Category: News

Tuckers Reindeer Sale

TUCKERS REINDEER SALE

Saturday 23rd November

Not long now until the 6th annual Tucker’s Christmas Reindeer sale and cafe on Saturday 23 November from 10am to 4pm at the Wenvoe Church Hall.

As well as the antlered stars of the show there will be some lovely things to buy and a festive atmosphere to get you in the Christmas mood. We will, of course, be joined by Trevor on the day with his lovely Christmas houses and decorations. There will be other local crafters joining us on the day. There will be beautiful turned wood items, some lovely textile gifts, painted wooden Christmas decorations as well as Laura’s ‘Flower Bunker Wenvoe’ with Christmas floral decorations and wreaths to order.

We will be holding the usual raffle with some excellent quality prizes including luxury food hampers, a home baked and decorated Christmas cake, some very interesting bottles and some items that would make ideal gifts for adults and children.

Once again, profits from this and from the sale of some crafts will be donated to our charity of choice, the Wenvoe Wildlife Group and members of the group will be manning a table with some very interesting items. There will be a visit from a man on a sleigh in a red and white suit which may offer an excellent, free photograph opportunity.

There will be tables inside the Church Hall for you to sit and enjoy a tea or coffee and maybe a homemade slice of Glen’s cakes or brownies while you catch up with old friends and meet some new ones. The reindeer and all craft tables will be under the cover of Christmas decorated gazebos and festive music will provide the backing track to the whole event. Why not join us and pick up a reindeer and some Christmas spirit! These have become collectors’ items so start making a list of people who deserve one as a gift. Bring a friend and have a festive catch up. We are so looking forward to seeing you there.

October Report

OCTOBER REPORT

We have an important message from Vicar Lyndon to share with you.

Dear Friends of St Lythans Church,

After the service this Sunday, 20th October at 8:30 am, we will be suspending regular services at St Bleiddian’s, for now. The next service after this will be the Remembrance Service at 8:30 am on 10th November. All are welcome, of course, to attend Sunday services in Wenvoe at 9:30 am or Sully at 11.00 am. If you, or anyone you know, is in need of pastoral care please let me know or pass on my contact information.

After more than 1000 years it is sad to find ourselves with insufficient numbers to continue with weekly services. However, we will continue to offer special seasonal services and be available for baptisms, weddings, and funerals. We certainly give thanks for the willing volunteers who have kept, and continue to keep, the church building in working order ready to serve.

May God guide us as we seek to continue to serve in this holy place as part of the Church in Wales.

This decision has not been taken lightly with the existing small congregation taking part in the decision-making process. It is indeed sad as Lyndon has pointed out that regular worship has been suspended, but it will remain a sacred space, kept in readiness for the special services at festival times in the church’s calendar. We thank the “friends” of St. Lythan’s in raising funds to keep the church fit for purpose and in as good repair as is possible with a mediaeval church with a II* grading.

The recent Harvest festival was well attended, and the “friends” held a very successful Cheese and Wine fund raising quiz, following the service. Thank you for all you do to fundraise and bring people together from the communities of Dyffryn, St. Lythan’s and Twyn yr Odin.

On Sunday 13th October we suffered a power failure in St. Mary’s which made us decamp to the Church Hall for the morning Eucharist. It was really good and many remarked what a change it was to have the opportunity to worship together in different surroundings. Many thanks to all who helped in transferring the liturgical items from the church and setting up the hall and for clearing up afterwards. Power is now restored and hopefully this will not happen again.

Special order of service booklets have been prepared for Remembrance Sunday and for the Community Christmas Carol service. Members of the community have been approached to take part in the readings and all are welcomed to be present at these annual community events running up to the celebration of Christmas.

Here are some dates to place in your calendar to remind you of what’s happening at St. Mary’s and St. Lythan’s

Upcoming Services and Events

2nd November at 7.00pm – Wenvoe – All Souls Commemoration of the Faithful Departed

10th November Remembrance Sunday – 8.30 at St Lythans and 10.00am in Wenvoe

Tuesdays 3rd, 10th & 17th December at 7.00pm – St Lythans – Advent meditation with harp.

