Month: May 2021
Talk About Having To Go!
TALK ABOUT HAVING TO GO!
Wood frogs in Alaska have been known to hold their urine for up to eight months, sticking it out through the region’s long winters before relieving themselves once temperatures increase. The urine actually helps keep the animal alive while it hibernates, with special microbes in their gut that recycle the urea (urine’s main waste) into nitrogen
Turn On, Tune In And Drop……Everything !
TURN ON, TUNE IN AND DROP…………EVERYTHING !
The Wenvoe Mast is transmitting another Royal Event this June
On 17th April, more than 13 million people in the UK watched live television coverage of the funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. The BBC’s coverage of the scaled-back military procession and St George’s chapel service at Windsor Castle alone attracted 11 million viewers. The Queen Mother’s 2002 funeral was watched by 10.4 million, while that of Diana, Princess of Wales, had a record 32 million in 1997. On happier days 26 million tuned in to watch the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge tie the knot at Westminster Abbey, while Harry and Meghan’s Windsor wedding, pulled in around 18 million across all TV channels.
We have become accustomed to seeing royal events on our TV screens. It was Prince Philip himself of course, who paved the way for national TV coverage of royal events. As chair of the committee organising his wife’s 1953 coronation, the Duke of Edinburgh overruled the fierce view of the then prime minister, Winston Churchill, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, that admitting cameras to film the ceremony would destroy the majesty of the occasion. But Prince Philip, already an early adopter of home videos, gambled that letting family pictures into homes would humanise and popularise the Royal Family.
Planning began immediately after King George VI died (on 6 February 1952), and over the following months the sale of television sets rose in anticipation of the big day. The BBC had acquired 100 redundant military transmitters at the end of the War, and BBC engineers went to work converting them for sound and picture transmissions for the north east of England and Northern Ireland – which would otherwise be without coverage.
We did not have that problem of course, because our local Wenvoe transmitter had already been built at a cost of £250,000 and opened in August 1952. Fully operational, the original Wenvoe mast, some 750 feet high, allowed households across South Wales and the West Country to see the Coronation as it happened. By late 1952 it was estimated that about one family in every 25 owned a TV and the mast ensured 8 million people would get the opportunity to tune in to the historic events.
Nearly 70 years later, the Wenvoe transmitter is still enabling us to watch live coverage of royal events. If Covid 19 rules allow, on 12th June many of us will tune in to TV coverage of the Queen’s Official Birthday Parade or Trooping the Colour. The ceremony is believed to have been first performed during the reign of King Charles II (1660–1685) and has been used to mark the official birthday of The Sovereign since 1748. The Queen has taken the salute at every parade since her accession to the throne in 1952 other than in 1955 when there was a national rail strike.
These spectacular royal events make for great television and the British seem to be able to pull them off with a panache and style the envy of other countries. Subject to restrictions, which could mean a scaled down and less public event, F Company Scots Guards will this year Troop their Colour in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen. It is hoped that up to 1,450 soldiers of the Household Division and The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, along with up to 400 musicians from the Massed Bands, will take part. Over 240 soldiers from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards will line The Mall. A fly past by the Royal Air Force will also take place.
New Male Voice Members Wanted
BARRY MALE VOICE CHOIR
READY FOR SOMETHING NEW AFTER LOCKDOWN ?
IT’S TIME TO JOIN THE BARRY MALE VOICE CHOIR FAMILY
WE’LL BE SINGING AGAIN SOON
TO FIND OUT MORE RING MARTYN ON 07850689983
OR EMAIL bmvcsec@gmail.com
In view of lockdown we thought we might remind the male readers of the benefits of singing to both physical and mental health.
Barry Male Voice is a registered charity and raises funds for various causes. We are looking to recruit new members, hence the invitation. Probably not happening before early May but if anyone’s interested, they can contact us about a start date.
Sons of the Desert
THAT’S ANOTHER FINE MESS STANLEY
While on a visit to the Tourist Office in Ulverston which is in Cumbria, we came across a statue of Laurel and Hardy.
This comedy pair were well known in the silent film era and went on to make many ‘talkies’. I have seen many of their films.
