Month: February 2017

Preparing Body and Soul for thee Year Ahead

 

 

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PREPARING  FOR THE YEAR AHEAD

 

ex07We probably all ate too much over Christmas and the New Year and some of us possibly drank too much alcohol as well. February is therefore, not surprisingly, the peak time for gym membership as individuals sign up in an effort to lose those extra pounds. The gloomy dark winter days are brightening now as we gain two more minutes of daylight each day, and we look forward to spring. Some people do suffer from these dark days of winter and that is understandable, but happily it is possible to take steps to improve the “well-being” you feel and it is not difficult.

So let’s consider looking after our body and soul for the year ahead, and let us begin with our bodies. Wenvoe What’s On has regularly carried articles about the joy of walking, and cycling. We all know that ex03exercise is an excellent way of keeping fit and healthy and shedding the odd pound. The gyms and fitness centres are there as well and the Western Leisure Centre in Ely is just over a mile from ex01Wenvoe. For those who need a private fitness centre the Copthorne hotel at Culverhouse Cross has a gym and pool and welcomes non-residents.

Linked with fitness is a good diet and this subject is covered in very many books. But it is easy to summarise the essential point which is that we should all eat a balanced diet; that is to say a daily intake of fruit and vegetables, high fibre from bread and cereals and dairy products with reduced fat. We should generally eat more beans and pulses with two portions of fish a week, and less red and processed meat. Take aways and ready meals are generally to be avoided except as a rare treat.

fruitThere are three foods which are particularly good for you. First – eat an apple every day. The old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is apparently Welsh in origin and it holds true today. As one of the most cultivated and consumed fruits in the world, apples are continuously being praised as a "miracle food". Apples are extremely rich in important antioxidants, flavonoids, and dietary fibre. The phytonutrients and antioxidants in apples may help reduce the risk of developing cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Secondly the Mediterranean Diet which is largely based on vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, cereal grains, olive oil and fish is proven to give good health including a healthier heart. A recent study found that people following a Mediterranean diet had a 30% lower risk of heart disease and stroke. Details of this diet can easily be found on the web or in a book from Wenvoe librmuesiliary.

The third special food is Muesli which was developed by Dr Bircher-Benner a Swiss nutritionist who in 1900 developed a dish based on raw rolled oats and other ingredients including grains, fresh or dried fruits, seeds and nuts, and may be mixed with cow's milk, soy milk, almond milk, other forms of plant milk, yogurt or fruit juice. This was given to patients in hospital to speed their recovery. It proved a great success and is now mass produced and can be bought in supermarkets or made at home.

The last line in looking after the body has to be to ensure good sleep. People often find this more difficult as they get older. Exercise certainly helps, as does sleeping with some fresh air in the room; but if all else fails try a herbal tea like Camomile or “Sleepytime”, the latter is sold by Beanfreaks in St Mary Street and pretty much ensures a good eight hours.

In looking after the soul – this does not necessarily mean going to church – though that can certainly be part of it. It is a matter of seeking spiritual well-being. This includes connecting with others – friends and family or even through sport and club membership. It means keeping active and getting out and about, and possibly learning a new skill or hobby or taking up adult education such as an evening class. Finally there is the need to “give” whether as a volunteer or just as a simple act of kindness, and always be mindful of the needs of others whether family – friends or strangers. These things together should bring nourishment to the soul.

 

 

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Graffiti Problem

 

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GRAFFITI

Is this your child’s handiwork?

Do you recognise their handwriting?

 

In the last few weeks the use purple spray paint graffiti has appeared around the village. A rude word on fencing near the Walston Castle has been removed. The paint on the stonework of the boundary wall near the park will be more difficult to cover up. The spray on the telephone box windows can be cleaned.

If you have any information on the perpetrator(s), the Community Council wish to know

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gwenfo School News

 

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We would like to wish you all a Happy New Year!

