Category: News

Wenvoe Bird Watch Results

Summer Garden Birdwatch

After the success of the Garden Birdwatch just completed, we are planning a Summer Garden Birdwatch run along the same lines as the Winter Birdwatch but potentially including our summer visitors such as Swallows and House Martins. It will take place between Sunday 18th May to Sunday 25th May. This is a purely Wenvoe-based initiative. Full details will follow in the May issue of What’s On.

In the lead-up to this we have organised a Bird Walk which will be of interest to both complete beginners and more experienced wildlife watchers. This will take place at Goldsland Farm on Saturday 3rd May starting at 9.30. It will be led by Rob and Linda Nottage who have knowledge of both birds and other wildlife and will be an ideal opportunity to find out more about local fauna and flora. No dogs as we shall be going into sensitive areas.

To help our feathered friends we have put up around 15 nest boxes around the village from boxes for Robins and the smaller songbirds to Tawny and Barn Owls. These are in a variety of locations including the Village Green, Grange Park and the churchyard. Thank you to Mike Tucker for installing the boxes. And next a number of Swift and Swallow homes will be going into Goldsland Farm which should be visible on the Bird Walk. And, finally, Nigel Billingham has asked if you could drop him a line (nigelrbillingham @yahoo.co.uk) when you see your first Swallow, House Martin or Swift. You never know exactly when they will appear because the weather can affect their journeys from different parts of the world.

Happy Birding!

Orchard Maintenance Courses

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

Orchard Maintenance Courses

Two successful Orchard Maintenance courses have been held; one at Goldsland and the other at the Welsh Orchard, Maes y Felin. A number of our members attended but there were also plenty of keen orchard enthusiasts from elsewhere. The courses are run by the local Nature Partnership team, and we benefit as many of our fruit trees are pruned in the process. Mike Tucker ‘laid’ the hedgerow around the Goldsland Orchard in the traditional manner and although only planted a few years ago it is already supplying the local wildlife with berries and fruit.

February included Nestbox Week. We erected, around 12 boxes, mainly thanks again to Mike Tucker. Of these, several were Owl boxes.

Sian has strimmed and brushcut the Wild Orchard and with the trees steadily maturing, are hopeful of good crops of Cherry, Crabapple, Bullace, Wild Pear, Cherry Plum and Chequers.

 

 

 

 

 

This Month for Early Spring Bulbs

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

This Month for Early Spring Bulbs

This month early spring bulbs and ornamental quince will be in bloom. The quince would have been in flower since last October and will continue to flower for months. When we were pupils of Wenvoe school, a long time ago now, there never seemed to be any daffodils to be had for St David’s day, we made do with leeks which we all ate before going to the church. This winter we had daffs in bloom before Christmas on the village green.

Hardy annual seeds can be sown directly in the ground now, remember that these plants like poor soil, so don’t waste fertiliser on them. Please don’t buy tender plants yet, unless you have a warm place to keep them. These young plants will have been grown in perfect conditions, so a sudden change in climate will either kill them, or at best stunt their growth. It is always better to wait and let the garden centres or nurseries look after them until the weather warms up a tad. Tomatoes and chillies need a long growing season to get the best out of them and can be sown under glass or on a windowsill now. If you sow lupins this month, they will flower this year given favourable conditions. When putting young plants out in the garden, it’s a good idea to cut the bottom off a plastic pot and put over the top of the plant to protect from wind and cold, even if they are hardy. It will give them a better start. Mr Crump’s trick to protect his plants from late frosts is to put an upturned plastic pot over the plant then a bigger one on top of that so there’s an air pocket. This works brilliantly and with the cost of plants it is well worth the time.

