of the older village people will recall was originally set up by the Jenner family to help with the education of the men folk in the village. It was used in the evenings as a recreational room with a piano and games etc. Then gradually the building became known as the Church Hall and was eventually gifted to St Mary’s Church for our use. Over the years, much has been done to improve the building, including a disabled toilet and a new kitchen and heating system, but now it needs more work and under the guidance of Jon, our priest, it was felt that the time was ripe to sell the building for residential use and use the proceeds of the sale to build an extension to the west end of the church, where we could bring the “Pebbles “ group into the church. Other plans will include toilets, kitchen and a meeting room together with much needed accessible storage space within the tower. These are the plans for the future, and much discussion will take place before we see any definite plans of what is possible when considering any alternation to our 12th century listed building.

Messy Church turned out to Messy Sports in the grounds of the village school on Saturday July 2nd The weather was wet in the morning but cleared up in the afternoon when some 70 mums, dads and their children turned up to a programme of outdoor activities including a water game with plenty of water and liquid soap. The afternoon closed with hotdogs etc around the camp fire, prayers and singing. A great occasion, well planned and thanks go to all who organised this time of fun with parents and others who have the welfare and care of the children at heart.

The Church in Wales has recently produced a document called the Church in Wales Safeguarding Policy and this has been on the agenda of a recent PCC meeting. It was wholeheartedly adopted and Mrs Jen Ford is our safeguarding officer for the parish. This policy sets out the way forward to keep our young children, teenagers and all vulnerable people safe when faced with any abuse in their lives, and can only be commended for all who call themselves Christians.

The Parish Magazine is being relaunched as from September. Our present editor Mr Byron Williams feels it is time he gave up the responsibility of the quarterly magazine, so it has been decided that we take this opportunity to combine our magazine with the Parish of Sully. It will now become a monthly magazine and will be on sale in our two churches on the first Sunday of each month at a price of 50p per copy. This is another way of bringing the activities of all our parishes together so that we can be more aware of what is going on within our part of the Ministry Area. I have agreed to be the co-ordinator of the Wenvoe contribution and if we are to establish a meaningful Wenvoe connection I will need to have contributions from our different sections within St Mary’s and to publicise the events we are planning during the year. It remains the intention of the PCC to circularise the whole of the parish at Christmas and Easter, details of our services to celebrate these great events in the life of the church in Wenvoe and St. Lythan’s

The Scarecrow Festival is planned for the weekend of the 24th September, which will also be our Harvest Festival. Last year’s event was a great success with many amusing entries to be seen and judged. This year we want it to be bigger and better, so thinking caps on and bring your entry along, and join in the fun. It is not the winning but entering that matters. Good luck.

The Barn Dance planned for the Autumn has been postponed to the Spring of 2017 due to a number of reasons. However, we look forward to this fund raising family event, the proceeds being split between the fund for Romeo and St.Mary’s Building fund.

Lastly our “Pebbles Group” enjoyed a super picnic and sports at Porthkerry Park on Sunday the 17th July as they wrapped up a terrific year’s activities, Sunday by Sunday in term time. The group has seen a steady growth in Mums and Dads bringing their children to take part in craft activities featuring the gospel message for the day. Once again many thanks go to their organiser Mrs Alison Williams for the time she and her helpers put in to bring our children too knowledge of all the Bible stories and prayers and songs.

 

With every blessing     Parry Edwards

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To include an item in the magazine just send it to a member of the production team or if you have not got computer access you can put it in the Whats On box in Springfield Store and we will aim to get it typed.

We look forward in anticipation.

Wenvoe Website

The site has been down for a few weeks but hopefully by publication date it will be up and running again. The site has been looked after by Len Jones since it was built.

Following Len’s death we now have anybody to look after the day to day running of the site. The builder of the web page, Phil, is prepared to train a new local site operator.

If you would be prepared to manage this community facility please contact Ian Moody (see the Wenvoe Directory) or contact the Clerk to the Council.

March 2016

The month of March has been one of the most crowded of months in the calendar due to Easter being earlier this year.

Mothering Sunday was a very happy crowded church with the Pebbles Group playing an important part in the morning service, showing us their portraits of their Mums and what she meant to them. All very touching and often quite funny in a nice sort of way.

Holy Week which began with the Palm Sunday ceremonies was kept with solemnity in the days leading up to Good Friday, when the commemoration began at St Lythan’s church, then continued with the walk down to St Mary’s for the final hour marking the time of Christ’s Crucifixion. 