The children have settled back to school really well and we have a very busy and exciting term ahead of us, including Welsh Week and Arts Week.

Year 6 visited Cardiff Museum to learn more about their Blitz topic. They thoroughly enjoyed the day and learn lot – as evidence by the photograph on Twitter. They were a real credit to our school. Still on the topic of The Blitz, Years 5 and 5 are having an Evacuee Day next week!

 

techniquestReception had a wonderful trip to Techniquest and enjoyed a presentation in the planetarium. As with Year 6, they were a credit to the school- well done, Reception!

Other classes have trips to come up, including Year 1 and 2 who will be visiting St David’s Hall for their topic on The Orchestra and Year 3 and 4 who will be visiting Techniquest.

 

We have had some super new equipment delivered for our Foundation Phase outdoor area and are eagerly awaiting our new Infant Writer Shed!

It will be half term before we know it!.

 

 

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AGM and The Wild Orchard

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We held our 10th AGM in January with 28 attending – not many organisations get such a good turnout. However we still need practical help from people who might be able to contribute the odd hour here and there. So if part of your New Year's resolution is to get fitter and healthier and help to Save the Planet, do get in touch. Absolutely no experience necessary.

 

 

 

 

Much of our work in January was concentrated on the Wild Orchard – so where and what is it? This orchard runs along the noticeboard 2edge of a field at the eastern edge of St Lythans. It is a public footpath that runs from the road between Twyn yr Odyn and St Lythans (metal kissing gate by metal gate and ST 1115/7324 if you have a GPS) and eventually reaches another footpath which connects Wenvoe Woods and St Lythans Church. From the road, walk through one field, over a stile and the orchard starts just beyond this point. It is a linear orchard running along the edge of the field and currently has around 60 trees planted, marked with bamboo canes. There is a bench and noticeboard.orchard

 

 

 

The orchard is called 'Wild' because all the trees are of native fruit, including Crab-apple, Wild Pear, Wild Plum, Wild Cherry, Bird Cherry, Bullace, Cherry Plum, Chequers Tree and Hazel. We are gradually introducing a labelling code where each bamboo cane will have a colour tape corresponding to the type of tree and the code is on a notice on the noticeboard. The canes are there so that we can find the trees throughout the year – there are some vigorous nettles growing here and in the past we have lost some of the shorter trees in the vegetation. Hopeful-ly we now have it under control. The public footpath is becoming more and more popular with walkers and it is nice to see the bench being used regularly

 

 

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The Final Garden Notes

 

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welliesIt’s never easy for our birds to find all the right nutrition they need and it’s even more difficult in the cold days of winter and early spring. It’s up to us to help out by making sure we always provide nourishment and water, and we’ll be rewarded by regular visits, not only from birds which are very familiar to us, but some we don’t see that often. Recent visitors to our garden have been a nuthatch, flocks of long tailed tits and even a rare visit from a thrush.

Garden centres provide a variety of choice bird food from seed to peanuts to dried mealy worms, the latter so loved by robins, but buying these in large quantities can prove expensive, so why not investigate your own larder to see what you can utilise to supplement what you have to buy, such as the afore mentioned products? I can tell you not much goes to waste in our kitchen. If we think it’s OK for the birds we save it and the list is endless and most of it is leftover- cheese, bacon fat, biscuit crumbs, bread, cooked pasta, grapes, apples etc. Before fat balls were on the market we even made our own bird cake – oats, cereal, sultanas, currants, nuts, bound together with melted fat and cut up when solidified. If you grow sunflowers, save the dead heads to hang in from a branch. They don’t look very attractive but the seeds are full of valuable nutrition and the birds love them.

Does anyone remember a pheasant which was a regular visitor to gardens on Walston Road many years ago? We used to put out peanuts for him and eventually he became quite used to us and would feed from our hands and we grew quite used to seeing him around.

This is my final piece in its present form, having provided the magazine with gardening notes since it was started, during which time many aspects of gardening have been covered, and I feel I have very little else to say. However if someone would like to take over from me, please get in touch with the editors.

