Month: December 2018

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

 

The Armistice was remembered at the church and the Village War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday. One hundred years from the signing and coming into force of the Armistice in the Great War, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, in 1918, we remembered the young men of the village who did not return from the battlefields of Belgium and France. Remembrance Sunday dawned with heavy rain, but soon the clouds cleared and we were blessed with brilliant sunshine as we gathered from church for the Silence and Laying of Wreaths at the war memorial. There was an exceptionally large crowd of people, both in church and those waiting while the Vale Brass Band played suitable music as the procession, headed by the cross bearer and choir, followed by the Beavers and Scouts made their way for the second part of the day’s commemorations. Wreaths were laid by the Churchwarden, the Scouts, Wenvoe Community Council, and Wenvoe School. The words of “The Fallen” and “The Four Epitaphs” were read by Mr Philip Morant and the services were led by Parry Edwards, the Licenced Diocesan Reader at St. Mary’s.

The day’s commemoration also included the Royal Air Force, which had celebrated their centenary on the 1st April this year, and we remembered how people reacted to the peace and the effects on lives from the events of the previous four years. It was said that given the enormous rate of fatalities and casualties, that no family in Britain was left untouched by the conflict. Money taken at the collection in church was this year divided between the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal and the Royal Air Force Benevolent fund, and cheques for £150 each have been sent on to them.

A thank you to Ray Harris who devised the service, to Isis printers for printing it, to the Vale of Glamorgan under their Music Director Colin Thomas for playing the hymn, “Reveille” and “the Last Post”, to the Wenvoe Community Council for providing the sound system, to the Church social committee for the teas/coffees after the service, and lastly to the people of Wenvoe who turned out in such good numbers to be present, to remember the fallen, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

The Christmas Chattery on November 8th was very well attended with many from the village and friends meeting up for a coffee and chat. The morning gathering raised £287 for the church building fund.

The COMMUNITY CAROL SERVICE at St Mary’s takes place at 7.00pm on Wednesday the 19th December, followed by mulled wine and mince pies at the Community Centre, hosted by the Wenvoe Community Council. This is now a well established date in the Christmas Season with readers invited to take part from village organisations.. O COME LET US ADORE HIM.

Details of the Church Services over the Christmas period can be found elsewhere in ’What’s On”. A Christmas Card giving all the times is being distributed around the homes in the parish.

VISION 2020 is the name for the project in hand, of building an extension to St. Mary’s church. As reported in last months “What’s On” due to the sudden death of our architect Richard Dean, it was necessary to find another architect to take on the work. A recent meeting of the PCC has invited Michael Placeman of Sutton Davies Architects to take on the design of the proposed extension and also to be our own church architect. A preliminary meeting has already taken place and we await revised drawings and ideas of how we should proceed. Watch this space.

CHRISTIAN AID APPEAL with a contribution from EU. The treasurer reported on the amount we raised from the recent “Scarecrow Festival” which came to £700, This amount is increased 5 fold by the EU as their support of the work done by Christian Aid throughout the world. This amount included a donation from St. Lythan’s and Sully church sent their contribution separately.

Following the recent visit of our new architect, who was asked to examine the church floors that are covered by carpet, it was discovered that the underlay and carpets are soaking wet with condensation. They have to be taken up as the Victorian tiling underneath is being damaged, with staining and a white salt deposit growing as a result of the damp conditions. It was resolved to remove the carpeting in the New Year. The reason for the inspection was the plan to lower the Chancel Floor to a gradual slope, eliminating the Chancel Step, which is considered to be a hazard (Health and Safety and all that). The plan also includes under-floor heating, taking away the standing radiators. A Faculty for the work is being submitted to the DAC for approval.

Blessings to all readers. Have a Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year.