Christmas Eve:

Wenvoe at 5.00pm – All Ages Christmas Service

Wenvoe at 11.00pm – Christmas Eve Eucharist

Christmas Day:

St Lythans at 9:30am – Christmas Day Eucharist

Names of the faithful departed for the All Souls service can be added to the list being prepared in church in good time for the service on Nov 2nd.

Christian Aid, Christmas Appeals and Food Bank See message from Jude on page 8.

The Result of the Wenvoe Gift Appeal

There is never a right time to appeal for funds especially this year when the cost of living, heating or eating, is a choice many are having to make in their daily lives. We are so grateful that those who donated to the appeal thought that the appeal was justified and that St. Mary’s church in Wenvoe needed their support. The amount raised was £1,483 and a big thank you for your contribution, which will be used to maintain the church building, to keep the heating on at a low level to protect the fabric from damp. St. Mary’s is a Grade II* listed building, and we are bound to hand the church on for future generations yet to be born, so that worship will continue to be offered, and the church available for family events, both joyful and sad.

November is a month when we remember many things. From the faithful departed on November 2nd, to the event when Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament on November 5th, To Remembrance Sunday on November 10th when we will gather in St. Mary’s for our annual commemoration of those lads from the village who gave their lives in World War I and World War II so that we may now enjoy the peace as a result of their sacrifice, and later at the War memorial for the Silence and laying of wreaths. As usual we shall be making a collection for the Royal British Legion to continue their work with survivors of the other wars that have taken place in recent years. We look forward to seeing you in church and at the newly cleaned War Memorial with recently installed handrail, arranged by the Wenvoe Community Council. Diolch yn fawr.

“We will not forget them”

Light refreshments of coffee, tea and soft drinks will be provided in the Church Hall following the commemoration. All are welcome.

Thank you for reading the church news.

Parry Edwards

 

Discovering St Donat’s

DISCOVERING ST DONAT’S

 

St Donat’s Castle is an intriguing place and there are plenty of opportunities to tour and visit. The site has a proud history from its use as an Iron Age fortress, home of the Celtic Chieftain Caradog, to its purchase and development by the American newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst.

As home to the world-renowned Atlantic College, alumni include our First Minister, Eluned Morgan and a host of other notables, even recently including none other than Princess Leonor, the crown princess of Spain.

Bernard Shaw described the castle after Hearst’s reconstruction as ‘what God would have built if he had had the money’. Hearst rarely visited St Donats. When he did, he often took his large entourage for drinks to the Old Swan Inn, Llantwit Major. Among his guests were the actors Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn and Clark Gable, in addition to politicians including Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and a young John F. Kennedy, who visited with his parents.

Hearst was a colourful character who attracted strong opinions. President Theodore Roosevelt called him “an unspeakable blackguard with all the worst faults of the corrupt and dissolute monied man”. Winston Churchill, who stayed as Hearst’s guest at St Donat’s described him as ‘a grave simple child – with no doubt a nasty temper – playing with the most costly toys… two magnificent establishments, two charming wives (a reference to Hearst’s affair with Hollywood star Marion Davies a regular visitor to St Donat’s), complete indifference to public opinion’.

Hearst loved to put on a show. His Fourth of July celebrations in 1934 for example, included a fireworks display of such scale and extravagance that the coastguard complained it was confusing shipping in the Bristol Channel. Whether Hurst would have approved of these opportunities for all of us to get up close and personal with St Donat’s we’ll never know.

In term time you can enjoy a visit to one of the monthly Café Concerts held at UWC Atlantic Art Centre.

 

Performed by international students, you can enjoy a range of classical productions and in turn support them in developing their public performing skills, as they prepare for exam recitals. Concerts typically last for around 45 minutes and include a serving of tea, coffee and a biscuit – all included in the ticket price. Any profits go towards the UWC Atlantic educational charity. The cost is £6.29.

