Category: News

A ‘Poem’ by Bill Daniel

SATNAV

A ‘Poem’ by Bill Daniel

(not Pam Ayres, as originally thought)

I have a little Satnav, it sits there in my car. A Satnav is a driver’s friend, it tells you where you are. I have a little Satnav, I’ve had it all my life, it’s better than the normal ones, my Satnav is my wife.

It gives me full instructions, especially how to drive “It’s sixty miles an hour” it says, you’re doing sixty five. It tells me when to stop and start, and when to use the brake, and tells me that it’s never ever safe to overtake.

It tells me when a light is red, and when it goes to green, it seems to know instinctively, just when to intervene. It lists the vehicles just in front, and all those to the rear, and taking this into account, it specifies my gear.

I’m sure no other driver, has so helpful a device. For when we leave and lock the car, it still gives its advice. It fills me up with counselling, each journey’s pretty fraught, so why don’t I exchange it, and get a quieter sort?

Ah well, you see, it cleans the house, makes sure I’m properly fed. It washes all my shirts & things, and keeps me warm in bed!

Despite all these advantages, and my tendency to scoff, I only wish that now and then, I could turn the ‘bugger’ off.

 

 

Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations

WENVOE QUEEN’S PLATINUM JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS

2nd – 5th JUNE 2022

We are looking forward to joining in the nationwide celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee over the 4 day bank holiday weekend and the plan is to be guided by the national time line as follows.

 

 

THURSDAY 2nd JUNE

Lighting of the beacon. This will take place at 9.45 pm at the Quarrymen’s tribute in Twyn-yr-Odyn. The plan is to have a village walk, led by Dickon Oliver, from the village green to the Horse and Jockey where there will be a quiz and a menu ‘Fit for a Queen’ for those who would like to dine there. More details will follow in the coming weeks but those taking part in the Horse and Jockey events can then walk to the Quarrymen’s tribute at 9.30 in time for the beacon lighting.

FRIDAY 3rd JUNE

Service of thanksgiving. This will be an informal service and will take place at 2pm at the preaching cross in the grounds on St Mary’s church. All are welcome and are invited to bring a picnic. There will be games for the children and it will be a lovely event in the heart of the community.

SATURDAY 4th JUNE

Royal bake competition. Wenvoe residents will be invited to enter a royal baking competition. There will be two categories and these will be for cake or biscuits with a prize for the winner of each category. Entries will be judged at 11 am on Saturday morn-ing. On Saturday afternoon Wenvoe residents will be invited to call into the community centre to view display boards with stories and photographs of Wenvoe in years gone by, pull up a chair and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and sample some of the bake competition entries. Please feel free to dress in your finest 50’s style clothes and be entertained with music of the era whilst catching up with old friends and making new ones over a cuppa.

SUNDAY 5th JUNE

The Big Lunch. This can range from tea for two or a BBQ in your garden to a garden party or street party. Permission for street parties needs to have been obtained from the Vale Council. This is a great opportunity for neighbours in the community to get together, welcome newer residents and have some fun. Other ideas are in the planning stage at present and more detailed information will become available over the next few weeks on posters, which will be displayed on notice boards, various places around the village, and on the Wenvoe Community Support Group Facebook page.

 

 

It Is Better To Travel Than To Arrive

 

IT IS BETTER TO TRAVEL THAN TO ARRIVE

Over a pleasant lunch, some Cardiff friends asked what plans for adventure I had this year? They knew I had arranged four pilgrim walks last year and they may have been winding me up on the back of a glass of wine or more. Truthfully, I had no real plan in mind, but I replied that I would see how far I could go in a day on my bus pass.

We all know that people of a certain age are eligible for a bus pass issued by Transport for Wales. The pass is correctly called the Welsh Concessionary Travel Card and is available to people in Wales over 60 years of age for use on business, socialising or leisure travel. While it is primarily used for bus travel on all Welsh buses it can also be used for some train journeys in Wales.

As the weeks went by, I made a plan to travel to Aberystwyth and, as it is so far, I would stay the night and return the next day. When I told my friends how the plan was developing one of them said he had never been to Aberystwyth and that he would like to join me. Well, I soon get bored with my own company, so I readily accepted David’s suggestion.

A great website for planning travel in Wales is Traveline Cymru and I began to look at bus timetables but noticed that some trains also offered free travel with a travel card. In particular, the Heart of Wales line could be used between October and the end of March. So rather than going up and back the same way by bus, we decided to travel north using the Heart of Wales railway and then we would return by bus.

