Month: May 2018

May News and Events

 

The month of May opened with the feast day of St. Philip and St James, known to many as the feast of “Phil and Jim”, and May Day brings to mind the young maidens of the village dancing around the May Pole. How things have changed, with May Day being associated with parades, gatherings of working people to air their grievances and demand better working conditions, and the Bank Holiday transferred to the first Monday of the month. This year the weather was glorious and many a picnic or barbeque was organised to take advantage of warm sunny days after the long cold winter.

The good weather continued until Messy Church on the 5th May was held in the Gwenfo School grounds, when the theme of the afternoon was the Exodus of the Isrealites from Egypt to the “Promised Land”. Much fun was had in the children’s painted footprints being printed on a roll of paper symbolising the long trek all those years ago, and the inners of toilet rolls were made into representations of Moses who led the people out of slavery into freedom. The session ended with food and toasted marshmallows around the camp fire. All in all, once again a good gathering of parents and children who would not normally attend the more formal services in church.

Early in the month, Jude Billingham, gave a presentation in church, to introduce the Christian Aid appeal this month, featuring the building of homes in Haiti and other islands devastated by hurricanes and storms, which are strong enough to withstand the force of the winds and rain. We heard how one such house sheltered over 50 people during the storm, when their flimsy houses were destroyed, saving their lives and keeping them safe while the storm raged. These are simple houses that can be built quickly for around £50.00, and the appeal is focused on provided as many of these homes as quickly as possible. The house to house collection took place in the week commencing the 13th May and the result will not be known until mid June. This year the planned Big Brekkie did not take place, but the school has arranged a Big Breakfast at Lunch time and a no uniform day on Friday 18th May to raise money for the appeal, plus the money raised at the Lent Lunches and Agape supper there was also a collecting box in the local shop, the end result could be greater than last year.

Work started on digging the “French Drains” on the South side of the church, which means digging down at least a metre in depth. Archeologists were on hand to supervise the excavations for any artefacts and bones that might be found in the trenches. A new “soakaway” was also constructed under the path to the porch, to drain the rain water from the roof. This work was carried out by Mike who also dug the other drains last year. This work in necessary to eliminate damp creeping up the walls of the Nave, and is being funded from our Building Fund, using money received from the appeals made from time to time to top up this fund. St Mary’s is a

Grade 2 listed building in constant need of work to keep it in good order. Contributions toward future work will always be acceptable.

The Feast of Pentecost was celebrated on May 20th, this is commonly known as the “Birthday of the Church” when the Holy Spirit descended on the Disciples gathered in the Upper Room and is 50 days after Easter. A week later Trinity Sunday began the long season of “Sundays after Pentecost” lasting until The Kingdom Season” in the Autumn.

The three parishes have been responding to the appeal for Helen Ormrod SRN to raise money for her to be on The Mercy Ship which provides health care to impoverished place around the world. Helen has to raise £3000 to be able to be part of the team on board. Already there was the “Guess the Weight of the Simnel Cake” and “How many mini eggs was in the jar” and on the evening of Friday 25th May an “Evening of Entertainment with Johnny Tudor and Olwen Rees” was held in the Wenvoe Community Centre to help swell the fund.

St. Mary’s needs a new Gift Aid Secretary. Allen Oliver and Lynn are retiring after 16 years in office. This post is very important to St. Mary’s and St. Lythan’s churches to enable tax rebates to be collected from HM Customs on gift aid donations. At the Annual Vestry Meeting Allen and Lynn were thanked for the contribution they have made over the years. Now we seek a replacement Gift Aid Secretary to continue this work, for without the tax rebates our church finances would be not be as healthy as they are.

Thank you for taking the time to read this

Parry Edwards

 

 

WENVOE VILLAGE SHOW

WENVOE VILLAGE SHOW SATURDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER


Just a quick reminder of the village show. The full list of entry categories will be published next month and will include produce, crafts, photography and flowers. There will also be community events during the judging period based in the village to entertain adults and children alike. We are still happy to accept help from anyone interested, so feel free to contact us and we would be delighted to hear from you.
Thanks from Heulwen and Sue, available on the following numbers – Heulwen 07411178797 Sue 07880936301
I am sure that we can make this years event an occasion to be remembered. Thanks and we look forward to seeing you there

 

 

AGM Report

 

Our AGM was held in May and two representatives from Federation House were present to oversee the proceedings. Our members voted unanimously in favour of the national resolution which this yea concerns mental health matters keeping parallel with physical health. Delegates will vote accordingly at national level this month.

