Recycling and The Witches of Salem

Recycling, The Truth 

Our indoor meetings continued with a talk on recycling by Colin Smith, Operational Manager Neighbourhood Services, Vale of Glamorgan, on the recent changes to recycling in our area and why they were necessary.

In his talk Colin addressed the issues of how our waste was treated, the reason for the change, what happens to our recycling and future plans.

The good news is that none of our waste goes to landfill. The contents of our blue boxes are treated at Viridor’s Energy Recovery Facility as part of the Prosiect Gwyrdd/Project Green Initiative. This facility provides financial support (£50,000 per annum) on a 25 year contract to handle non-recyclable waste from local authorities – Cardiff, Newport, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire and the Vale of Glamorgan. This facility, the largest in Wales, is able to handle 350,000 tonnes per annum. In the process, enough electrical power is generated to power over 50,000 homes and diverts at least 95% of South Wales’ residual waste away from landfill. The ash generated goes to Avonmouth, where it is used in aggregate.

Our organic waste (food and garden) is treated at two new facilities. The food waste goes to an Anaerobic Digestion facility owned by Welsh Water. The output from the plant is a methane rich biogas providing energy for homes and a digestate which is used in agriculture. This reduces the release of harmful landfill gases into the atmosphere. Garden waste is shredded, composted and the resulting product can be used in parks etc.

The reason for the change in our recycling was because of an EU revised waste framework directive which called for all collections to achieve a high quality of recycling no worse than collecting separately. The Vale of Glamorgan secured Capital Funding of £6.3m for 2018/19 and 2019/20 to implement the service change. Time was right for this change as costs were escalating to get rid of plastic waste etc. The benefits of the changes are lower revenue, reduced carbon footprint, higher quality material and minimal contamination.

Single use plastic was removed from recycling as contamination was affecting 30-40% of all recycling leading to increasing costs – £65,000 in one month.

The roll out of the new scheme involved issuing some 80,000 containers and over 35,000 blue bags in 4 days. Although the scheme had teething problems, the situation is being continually monitored and changed when necessary.

Nothing goes abroad for recycling and a new recovery site is being built in Barry on the Atlantic Trading Estate which will prepare all the Vale’s recycling for reuse/recycling.

This talk was really helpful as it showed how, by changing our recycling habits, we are able to play our part in slowing down global warming and making the world a greener place.

 

Magic and The Witches of Salem

On a much lighter note our next talk was on the History of Magic by Jules the Magic Lady. Jules’s talk began by explaining that several centuries ago many practicing Christians had a strong belief that the Devil could give certain people, known as witches, the power to harm in return for their loyalty and tens of thousands of these so called witches were executed after being put on trial.

In America the Salem witch trials occurred between 1692-3 when over 200 people were accused of practicing the Devil’s magic and 20 of them were executed. Current research reveals that these women were not mad but suffering from ergot poisoning which manifests itself in hallucinations, delusions, muscle spasms and vomiting. This was a direct result of King William’s war which led to food shortages, causing ergot contaminated rye to be eaten.

Spiritualism, created by the Fox sisters, influenced many people in the late 19th century including Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They gave public demonstrations in return for money and this led on to the development of the Ouija board.

We went on to learn about the Magic Circle founded in Pinolis Restaurant in 1905 and which still has fewer than 100 women in its membership of over 1,400. Megan Knowles-Bacon was the first female to be appointed an officer in 2014.

The history of magic continued with the story of Harry Houdini and his amazing escapology acts. As well as being an illusionist, Houdini was also fascinated by aviation and in 1910 was the first person to make an aerial flight in Australia.

Television brought the spectacle of magic into the home and we all remembered such personalities as David Nixon, Tommy Cooper and Paul Daniels. Tommy Cooper will always be remembered for his fez and apparently when leaving a taxi cab he would put a teabag into the driver’s pocket leaving with the words ‘have a drink on me’.

Today we can have the pleasure of watching illusionists such as David Copperfield, Derren Brown and Dynamo, one of a new breed of magicians who do their tricks out in the open.

Jules finished by showing us some card tricks and also we all learnt how to do a trick with a rubber band.

This talk made a welcome escape from the troubled world we now live in.

Please note that all sessions of Tuesday Group are cancelled for the rest of the session including the trip to Fonmon.

 



 

Rhymney Valley Ridgeway

Rhymney Valley Ridgeway

It was the end of February and the day of St Mary’s Church quiz so we knew the walk would be fairly straightforward as the question master needed to get back in good time! After a month of double the normal rainfall, the previous day had been very wet – it was the Friday that the A48 was closed in two places between Bonvilston and Cowbridge. Hail stones hammered down at 8a.m. and strong winds were forecast. This almost put us off but by 9.30a.m. the weather had improved and we set off, parking at Caerphilly Garden Centre.

Beginning the walk uphill we decided to stay on the road rather than wade along the first footpath. The deep gutters at the side of the road were torrents about a foot deep and overflowing into the road so that at times we were paddling in an inch or so of water.