A good way to explore the history of the castle is to join a private guided tour. Tours take 90 minutes and including Afternoon Tea, cost £32.95 per person. The Afternoon Tea of sandwiches, cakes and refreshments is served in either the Dining Hall or Glassroom. You will hear more about the 19th century restoration by coal magnate Morgan Stuart Williams but it is likely to be the tales about the development of St Donats under the eccentric ownership of Randolph Hearst, which will be the most captivating.

The two-day Christmas Fayre, will be held on Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December. Over 70 local food, drink and craft traders will be exhibiting, and you can also take the opportunity to wander in the 12th century castle, arts centre and gardens. The event starts at 10.00 am and closes at 4.00pm and costs £13 per car and £3 on foot. Parking is on fields or in areas on campus a short walk from the castle so appropriate footwear is advised.

 

 

Seniors Banking

 

SENIORS BANKING

Shown below, is apparently an actual letter that was sent to a bank by an 86 year old woman.
The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in The Times.
Dear Sir:
I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month.
By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it..
I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years.
You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account £30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.
My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally answer your telephone calls and letters, — when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.
From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person.
My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.
Be aware that it is an OFFENSE under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope.
Please find attached an Application Contact which I require your chosen employee to complete.
I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.
Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public figure, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.
In due course, at MY convenience, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me.
I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service.
As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Let me level the playing field even further.
When you call me, press buttons as follows:
IMMEDIATELY AFTER DIALLING, PRESS THE STAR (*) BUTTON FOR ENGLISH
#1. To make an appointment to see me
#2.. To query a missing payment.
#3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
#4 To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
#5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
#6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
#7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required.
Password will be communicated to you at a later date to that Authorized Contact mentioned earlier.
#8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 to 9
#9. To make a general complaint or inquiry.
The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service.
While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.
Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.
May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous New Year?
Your Humble Client
And remember:- Don’t make old people mad. We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to piss us off.
Geoff Nicholls

 

 

Welsh Traditions 7 – Traditions associated with death and funerals

WELSH TRADITIONS 7

Traditions associated with death and funerals

We’ll begin by going back to Pre-Christian and pre-Roman times to consider how the Celts buried their dead. The ancient Celtic religion – known as Celtic Paganism – was the religion of the Celtic peoples of Europe – and the priests of this religion were known as Druids – but very little is known about them.

Nicole Evelina writes -‘For a warrior people, it’s not surprising that to the Celts, the most honorable death was to die in battle. Depending on the time period and which tribe you were in, you might be buried, cremated or have your ashes buried. In pre-Christian times, many graves contained items needed for the next world, from chariots and weapons to food, wine, money and clothing. There is some evidence that the Celts practised human sacrifice, but not likely on a large scale.

The Celts believed in reincarnation. Some sources say they only believed you could come back in human form, but others argue you could be reincarnated as an animal or plant, too. Mythology seems to support this later theory as in our ancient tales, we learn that the Cauldron of Rebirth was able to revive the dead. Pre-Christian Celts believed in an after-death Otherworld (Annwn in Welsh mythology), a resting place between incarnations’.

We know that the body was washed before burial, wrapped in a thin shirt and laid out surrounded by burning candles. During this time feasts and games were held in honour of the deceased – and food and money would be left for him or her to use in the next life. This was the forerunner of the modern ‘wake’ of course. On the day of the funeral a Druid would visit to measure the corpse – to make sure that it would fit in the grave. He would also whisper instructions in his ear of how to reach the Other World’.

Bodies were cremated or buried in single cairns or graves – or in a burial chamber where multiple bodies were buried. We have two of these burial tombs – from an earlier time – near us here in Wenvoe namely the Cromlech at Tinkinswood and the smaller one at St Lythans. Both these date from the New Stone Age and are over 6,000 years old – about 1,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids in Egypt.

Coming a little closer to our own time, a number of traditions and rituals associated with death here in Wales have survived until relatively recently.

It was customary to announce a death by tolling the church bell – and in the counties of Anglesea and Arfon, the home of the deceased was known as a ‘tŷ corff’ (house of the corpse). A local woman would attend the house to prepare the body for burial and a carpenter would come to measure him/her before making the coffin. It was important to our forefathers that the honey bees be informed formally if there was a death in the house. It was generally believed that failure to do so would result in the mass death of the bees – or they would leave the hive.