On the allotments there is always a lot of activity at this time of year, with soil preparation and seed sowing taking place. Plants that were brought on at home will be planted out under cloches at the end of the month. Beetroot is ok to sow now as it germinates at lower temperatures, along with peas and broad beans. Also give kale a go. It’s one of those plants you can keep picking the leaves off and it regenerates. Early potatoes are sown now and there always seems to be an argument on whether they need to be chitted or not. Whichever way you prefer to plant them, just be sure that when they start showing you protect them from any late frosts by putting some soil up over them. As always, there is plenty of advice to be had on the best methods from the likes of Colin and Bernard. If you are feeling brave you could ask Lewis, as long as you’re prepared to listen to heavy metal, which he insists does his plants a power of good.

Take care and happy gardening.

 

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

 

March Thursday Walks

 

THURSDAY WALKERS

Next Walk

On Thursday 20th March, a circular walk from the Knap in Barry, following the old parish route as far as Porthkerry Country Park. About 5 miles.
Meet 1.00pm at Wenvoe Village Hall. Transport can be shared. Many thanks, Bert. 07828665264
All are welcome participate at your own risk.

 

 

March Meeting of Wenvoe W.I.

WOMEN’S INSTITUTE

March Meeting of Wenvoe W.I.

 

Wenvoe WI met on Thursday 6th March at 7pm in the Church Hall. On this occasion the Speaker was Joyce Hoy, a resident of the village and a member of our WI.

Joyce had recently returned from Alaska and regaled us with details of her precarious journey, as well as sharing some beautiful slides of the wildlife she saw – most of which were quite different from the birds and animals resident in our shores and countryside. Also during her trip she experienced close up encounters with moose, wolves and bears.

Our meeting concluded with the usual business and a cuppa. Our next meeting will be on 3rd April at 7pm in the Church hall, when Mrs Brenda Webster will demonstrate and explain the intricacies of playing the piano accordion. Any visitors and potential new members are assured of a good welcome.

On Thursday 1st May Wenvoe WI intend to hold an open coffee morning. Entry will be £3, to include a cuppa and a slice of cake. A proportion of the proceeds will be donated to our Charity for this coming year – Ty Hafan.

Jan Young ( President)

The Paget Room 122 Years On!

122 YEARS ON!
THE PAGET ROOM REMAINS A ‘HAPPENING’ VENUE’

Many of us have visited The Paget Rooms in Penarth. This much-loved Vale venue was a dance hall in the 1920s, the Regal Cinema in the 1930s and for the last 60 years or so host to a wide range of events, from drama, concerts, talks and art exhibitions to weddings and community meetings. The Hall, now a Grade II listed building, is still named after Alberta Paget, wife of the Earl of Plymouth, who leased the land to the original developers.

The Paget Rooms has long nurtured local talent and provided a platform for artists, musicians, and performers to showcase their work. It has also had its fair share of star performers. By all accounts the 2022 performance from the legendary Welsh rocker Andy Fairweather Lowe was sensational. Andy has a lot of material to work with being well known as lead singer with Amen Corner with hits such as ‘Bend Me Shape Me’ and ‘Hello Suzy.’ Andy went on to work with many an artist considered ‘rock royalty’ including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Elton John and Sheryl Crowe.

 

 

Perhaps the most famous though, was none other than Tom Jones whose appearance has an interesting background. In July 1965, Tom and his band the Squires responded to a request from the Penarth Round Table and appeared for free in aid of a charity to support two people knocked down and injured by a van in Cogan. In 1972, South Wales rockers ‘Man’ released their fifth album ‘Live at the Padget Rooms, Penarth’ complete with a mistake in the title!

Bringing things up to date, between 2019 and 2023, the Paget Rooms were used as the location of the college hall in the Netflix hit show ‘Sex Education’ starring Gilliam Anderson and Ncuti Gatwa, the 15th and current Dr Who.

So, what’s happening now? Well, the two examples below give a good idea of the variety of events held at the modern Paget Rooms.

On March 27th (7pm – 10pm) the Paget Rooms are featuring the National Theatre Live production of Dr. Strangelove. Seven-time BAFTA Award-winner Steve Coogan plays four roles in the world premiere stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s comedy masterpiece. Tickets cost £10.