Parry Edwards

 

 

MIDNIGHT MASS

 

MIDNIGHT MASS

Christmas Eve Service at St Mary’s Church Wenvoe

This will be my fifth Christmas as Priest in Charge at the Parish of Wenvoe. During this time we have always celebrated the First Communion of Christmas (commonly known as Midnight Mass) with a service starting at 11.30pm on Christmas Eve. This will definitely continue to be the case this year in 2018. However, several people have mentioned to me that this service is too late for them to attend. I thought it would be interesting therefore to conduct a Straw Poll to see if people would prefer this service to be at 9.30pm in future years. A copy of the voting form is shown. If you usually attend this service, or if you would like to attend this service in the future, then you may wish to pick up a voting paper from St Mary’s Church, Wenvoe during the services on 23rd, 24th and 25th December and to return them by 30th December to the boxes provided in Church. We will then look at the results to see what would be the best timing of this service in future years.

 

With thanks and blessings for Christmas

Jon – Priest in Charge

MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS PAST

I was brought up in a mining community where, following the 1926 strike until well into the Thirties, there was quite a lot of poverty. Perhaps you would like to know what Christmas was like when I was a little girl.
People had very little money to spend on Christmas, which in those days was completely different from what it is today. There was not the preparation and buying from October onwards. A week or two before Christmas day we would start making our own streamers from bits of coloured paper; mostly we would make paper chains. The majority of people were quite poor, so we didn’t have as many presents as children have today. For instance we didn’t get anything from Aunts & Uncles because every family could only afford a little extra for food. We just got one present from Father Christmas and our stocking.
Dad’s relatives had a farm in Ireland, so we were luckier than a lot of families as they always sent us a goose; they would put it on the overnight boat & we would get it off the train from Fishguard the following morning, Christmas Eve. Our local grocer would take his horse and cart to the station and collect parcels off the train and he would come around the streets delivering. We children would be quite excited, dancing in the road, waiting for him to arrive.
Mam & Dad would tell us to hang up our stockings beside the big open fireplace and then we would go to bed. They would then take out what money they had managed to save and go to Tonypandy shopping at 10 o’clock. The shops would still be open and they would be able to pick up bargains and some luxuries to eat. When they finished their shopping they would go to midnight mass, so by the time they walked home it would be 2a.m.
Gran lived with us and it would be her job to feather, clean and prepare the goose and stuff it ready for the oven.
Of course we were always awake very early Christmas morning, to delve in our stockings and see what Father Christmas had brought. We usually had an apple, an orange, a couple of nuts and one small present. We didn’t feel hard done by because we had so little, as everyone had the same, and it was more than we normally had; so Christmas still had magic about it.
About 7o’clock we would walk with Dad to the ‘Bakehouse’. People had no central heating so on a very cold morning we would feel we were in wonderland seeing all the different intricate patterns Jack Frost would leave on the windows.
We didn’t have gas or electric cookers in those days. We had a black grate with an open fire and a small oven beside it, which would take a long time to warm. The ‘Bakehouse’ as we called it was the local bakery; they made bread and cakes. On Christmas Eve the women would take their Christmas cakes to be cooked slowly during the night. Then early Christmas morning the men would take their fowl in its roasting dish & for sixpence (old money) Mr James, the Bakehouse owner, would cook our goose for us, so we could use our fire and oven for cooking vegetables.
We would then go to mass and Father would give all us children an orange or a few sweets as we came out. I suppose that when we got home from church we would have our Christmas dinner but I don’t really remember much about eating everything; else was too exciting.
After dinner we would play games or Dad would do Irish jigs or he would play his melodeon for us to dance to the music. All the excitement of Christmas was just the same as it is today. You see there will always be a spirit of Christmas if you look for it.
We would all go to bed very tired, but very happy.
Today one of my fondest memories is the excitement of walking that 300 yards or so on a crisp early Christmas morning, with Dad, taking the goose to be cooked. The delicious smells from the Bakehouse would greet you long before you reached it.

25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

 

In 1988, as part of a youth club community project, Vic Reed the youth club leader, encouraged local young people to take on the role of publishers, printers and distributors of a “What’s On” publication; a previous single sheet of information had originally been produced by a, short lived, local group of Venture Scouts.