Traditionally the room where a corpse lay before burial would be draped with white curtains and linen. Curtains were kept closed and mirrors were covered. Sweet-scented herbs were used to scent the room, and wax candles kept alight. In some parts of Wales, the family would sprinkle salt on a pewter plate and place it on the chest of the deceased – to ward off all evil spirits. The belief was that salt purified the soul. It is also known that in some areas a ‘sin eater’ would be invited to the house to eat the sins of the dead person, by dipping a piece of bread in the salt and eating it above the body. Thus the dead person would be relieved of all sins and would be assured of entry into heaven.

From the time of death, the house was never empty. Family members and friends would take it in turn to hold a vigil over the body every night until the day of the funeral. In some areas a wake would be held every night – with plenty of food and alcohol – but the proceedings were always carried out in a respectful manner. In the 19th Century, the deceased was often propped up during these wakes! It was also customary for gifts of butter, cake, tea, biscuits and sugar to be gifted to the family in mourning. By the 19th Century, under the influence of the Methodist Movement, the vigil or the pre funeral wake had become much more reverential – more like a prayer meeting. And a recognised singer would be invited to sing an elegy – an echo of the elegiac poems composed by the court poet during the age of the Welsh Kings and Princes.

On the morning of the burial, the mourners would arrive at the house, where the main mourner would be seated – dressed in back of course. Before the service black gloves would be handed round to the mourners; silk or kid for near-relatives and cotton for more distant members of the family. In Aberystwyth, for example, it was customary for a man to walk around the town ringing a Corpse Bell. He would walk along and every so often, stop and ring out one solemn stroke on his bell.

One particularly sad custom was that of baptising a newly born baby on his or her mother’s coffin, if she had died in childbirth – a common occurrence in earlier times, of course.

The Welsh have always carried their dead relatives to the churchyard, unlike the English who in general paid strangers to do this. At the end of the service a collection was made and the money would go to the priest – who would often pass the money to the family – if it was particularly impoverished. Another collection was made at the graveside when coins would be placed on the gravedigger’s shovel or spade – ‘spade money’ (arian rhaw) – which would pay for the burial. In the 1700s it was the custom to throw a sprig of rosemary into the grave, which by the 19th Century, was substituted by the placing of flowers on top of the grave.

There were a few superstitions surrounding death and funerals in Wales one of the most common being ‘cannwyll corff’ – a corpse candle. Before a death had been reported in an area, people would report seeing a candle moving along a particular path or roadway. They believed that this foretold the death of a local person – whose funeral procession would follow the route of the candle they had witnessed. If a corpse candle was seen glowing red it was thought to be foretelling the death of a man; a white glow showed the death of a woman and a small, weak light, that of a child.
There are also numerous accounts from all parts of Wales of people witnessing a phantom funeral procession – ‘toili’ – which, like the corpse candles, foretold of an imminent death in the area.
Omens of death were widely feared and taken very seriously indeed. In Port Talbot at the Morfa Colliery in 1890, workers noticed a strong scent of flowers. They believed this to be a sign of invisible death flowers and half the miners stayed in their homes. That day there was a huge explosion leaving 87 miners dead. If certain types of birds flew over the pit head, such as pigeons, robins or doves, it was also believed to be foretelling a disaster. They were dubbed ‘corpse birds’ and are reported to have been seen just before the explosion at Senghennydd Colliery in Glamorgan in 1913, in which 400 miners were killed. So seriously were these superstitions taken by Welsh miners, that if they passed a squinting woman on their way to the mine, they would turn back and go home to avoid bad luck.
Ann M. Jones

 

Monknash Coastguard Rocket House

MONKNASH COASTGUARD ROCKET HOUSE

 

Just inland from the top of a precipitous Heritage Coast cliff near the village of Marcross in the Vale of Glamorgan there stands a small stone building with an almost semicircular stone flagged roof. One end of this building is completely open and faces the sea. It is yet another entity associated with shipping in the Bristol Channel.