We felt sorry for a group of black sheep standing on an island of grass in the midst of a morass of mud. At a chapel, a sign on the gates to the graveyard warned: ‘People entering this graveyard do so at their own risk’. In one field a herd of horses stayed close to a wall taking shelter from the wind rather than coming after us which is our normal experience.

On the ridge the air was filled with the wonderful song of larks taking wing as we passed. As we reached the trig point, our highest point for the day, we could see the sun shining on the Bristol Channel and extensive views in all directions. My attempts to take pictures of the group here resulted in heads chopped off and fuzziness as I struggled against the wind. Descending from the top of the ridge we were suddenly exposed to an icy wind slicing up the valley below but once we got to the road there was some shelter.

At noon we came to Eglwysilan Church with a Victorian post box in its wall. We took refuge from a hailstorm and had a look around. What a lovely surprise to find there was a table with 6 chairs and even a tablecloth. Since we were six we decided on an early lunch, a welcome sanctuary but cold.

Originally Roman Catholic, St Ilan’s Church became Anglican following the Reformation. The dedication of the church is ambiguous. Ilan may have been a Celtic saint of whom no other trace survives. The Cistercian Way website suggests that Ilan may have been a pre- Norman bishop of Llandaf and says that the 12th century book of Llandaf denotes the church at Eglwysilan as the resting place for the relics of Ilan. The churchyard contains the grade II listed tomb of the bridge builder William Edwards (he built the first stone bridge in Pontypridd) and many of the victims of the Senghenydd Colliery Disaster of 1913. Evan James who wrote the lyrics of the Welsh National Anthem was baptised here.

All was going well and we got down to the Taff trail, which is tarmac here, and were striding along at 3 miles an hour when we arrived at about 200 yards of water. We had gone through a few shorter stretches – using walking poles to gauge the depth as we progressed- but this was a challenge. Two of the men took some exploratory steps and turned back when the water reached calf height. We had several options: climb the steep side on our left traversing a few gullies – not favoured by most of us, turn around and walk back about a mile to find an alternative route (adding at least 2miles to the walk) or explore the embankment on the right. On inspection the narrow ledge of the embankment was a few feet wide and covered in brambles, rotting wood etc. One person’s walking pole broke in half as he attempted to beat back the brambles but… lucky for us we got past the flood just before reaching a fallen tree which would have been very difficult to pass. Now we wondered whether any further floods faced us and fortunately after about 5 minutes we met a man who had just walked up the Taff trail, so we knew we could carry on and were able to advise him to take an alternative route. Although some stretches had lying water none of them was more than an inch or two, so we returned to the cars in good time

It had been surprisingly firm underfoot and although it was windy, nothing like the 40mph forecast. We had a few moments of sunshine and a few hail showers (that hurt with the wind behind it) but there was little rain. Tea at the garden centre was thoroughly enjoyed. Walk 8.6miles and 1300ft climb. Map 166.

 



 

Letter From Vicar Jon

Letter From Vicar Jon

Dear Friends,

As you will all be aware we are entering an unprecedented time in the village and also across the country and the world as the full effect of Coronavirus begins to take hold in our communities. As we have seen from the experiences of other countries, such as China and Italy, one of the ways of dealing with the spread of the virus is to close down places where the public gather. The decision was taken this week that the Church in Wales – along with other Christian and different faith organisations – has stopped doing formal services, so all our church services and meetings are cancelled with immediate effect. It had been my intention to keep St Mary’s open at certain times for private prayer and reflection. However, since the Prime Minister’s briefing on Monday 23 March, that is not possible either.

This Easter may well be the first time that the Eucharist has not been celebrated in St Mary’s for 800 years, although it is conceivable that there were other occasions of great national crisis, when this occurred.

Those who follow the church on Facebook, will know that I am trying to do some services through social media and you can find that on: https://www.facebook.com/sullywenvoeandstlythans

Alternatively – if you would like to contact me at any point then phone me on 02920595347 or email me on revjonormrod@yahoo.co.uk. If I can help you then I will do my best to do so – just one caveat I am no good at DIY so please do not ask me to do any decorating!

In the meantime, we obviously have a responsibility to ourselves, family, friends and neighbours so do look after one another by looking after yourselves too.

Take care all and stay safe.

With my prayers to you all at this time of Easter.

Jon Ormrod,

Priest in Charge of Wenvoe with St Lythans.

 



 

Library Grant Application rejected

Library Grant Application rejected

The Welsh Government has informed the Community Council that the grant application for a new library building made more than 3 years ago, has finally been rejected. This is a huge disappointment . However, the Community Council will now start to explore alternative options for replacing the library building.

 



 

April Planning Updates

April Planning Updates

Planning Updates. The following applications have been approved:

  • 34, Goldsland Walk. Conversion of existing integral single garage into a living space

• Wrinstone House, Station Road East. Single storey rear extension at lower ground level to provide accommodation for a live-in carer to support the applicants’ disabled daughter

 



 

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