The financial report was presented in June’s absence and as our retiring treasurer, we wish her well as she recovers from recent surgery. Secretary Pam gave a detailed and interesting report on our previous year.

The president’s address carried a “ Thank you Theme “ when Madeleine thanke committee members and all the WI ladies for all they had done and given to our institute, especially at those times in her absence,when everyone worked together to produce successful events. Madeleine also expressed her pleasure that after a few years, Pam Hodge has renewed her membership of our institute. It will be good to have her join us.

The committee for 2018/19 is as follows:-

President – Madeleine Rees.

Vice President- Margaret Morant.

Secretary – Pam Ewington.

Treasurer- Jayne Aust

Committee Members. Shirley Hammond,

Maria Williams,

Janet Young.

The WI advisor praised our instate forits success and warmth and we look forward to another year.Next meeting is at the church hall on June 7th at 7pm when we will be welcoming back Viv Truran with more of her humorous stories.Visitors are very welcome to come along.

A reminder that our charity afternoon tea is on June 15th at the community centre, 3-5 pm.Donations for raffle and tombola will be very welcome.at our June meeting.

 

 

Meeting Rescheduled

 

Put it down to a senior moment, but when I chose a date for our May meeting I had forgotten about the early May Bank Holiday which just happened to be on that Monday. Apologies for my error. We have missed so many meetings this year but maybe we’ll be lucky this month so we will try for June 11th. Meet as usual, at 9.30 at the Community Centre.

 

 

Mercy Ships and Faberge Jewellery

 

Mrs Sheila Pugh visited us on April 18th, and gave us a very interesting talk on the Mercy ships, and the wonderful work done by those who volunteer to work on them. The ship is stationed each year at a port, mostly in Africa, where it becomes a hospital,carrying out surgery and treatments doctors, nurses, teachers etc, at their own expense volunteer to spend 10 months of the year helping the poor people of these countries. Receive medical aid .This coming year it will be in port in Guinea.

On April 25th Mrs Lilian Charles came to tell us the history of Faberge jewellery. via the screen she showed us numerous pictures of Faberge eggs and jewellery all sparkling with diamonds, and mostly made for an occasion .Then we were treated to a few real pieces from Mrs Charles own collection

Dr Neville Evans visited us on May 2nd with his on his childhood experiences, this was part two of his talk, and as before, very humorous .

We were looking forward to Mr John Sheen’s new talk on May 9th,and we were not disappointed. Mr Sheen sees the the funny side of every day life and with his acting experience tells it all so well.

Diary of events

June. 6th. Afternoon tea

June. 13th Donald Knight. ‘The art of Bonzai’

June20th Wenvoe school choir

June 27th Bruce Hawkins. ‘Naughty ladies in history’

 

 

Ice Trap by Kitty Sewell

 

Ice Trap by Kitty Sewell Published 2007

Dafydd Woodruff, a young surgeon, experienced the horror of making a near fatal mistake on the operating table. Very shaken by this he takes a locum position in Northern Canada in a remote community Moose Creek to help overcome the guilt he suffered. He returns to Cardiff and fifteen years later he’s a consultant surgeon in the Heath Hospital and is married to Isobel, an interior designer. Their marriage is crumbling under the pressure of infertility.

Dafydd receives a letter from Moose Creek from a teenager, Miranda, claiming that he is the father of her and her twin brother. Her mother, Sheila, is the head nurse of the hospital there, with whom Dafydd is adamant that he had never had an intimate relationship. However, DNA results prove Dafydd wrong. His marriage by now is extremely unstable. In his effort to unearth the truth he returns to Moose Creek and stumbles upon long buried Moose Creek secrets.

It took very little time to establish that to varying degrees everybody disliked the book. It was felt that one would have to stretch one’s imagination to the limits to have any belief in the characters or story line. It was said to be not well written, boring, tiresome, very flat, and it’s only minor interest was that it was partly set in Cardiff and Penarth. Nobody felt that they would recommend the book. Not surprisingly the score was 3 out of ten.