April 11th sees a production called ‘3D Drama.’ Theatre Bara Caws present three light comedy/dramas on varying themes. Tickets, including booking fee are £16.50. These are Welsh language productions, although English précis will be available. Some strong language.

Perfumery – Did You Know?

PERFUMERY – DID YOU KNOW?

Eau de Toilette or Eau de Parfum?

While Eau de Toilette contains 5-9% of perfume oil, Eau de Parfum usually contains 8-14%. Eau de Parfums therefore last longer and smell more intense.

Natural or synthetic fragrances?

Perfumes with natural ingredients often smell different in batches based on the source of the ingredients, while synthetic ingredients usually have consistency in their smell and last longer.

Notes and different smell after application?

Perfumes are often designed with top, middle and base notes, and designed to smell differently based on the time after application. For example, some top note citrus scents smell stronger immediately upon application, while a lavender middle note may be sensed after some time from application as the top note evaporates.

Celebrating Three Engineers At Berwyn

CELEBRATING THREE ENGINEERS AT BERWYN NEAR LLANGOLLEN
Richard Roberts, Charles Bayer and Henry Robertson

On the 18 November 2024 a celebration of a Welsh, German and Scottish engineering circle, with local connections, took place with the unveiling of a plaque. The setting was Berwyn station (opened 1865) on the Llangollen Railway where Station Master Ben Jackson welcomed the special train from Llangollen station. The audience were warned that the handover address could potentially be three times as long as normal as this was about three engineers celebrated on ICE Wales Cymru’s first trilingual plaque!

Three engineers  a Welshman Richard Roberts (1789-1864), a Scotsman Henry Robertson (1816–1888) and a German Charles Beyer (1813-1876) who would become partners at some point in their careers, were connected to the locality and railways and locomotives. Richard Roberts was born at Llanymynech, Powys, close to the English border, some twenty miles away from Berwyn. During his early working life, he worked as a patternmaker and is remembered today as an engineer in the field of high precision machine tools who made a major contribution to production engineering and mass production. A prolific inventor, his automatic spinning mule of 1824 was mass produced by his company; Sharp, Roberts & Co., which would later build locomotives designed by Charles Frederick Beyer or Carl Friedrich Beyer, as he was christened. Beyer was a celebrated German-British locomotive designer and builder who is buried just a stone’s throw away, in Llantysilio churchyard. His house; Llantysilio Hall, was completed a few years before his death in 1874. He cofounded and was head designer and engineer of Beyer, Peacock & Co., the famous locomotive works at Gorton in Manchester established in 1854. Locomotive manufacturing continued up to the late 1950s. In 1966, after 112 years of operation, all production ceased with the company building nearly 8,000 locomotives. One built in 1856 for the Royal Swedish Railways, ‘Prins August’ is claimed to be the oldest working steam locomotive in original condition in the world.

Initially this partnership, with Richard Peacock, ran into funding problems bringing the famous contractor Thomas Brassey into the picture. Brassey persuaded Henry Robertson to become a sleeping partner in the venture. Henry Robertson was born at Banff, Scotland, he went to Aberdeen University taking up mining engineering but later concentrating on railway engineering. Sent in 1842 to report on mineral properties at Brymbo, he revived the Brymbo Ironworks and promoted the North Wales Mineral Railway which he would engineer with Thomas Brassey as contractor. Then the Chester to Shrewsbury line, with the Dee and Ceiriog viaducts, followed by the line from Ruabon to Llangollen, Corwen and Bala. At Brymbo he oversaw the changeover to steel production in 1884 as well as being an MP. In 1871, he built Palé Hall, a grand house eighteen miles away, where he passed away in 1888. The Llangollen Railway has a function room named in his honour at Llangollen Station.

Just a few years before the 1860 Act for this railway was obtained, the poet laureate; Alfred Lord Tennyson, was staying at Llangollen. It therefore seemed appropriate to incorporate part of a line from Locksley Hall as a railway motif and to acknowledge Richard Robert’s automatic spinning mule; ‘Let the great world spin for ever …’

Stephen K. Jones

 

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