The Heart of Wales line runs between Swansea and Shrewsbury, though purists would say between Llanelli and Craven Arms. The line was originally built for freight but is now mainly used by passengers. The route is scenic and delightful passing through the most rural parts of mid-Wales and most notably through the old nineteenth-century spa towns Llandrindod Wells, Llangammarch Wells, and Llanwrtyd Wells. The train consists of one or two carriages, and it moves at a gentle pace stopping at twenty-nine stations on the route. Some days there is a refreshment trolley service, but the best advice is to take a good picnic as the journey takes just about 4 hours from Swansea to Shrewsbury. The train runs four times a day in both directions. It is a single-track railway with passing loops in four places. I am pleased to report that the single carriage we took did have a lavatory! To continue from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth there is a third train with takes another two hours.

At Shrewsbury we had a wait of 2 hours for our connection, so we had ample time to explore.

Shrewsbury Castle and Military Museum is a short walk from the station, and we soon made our way there. The Castle is built with red sandstone, and it stands on a hill in the neck of the meander of the River Severn on which the town originally developed. Of relevance to Welsh visitors is the fact that the castle was briefly held by Llewellyn the Great, Prince of Wales, in 1215.

Scuttling back to the station to get our connection we were soon aboard and arrived in Aberystwyth at 5.30 pm. We had left Cardiff at 8.06 am so it had taken over 9 hours to travel 74 miles as the crow flies. This is not a journey for the impatient.

Aberystwyth would fit the Dylan Thomas description of a “lovely, ugly town”. It is not an ancient town, but it is the capital of Mid Wales. It has an elegant esplanade that is regularly battered by Atlantic storms. The Cambrian Railways line from Machynlleth reached Aberystwyth in 1864, closely followed by rail links to Carmarthen, which resulted in the construction of the town’s impressive station. The Cambrian line opened on Good Friday 1869, the same day that the new 292 meters Royal Pier opened. Although it was originally 50 meters longer than Penarth pier much of it was washed away by storms over the years and it is now much shorter. In Victorian times the new train line caused a boom in tourists and the town was even called the Biarritz of Wales.

We spent the night in a seafront hotel, of which there are many, and enjoyed a good supper in the nearby Baravin restaurant which is linked to the celebrated Harbourmaster in Aberaeron. In the morning we chose to visit the National Library of Wales where there was an excellent exhibition of contemporary Welsh art. This magnificent building was opened in 1915 but construction continued until 1937. The main purpose of the National Library of Wales is to collect and preserve materials related to Wales and Welsh life and those which can be utilised by the people of Wales for study and research. The building and grounds are both well worth a visit.

There is also a funicular cliff railway at the north end of the promenade. This was opened in 1896 and rises 237 meters from sea level to the top of the cliffs. It is the second-longest in the UK and it is a fun thing to do, but we did not have time to visit it.

After sightseeing, we bought a picnic for the rather long bus journey home. Conveniently the bus station is adjacent to the train station, and we caught the 1305 pm X47 bus which left on time for Llandrindod Wells arriving at 1445 pm, a relatively short journey of an hour and 40 minutes. The scenery on this route, especially from Aberystwyth to Llangurig is spectacular as it winds up and down the Cambrian mountains. To the north, you can see the lower slopes of Plynlimon which are the source of both the rivers Wye and Usk. While on the south side of the road there are massive wind farms as far as the eye can see. It may be worth adding that the buses carried very few passengers so we were not depriving anyone of a seat.

At Llangurig our bus met another service and we got off for a leg stretch, and the smokers quickly lit up! Then on towards Llandrindod and now on the more familiar A470. We arrived at the rather bleak bus station on time but our connection, the T4, was about 20 minutes late. The journey to Cardiff takes a surprisingly long 3 hours so we were happy to arrive at Greyfriars’s road at 6.20 pm after roughly 5 hours on the road.

We had enjoyed two full days away thanks to Transport for Wales. We had enjoyed seeing the wonderful mid-Wales scenery; you miss so much when driving a car. And we had appreciated a fleeting visit to the iconic town of Aberystwyth. We could have gone both ways on the bus at no cost, but by choosing to use the free Heart of Wales line we had to buy single tickets to Swansea and from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth but with Railcards these only came to about £20.

So – to the retired people of Wenvoe and for that matter anyone over 60 – pick up your Concessionary Travel Card and board a bus – the hidden gems of Wales await you.

 

 

Increase in burglaries

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

Increase in burglaries after covid restrictions eased

Watch has come across some information which could be useful to Residents as the Summer holiday season arrives.

Churchill Home Insurance has used its own data to calculate that 9M people have been burgled in their own home in the UK, many targeted more than once. There was a lull in reported burglaries due to the covid pandemic but cases increased towards the end of 2021 as households returned to work. There was an 11% increase in burglaries reported to police in the 4th quarter of 2021 compared with the 3 previous months.

