Month: August 2016

Citizen Science

Citizen Science is a phrase that we hear more and more often these days. As they say, there is nothing new under the sun and in many ways this is simply a return to times past when there were no field ecologists, Wildlife Trusts or Biodiversity Action Plans and most wildlife observing and recording was done by amateur enthusiasts. So what do we mean by Citizen Science? This is as good a definition as any:

‘The collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public typically as part of a collaborative project with professional science’.

In practice this could mean you wandering out into your garden, seeing a sparrow and reporting it. A popular misconception is that you have to be an expert and only report rare species. But it is the most common ones that are often under-recorded. The South East Wales Biodiversity Recording organisation (SEWBREC) have a species of the month for which they are seeking new records and recently these have included moles, garden spiders and house martins.

And so to the image shown here which is of a small spider perched under a pot on a patio table in Wenvoe. Taking a photo and checking in books or on the Internet indicates that this is the Toad Spider. It is not rare – simply under-recorded as this example turned out to be the first in the Vale of Glamorgan on two different databases.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The Seamstress

 

by Maria Duenas

Aged 12, Sira Quiroga was apprenticed to a Madrid dressmaker. As she masters the seamstresses’s art, her life seems to be clearly mapped out – until she falls passionately in love and flees with her seductive lover. But in Morocco she is betrayed and left penniless. As Civil War engulfs Spain, Sira finds that she cannot return and so turns to her one true skill – and sews beautiful clothes for the expat elite and their German friends. With Europe rumbling towards war, Sira is lured back to Franco’s Nazi friendly Spain. She is drawn into the shadowy world of espionage, intrigue and betrayal.

Opinion was unanimous on five counts – the writing was naïve, the story was predictable, overlong, disjointed (could have been 2 separate stories) and totally implausible when Sira progressed without a qualm from seamstress to spy.

There were three plus points – it was clever the way the story interwove real characters with fictional ones, the historical research was detailed and enhanced the story, it was a page turner.

Mixed feelings, not one of our better reads. A few enjoyed it and would recommend it as an easy read. Most of us didn’t. The score was a 6.

London Trip – Final Notice

Saturday November 19th.

Cost £15.50 per person.

 

Full payment of £15.50 per person is now due, all payments required by the 3rd October to confirm your seat, please.

     Coach leaving Wenvoe 8.30 am

     Returning from London 6.30 pm.

Tel. Eira 2059 3422.

July Meeting

At our July meeting we were saddened by the news that Olwen had passed away earlier that day. She had been a good and faithful member of our institute for many years but due to ill health had been unable to continue with her membership for some time and she has been sorely missed. We held a minute’s silence in her memory.

Viv Truran was our speaker for the meeting and she brought along some items for us to try to guess their age and value. Included was a cup and saucer from 1840 and a Christian Dior brooch from 1960. We enjoyed the challenge. On times we were quite close and sometimes our estimations were way out.

WI business began with feedback from our successful tea party. This was followed by details of forthcoming events-coffee morning hosted by Barry Highlight WI on Tuesday 2nd August and a harvest supper with Culverhouse Cross institute on the 10th October.

There was enthusiastic discussion regarding the opportunity of owning a banner for our institute. More details will be available at the next meeting.

To end the meeting we all enjoyed strawberries and cream .Raffle winner-Lyn.

No meeting in August but some members will be joining Dinas Powys on the 2nd and 22nd August.

NB All future meetings, unless otherwise stated will take place at the Church Hall.

At our next meeting on 1st September and Elin Jones from Ty Hapus, the day centre in Barry, which gives support to people living with dementia.

Wenvoe Castle

Wenvoe has a castle which is over 600 years old; it is not really a typical castle but rather a very grand house with some architectural features which gave it the appearance of a castle. It is an important and historic building and something of which we can be proud. The first record of a castle in Wenvoe was in the 1500’s and that was somewhere to the west of St Mary’s church, possibly in the area of Church Rise. There is no further information about that early fortification, though at the time it was recorded as being “badly decayed”. It is said that it was destroyed by Owain Glyndwr.