 

In the meantime, if any reader has a gardening question let me know through What’s On and I’ll do my best to give you an answer.

 

From the Editor

Rumor has it that someone has volunteered to step into Trevor's Wellingtons.   Watch this space for when Trevor's Garden may morph into The Wenvoe Garden Guru

 

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Meeting Schedule February

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The group had a brief meeting in January in which the village Christmas tree was taken down and cut up for disposal. It was a larger tree this year and I’m sure you’ll agree that it was a focal point in the village.

Our next meeting will be on the 6th February as usual at the Community Centre at 9.30 when we may have a walk about to spot areas that could need attention.

 

Remember

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Fish Pie with Lemon and Herb Mash

 

 

Fish Pie with Lemon and Herb Mash

 

Approx 1kg maris piper potatoes

60g unsalted butter

350ml semi skimmed milk

1 lemon zested

2 tbsp dill, finley choppedpie

1 tbsp flat leafed parsley chopped

3 med leaks, thinley sliced

3 med carrots, quartered and chopped

60g plain flour

200ml double cream

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp chives, chopped

750g mix of fish [haddock, cod, salmon] cut into bit sized pieces

250g peeled king prawns

4 eggs, hard boiled and quartered

Preheat oven 1600C fan. Boil the potatoes, mash with an extra knob of butter and 50ml of the milk. Stir in the lemon zest, dill and parsley, season to taste, Set aside. In a separate small pan par boil the carrots, drain and set aside. In another pan, on a lower heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook for about 2 mins to make a paste. Gradually stir in the remaining milk and cream to make a thick white sauce, season. Stir in the mustard and chives. Don’t let the sauce catch in the pan. In a medium pie dish, mix the fish, prawns, carrots and leeks, top with the egg quatrers, pour over the white sauce. Top with the mash. Dot with knobs of butter and bake for about 30 mins until golden

A good hearty meal on it’s own, or with crusty bread and a glass of white wine.

 

 

 

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Oxfam Shop Penarth

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I am sure that every What’s On reader has heard of Oxfam and knows at least something about their work. Equally everyone knows that Oxfam has charity shops throughout the country one of the first charities to establish such shops.

Oxfam has a number of shops in south Wales some of which are specialist shops such as books and music whilst others such as the Penarth shop are ‘generic’ in that they sell a whole range of goods such as second hand clothes, bric a brac, music, books, children’s toys – in fact anything other than electrical items  and fairtrade goods. Each shop usually has a paid manager and everyone else is a volunteer. The Penarth shop has to be staffed by volunteers to open a minimum of 48 hours a week plus all those people behind the scenes sorting out donations and then valuing and pricing them.

I have always had a commitment and concern for developing countries since Jude, my wife, began promoting fair trade goods in 1977 although it has to be said I have never been given any responsibility beyond carrying boxes! When I retired I wanted to use some of my time volunteering for Oxfam and as I have an interest in music and non classical vinyl in particular I have been cleaning, valuing and pricing vinyl for the last 8-9 years firstly in the town shop and more recently in Penarth.

It’s perhaps worth putting to bed a few of the myths about volunteering certainly in the Oxfam shops and that is that volunteers do not get first pick on what comes in or a discount of any kind. Neither does the shop sell all the ‘best stuff’ on line. What volunteers do get is the satisfaction of contributing to the work of Oxfam, meeting interesting people – both customers and fellow volunteers and in my case the privilege of going through dusty old vinyl!

Here are three suggestions for you to consider. Firstly if you are beginning the New Year wanting to do something different with your time then think about volunteering for Oxfam in Penarth. You do not need to have any experience as training can be provided but equally you may have a particular expertise that you can offer. You can give the new manager Caroline a ring, without any commitment, to discuss more about what is involved.