Stan Laurel was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in 1890 at the home of his grandparents, Sarah and George Metcalf. He lived there for the first six years of his life before moving to Bishop Auckland. Stan however continued to spend much of his school holidays with Grandma and Grandpa Metcalf in Ulverston and apparently Grandma Metcalf had to keep a close eye on Stan as they walked through the streets as often he would stop and make faces in the glass windows of the shops. Mrs Metcalf would often find that she had left Stan behind as she walked.
The Council have now made a Stan Laurel Trail around Ulverston and the statue (see picture) of ‘The Boys’ was given to the town by the Sons of the Desert which is the International Appreciation Society for Laurel and Hardy. When Stan returned to Ulverston with Ollie in 1947, he received a hero’s welcome and was presented with a copy of his birth certificate on the balcony of the Coronation Hall.
Sons of the Desert is devoted to keeping the lives and works of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before the public, and to have a good time while doing it.
The group takes its name from a lodge that the co-medians belong to in the 1933 film Sons of the Desert. In keeping with the tongue-in-cheek “desert” theme, each local chapter of the society is called a “tent,” and is named after a Laurel & Hardy film. Worldwide, there are well over 100 active tents, whose members meet regularly to enjoy Laurel & Hardy movies in an informal atmosphere
So what is the film Sons of the Desert all about?
Well Stan and Ollie trick their wives into thinking that they are taking a medicinal cruise while they’re actually going to a convention, the wives find out the truth the hard way.
So that he and Stan can sneak away to Chicago and attend the annual “Sons of the Desert” lodge convention, Ollie pretends to be sick, and gets a doctor (who turns out to be a veterinarian) to prescribe a long ocean voyage to Hawaii. They return home only to learn that the ship supposedly carrying them has sunk in a typhoon. Their hastily- contrived tale of “ship-hiking” their way back cuts no ice with their wives, who’ve been at the movies watching a newsreel of the lodge’s convention parade, starring… guess who?
The nearest tent to Wenvoe is in Bristol and called the Fraternally Yours Tent.
Colin Jenkins
Coriander Cod with Carrot Pilaff
Coriander Cod with Carrot Pilaff
2 tbsp olive oil
4 skinless cod fillets, about 175g each
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
zest and juice of one lemon
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 large carrots, grated
200g basmati rice
600ml vegetable stock [OXO cube, use two for stronger flavour]
Heat the grill pan to high, then line with double thickness foil and curl up the edges to catch the juices. Brush lightly with oil and put the cod on top. Sprinkle over the coriander, lemon zest and juice and drizzle with a little more oil. Season with salt and ground fresh pepper, grill for about 10-12 minutes until the fish flakes easily. Heat the remaining oil in a pan. Add the onions and cumin and fry for a few minutes. Add the carrots and stir well, then stir in the rice until glistening. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Cover and cook gently for about 10 mins until the rice is tender and the stock absorbed. Spoon the rice onto warm plates, top with the cod and pour over the pan juices.
Butternut Squash and Ginger Teabread
Butternut Squash and Ginger Teabread
175g butter, melted
140g clear honey
1 large egg, beaten
250g raw squash, coarsely grated [prepared weight]
100 light muscovado sugar
350g SR flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tbsp demerara sugar
Pre-heat oven 160 fan. Butter and line a 1.5 kg loaf tin with baking paper. In a large bowl mix the butter, honey and egg together, stir in the squash. Mix in the sugar, flour and ginger. Pour into the pre-pared tin and sprinkle the top with the demerara sugar. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Leave in the tin for about 5 minutes, turn out to cool on a wire rack. Serve thickly sliced and buttered.
St Nicholas to Peterston-super-Ely
Footsteps
St Nicholas to Peterston-super-Ely
Escaping from Wenvoe, we parked in St Nicholas, near the church, and explored north to Peterston-super-Ely. I walked with 3 different households over a few days. As one of my companions said, ‘It’s so nice to have a view to the north after so long.’
The first outing took us west from the church, towards the school and a footpath alongside
the school. Opposite the church was a fruit tree in full blossom – beautiful. The school has several large, raised beds, an outside classroom, a playing field and a small pond, with a plastic duck. A good fence surrounds the whole area, but we saw several rabbits ‘trespassing’.