The following day the church was beautifully decorated for Easter Day with lilies donated by members of the congregation in memory of loved ones departed.  On Easter Day 9.30am morning service was a very special one, when the newly lit Pascal Candle was brought into the centre of the church.

The Easter garden in the church porch was blessed and the service proceeded with the baptism of 4 young people, who with their Godparents and supporters filled the church to capacity. It was a most joyous occasion and will long live on in the memory of other joyous occasions that the church has experience during the past years. As the congregation left the church Easter Eggs were given to the children and adults and were greatly appreciated. Once again the Queen of Festivals as Easter is often called lived up to all expectations with wonderful singing, memorable readings from the Bible, and with the affirmation of our own Baptisms many years ago and in different places, all remind us that we are one family with God our Father.

The Lent Lunches continued week by week, with soup provided by members of the congregation. The Lent group met in the Rectory to study the Psalms and the Bible Study group met in Sully on a number of weeks. The theme of Lent this year was to take on something extra rather than giving something up, and  these group meetings and Wednesday lunches were all opportunities for doing something extra during Lent.

The recent fine sunny but cold weather has enabled our stone mason to work on the stone wall in the grave yard, and the results are already showing great improvements. The removal of the sycamore trees has proved to be the correct course of action with daffodils blooming in profusion on the top of the wall which enhances the appearance of graveyard and cemetery alike. The ground surrounding a church is often called “God’s Acre” and here in Wenvoe we try to maintain as high a standard as possible, knowing that many in the community appreciate its surroundings for quiet contemplation and silent prayer. 

During Lent all our “brass ware” at the altar and in the chancel has been removed in place of more simpler candles and ornaments. Shortly before Easter the Brass Cleaning team met to polish and buff up the brass ware in time for the Easter celebrations.  They meet at different times of the year to keep the brass shining for our Sunday worship, not only are candlesticks involved in this, but the hanging lamps and the various brass commemorative plaques on the wall as well.

A vote of thanks to all the volunteers who turn up to get their hands on the Brasso with rubber gloves, and they seem to thrive on the heady aroma of polish. The weeks following on from Easter are generally quieter ones, but the work doesn’t stop. Plans are being made for Pentecost on May 12th and the Queen’s 90th birthday on June 12th. Watch this space. Easter Greetings to all readers

 Parry Edwards

QUEEN’S 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION.

In co-ordination with other communities throughout the country Wenvoe will mark the special occasion by lighting a beacon positioned at the highest local point ie the Quarryman’s Tribute which is located opposite the turning in to Twyn-yr-Odyn.

The lighting ceremony will take place at 8.30pm Thursday 21st April, everybody is welcome to help mark this historic occasion.   Is your birthday on the 21st April? Would you like to be the person to light the beacon?

Please inform the Council Chairman at ceinwenfrost@uwclub.net. If know of somebody who is 90 on the same date that would be superb.

My Fruitful Fields

I have been taking Treasure Hunting for the past 20 years and look forward to my copy every month. In the last couple of years I have had some cracking finds, the best coin probably being a Durotriges silver stater which is dated 1st century BC. I am almost sure that it is the only silver stater that has been found in Glamorgan where I live.

My next brilliant find was a Roman hoard of 34 coins which were all copper dating from AD 28-29. They involved two emperors, Carausius and Allectus and apparently the latter emperor murdered the former one. I had found over several years about seven similarly dated coins from the same field but over quite a wide area.

It was quite exciting on the day that I found the Roman hoard. I found one coin, wandered about for about 30 minutes and arrived back to where had I had found the original one. I then had another ‘bleep~ and dug out another coin, then the bleeps kept coming and within 10 minutes I had 20 coins in total. Two were even stuck together.

I had to leave the area as I was going to watch a rugby international in Cardiff but returned the next day to the same spot where I found 14 more coins plus a round ring object that probably had a bag with the coins inside, as there was no trace of a pot, Steve Sell, Mark Lodvic and Edward Besley from the National Museum in Cardiff came at a later date to inspect the site and had a small dig, hut no more coins were found. The hoard is now at the Museum wailing for a Treasure Inquest.

On the field where I found the silver stater, I also found a Roman silver Republic coin of Farat in poor condition which has been dated by the museum at c.60 BC. Also on the field I found eight hammered coins and nice silver posy ring inscribed ‘I like my choise’ which is now waiting for a Treasure Inquest.

