Month: June 2020

Christian Aid Week

CHRISTIAN AID WEEK

Each year people in Wenvoe have been very generous in giving their time and money to boost the income of Christian Aid during their specific fund raising week in May. Each year an issue is highlighted to show why the money is needed and how it is used. In 2019 this was about projects in Sierra Leone working with communities to build clinics for effective maternity care. We heard the story of Judith who trained as a Health Worker and then as a Mid Wife. She created a Health Project developing the community’s knowledge of how they can best help themselves and with the support of Christian Aid built their own Health Centre. We later heard of the effectiveness of the Midwifery service giving women confidence and taking away some of the fears of child birth.

During the last two years the fund raising in Wenvoe has united with Sully and St Lythans to reach a total of £3,000. This has been heart warming to those helping to plan and ensure events ran smoothly. Last year this included the usual street collection of donations by envelopes in Wenvoe and St. Lythans, a Big Brekkie and non uniform day in Gwenfo School, a Bring and Share lunch in Sully and a donation from St. Mary’s Church.

Similar events had been planned for 2020. However, due to the coronavirus none of the above events could take place. The need though, has not gone away. Indeed Christian Aid has appealed for further help in countries where health care systems are rudimentary to cope with the pandemic. Their recent reports have emphasised they are using their knowledge of working with the Ebola crisis to now help with this current coronavirus:

‘Cases of coronavirus have been reported in all of the countries that we work in. Many people in these countries already struggle with poor health and are particularly at risk from coronavirus. These health care systems are struggling to cope already, let alone with a pandemic.’

Thanks to gifts from people like you, we are now responding in ten countries. ‘We are delivering life-saving soap and water to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. We are helping inform communities about social distancing and building isolation spaces for people with the virus. And we are providing urgent training to medical staff on the ground.’

Your help is needed more than ever. Fund raising this year went ‘virtual’. There were daily activities on the church Facebook page for children. This included a sponsored silence, painting trees, decorating plant pots for growing trees, baking cupcakes and sharing, and a scavenger hunt. This culminated in the Morning Service when we remembered and prayed for Christian Aid, for those working for the organisation and those communities and individuals they are supporting

For further information or to donate please go to the website at info@email.christian-aid.org or donate by post to, Christian Aid, 3 Church Street, Cardiff CF14 2DX or by telephone 020 75232269.

 

Jude Billingham

 

 

The Church is Always Open

ST. MARY’S PARISH CHURCH NEWS

The Church Is Always Open

Paradoxically the Church is always open even though the church buildings themselves are closed for the time being. The Church is supporting us all, as the COVID19 virus continues to affect the daily lives of people in Wales and the UK.

Vicar Jon has encouraged the congregation to engage in the wonders of the digital age, by joining digital services at 10.30am on Sunday mornings, from the dining room in the Rectory. These half hour acts of worship have been seen by many hundreds of worshippers and the comments received and ‘likes’ are very gratifying. Each week a group of church members join together for a ‘Catchup’ on ZOOM; the Parochial Church Council has also been meeting on ZOOM, to maintain the business side of church activities.

When the lockdown occurred, our financial situation looked dire, with no income coming in from the weekly giving to meet our outgoings. Much immediate pruning of expenditure took place and church members were circulated to convert their agreed giving to Direct Giving, which the diocese had set up. Many arranged Standing Orders, many caught up with their weekly giving, generous donations were received, together with rebates from Gift Aid. As a result of these measures, our financial position is now much more secure, than we had ever thought possible. So a big thank you for all members and friends of St Mary’s for helping us through this particularly worrying time and BLESS YOU ALL for your generosity.

We are making plans for the time when we can once again open our churches for private prayer and meditation. We have to take into account the need for social distancing, for hand sanitising facilities and a one way system of entering and leaving the church building. We will dispense with both service booklets and hymn books and provide laminated service sheets, suitable for a modified form of service. The collection plate will not be used, as we would hope to rely on digital giving at the time. It is hoped that small funerals with a limited number of close family and friends will be able to take place in the church, observing social distancing at all times. Weddings and baptisms remain on the banned list for some time to come. Gradually things will get back to normal, and we will meet as a congregation to give thanks to Almighty God for a safe deliverance from the virus.

The recent funeral of the late Mr Philip Moran was a humbling experience. Held in high esteem in the community, his friends and neighbours stood in the streets as the cortege drove slowly past. A memorial service will be arranged for him as soon as the situation improves and we are allowed to use our church buildings. It was a reminder that not many years ago this would have been a normal occurrence. As a funeral passed along, men removed their caps and hats as a mark of respect and houses nearby kept the blinds and curtains drawn on the day

of the funeral. May he rest in peace and rise in Glory.

CHRISTIAN AID House-to-house collections could not take place this year, with a devastating loss of fund raising for this charity. We hope to arrange an event later in the year, to help to make up for it.

VE75 was marked with Vicar Jon using the churchyard cross as a pseudo ‘Town Crier’ and was transmitted on our face book page, followed by the ringing of the church bells. The flags and bunting for Christian Aid and VE75 brought a flash of colour in the warm Spring sunshine.

The community is always in the prayers and thoughts of the church, Vicar Jon is there to help with any problem or concern you may wish to discuss with him over the telephone.

Keep safe, stay indoors and wash your hands!

Parry Edwards

 

 

Abercynon to Mountain Ash

Abercynon to Mountain Ash

The aim of this walk was to travel up the Cynon valley from Abercynon to Mountain Ash but keeping about a kilometre to the west of and above the river.

