Month: October 2017

WENVOE CHRISTMAS CHATTERY

 

WENVOE CHRISTMAS CHATTERY

9th November starting at 10.30 in the Church Hall

Our Christmas Chattery traditionally takes place in November – we like to be different!

There will be a De Luxe Tombola and cake stall, in addition to the regular Tradecraft stall which will feature many Christmas goodies. Also featuring a raffle with the chance to win a festive hand made iced cake

Admission as usual is £2 which includes a ticket for the monthly raffle as well as refreshments

Everyone is welcome to join us for a happy, chatty gathering. All the money raised at Chattery throughout the year goes to the St Mary’s Church building fund

Carol Wyllie 02920592655

Sandra Davies 02920594335

 

 

Autumn Tasks

 

On a lovely autumn morning we did some work on the village green, shortening back the roses and trimming along the shrub border. Before the end of October the boxes and tubs will have been cleared of the remnants of summer bedding, ready to plant the bulbs. One meeting is planned for November, on the 13th at the usual time, 9.30am..

 

 

Afternoon Pear Cake

Afternoon Pear Cake

3 large eggs

150g granulated sugar

150g plain flour

30g cornflour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

90g butter, melted

4 – 5 ripe medium pears, peeled, cored, cut into chunks

icing sugar to dust

Preheat oven 180C. Line the base of a 23cm spring form tin with baking parchment. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until light in colour and fluffy. In a seperate bowl, sift together the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt. Whisk into the egg mixture, followed by the vinilla and melted butter. Fold in the pears with their juices. Pour the mixture into the tin. Bake for about 45 mins, until golden and a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, remove the parch-ment and dust the top with icing sugar. Serve on it's own or with double cream.

 

 

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Cake with Cream |Cheese Frosting

250g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

400g caster sugar

250ml vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

500g tinned pumpkin puree [see Mr Greedys tip]

4 large eggs

125g chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 180C. Prepare and line the base of a 20 x 30cm cake tin. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bi-carb of soda salt and cinnamon, set aside. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and oil. Blend in vanilla and pumpkin puree, then beat eggs in one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in nuts. Spread batter into prepared tin.Bake in preheated oven for 30 – 35 mins or until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool on a

wire rack, remove parchment and cover with the cream cheese frosting.

Cream cheese frosting

50g butter, room temperature,

225g cream cheese,

450g icing sugar,

2 tsp of vanilla extract.

Sift icing sugar into a bowl. In another bowl beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth and creamy. Add the sifted icing suger and vanilla ex-tract and beat until smooth. Cover cake and enjoy.

 

 

Portuguese Men of War

 

Those venturing out on our local beaches in South Wales in mid October may have been in for a surprise. Spread along the shore – there were maybe 400-500 on Rhossili beach – were Portuguese Men of War jellyfish. They are usually to be found out on the open ocean but the lively weather and post-hurricane storms drove many of them ashore. Although small, they are quite distinctive with a 'pasty-shaped' bladder which keeps them afloat but they are at the mercy of winds, tides and currents unlike many jellyfish which can swim to a degree.

Strictly speaking they are not jellyfish but an aggregation of different individuals known as a siphonophore. Also unlike many jellyfish the stings from the venomous tentacles, which can be up to 10 metres long, can still be activated long after the creature is dead so resist the temptation to touch it and keep dogs well away. They have few predators although Loggerhead Turtles, Blue Sea Slugs and the Violet Snail will all happily munch away at them. The young Blanket Octopus will even carry broken bits of tentacle which can be used either in attack or defence

 

 

Scout Post 2017

 

Wenvoe Scout Group are once again taking part in the Cardiff and Vale Scout Post. The stamps, are now available and remain at 25p each. Please buy your stamps locally, this helps support the 1st Wenvoe Scout Group. See the advert below for local stamp availability, post box locations and the areas covered by the Scout Xmas mail service.

The last day for posting this year is

Monday 4th December.

WHY NOT LEND A HAND

The Scout Post requires adult support to carry out the majority of work involved. Each evening of the sorting week we need people to help sort cards into the different areas. Our sorting office is set up in the Community Centre leisure room. We also require somebody to go to Llandaff each evening to exchange the sorted mail with the other participating scout groups and collect the mail for the Wenvoe area. By the end of the week with all the local mail sorted into roads we require deliverers. We are responsible for mail in Wenvoe , Brooklands area, Twyn-yr-Odyn, St Lythans, Dyffryn and The Downs. It is at this stage the whole family can lend a hand with a short walk in the area.