As the title of this article suggests the building, which was constructed in the 1870s, was used to house the apparatus that could fire a thin rope to any ship in distress close to the shore in these hazardous waterways. If the mariners on such a vessel were to successfully receive the initial rope, then they would haul to themselves a thicker rope to which would be attached a breeches buoy to enable their rescue.

Rocket Houses became an essential part of the infrastructure of being able to effect rescues close to, or indeed on, lee shores which would have otherwise proved difficult for the life boats of the time.

The UK Coastguard Rocket Stations were strategically located along the coast to cover areas with high risk of shipwrecks and to provide timely assistance. There is some evidence that there was such a rocket station adjacent to the Watch House at the entrance to Barry Old Harbour. The equipment and techniques used evolved over time, but the primary goal remained the same: to save lives at sea

 

 

September Report

SEPTEMBER REPORT

At a recent meeting of the joint church council, it was decided to press ahead with the removal of a dead limb on the large yew tree, adjacent to the entrance into the churchyard extension, together with the removal of minor growth of self-seeded vegetation near to the Jenner graves. The dead limb needs to be removed on health and safety concerns and the tidying up of the other work will it is hoped satisfy the concerns of the representative of the Jenner family that the family graves are being overgrown with decolourisation of the white marble stonework. The cost will be covered from church funds once the necessary permissions are granted by the Vale of Glamorgan council.

We are entering a very busy period during the coming months running up to Christmas. By the time you read this we will have already celebrated the celebration of Harvest at St. Mary’s, together with the picnic and Gift Day on Sunday the 22nd September.

Harvest Celebrations continue at St. John’s Church in Sully on October 6th and at St Bleddian’s church on October 13th. The service at St Lythan’s begins at 3.00pm followed by a Cheese and Wine arranged by the Friends of St. Lythan’s at a small charge.

Remembrance Sunday service on November 10thwill be at St. Mary’s at 10.00 am, led by Mr. Parry Edwards and following the service at the village War Memorial for the silence and the laying of wreaths. We must thank the Wenvoe Community council for arranging to have the War Memorial cleaned, though the provision of a hand rail on the steps is needed on Health and Safety grounds

During December at St. Bleddian’s, on Tuesday evenings the 3rd, 10th, and 17th we will have a short time of quiet meditation, together with a Harpist playing. This was very popular last year and it is good to set aside a time of contemplation in the hectic days before Christmas.

The Community Carol Service will be held on Wednesday the 18th December at St. Mary’s at 7.00 pm followed by seasonal refreshments. The collection will be given to local charities. All are welcome for this is the community coming together to hear the story of the Birth of our Lord and to sing the well-known carols.

The theme of the Christian Aid Christmas appeal this year is “No room for Comfort and Joy” and it has been decided that due to the enormous increase in demand to help families in need, that we forgo the usual collection of toys etc and concentrate on increasing the donations of food items during the four weeks of the season of Advent, that begins on December 1st. An alternative way to support the Food Bank is to give a donation in cash or cheque to enable the organisers in Barry to purchase items that are in short supply. This has been used in recent months as an alternative to carrying heavy items to the collecting point in the church porch. Please support this appeal as best you can to enable as many families to enjoy the Christmas festivities, your donations can be placed in the secure post boxes in the church porch and the church hall. Thank you.

This year we are being encouraged to light up our windows at any time in the run up to Christmas, culminating with the Family Carol Service in the churchyard and church at 5.00 pm on Christmas Eve, followed by the First Eucharist of Christmas at St. Mary’s at 11.00pm. On Christmas Day the Eucharist will be celebrated at St. Bleddian’s at 9.30am. Sunday the 29th is the 5th Sunday of the month; the only service will be a celebration of the Eucharist at St. John’s in Sully at 11.00 a.m.

We have moved the announcements of the week, and any forthcoming event from the time when the priest is carrying out the ablutions at the altar to the short time before the service begins. It is thought that the present timing is too disruptive to the flow of the service, so there will be a welcome to those present and to those who are watching from home, also highlighting any forthcoming event which needs to be brought to the attention of the congregation

More dates for your diaries on forthcoming services at St. Mary’s… 2 nd Nov at 7pm – All Souls Service 10th Nov at 10am – Remembrance service 3rd, 10th & 17th Dec at 7pm at St Lythans – Advent Meditations with harp.