On my own farm, on one field where I have detected on for 23 years I found a small Bronze Age hoard. A year ago I found an axe one evening with a small piece missing from it. The following evening I found the missing piece! The next night I found another broken axe but have never found the other part. This autumn we ploughed the field and cultivated deeply and found another brilliant find in the same area – it was a beautiful decorated Bronze Age socketed spearhead in very good condition. The museum now has the axes and the spearhead, provisionally dated to early to mid-Bronze Age. They are both going forward to Treasure Trove.

I would have loved to keep the spearhead as I’m sure it would have belonged to the chief of the tribe who was living on our farm. Somebody was here 3,500 to 3800 years ago, farming the same sod as myself and hunting the same pastures and wood and this same field has yielded many more finds – a 13th century religious copper seal, a Roman bucket mount and about a dozen hammered coins. I also found a medieval buckle, which is about the best I've seen for a long time. I mostly detect in the evenings because I’m still working on the farm.

What a wonderful relaxing hobby we all have. We all I think, have lean times but hang in there and hopefully a cracking find or two will materialise.

Gwyn Rees, 

RECYCLING – WASTE MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS IN WENVOE

In Wenvoe our weekly collections for household waste and recyclable items are on Friday. This is the day we have to scurry out of bed early to put our bins and bags outside – as they have to be there before 7.00am, but you are not meant to put them out overnight as the paper and cardboard may become soggy and the birds and animals might scatter the contents about. For anyone unsure about when to put out their recycling the dates are helpfully given on page 3 of Wenvoe What’s On.

The recycling of items that can be recovered is very important and we should all make a positive effort to separate those many things which can be recycled such as Paper – Glass – Cans – Cardboard – Plastic – Clean foil – Empty Aerosols – and Cartons. These items should be put into the special green bins or blue bags which are readily available from the Alps Depot in Wenvoe at cost of £1 each. These items most definitely should not be put into black bags, Tesco bags and preferably not into any other plastic bag.

The Vale of Glamorgan Council is required by law to increase the amount of household waste that is recycled and this target is becoming higher each year. This year the target is 58% but it rises in 2019 to 64% and in ten years’ time it has to reach 70% which will be challenging. Councils who miss targets receive punitive financial penalties. So we all need to make a greater effort to recycle the items above – and to avoid the lazy option of putting recyclable items into a black bag.

Some may ask why we have to separate our rubbish, and there are a number of good reasons why we should. When we recycle, used materials are converted into new products, reducing the need to consume natural resources. If used materials are not recycled, new products are made by extracting fresh, raw material from the Earth, through mining and forestry. Recycling also helps conserve important raw materials and protects natural habitats for the future.

Using recycled materials in the manufacturing process uses considerably less energy than that required for producing new products from raw materials – even when comparing all associated costs, like transport. Plus there are extra energy savings because more energy is required to extract, refine, transport and process raw materials ready for industry compared with providing industry-ready materials. Recycling reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging), refining and processing raw materials all of which create substantial air and water pollution. As recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to tackle climate change.

Current UK recycling is estimated to save more than 18 million tonnes of CO2 a year – the equivalent to taking 5 million cars off the road. When we recycle, recyclable materials are reprocessed into new products, and as a result the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites reduces. There are over 1,500 landfill sites in the UK, and in 2001, these sites produced a quarter of the UK's emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Reducing kitchen waste is also very important. There are some obvious ways to achieve this such as buying less food, making good use of leftovers, and turning unused vegetables and salads which may have passed their “use by” date into good tasty soups.

Making a good effort in recycling shows good integrity, good community spirit and an awareness of the environment. If you do not have enough green bins or blue bags the council staff at the Alps depot will be pleased to sell you some. Let us in Wenvoe set a good example of environmental awareness.

DVSA Scam Warning

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Authority (DVSA) is warning the public of scam emails asking you to find your receipt attached.

‘We’re aware that some members of the public have received emails claiming to be from the DVSA Fixed Penalty Office which contains an attachment to a Fixed Penalty receipt. DVSA never sends fixed penalty notices to customers by email. We strongly advise anyone who receives any of these emails to delete the email without opening the attachment.

Parish News

On the fourth Sunday in June, the first All Age Communion Service took place at 9.30a.m. with all the “Pebbles” taking part. Many with their Mums and Dads. The church was full and the informality of the service went down well with the congregation, with gusty hymn singing, some with actions, clapping etc. The next All Age Communion Service will be on the last Sunday in July.