Fast forward a couple of hundred years to 1762 when a survey of the estate of the Thomas family showed a floor plan of a “long rambling building of irregular design” and that is where Wenvoe Castle Golf Club is located. One writer at the time wrote that “Wenvoe Castle is not at all worth seeing!”.

The Thomas family were leading gentry in the county for over 150 years. A family with a chequered history which at first amassed wealth and significance, but as often happens this turned from affluence to extravagance. After ambitions of being Members of Parliament and grand landscapers they were forced to sell off parts of the estate to cover their losses.

 

AUG castle

By 1769 the family could not carry on and the estate was put up for sale. It was finally sold in 1774 toMr Peter Birt for £14.000. Mr Birt had made his fortune from coal and canals in Yorkshire and had made enemies there among the woollen traders, so he felt it was time to move to pastures new.

In 1776 Peter Birt engaged stone masons and labourers and demolished the Thomas mansion, rebuilding in the same place a large mansion house with castellated battlements. The architect for this was Robert Adam. Adam was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), the country's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. Much of the original stone from the Thomas’ mansion was used in the new building but additional Bath stone was brought in from Cardiff docks. At one stage over 30 masons were engaged on the building. By the end of 1776 the roof was complete but the interior was so grand that it was not finished ten years later.

The castle has been variously described as “one of the finest houses standing anywhere in Wales” while another said it was “an extremely large but uninspired castellated mansion”. In appearance it had a long three storey south front. On either side there was a long low wing ending in a three storey pavilion with a smaller two story pavilion half way along each wing. The entrance was on the North side, facing Wenvoe village.

Over the years the Birt family married into the Jenner family and so the estate came into the hands of Robert Jenner in 1800. We know that in 1887 Mrs Laura Jenner, the widow of Robert Jenner was living in the Castle and she employed a large staff for a single lady. The family were rich because they derived a royalty, or income, from all the coal passing by train through their lands between 1890 and 1920. In the early 1900s the estate employed ten labourers, seven gardeners and a further twenty three beaters, quarrymen, masons and painters. In 1903 Mrs Jenner organised an outing for the estate workers and eighty people went to Bristol from Wenvoe station to visit Bristol Zoo.

The castle was mainly destroyed by a serious fire in 1910 and the remaining building was demolished in 1930. All that survives is the east pavilion together with the stable block, which is attributed not to Adam but to Henry Holland an architect who was working at Cardiff Castle in the late 1770’s.

1n 1936 Wenvoe Castle Golf Club opened, but during the war much of the golf course was ploughed to produce cereal crops, while the Club house became an officer’s mess. Since the war the golf Club has flourished and the Club Secretary Nicola Sims welcomes new members, especially from the village.

August 2016

Green Flag Award

 

We have heard that all three of our applications for a Green Flag award have been successful so the Upper Orchid Field, Community Orchard and Elizabethan Orchard will soon be displaying their award certificates. We have not yet seen the results for the rest of Wales but the probability is that we are the only village in South Wales, possibly all of Wales, to have three sites with Green Flags and we may have the first green space on farming land to have achieved accreditation.

Despite the indifferent and unpredictable weather the wildflower plantings are doing well and the Alps roundabout has been spectacular with its open and ‘sunny’ location. The blues of Borage and Bugloss came first followed by the oranges of Californian Poppy, Closer inspection (don’t try this when you are driving) reveals Clarkia, Cosmos, Zinnia and Coneflower.

We are grateful to Waitrose at Barry for including us as one of their charities for June. Unfortunately we heard too late to let people know for the June issue of Whats On so that they could consider voting for us. If you want to keep abreast of news from the group keep an eye on Facebook (Wenvoe Wildlife Group) which has up-to-date information and images. We would particularly like to hear from schools or other groups of young people as we can arrange guided visits, outdoor activities, pond-dipping etc.

The image in the photo is of a small bug and bee hotel which you will see popping up in our orchards. These can be purchased for a few pounds, look good and are used by solitary bees and wasps.