Vic constructed a printing room within the Wheelright Shop, adjacent to the Church Hall. Using stencils and Rono printing machines, along with plenty of black ink, a small monthly magazine appeared for the next five years until Vic moved from the village.

A small team consisting of Eileen Callely, Marilyn Case, Colin Jenkins, Ann Miller and Ian Moody agreed to continue publishing a village magazine. They changed the design to an A4 format and had the journal printed professionally. The first 400 copies rolled off the presses and were distributed in October 1993. Now a quarter of a century later with a ‘New Team’, plus one old stager, we are printing over 700 copies of our 25th Christmas edition.

It is thanks to all of you out there who supply the many various interesting items of text each month, and our 39 dedicated distributors, that the magazine has survived these many years to arrive on your doorstep at the start of each month.

 

‘The Team’ (see below) wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very article productive New Year.

 

 

 

 

December Planning updates.

Planning updates.

The following applications have been approved
• The Bothy, Port Road, Wenvoe. Remove existing porch and replace with single storey extension to the rear of the house to create a new garden room. Materials to match that of the existing house.

  • 1, Burdonshill Cottage, Burdonshill Lane, Rear dormer extension to existing garage and raised decking
  • Brooklands Retail Park, Culverhouse Cross, Tree works described as desirable & essential in the attached tree report
  • St. Lythans Service Reservoir, St. Lythans. Erection of security fencing
  • 1 & 2, Stone House, Dyffryn. Conversion of two semi-detached properties into a single detached property and erection of a sustainable (energy positive) rural exceptions bungalow, new access and associated works

 

The park play equipment at the Grange playing field and Twyn yr Odyn are to be replaced next year. There will be a display of the Grange Park upgrade on Thursday 24th January at the Community Centre when the Vale will be interested to hear your comments. The Twyn yr Odyn scheme will be displayed when details are finalised.

The rules pertaining to the cemetery ground have been updated. A copy will be displayed in the cemetery and a copy can be obtained by contacting the Clerk to the Council.

The allotment wardens are seeking the views of the allotment holders and any other members of the community for their views on permitting green houses and/or sheds to be erected on allotments in the future. Comments on the proposal can be e-mailed to the Council (see page 2).

A complaint concerning damage to the pavement surface due to cars parking was passed to the Vale.

An updated copy of highway issues were reviewed. Flooding on the corner of Old Port Road near St Lythans Park is to be added to the list.

A request from the school for a donation towards their proposed Timber Trail was received. The Council suggested an approach to a probable source of funding before they considered the request.

Work on the 5 Mile Lane project will result in the north bound lane of the road being closed for 6 to 8 week from January while the widening work near

Weycock Cross is completed. From April the Peterstone super Ely Road from Sycamore Cross will be closed for around 6 weeks for the road to be widened.

The notice and plate at the top of Tarrws Lane is due to a cracked service cover. The quarantine notices around a field off Old Port Road referred to a suspected case of strangles. This is a very contagious respiratory disease among horses but extremely rare to be passed to dogs or humans.

The Community Carol service is to be held at 7.00pm on Wednesday 19th December in St Mary’s Church followed by mulled wine and mince pies in the Community Centre.

 

 

December Planning Applications

Planning applications.

• Dyffryn Spring, St Lythans Road, Dyffryn. Construction of a two storey building with a wedding venue function. Planning permission has been granted to a previously designed building, this latest proposal was not supported by the Council who considered it out of keeping with its countryside location,

 

 

The Lake at Cosmeston

Bright sunshine and Autumn colours greeted the strollers in October. The lake at Cosmeston was a wonderful sight as the swans and ducks made their way to the bread being distributed by generous visitors.

No hills this time as the walk went through the trees around the two lakes. New research suggests that just 10 minutes a day in the outdoors experiencing nature contributes to a more positive outlook and an improvement in a person’s well-being. We walked and talked for nearly 60 minutes and stocked up on positivity for a few days!

If you would like to join us and reap the benefits of a gentle stroll in lovely surroundings, meet us at Cosmeston information centre on the first Thursday of November at 10:30am.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7