The past month has seen much work carried out in the churchyard. For many years the churchyard has been left to “mother nature”, and she has been a vigorous grower of lots of vegetation which we do not need. Contractors, at a cost of £500, have taken away the ivy, saplings and undergrowth which has been festooning the boundary walls of the churchyard and the collapsed dry stone wall between the churchyard extension and the Community Cemetery. This wall is an important feature of the churchyard, being the old boundary wall of the Rectory Orchard, and the wall will be rebuilt, using a local craftsman, once the trees which have been allowed to grow on the top have been removed. This is likely to be a costly exercise but one which the Parochial Church Council agreed to be the correct course of action to take. It will make a much better and well built wall for future generations to admire.

The large Poplar Tree near to the Churchyard Cross has also been removed at a cost of £350 and the stump will be ground out during the coming weeks. It is sad to have to remove trees at any time, but this tree has been cause of much damage around the plinth of the Cross, and as it was likely to grow much taller, removal was the sensible action to take.

The table tomb dedicated to the memory of Morgan Morgan who died in 1776 had been giving concern for some time becoming unstable. So in accordance with Health and Safety Rules it has been lowered to ground level. The vault entrance stone to the Nell family grave near the Tower has also been repaired and made safe, Mossfords carried out this work at a cost of £2010.

The PCC at its recent meeting authorised the payments for all these works which amounted to £4709, the bulk of which has been taken from the results of the Church Appeal which has raised £3875 to date and will remain open to receive additional funds to enable us to carry on with the other jobs scheduled for the next five years.

From the Church Quinquenial Report of December 2014 the lightning conductor on the church tower needed to be checked, this has been carried out at a cost of £127.20 and it was reported that remedial work needed to be carried out, again at a cost of £628 plus VAT to ensure the safety of the building.

Also the church and church hall has been checked for any Asbestos used. The church was found to be free of it, but the church hall has low grade Asbestos in the Artex used on the ceiling and in the roof tiles. The cost of this survey came to £780. The building has had smoke and heat detectors fitted and a carbon monoxide detector in the kitchen area.

The congregation of St Mary’s has risen to the challenge of providing the funds for this work to be done, and as we today enjoy the work done by previous generations, we too have a duty to ensure that the buildings we worship in are fit for purpose for the generations which lie ahead of us. We get no funding from central church funds for this work to be carried out, and our income comes from what is given freely on the collection plate at our services, the 200 club contributes from its funds towards the repair of the building and of course we make sure that we get our contribution from H.M Gov on Gift Aid refunds. That is why the St Mary’s Appeal remains open for future contributions to this vital work to keep the roof secure, the lights on and more importantly the church door open.

Plans are being made for events surrounding our celebration of the Harvest on September 26/27th Scary things will be going on in the churchyard with a Scarecrow Competition for scariest, the funniest, on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The church will be open to view the Harvest Decorations, there is planned to have a talk on our church history, refreshments will be available in the Church Gazebo erected in the churchyard, all in all this is going to be a great occasion to show the church to the village and also to welcome our new villagers from the “Redrow” Grange site, who should have moved into their new homes by that time. The scarecrow competition is open to all ages, all groups and families so get your thinking caps on and join in the fun.

We continue supporting the Food Bank with regular weekly collections in church, Tradecraft products are on sale at The Chattery and the Coffee morning on the 4th Sunday of the month and this year the fresh produce from the Harvest will be donated to the Salvation Army and the canned and dry goods passed on to the Food Bank in Barry.

Summer seems to be late in arriving this year, but who knows what August has in store for us.

Parry Edwards

Neighbourhood Watch

Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators met on July 1 and were pleased that PCSO Russell Evans was able to be present. Items from the discussions included:

A number of vacancies for Co-ordinators have occurred and attempts will be made to fill them by contacting residents in the localities. We hope that residents will feel able to help; the main requirement is to be aware of activity in your immediate locality and act as a method of communication to report incidents. Being aware is one of the best deterrents for criminals. The time required is minimal and you do not have to come to meetings unless you wish to do so.

We were introduced to the term “creeping burglar”. This is a criminal who moves around an area, usually in the early hours of the morning, trying door handles, looking through windows and trying gates. He, or she, is looking for anything which can be useful if stolen. The advice for Wenvoe residents is to make sure valuable items are out of sight and door and window locks are fastened.

Distraction burglary is another common term, often used when two or more criminals call on residents in their homes. One distracts attention and the other steals. Advice to Wenvoe residents is to only let people you know into your home.

Vehicle parking in Wenvoe is a continual problem. PCSO Evans advised us that parking around the school has improved and he patrols the area as often as possible. He has also provided advice to residents in the Rectory Close area about the parking problems there.

PCSO Evans told us that police surgeries would be starting in Wenvoe very soon where residents could discuss any policing matter with him or a colleague.

Alan French

 

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