Thank you for reading the news from St. Mary’s. You are all welcome to call in and see for yourselves the heritage we have from the past, to inspire today’s generation and for the generations yet to come.

Parry Edwards

All About Crimestoppers

ALL ABOUT CRIMESTOPPERS

What’s On regularly provides a short update on crime in the village. Fortunately Wenvoe crime data, which can be found on the police statistics website, reveals that we have a relatively low crime rate. Occasionally however we may find it necessary to report local crime. Contact details for the local police, including the Wenvoe PCSO, Dave Chadock can be found on page 2, along  with information about Crimestoppers. Although most people have heard of Crimestoppers,  many know little about it.

Crimestoppers provides an opportunity for people to report crimes anony￾mously and these reports are then passed on to the police. It is important  to note that Crimestoppers is not the police but an independent charity  working to help communities. You can contact Crimestoppers to report  crimes with a free telephone call (0800 555 111) or by completing an  online form. If the information you give leads to an arrest, or is of signifi￾cant use, you may be eligible to claim a cash reward of up to £1,000. The  Crimestoppers national website provides more information.

The key to the success of Crimestoppers is that you can report crimes with confidence that your report  will remain anonymous. Indeed it’s rare for Crimestoppers to trumpet its successes because it can’t risk  compromising the guarantee of anonymity that it provides to everyone who gets in contact. No records  are kept of the personal details, phone numbers or computer IP addresses of anyone who makes contact.

As Crimestoppers is not the police there are some things that the organisation cannot process. These  include fly-tipping, scam e-mails or phone calls, noise complaints, benefit fraud, dumped or untaxed  vehicles, minor driving offences or missing people. The website provides advice on what to do in  these circumstances.

Crimestoppers has been a huge success. Since it began in 1988, it has received more than 2.2 million  actionable calls, resulting in more than 150,000 arrests and charges, more than £140 million worth of  stolen goods recovered and more than £367 million worth of illegal drugs seized. Between April 2022  and March 2023, Crimestoppers sent police forces over 196,000 anonymous crime reports – that’s 537  per day and 22 per hour. Some 60% of the reports sent to police forces are drugs-related. Typically,  they’re sightings of dealers in cars or on street corners, details of cannabis factories, or intelligence  about so-called county lines networks – the city-based gangs that supply drugs to rural areas and sea￾side towns. Crimestoppers also has a Most Wanted UK-wide gallery with images, which since 2005  has resulted in more than 5,000 arrests.

Crimestoppers actually began in Alburquerque, New Mexico in 1976. Its UK origins appear to have  been linked to the October 1985 London riots. When PC Keith Blakelock was murdered at the Broad￾water Farm Estate, the police appealed for information, stating that people knew who had been re￾sponsible but were frightened of coming forward. This according to the UK website, led in January  1988, to the founding of the Community Action Trust (CAT), by Michael (later Lord) Ashcroft and  business partners. The CAT was a phone line where people called and anonymously provided infor￾mation about crime, which was then forwarded to the police. By 1995 it was re-named Crimestoppers  Trust and expanded to the whole of the UK.

There is also however a counter claim that Crimestoppers originated in the town of Great Yarmouth in  1983. Mike Cole, then a Detective Inspector with the Norfolk Constabulary, got the idea from a police  visit to the US. Inspired by what was happening in the US, Crimestoppers was set up in the town, with  the agreement of the police, financial support from the town’s Woolworth store and publicity from the  local Yarmouth Mercury newspaper. Crimestoppers encouraged people to pass information to police  anonymously without fear of reprisal. Informants called a dedicated telephone number at Great Yar￾mouth Police Station. A reward was handed out in brown envelopes for information received, often in  dark alleys.