 

 

Squash and Pasta

Roast Squash with
Moroccan Spices


! butternut squash, about 1kg
8 small shallots
1 tbsp. harissa
3 tbsp. garlic olive oil + extra for drizzling
450g can of butter beans, rinsed and drained
100g baby spinach leaves
1 rounded tsp clear honey


To serve: Couscous flecked with chopped coriander, lemon wedges
Heat oven to 180C. Cut squash into chunky wedges, deseed and peel. Scatter the squash onto a large shallow baking tray. Peel and halve the shallots lengthways. Scatter over the squash. Mix the harissa and oil together and pour over the vegetables. Gen-tle toss together with your fingers and season with fresh black pepper. Roast for about 2o mins until squash is tender and the shallots starting to brown. Shake tray half way through cooking. A few mins before the end of roasting, tip the butter beans over the squash, toss briefly in the juices, then return to the oven to warm through. Remove from the oven and scatter the spinach over. Gently toss together without breaking the squash until the spinach starts to wilt. Drizzle with the honey and olive oil, season with sea salt and fresh black pepper. Serve with the couscous and lemon wedges.


Pasta with Garlicky Greens


1 tbsp garlic olive oil
3 leeks finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
250g baby spinach leaves
200ml double cream
400g orecchiette or other short pasta
75g blue cheese, crumbled


Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the leeks and garlic and soften for about 10 mins. Stir in spinach leaves and allow to wilt for a few mins. Add the cream, stir and remove from the heat. Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water. Drain well and return to the sauce pan, stir in the leek sauce. Serve in bowls with crumbled blue cheese on top. Serve with good crusty fresh bread, and may be a glass or two of good Italian white wine.

 

 

Things to Do This Month

The Cherry blossom on the village green in early May was just fantastic. You would be hard pressed to find a nicer village view anywhere than that from the corner of Vennwood Close by Ty pica farm house, looking towards the church. A lot of effort has been going on around the Village with residents planting out their gardens to put on a good show. If you need inspiration the usual suspects are at it. Silvia Davies, opposite the Walston Castle, always provides a great visual entrance into Wenvoe. The renowned Gerry Crump and the forever young Ieuan Williams, both excellent gardeners, are the supremoes of Rectory close. And of course, there are many more around the village.

The Royal Horticultural Society things to do list for this month: –

1. Keep borders weed free by hoeing regularly.

2. Be water wise, especially in drought conditions.

3. Pinch outside shoots on tomatoes.

4. Harvest lettuce, radish and early potatoes.

5. Mow lawns every week.

6. Plant out summer bedding.

7. Stake tall or floppy plants.

8. Prune spring flowering shrubs.

9. Shade greenhouses to avoid scorching.

10. Keep bird baths topped up with fresh water.

June is the month when gardeners who enter competitions position their hanging baskets and containers outside. These need a lot of care and attention but are stunning to see. If you have the time to do this the results are worth it.

This year saw a problem with Moles in gardens on the edges of the village. There are only two ways to get rid of them. You can either trap them or use a sonic device that will probably move them on to your neighbours who won't be best pleased.

You will need to cut back Spring flowering shrubs if you have not already done so. Deciduous Magnolias need to be trimmed back as soon as they are in full leaf. If you leave this job till later in the year it can cause die back and ruin the look for next Spring.

Greenhouse work never ends with trying to control the temperature and dealing with pests on our precious tomatoes. Red spider mite is a nuisance and caught early is easy to control by washing them off the plants with plain water. An infestation can only be controlled by insecticide. Keeping the greenhouse humid is a good way to deter them.

Any gaps in the borders at this time of year are best filled with annual bedding plants for instant colour. It's not too late to sow fast growing and late flowering hardy annuals such as Calendula and Godetia. Hellebore seeds can be harvested and then planted as soon as possible. You know if they are ripe when you you squeeze the pod and it splits easily. These seeds will test your patience as they need a period of dormancy to germinate. Perennials such as Hollyhock, Delphinium and Lupin seeds can be planted now.

Plastic has been in the headlines for some time now and most of the supermarket chains have plans to either use recyclable or compostable pots on their own labelled plants within the next couple of years. Garden centres are a bit slower on the uptake with only a few offering any time scale on plastic reduction. Monty Don has been banging the drum on this subject in his latest series of Gardeners World. The convenience of collecting our compost etc in plastic bags is adding to the pollution.

I am really looking forward to Wenvoe gardens full of colour this Summer. Don't forget the sun screen, take care and happy gardening.

 

 

1 2 3 4