Crossing a couple of fields to the west we were surrounded by one of the sounds of spring – ewes calling their bleating lambs – so young and tiny. We stayed clear of them and came to a track leading north through trees. At a junction we took a left to cross Cottrell Park golf course and entered woodland. This is delightful now bright yellow celandine, white wood anemones, pussy willows, violets – white and blue, primroses, and the first signs of bluebells all jostled for our attention. I gathered wild garlic for supper.
The lane joins a road at a babbling stream and leads to a Chapel in Peterston-super-Ely. It is worth exploring the graveyard there are some interesting headstones, but the ground is uneven. Turning right at the T junction we walked across the bridge over the river Ely to follow the river. There are benches along the river, a good place to rest and have a snack. You can walk further into the village to explore the village and church but return to the footbridge over the river to Wyndham Park. A wide avenue of trees takes you uphill past lovely houses. Snakes head fritillaries were spotted on the roadside verge. You can walk around this estate to find the ‘Moroccan’ houses and street names reminiscent of Dyffryn gardens.
Near the top of the hill, on the right, the footpath passes between two houses. At the field, we walked away from the houses and through a gap in the hedge on the left to follow the righthand boundary of the next field, emerging at Homri where building work is taking place. The drive becomes a road and leads back to St Nicholas. If you have not seen it already look for the grave of the blacksmith in the churchyard. This route is 3 miles.
On the second outing we started the walk in the same way but on reaching Peterston-super-Ely we did not cross the river but entered the National Trust meadows (footpath on the left just before the river). After a short walk there is an orchard on the right with a living willow shelter. We could not resist stopping for elevenses in the morning sunshine.
Re-joining the footpath, we turned right after crossing a small stream to walk along the river. This area is Pendoylan Moors (the other side of the river being Peterston Moors) and in winter is a flood plain. We were surprised to find it dried out so early in the year and walked north until we came near the farm. As you walk here you need to look ahead for the next footpath sign and keep to that line, if you follow the river itself you will wind all over the place and walk a lot further. It was quiet here apart from the regular trains running past in the distance – we saw 2 goods trains with 21 carriages. We espied buzzards soaring overhead and clouds of house martins swooping down over the water. Retracing our steps to Peterston-super-Ely, we crossed the bridge to pick up the previous walk. – There is a Valeways leaflet describing a 7-mile route which travels further north and comes back to Peterston-super-Ely on the eastern side of the river.
A third outing involved leaving St Nicholas via the road on the eastern side of the church.
Before reaching Homri there is a footpath on the right which takes you down the valley to the Natural Burial ground. There are way markers showing where the path goes. We explored the paths in the Natural burial ground, where there are lots of bluebells but no flowers yet, before returning via the same route and aiming for Peterston-super- Ely, reversing the route described in the first outing above.
We were walking through a wood and could hear a ewe calling loudly; was she hurt? But as we neared the edge of the wood, we could see a lamb in the wood with its mother and sibling on the path outside, but the lamb couldn’t find a way out. We tried to usher the lamb through the kissing gate, but it ran off in the opposite direction. We spent a while 
rounding it up again before it got trapped momentarily between the fence and a tree trunk; somehow it scrambled out but ran into the next gated field. After a few more minutes of its mother calling, (and us trying to round it up) it came to the gate and we opened it to let it through. Ewe ran off with her two lambs without a backward glance (and certainly no Thank you!), both lambs eagerly suckling when they stopped. This took quite a few minutes, and we were now ready for our lunch which we ate with a view to the north.
Sunshine helped make all these walks a joy and we saw our first butterfly of spring; a comma. A longer walk could be created by walking south to Tinkinswood and Dyffryn as described last month, or even extending the walk to Wenvoe. Walk 3-7 miles depending on route taken. Map 151
Theft Continues To Be A Problem
Wenvoe Wildlife Group
Whilst we are making progress on several fronts, theft continues to be a problem. In the first incident on the Upper Orchid Field, three newly-planted trees were stolen. The individual chose the trees they were taking carefully and replaced the spiral rings and bamboo supports so that it would look as if nothing had been removed. The pattern of theft suggests that this could be the same person who took plants from a front garden on Old Port Road recently. In the second incident on the same field some logs which had formed an impromptu picnic area have disappeared, again presumed stolen. As with other similar incidents, the police have been notified.