Secondly you may feel that your time is fully committed so may I suggest you consider helping by donating unwanted items to the shop. Some of you will have noticed that there has been a massive vinylresurgence in vinyl amongst young people over the last year or so and this has fed through to a large demand for second hand vinyl. We are in urgent need of vinyl donations of any genre so please think about rescuing that vinyl you may have tucked away in your loft and bringing it along to Penarth! Large donations can be picked up. Of course donations of all kind are equally welcome. We pride ourselves on obtaining the best possible price for any donations received.

Finally if you are unable to do any of the above then please pay the shop a visit when you are next in Penarth  you will be surprised what we have in stock. If you are one of those people who have revived their interest in vinyl then you may just find that LP you gave away many years ago and now want to listen to again!!

For more information contact Caroline Mumford, Manager, Oxfam Shop, 8/8a Windsor Street, Penarth CF64 1JH. Tel: 02920 706358

Nigel Billingham

 

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Snails, Slugs and a Very Rare Tree

 

 

Snails and slugs

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Snails and slugs may not quite get the pulse racing like Cheetas and Gazelles but they are a lot more practically useful in and around the Parish. Without them and the other small denizens that munch their way through fallen leaves and other vegetation we would soon be disappearing under a mountain of debris. Those who have visited Molluscopolis on the Upper Orchid Field may have learned a bit about the variety of different snails you can find here but a relatively new one is the Girdled Snail. SEWBREC, who record all wildlife sightings for South East Wales, this month asked people to look out for the Girdled Snail as they had very few records for the whole of Wales. This is a Mediterranean species, first noted in Britain (Devon) in 1950 but spreading steadily up the country. It is usually found in gardens and waste ground and is very easy to identify as it has a distinctive pale -coloured girdle or keel around its middle. Within a couple of hours we found the one shown in the photo which was perched on a plastic composter, just waiting to be recorded. The chances are there will be several hundred in Wenvoe so, gardeners in particular, look out for them and, if you find them let the Wildlife Group know.

The Service Treeservice tree

The Upper Orchid Field has been host to a very rare tree, Sorbus domestica, commonly known as The Service Tree. It grows in a few locations in South Wales and ours fell off the cliffs near Fontygary and was spotted on the shoreline. It was replanted in our field but has never been very happy as the site is both damper and shadier that it would ideally want so it is heading back to a safe location near Fontygary where hopefully it can prosper and reproduce. We still hope that in the future we will be able to provide a home for a a couple of these in a suitable location so that we can help consolidate and expand the population. We have already planted in the Upper Orchid Field, the Wild Orchard and the Community Orchard a close relative Sorbus torminalis, The Chequers Tree, the fruit of which was once used in brewing and which many pubs are names after.

 

 

 

 

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Shopping Online

 

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Do you shop online for you or your business? Did you know that you can support us from home if you shop online?

You can support us by just doing your normal weekly shop, booking your holidays or purchasing your insurance with easyfundraising.co.uk

Wenvoe Playgroup have registered with the site, where over 3,000 retailers and companies are registered. Every time you shop, it costs you nothing extra, however, the retailer makes a donation to our pot.

So next time you shop online, do it using this link and raise a free donation for Wenvoe Playgroup? In fact use it every time you shop!

https:// www.easyfundraising.org.uk/wenvoeplaygroup/.

A big thank you to those who are already supporting us.

Wenvoe Playgroup are operating 5 days per week from the Village Hall, working with Gwenfo Nursery in offering longer hours to support working parents.

Why not visit our website and view our Statement of Purpose and Operational Plan to see how we can help? There is also a link to our email from the site.

You can register your interest at any time. We care for children from the age of 2 years 4 months to 4 years 11 months and are registered with Care Standards and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW).

We have a number of events planned throughout the year, so please keep a watchful eye on our section in the What’s On.

We have ‘Marcia Bassey Jones’ Drag Night planned for 5th May and an evening of Mediumship with Nataly Churchill planned for June. More details nearer the date.

 

 

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