Useful advice is:

  • Don’t advertise that your home is empty on social media.
  • When you go away make sure to cancel papers, milk etc. and fit timers to put on lamps or radios automatically.
  • Ask a neighbour or your Watch Co-ordinator, to keep an eye on your home.
  • Make sure doors and windows are locked and items like laptops can not be seen through a window.
  • Install security cameras or alarms.
  • Ensure you have an up-to-date insurance policy.

 

The full item can be seen at https://apple.news/AFQb1vEf7Q2W1NQR047JJfA

Alan French

 

 

Money Saving Energy Tips

MONEY SAVING ENERGY TIPS

George Burke, who is a retired General Manager for Wales at Age UK Financial and Income Services and had a regular weekly consumer affairs column in the South Wales Echo called ‘Ask George’, shares his ideas with us.

It is said that for each degree that you reduce your thermostat, could save you £65 a year. (source MSE.com). Don’t forget that if you feel that you cant afford to pay your energy bills then contact your supplier asap.

  1. With the weather hopefully becoming warmer going into Spring, it should be possible to turn the heating thermostat down to 19 degrees. However why not keep a comfy blanket handy to cover your legs in the evening. This will reduce your heating bills and save you money.
  2. Change your lightbulbs to a LED type which are much more economical.
  3. Wash clothes on a lower setting.
  4. If you are in a council tax band of A to D, you could be in line for a £150 rebate from the Vale council.
  5. Don’t forget to claim your annual heating allowance from the government if you were born before 1955. Usually £200 a year.
  6. Search for drafts especially around doors. Draught excluders are fairly inexpensive.
  7. Try not to use your tumble dryer. A good old clothes horse will do the job or hang them on the outside line.
  8. Try and shower for one minute less.
  9. New energy efficient appliances will save you money than many of your old appliances.
  10. For further money saving tips always go to Martin Lewis’s moneysavingexpert.com website.

 

Other useful tips include:

  1. Try not to use your car so much. Try and do small shops by Bus. The 96 bus from Wenvoe will drop you off at Morrisons supermarket. Have a coffee whilst you are there.
  2. Share a car with a neighbour or good friend to the shops etc.
  3. Look for cheaper household brands.
  4. When you get to the checkout, ask yourself “do I really need it?”.
  5. These days our society has become a society that, if something is broken, then lets go and buy a new one. Many items could be fixed and reused. Try it and save yourself some money. (Sounds like Wenvoe needs a Wenvoe “Repair Shop”. I am sure there must be plenty of skilful people in our community that could repair many of these items. Do we have any takers?

 

Hopefully these large price increases in our energy and fuel wont be forever, but in the meantime you might be able to save some money by adopting the tips above.

 

Walk For Ukraine

WALK FOR UKRAINE

Distressing and disturbing pictures of people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine have been in the newspapers and on the television. Many thousands of people, of all ages, have been trying to walk to safety. Walking is something that lots of us do well, so some of the strollers from the different walking groups (described in the What’s On every month!) decided to do a sponsored Walk for Ukraine.

The idea was to sponsor yourself to walk around Cosmeston, then all money raised was to be sent to Ukraine to support the need for blankets, food, medicines….everything. Fortunately, the group gathered under glorious blue skies for the start of the walk. One lady walked past as we were preparing to leave and hearing what we were up to, donated money! Another lady in the group had talked to her 99 year old neighbour about what she was doing, and the neighbour insisted on giving her £30. She said she couldn’t walk anymore, but she wanted to support the Walk for Ukraine.

The group raised over £400…and counting, which is a truly magnificent amount. In a small way, we have supported people who are losing everything, but are attempting to walk to a better life. Walking really is life changing! Very well done to all who participated. I’m very proud of you!!

 

 

Christian Aid Week

CHRISTIAN AID WEEK

15 – 21 MAY

The drought in Zimbabwe is the focus for Christian Aid Week this year. In local communities the Climate Crisis is a matter of survival, and information and personal stories from those who have been helped by Christian Aid will feature in the morning service in St Mary’s Church on Sunday 1st May.

Our 2022 appeal begins with ‘Coffee – Cake – Bookstall’ which will take place in the Church Hall on Saturday 14th May from 10 30am till 2 30pm. Any donations of books you may have can be placed in the ‘Book Box’ in the Church Porch at any time, or taken to the Church Hall on Friday afternoon 13th May from 4pm.

This year the envelope collection will resume after two years absence due to the coronavirus. This will be a new type of envelope that will be delivered by volunteers with drop off points for householders to return them.

Gwenfo School will hold their annual ‘Big Brekkie’ during one of their lunchtimes and have a non- uniform day.

Thanks to your generosity last year we were successful in raising £3,000 (including Gift Aid) and we are hopeful of an equally good response this year.

Jude Billingham

 

 

 

 

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