Council News September

COMMUNITY COUNCIL NEWS


The Community Council does not meet during August.


Planning updates for August


 7, St Andrews Road. To demolish existing outbuildings and replace them with new outbuildings and extend the main property at the rear. Approved.


 Wenvoe Manor, Port Road East. Outline permission for two detached dwellings in the front garden of Wenvoe Manor has been refused. The proposal was ruled to be contrary to a number of environmental polies.


 The application to crown lift a Sycamore tree at 10, Is Y Coed, has been withdrawn.
The Community Centre has a plan on display in the leisure room of the new junction being constructed which will replace the present Brooklands Terrace roundabout.

Cycling In Wales

Cycling has hit the headlines in the last weeks because of the fantastic success of the GB cycling team in the Olympics in Rio. With Welsh wizards like Geraint Thomas, Becky James, Owain Doull and Elinor Barker cycling in Wales is gaining a very high profile. Watching the Olympics on television has been exciting and dramatic and it will probably result in an upsurge of interest in cycling in the months to come.

Cycling has long been popular in South Wales as there are many miles of very suitable roads as well as off-road routes which often run along disused rail lines such as parts of the Taff Trail from Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil. In Wales generally and whether you are an experienced cyclist, a family with children, or thinking about becoming a cycle commuter, the National Cycle Network offers many opportunities for travel, and discovery. There are over 1,200 miles of National Cycle Network in Wales alone, which carry 29 million cycling trips a year. Whatever your age or fitness, getting out on the Network is a great way to keep healthy, save money, and – most importantly – have fun! The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million National Lottery grant. The 14,000 mile network has recorded over 230 million trips a year. The Sustrans website is www.sustrans.org.uk

Road cycling and racing is particularly popular and here in Wenvoe we are fortunate to have the Wenvoe Wheelers. The Wenvoe Wheelers were established earlier this year and the Club has answered the need for a riding club for people living in the Eastern end of the Vale as well as the West end of Cardiff. It was developed from an idea by 4 friends riding in Mallorca in early April 2016. Wenvoe Wheelers now has approximately 60 regular riding members who ride out from Wenvoe every Tuesday evening and Saturday morning. In addition they run rides on Sunday's which go further. They are a very mixed bunch in terms of experience and offer beginner rides once a month, and have an intermediate pace ride and steady paced rides. Wenvoe Wheelers now have their own distinct cycling kit now supplied by Pactimo. The Club has an equal number of men and women so this shows that the group is open to all and they are always happy to take in new or experienced riders. For further information please contact: Rob Harrison the social and membership secretary by email wenvoewheelers@gmail.com

Wenvoe Wheelers recommend Gerard Davies for servicing and parts, he runs Stone House Bikes in Barry. To buy a bike the following shops in Cardiff are recommended Cyclopaedia, Tredz and Sunset Cycles. Halfords is also good for Cycle to Work schemes, and many independent bike shops now accept Halfords Cycle to Work vouchers so the customer has a massive choice of makes and types of bikes. When it comes to refreshment Wenvoe Wheelers use the following coffee stops in the Vale – Cafe Velo in Llantwit, The Pottery Cafe in Ewenny, Hilary and Iain by sea in Ogmore, cafe Nero in Cowbridge and Porthkerry park cafe.

Riders who like to really get off road can take advantage of the excellent Mountain Bike Centres in Wales. These provide exhilarating trails and stunning scenery, and with easy access they have made Mountain Biking in Wales one of the best adventure sports available in the country. Many of the trails start at a Mountain Biking Centre; a purpose built centre is a dedicated single site Mountain Biking location, with a visitor centre and MTB facilities serving multiple way marked trails of varying difficulty. Here in South Wales we have mountain bike centres at Cwmcarn, Afan Forest Park and Bike Park Wales at Abercanaid near Merthyr Tydfil.