However most of our news is positive as residents and visitors continue to enjoy the orchards and other sites. The blossom on the various fruit trees is coming along and should be spectacular during May. Two new ponds have been installed, the larger one 750 litres. We have received over 100 plug plants of native wildflowers (locally sourced) and these will be planted in Cae Ysbyty, a small patch of a field near Goldsland Farm. Hospital Fields were very much a part of traditional Welsh Farming where sick cows could graze in a species-rich field, many of the plants acting medicinally. Some of our new plants include Birds Foot Trefoil, Betony, Vipers Bugloss, Cowslip and Wild Thyme. We shall be litter-picking on our 10 sites at the end of May as part of the Keep Wales Tidy initiative – Spring Clean Cymru. Green Flag judging has been affected by Covid and will now take place in June.
A Right Royal Ticking Off
A RIGHT ROYAL TICKING OFF
It was a bleak day in Belfast in the spring of 1981 when I opened a smart-looking envelope with a Royal crest. The writer said, in rather formal language, that His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales had asked whether I would be prepared to be an usher at his forthcoming wedding to Lady Diana Spencer? I guess it was one of those offers in life that one could not refuse. In fact, I was thrilled to be asked and delighted to accept and it put a spring in my step for days to come. Years before I had the honour to serve as an equerry to the Prince of Wales which is why I was called back for this special occasion. An equerry is historically an officer of the household of a prince or noble who had charge over the stables. These days an usher is more of an executive assistant, though officially he is an officer of the British royal household who attends or assists members of the royal family.
It was a couple of months later that I was asked to attend a rehearsal in St Paul’s cathedral. There were many of us present as there were going to be 3500 wedding guests attending and there was going to be a good deal of organisation and ushing required on the big day. We were shown which part of the magnificent cathedral we would be responsible for and exactly what our task would be. It was an added pleasure that my wife had been included as a guest at the wedding and she took pleasure in choosing a suitable dress, hat and shoes to wear for the day.
A second invitation, printed on the thickest of white card with a gold rim, had arrived inviting us to attend a grand ball to celebrate the marriage. This was to be held in Buckingham Palace two days before the wedding. The dress for men was “White Tie” and I had never worn that before in my life. So it was off to Moss Bros where I could hire the full suit which is the most formal in traditional evening Western dress codes. For men, it consists of a black dress coat with tails worn over a white shirt, Piqué waistcoat and the eponymous white bow tie worn around a standing wingtip collar. To ensure we were fully prepared for this special occasion we even went to ballroom dancing classes to brush up on skills which in my case were very lacking.
The reception and ball were certainly very grand affairs. I remember that after a fine glass of champagne on arrival we joined a line to be introduced to Prince Charles and Diana, and how radiant she looked. We then walked on and found Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen were playing in one of the staterooms and that music certainly appealed to the younger generation, while a small orchestra was playing waltzes for the more sedate guests in the main ballroom. Dinner was a magnificent buffet laid out in a few of the rooms and, given the numbers, there was no formal seating so one sat at any table and you could be sitting with the leader of a Highland clan or a gamekeeper from a royal estate. The decorations for the party were breath-taking and included some helium balloons with the Prince of Wales Feathers. As we were thinking of leaving, I noticed some people taking down balloons as souvenirs. With the best of wines inside me, I dared to join them and soon I was holding four balloons. At this point, the Queen passed by me and remarked that “four was a bit greedy”! She was quite right of course, but I said they were for the others in our small group. I felt properly admonished by the highest authority in the land!
The wedding itself was a stunning occasion of pomp and pageantry. With three choirs the cathedral was full of wonderful singing and the elegant guests I was responsible for all turned up and sat where they should. My mother watching on TV at home in Cardiff was as proud as punch that I was on duty and was convinced that she saw me in my blue uniform and crimson sash. We drove home later that day and our children were delighted with the fancy balloons we gave them.