Welsh Traditions 6 – Medi – Harvest

WELSH TRADITIONS 6

MEDI – HARVEST

The Welsh word ‘medi’ is a verb meaning ‘to reap’ or ‘to harvest’ and as a proper noun, ‘Medi’, is the name of the ninth month of the year, namely September – the month when the crops are harvested, of course. The English word ‘harvest’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘haerfest’ – and it was used as the name of the third season until around the 16th Century when it was superseded by the name ‘Autumn’.

There are a number of customs and traditions associated with the harvest season here in Wales. It was, of course, the most important period in the agricultural year – and before the dawn of mechanisation, all the neighbouring farmers and farm hands would gather at each farm in turn to see to the harvest. In Welsh, there is a name for this practice of community aid – ‘cymhortha’ – a word based on the noun ‘cymorth’ meaning ‘help, aid, assistance’. The same thing happened at other busy times in the year – sheep shearing, lambing, crop planting and so on.

The custom known as ‘Y Gaseg Fedi’ (The Harvest Mare) was an important element at the end of harvesting. The name ‘Y Gaseg Fedi’ was given to the very last sheaf of corn to be cut. The sheaf was divided into three by the senior farmhand and plaited. The reapers would then take it in turn to throw their scythe or sickle at the sheaf to see who could cut it down. The person who succeeded would recite the following, traditional lines (translated here)

‘I tracked her,

In the late evening I followed her,

I’ve caught her, I’ve caught her!’

The other reapers would respond –

‘What did you catch?’

and the reply would be –

‘A hag! A hag! A hag’!

‘Gwrach’ (Hag) was another name given to the Harvest Mare.

At the end of the corn harvest, the farmer’s wife would organise a Harvest Supper for the neighbours who had helped with the harvesting. There was always plenty of food and locally brewed beer. In some areas, a sweet dish called ‘whipod’ was served. It consisted of a mixture of rice, white bread, dried fruit and treacle. In nearby Cardiganshire in 1760, a farmer reported that the feast following the reaping of his rye by about 50 neighbours consisted of ‘a brewing pan of beef and mutton, with a range and potatoes and pottage, and pudding of wheaten flour, about 20 gallons of light ale and over twenty gallons of beer’. After the meal, there was usually dancing to the music of the fiddle, with a plentiful supply of beer and tobacco.

It was seen as an honour in Wales to be the one to bring down the caseg fedi, and the man who succeeded in doing so was often rewarded. The winning reaper was faced with the task of carrying the Harvest Mare into the house – making certain that it was kept perfectly dry. But this gave rise to great revelry as the women present attempted to drench it with water before it reached the house. If he’d been successful in keeping the sheaf dry, he would be given an honoured seat at the Harvest Supper table with plenty of ale to drink. But if he’d failed to keep it dry, he would have to sit at the far end of the table, have no ale to drink and suffer the taunts of his fellow diners throughout the meal!

The ‘caseg fedi’ may have represented the fertility of the harvest condensed into the final sheaf and it was believed that a spirit resided in the last sheaf of grain to be harvested. In one part of Wales, it was recorded that seed from it was mixed with the seed at planting time ‘in order to teach it to grow’. In other parts of Britain, this last sheaf was buried on Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany (6 January), so that it could work its magic on the growing corn.

Once the grain harvest proper and the Harvest Supper were over, the women could begin gleaning, i.e. scouring the fields for the leftover ears of corn which they could claim and keep for themselves.

The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet

People have been giving thanks for the harvest since farming first began in the Neolithic era. Today, it has become a Christian festival of Thanksgiving and is celebrated in most chapels, churches and schools – usually on the first Sunday following the Full Moon closest to the Autumn Equinox. However, the traditions outlined above are far older than Christianity and this Christian assembly only became popular in Victorian times when, in 1843, a Reverend R. S. Hawker had the idea of holding a special service on the first Sunday in October in his Cornwall parish. The idea caught on and soon it became the custom to decorate churches with fruit, vegetables and flowers and to sing the harvest hymns written for the occasion.

Harvest has now become a time when people come together to give thanks for our own good fortune, to donate food to the needy, and to raise money for worthy causes. Thus Harvest still commemorates not just the gathering of the fruits of the Earth, but also the community cooperation that exists to extend a helping hand to people less fortunate than ourselves.

Ann M. Jones

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