Brie, Leek and Mushroom en Croute

Ingredients

100g walnut pieces

2 tbsp olive oil, + extra for greasing

50g butter 

Chorizo and

200g mini Portobello mushrooms, sliced

150g baby button mushrooms, quartered

2 leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, finely sliced

2tbsp fresh thyme leaves + extra to garnish

Grated zest of 1 lemon

300g good quality brie, cubed

750g puff pastry

1 large egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk

Toast walnuts in a large frying pan and set aside. Return pan to heat, add 1 tbsp of the oil and half the butter. Add the mushrooms and cook over a high heat until soft and golden. Transfer to a bowl. Add remaining oil and butter to pan and sauté the leeks and garlic until softened. Stir in the thyme and lem-on and mix together. Transfer to the bowl. When cool add the walnuts and brie, and season, mix to-gether. Thinly roll out the pastry on a floured sur-face and cut inti 12 equal square pieces. Brush the edges of 6 and divide the mushroom mixture be-tween them. Place the second piece of pastry on top, seal edges with a fork and trim if required. Pierce the tops with a knife. Transfer to a lightly oiled bak-ing tray, brush the parcels with the egg mix and chill for 30 mins. Heat the oven to 180C fan while parcels are in fridge. Bake for 25-30 mins until golden.

Serve with Boston beans and new potatoes.

 



 

Gruyere Puffs

 

75g butter

110g plain flour

3 med eggs

75g Gruyere, diced

75g skinless chorizo, cooked and diced

Preheat oven to 180 C fan. In a pan, combine the butter, 175ml of water and half a tsp of salt. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and stir in the flour until smooth. Return to a medium heat and beat for 1 min. Remove from the heat and leave for 1 min. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until glossy, add the cheese and chorizo. Season with black pep-per. Spoon 2cm balls of the mixture onto a greased baking tray [makes about 30]. Bake for 30 mins, or until puffed and golden. When cooked pierce to re-lease any steam. Serve warm.

Ideal to eat al fresco with a nice bottle of chilled white wine.

 

 

 

 

Book Appeal Reminder

FRIENDS OF WENVOE COMMUNITY LIBRARY

APPEAL FOR BOOKS

Don’t forget our second hand book sale on; Saturday 3rd September 2016 from 10am to 1pm in the small room at the Community Centre.

Anyone who buys a book will become a friend of the library and will receive a free cup of tea/coffee and a biscuit. There is no entrance fee.

We need your support in two ways:

1. Please come and see if you can find a book you want

2. Whilst we now have a large stock of books, we need more books for future sales.

 

If you have any books of any sort which you don’t want please let us know and we will collect them at your convenience. WE NEED AS MANY BOOKS AS WE CAN COLLECT.

Thank you so much for the many books you have already donated.

If you have collected any books for us but forgotten to call us, please bring along any donated books on the day.

Thank you for your support

Sylvia Harvey Tel: 02920592261

Mike Harvey Tel: 02920594329

43rd Anniversay

petanque01This year is the 43rd anniversary of the formation of the Club de Pétanque de Pays de Galles co-founded by Chairman, the ubiquitous jazzman, Mike Harries and the President Claude Faurie as well as the late Sid Richards as Treasurer.

The club was originally the biggest individual sporting club in Wenvoe and at that time the one and only Pétanque club in Wales!

Started one year before the formation of the governing body; The British Pétanque Association.

Thanks to prominent club members such as the Bosley family, the Triggs, the late Bruce Gully, Griff Taylor, Paul Harvey, Stephen Davies, Bill Cook and many others.

The club created in 1976 was made of up of purpose built professional pitches at the Playing Fields. This was to be the start of fame and success for this Village club with various Press, Television and radio interviews.

It all started with a game organised by Mike Harries and his brother in 1973 taking on 'The Rest of the World', this was followed by a colourful competition against the French Rugby supporters on a very cold Sunday in February, the match being played in the car park of the Village Hall which was not yet tarmaced.

In 1981 the club with to the first Pétanque open tournament of the Isle of Wight, performing well by reaching the Semi-Finals

June 1980 was a memorable year for the Wenvoe players with the Seventh National UK Open Championships being played on our pitches and featuring 250 players. The team featuring Chris Trigg, Griff Taylor and Claude Faurie again reached the Semi-Finals only to be defeated by a French team of semi-professionals.

And so on to the present day where the Wenvoe Pétanque Club is still going strong with members involved in the Welsh League competition and raising a Charity money each year for sound causes.

We all look forward to the celebrations of the club on August Bank Holiday this year and the continued future success!