BIG LOTTERY FUND

We are delighted to inform you that Wenvoe Playgroup have been awarded £2,500 from the Big Lottery Fund's Awards for All programme. The grant will be used to replace the outdoor slide and to advertise the Playgroup services to a new audience of parents and children in Cardiff and the Vale area. This is part of the new Fundraising Strategy adopted by the Management Committee in January 2016 to generate new and additional sources of income for Wenvoe Playgroup. Thank you Big Lottery Wales!

Children’s corner

MAP GAME
You will need a map or and atlas. Choose a place name from the map and challenge your friend/parent to see if they can find it within a couple of minutes.
If they manage it, they choose the next place.. If they don’t find it show them on the map and choose another place for them to find.
You may be surprised to find some of the names of small villages.
This is a good game to play in the car to help make the time pass on a long journey.

August in the Garden

 

Well, we’re already more than halfway through the year and what a rotten summer it’s been so far. It seems to me that the few sunny days we’ve had have lacked warmth due to the continuous wind, and I mean wind and not gentle breezes. Already the winter seed catalogues are being delivered – I’ve had a few, almost before I’d planted out my summer bedding and I don’t really want to be thinking about winter pansies and primulas in July.

Recently my attention has been drawn to a couple of gardening questions in the newspaper that are appropriate to this dismal summer season.

First of all advice was sought as to what trees, if any can be planted in very wet ground. The answer is that very few trees like to be permanently waterlogged although the Swamp Cypress is a deciduous tree that thrives in the wet. The Alder and Aspen grow well in boggy ground, as do Willows, particularly the Weeping Willow.

The second questioner wanted a rescue plan for lawns that have been soaked repeatedly by heavy rain. The advice is as follows – Assist drainage by pushing a heavy garden fork into the earth, therefore breaking up the subsoil to allow the water to drain away more freely. If the grass has grown a lot longer than usual, raise your mower’s blades before the next cut. A few days later, when the grass has recovered, mow a second time with your blades at their usual height. Don’t be tempted to feed grass damaged by too much heavy rain as the roots won’t be able to take the nitrogen

Messy Church

How far can you slide on a soapy, wet, blue sheet of tarpaulin? It turns out the Wenvoe Messy Church children can slide all the way across and some ended up covered shoulders to toes in soapy bubbles! Even small toddlers were having fun slipping around and gave their parents an opportunity to join the kids and have ago! # AUG MessyC IMG_20160717_203255

This was all part of the summer spectacular;Messy Sports event for Messy Church. While joining in water games; hula hooping (Georgia was definitely the champion at this!); cross country skiing on planks of wood; stilt walking; a wet sponge water fight and a few games of human noughts and crosses; we were thinking about everyone joining in, working together and respect for others. We ended our afternoon with a short worship around the fire pit (our singing could be heard as far away as Wenvoe Close!) followed by hot dogs and toasting marshmallows on the camp fire.

Huge thanks go to the Messy Church organising team for putting on yet another marvelous family event. Messy Church is a collaboration between St Mary’s and Vale Village Churches and relies on a number of volunteers from the village and both churches who organise and run the event including, activities, worship, music and cooking. This includes, most importantly, ensuring that we have enough stickers for all the children to collect as they complete each task and making sure we include plenty of  “messy” activities in each session!

In particular for this event we’d like to thank the Gwenfo C-i-W Primary School who gave us free use of their sports field and fire pit. It was a wonderful location for this outdoor event and proved to be enough space for the activities to spread out so the wet and dry activities could be kept separate! It also allowed the parents to relax and let their children take part freely in whichever activity appealed to them next in a safe environment and for parents to join in with the event. We’d also like to thank 1st Wenvoe Scout Group for lending us some of their equipment, in particular the ‘plank skis’ and stilts. These really added to the challenges and enjoyment of the afternoon.# AUG MessyC IMG_20160717_203201

Finally, the next Messy Church event will be back in the Community Centre on Saturday 1st October at 3.30pm. If you'd like to be involved or find out more please contact Gary Smith on 07782 305 738, gary@igniteme.org or https://www.facebook.com/Messy-Church-Wenvoe- 928148507307912. We look forward to seeing you all there.

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