We will be sorting at the Community Centre at the following dates and times

Saturday 2ndd Dec. @ 7.00pm

Sunday 3rdh Dec @ 2.30pm

Monday 4th Dec @ 7.00pm

Tuesday 5th Dec @ 7.00pm

Wednesday 6th Dec. @ 7.45pm

Mail exchange starts on Saturday 2nd December and continues until Wednesday 6th December. Delivery of the mail starts on Saturday 9th December.

If you would like to lend a hand with any of the activities involved please contact Martin Williams 20593345 or e-mail wenvoescoutgroup@gmail.com, Ian Moody 20594573 or Jane Fenton-May 20593221 or any leader connected with the scout group. Those who have assisted in the past have found it an enjoyable experience.

NOTE – The Scout post covers Cardiff and most of the Vale but does NOT include Beddau, Bridgend, Castleton, Church Village, Coychurch, Kenfig, Llantrisant, Llantwit Fadre, Marshfield, Miskin, North Cornelly, Ogmore & Garw Valley, Pencoed, Pontyclun, Porthcawel, Talbot Green, Tonteg which are all outside our area.

 

 

Christmas Plans

 

As we enter the festive season the Wenvoe Library Christmas Cards are on sale at £4.00 for a pack of ten, each pack featuring one of two local scenes photographed by Roy Carr, local photographer extraordinaire. These are for sale in the library and all proceeds go towards the library funds.

There will also be a Christmas Raffle of food and drink items, tickets on sale in the library.

The Digital Drop-in sessions are proving popular with those wishing to get more understanding of how to use their lap-top, tablet or smartphone; these still need to be booked in advance and are normally on a one-to-one basis. If you are nervous about, say, joining Facebook, or using any other apps instruction will be given in how to do so safely and how to see the people you want to see without losing your privacy; and if you use Facebook you can Follow our regular page of information and celebration.

The Lego mornings were very successful over the summer holidays and it is expected that we will be running some more in December; it would be marvellous if anyone has any more Lego to donate.

New book arrivals October 2017

An absolute plethora of new books for this month – 26 fiction titles and 12 non-fiction titles. Here are a selection, they are all on display on the first bookshelf when you go into the Library

Fiction

Taking Liberties             Helen Black

Origin                            Dan Brown

Don’t Let Go                  Harlan Coben

Back Home                  Bethan Darwin

Wychwood                   George Mann

Last Breath                 K Slaughter

The Hit                       Anna Smith

Non Fiction

Recycled Home                   Mark Bailey

Victoria and Albert              Daisy Goodwin

London Time Out

What we see in the Stars            Kelsey Oseid

Plus many more tempting titles available in OUR Community Library

 

 

 

October’s book

 

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

This is a classic novel, written in 1868 and declared to be the first detective story. It is number 19 in the 100 best books on the Guardian list.

To quote Carolyn G Heilbrun from Goodreads. “The Moonstone unfolds its amazing story through the recounting of several narrators, all of them enticing and singular. Wilkie Collin’s spellbinding tale of romance, theft, and murder inspired a hugely popular genre – the detective mystery. Hanging on the theft of an enormous diamond originally stolen from an Indian shrine, the novel features the innovative Sgt Cuff, the hilarious house steward Gabriel Betteridge, a lovesick housemaid and a mysterious band of Indian jugglers.”

The majority of us thoroughly enjoyed it. Our descriptions were:- Each character really well drawn; intricate, fascinating with its old use of language; style of different narrators interesting. At times it felt too wordy and simplistic but the humour was good and the weaving of detail was excellent. There is a happy ending, always heartening. It has all the ingredients for a good read: wit, romance, theft, murder, a bit fanciful and lovely language.

There were 2 dissenters who felt their heart wasn’t in it, it was slow, verbose and difficult to get through to the end.

Our scores were mainly good, we had one 9, the overall score came out as 7. That is definitely a recommended read. The Moonstone was made into a film in 1934 and a BBC TV film was made in 1997 starring Greg Wise and Keeley Hawes so good reading or good viewing ahead!.

 

 

1 2 3 4