For all info contact the Club Secretary Bob Pugh on 029 20593051 or 07746 217118

 

 

The River Severn

At what point does the River Severn become the Bristol Channel? Mr Peter Finch gave us the answers on June 22nd in an interesting talk on the Severn estuary and its surrounding coastline. We learnt of many facts we were unaware of and how he was stopped by security guards when attempting to walk the South Wales coastal path

On the 29th June Polly Davies, an American lady, now a Welsh resident, gave us an insight into the life of Calamity Jane. She formed a comparison between her and Annie Oakley, who was a real lady, whereas Calamity was completely opposite with a dubious reputation. We enjoyed a strawberries and cream afternoon on July 6th, followed by a few games of Bingo

A regular visitor to us, Mr Clive Sims, brought along his lovely piano recordings on July 13th.This time the composers he spoke of were Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Felix Mendelssohn. We listened to his recordings of their best known melodies and also tunes made famous by Paul Robeson

There will be no meetings during August and we will restart on Sept 7th at our new venue, the Community Hall

Waterfall Country

 

Waterfall Country

 (OS map OL12)Pontneddfechan is a former silica mining hub and sits at the confluence of the rivers Mellte and Nedd Fechan. Silica mining took place in this area from the 18th century to the mid 1960s. Because of its high resistance to heat, silica was used to make ‘fire bricks’ used in the construction of kilns and furnaces for the copper, steel and iron industries. Although silica can be converted to silicon – the material used to create the tiny circuits which power computers – the mines had closed before global demand for pure silicon took off, and it is now mostly manufactured in China.

AUG IMG_0395We arrived at Pontneddfechan on a misty morning and took a footpath after passing one of the local hostelries and soon found ourselves following the river Nedd Fechan on its western bank. It was immediately obvious that there was plenty water in the river as we could clearly hear the water rushing on its way. Hopefully this promised full waterfalls but a little worrying as we were hoping to cross the river further up. The footpath had clear signs of once carrying a railway and no doubt this would have brought silica from the mines.

Waterfall country is an area of deep valleys, rocky gorges and ancient woodlands. The footpaths are well marked but on a wet day some of them were quite slippery and as usual there were warnings ‘Danger Rivers in this area can be cold, deep, fast flowing’. Even with the persistent rain the valley was beautiful and we enjoyed many ‘minor waterfalls’. We soon reached the confluence of the Rivers Pyrddin and Nedd Fechan.

We followed the river Pyrddin in a north westerly direction, hoping to reach Sgwd Gwladys and Sgwd Einion. We reached Sgwd Gwladys (Lady falls), which was in full flow from a 6 metre drop. Below the waterfall the river enters a deep pool and then widens out with shingle areas making it possible for us to cross the water (somewhat tentatively in the faster flowing areas). We continued along the river Pyrddin and soon came to the place we would have to cross the river again in order to reach Sgwd Einion Gam. The river was wide and deep in places, with fast flowing water and very little prospect of a crosing place. The men walked along the bank and into the river but couldn’t find anywhere we’d all have been happy to cross so we had to save Sgwd Einion Gam for another day.

# AUG fs IMG_5357Legend has it that Gwladys, a daughter of Brychan, 5th century king of Brycheiniog, fell in love with Einion after whom a waterfall is named Sgwd Einion Gam. Although she could never be with him in life, in immortality their spirits still flow together merging in the pool below Sgwd Gwladys.

Our path took us back to the river Nedd Fechan where we saw a sign indicating a silica mine a short distance away. We were heading along the Elidir trail towards the Horseshoe Falls. On arrival at the falls, most of us walked out across slippery rocks to look upriver at the Lower Sgwd Ddwli. A select band elected to walk along the edge of the river to reach these spectacular falls; whilst the rest of us awaited their return.

# AUG fs IMG_5339Continuing the path led us above Upper Sgwd Ddwli where we spotted some splendid fungi growing along a fallen tree. At Pont Melin fach, a picnic spot, we stopped for lunch beside a now gentle river, thinking how lovely it would be on a sunny day. From here we headed across the bridge and on to Comin y Rhos. We were in the clouds now and could see little of our surroundings. The area had waist high grass, plenty of water underfoot and it was difficult to see signposts in the mist but our excellent map readers kept us on a steady route and we negotiated it successfully.