Soon after setting off we came to Abercynon cemetery where there are Commonwealth War Graves. The 29 graves are scattered around the cemetery and marked by narrow upright stones, each with a cross and above that a symbol associated with the regiment of the person buried below.

There were thick clouds overhead but it was a good temperature for walking and we had no rain all day. The route took us northwest past Ynysboeth, Pen-twyn, Perthcelyn and Miskin before descending back to the river at Mountain Ash. Those of us who hadn’t been here before were impressed with the beauty and wildness of the area. We have walked in the Valleys of South Wales many times but this felt more remote than most other places. We were in open moorland with streams accompanying us for most of the walk.

The theme for the day seemed to be ‘Walls’. We saw a long stretch of wall absolutely smothered in moss which glowed green. Not long afterwards we walked along an extensive stone wall which was well made but beginning to show cracks; will anyone have the skill or time to mend it?

For lunch we sat against a wall looking back at where we had walked, while a cow stood the other side of another wall looking at us the whole time we were there. They were sheltering from the wind to which we were exposed as we felt it best not to eat in the company of cows.

Our descent to Mountain Ash was through the woodlands of Craig Abercwm and Fernhill where there were no street names just numbers which were quite large in places, a bit unusual.

We crossed the railway and then the river Cynon to enter Mountain Ash. Here we found a park with an Impressive War Memorial having writing and figures carved into each face. A stone circle is nearby. We followed the footpath alongside the river to the railway station but were hampered by drainage pipes which were still in place following the heavy winter rains.

As the footpath crossed the river Cynon and turned towards the station we encountered a strange wall covered in sculpted heads. An article appeared in Wales Online in April last year about the wall and it was headlined ‘The creepy wall hidden in a Welsh town which hardly anyone knows about’. They also said ‘Once seen never forgotten’ and I agree. I found it fascinating. For the author of the article it looks like something out of Game of Thrones.

It is made up of dozens of stone severed heads, ghoulish grimaces and strange creatures. After looking at it for a while you start to notice that some animals are also included e.g. a rabbit peeks out from a ground level tunnel. It was originally based on Greek mythology and the goddess Hebe and ideas of Welsh folklore and images of miners’ faces underground worked their way into the design.

The ex-landlady of a nearby pub is quoted as saying that ‘they used to joke that the faces were based on some of the regulars as they’d stagger home.’

The artist is Blackpool-born Tim Clapcott, who won a tender in 2007 to transform the area of town now known as Riverside Park. It was part of an EU and Welsh Assembly regeneration project. Tim went to Art College in Cardiff in the 1980s and thinks that that particular bit of land was a former slag heap. It took him about a year from conception to completion of the project. The actual sweat and toil took about 6 weeks with the help of local stone masons and labourers.

The concept went on to win a British Landscape Award. I asked a local about the wall and she said that they represented the miners who had worked in local mines and ‘I don’t know why they put them here. Who is going to see them?’ I found that an interesting idea the miners hidden underground are available for all to see but in a location that most people wouldn’t expect to find them. This piece of public art is definitely worth seeing. Continuing to the railway station we saw mosaics on the ground and then travelled by train back to Abercynon.

Walk 7.6 miles and 1500ft ascent. Map 166.

 

 

Enjoy The Outdoors And Stay Safe

Enjoy The Outdoors And Stay Safe

It has been great to see so many people out visiting the orchards and other wildlife sites. Please remember that the sites have largely been created by and are managed by the Wildlife Group in the village. All members are volunteers and we receive no official funding. All sites are there only because the landowners, whether the Vale of Glamorgan Council or local farmers, have supported the projects and allowed the space to be used. If anyone, whether adults on their own or families, would like to help, do get in touch.

Of course, access to the countryside brings with it the responsibility to look after it and whilst many will be aware of the Highway Code, how many of you know the Countryside Code? Here it is as a reminder, this version taken from the Welsh Government website.
Respect other people. Consider the local community and other people enjoying the outdoors. Leave gates and property as you find them and follow paths unless wider access is available.
Protect the natural environment. Leave no trace of your visit and take your litter home. Keep dogs under effective control.
Enjoy the outdoors and stay safe. Plan ahead and be prepared. Follow advice and local signs.
You will find more detail in leaflets and on websites. These thoughts are often summed up as:
Take only photographs – leave only footprints.

 

 

The June Letter From Jon

Dear All,
I hope you are all well and that you and those you love are staying safe at these trying times.
On Saturday 16th May, I was sent an email by Llandaff Diocese outlining the Welsh Governments strategy on how Places of Worship may emerge from lockdown.
In essence there are four phases:
Black Phase – where we are at the time of writing
Closure of places of worship.
Red Phase – Opening of places of worship for private prayer under physical distancing
Amber Phase – Limit services and size of congregations linked to ability to ensure physical distancing
Green Phase – All places of worship open for full services, alongside physical distancing
We are obviously a long way from being in the Green Phase, but it is good that myself and the church councils of Wenvoe and St Lythans can begin to make plans about how we can proceed to move initially into the Red Phase. I obviously do not have a time scale for this, but it is important that we do start to make plans so that we can open our buildings as soon as possible.
St Mary’s in Wenvoe and St Bleddian’s are there for you, whether you are a person of faith or not. When we open our doors again you are very welcome to come in and just soak up the peace and atmosphere of the buildings, and remember that these places have stood for hundreds of years and have been through wars and plague. These are buildings that will be there for you and future generations to come to.
I look forward to seeing you and sharing time with you once this period of self-isolation is concluded.
Take care, and many blessings to you all.
Jon,
Vicar of Wenvoe and St Lythans

 

 

1 2 3