# AUG fs IMG_0950Heading south we continued across boggy ground until we reached the golf course near Pontneddfechan. At last, solid mown grass to walk on but still visibility was low. Having been surrounded by cloud, mizzle or rain all day we were all feeling very damp when we arrived at our starting point having covered 7.5 miles and climbed 1000ft. (Map OL12). How nice it would have been to do this walk on a summer’s day, but this was mid July. What would it be like in winter?

August Update

As I write this we have just closed for the summer holidays and are looking forward to a relaxing break.

The summer term was a very busy term indeed. Staff had 35 children’s reports to update/write, photograph albums to complete, along with fun things to organise such as our trip, family BBQ and children’s end of term party.

[Picnic time – Bristol Zoo For our trip this summer we visited Bristol Zoo. Parents, Grandparents and children supported the trip and a fun wet day was had by all. Thank you to Emma Wheadon for arranging our coach travel.

 

 

End of Term BBQFor our family BBQ, the sun was shining, and an enjoyable time was had by all. The bouncy castle was great fun for the children (and the big kids) along with the pony rides and tattoos/nails on offer. Thank you Issy and Gaby for donating your tattoos and nail varnish to make the event fun. Thank you Sam and Maisey for allowing us to use your pony for rides in the car park. The children and adults thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon and what a great way to end a great year. End of Term BBQ

Without the help and support of parents and extended families, events like this wouldn’t happen, so thank you all for making it such a special day.

 

# AUG playgroup image1At the end of term the children and their families presented the playgroup staff with a gift of a tree. What a wonderful idea and myself and the staff would like to thank you all for this most precious gift by sharing the following:

‘As with every tree, growth takes place in two opposite directions, both away from and further into the ground. This reflects how social pedagogy interacts between society and the individual. Social pedagogy aims to provide nurturing conditions that support children’s growth in both directions, towards independence and interdependence’. There are two things that children should get from their parents; roots and wings (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe 1749 – 1832).

We look forward to supporting children and parents for many years at the playgroup. Each day we will see this tree as the tree of life and remind ourselves what a wonderful job both practitioner and parent do in supporting children’s learning when working together.

 

Although we have a private social media page not everyone can access it. Therefore; we would like to thank everyone for their gifts and cards of appreciation. Thank you for the kind words written, especially the drawings/mark making entered by the children to express their thoughts.

For those who are moving on to various reception and nursery schools, we would like to wish you all the best for the future. For those who are returning to playgroup we re-open on Monday 26th September at 9am (late due to the Village Hall having a kitchen fitted).

We will be open on Wed 21st and Thursday 22nd September for the new children to visit with their families for settling in days. These will also be open days for anyone wishing to view our provision to see what we can offer moving forward into our wrap around care with the nursery at Gwenfo. We are amending Thursday daycare to a Wednesday from September due to demand.

Our operating hours from September will be Monday and Wednesday 9am until 3:15pm (with ‘drop off’ and ‘collection’ at Gwenfo Nursery) and Tuesday to Friday 9am – 12:45pm with ‘drop off’ to Nursery for 1pm. (once the school have FULL capacity, we may look at extending daycare to other days. We will operate and adjust our care to the need of the community).

If you require further information on our services then please contact us via email during the holidays: wenvoeplaygroup@btinternet.com or visit our web site wenvoeplaygroup.co.uk

We are now no longer in partnership for Early Years Funding with the Vale of Glamorgan. We continue to be registered with Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW).

For places at Gwenfo Nursery please contact the Vale of Glamorgan Nursery Admissions online. You are able to register interest for children who are aged 3 years and above prior to 31st March 2017 at this time.

Sandra

 

August news

Although we had a rather small gathering, we still spent a very enjoyable evening as usual. Winners were Joyce and Sheila.

I want to take this opportunity to question the viability of the group as it is now, with only 2 tables on several occasions. Furthermore, I shall find it difficult to keep running the group on my own, particularly in the winter months, starting from October, due to other commitments. Therefore I am asking for volunteers to take over from me during the winter. If anyone is interested, you can call me (see What's On page 2), or come to the September whist to discuss it with the others.

Please note that there will NOT be whist in August as many of us will be on holiday

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