Training For Settling In Canada

 

TRAINING FOR SETTLING IN CANADA
Ex-service men’s centre near Cardiff


For the second year in succession a number of ex-service men and their families are undergoing training at the British Legion Emigration Training Centre at Wenvoe Grange, near Cardiff. On completion of the course, which will last several weeks, they will be sent out to definite jobs on Canadian farms. Last year 38 families were trained and sent out, and reports received by the Legion show that 80 per cent of them have proved successful. An after-care organisation keeps in touch with them in their new life, and is able to offer advice and assistance which are of the greatest benefit to the newcomers in their unwonted surroundings. Many of them have not only discovered new interests in life but have been able to save considerable sums of money, which will serve to set them up in farms of their own when they have acquired the necessary experience.

The number of families undergoing training at Wenvoe at present is 15, consisting of 30 adults and 38 children, but it is hoped to increase the number to 20 families before the end of the month. The board and sleep at the Grange, a fine old mansion conveniently situated near the main road leading from Cardiff to Barry; and while of necessity the life is largely communal, every endeavour is made to preserve the family units as much as possible. Every family, for instance, has its own bedrooms, and opportunities are provided to enable them to live a normal family life so far as practicable.

The men are taught mixed farming on the farms in the neighbourhood. They leave the centre in the morning and return home for the midday meal, if within a convenient distance: otherwise they take their luncheon with them. Work is carried on until about 6 p.m. Women receive instruction in milking at an adjacent farm and in breadmaking at the centre. In the evening there are lectures on various branches of agriculture by the Glamorgan County Council instructors, and bootmaking, haircutting, and rough carpentry are taught. In addition to board, all at the centre receive pocket money during training. Children of school age attend the local council school.

Times 10 March 1931

 



 

It’s Not Just A Walk In The Park.

WENVOE FORUM


CONSIDERING TODAY AND TOMORROW
A breath of fresh air, it’s not just a walk in the park.


During the periods of lockdown we experienced over the past eighteen months we were only too delighted to get out of the house for one of the few permitted reasons and take a stroll round the village. A breath of fresh air to blow the cobwebs away! Fortunately one effect of lockdown was to reduce vehicle use and engine emissions considerably and for a while air pollution was reduced so the air was fresher. Now, however the pollution is returning.

The air around here looks good; we don’t see the smoky clouds or thick looking air of big cities in India and according to Air Quality Wales https://airquality.gov.wales/ the whole of Wales is in the green band. However the UK adopted EU standards on air pollution which, in the case of fine air particulates, allows 4 times as much as the World Health Organisation recommendations. In truth no levels of air pollution are safe, it’s more a matter of less harm and damage done might not be evident for some years, seemingly unproblematic air may be storing up problems for the future.

According to the Air Quality Wales website the 2 types of pollutants cause the biggest public health concern:

  • Particulate matter (known as PM10 and PM2.5), that easily penetrate the lungs. They are created primarily by vehicle emissions, tyre and brake wear and industry and construction. These are so small that they are drawn down into the lungs and heart and can even enter the blood stream. They are implicated in a whole host of health conditions including kidney, liver and brain damage alongside the more obvious impact on the lungs and heart. Children are more at risk than adults because of their quicker breathing rates and more active lives, though anyone with additional conditions may be affected.
  • Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide and Ozone. These are primarily created by road traffic, energy generation and industry. They particularly affect those with lung conditions.

 

Links are made between air pollution and cancer, cognitive decline in later life and according to Sustainable Wales (https://www.sustainablewales. org. uk/air-pollution)

poor air quality contributes to brain-related health problems in children, including cognitive decline. One recent study found that exposure to air pollutants in very early life was linked to a worse change in IQ between the ages of 11 and 70.”

BUT… DON’T PANIC!

There are things we can all do to improve air quality in Wenvoe. Broadly, we need less vehicle use,

shorter times with running engines, remembering that though much less polluting, electric vehicles do contribute to air pollution. Next month we’ll suggest some strategies that we can all adopt. We can make a difference.

  1. This will also cut carbon emissions so we’ll be doing our bit for climate change and supporting VoG Project Zero at the same time.

The Forum is always open to fresh suggestions, creative ideas and especially to new members and contributors.

To join our Facebook group, please ‘friend up’ with the Gwen Fo account @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1

You can also follow us on Twitter @ForumGwenfo. For information on our activities, link with us on social media:-

Facebook: Gwen Fo @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1/ and Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/635369267864402

twitter @ForumGwenfo

For further information and updates, our new blog site is available at https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/

Any Wenvoe community member is welcome to join the Forum meetings, via Zoom, which from September will be held at 19.00 on the second Thursday of each month. E-mail gwenfo.forum@gmail.com if you wish to join.

 



 

September Notes

WENVOE COMMUNITY LIBRARY

Tel: 02920 594176 – during opening hours or wenvoelibrary@outlook.com

Like and follow us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/WenvoeCommunityLibrary

For general enquiries you can email us at wenvoelibrary@outlook.com


Click and Collect – We shall continue to supply you with books on a click and collect basis during library closure. We’ll be at hand in the Community Centre on Tuesday and Thursday mornings between 10-12 to help you with on-line ordering and general enquiries. You can phone us during opening hours on 07526 478740 whilst we are closed and awaiting our exciting new building.


Pop-up book sales – On the second and fourth Saturday of each month, a pop-up stall selling pre-loved books, cards etc will be held on the grassed area to the front of the Community Centre from 10:30 – 12:30.

Please come and see us on the 11th and 25th of September.

 

 


Musings from a volunteer

Famous Last Words.

I must admit, I am one of those readers who will invariably turn to the last page of a novel to read the final words before deciding whether the book is for me or not. It is true that the opening sentences of a story are important, but so are the final words. A book’s last sentence is the final detail of a plot that has been presented to the readers’ imagination; it is a last chance for a lasting impression.

Some final lines have the power to disrupt and shake our expectations. Others will provide a sense of closure or leave us with a degree of ambiguity. An effective ending anchors the story in a reader’s mind long after the book is finished. Wuthering Heights, 1984, Gone with the Wind and Jane Eyre have memorable endings.

In Wuthering Heights, the narrator is in the graveyard and…(I) lingered round them under the benign sky: watched by the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in the quiet earth.

A gentle ending to an emotional roller-coaster of a novel. Catherine, Edgar and Heathcliff lived tragic and tempestuous lives in total and mutual disharmony. Furthermore, their turbulent lives condemned the next generation to unhappiness. Now, however, they rest in peace and the young have moved on. Unlike many Victorian novels, Wuthering Heights has no happy ending, but the author has written a peaceful and serene conclusion for her anguished characters in describing nature at peace.

1984 ends abruptly with just four words: He Loved Big Brother.

The brief, stark and very powerful sentence establishes the inevitability of the hero’s life. He had fought the system which was engulfing and diminishing his true nature; he had loved and had been loved in return; for a brief glorious moment he had been truly free. In the end it was all for nothing. The futility of his rebellion makes his bid for freedom all the more tragic. He is once more just a faceless and nameless cog in the Party’s greater plans. His self-esteem and spirit have been utterly destroyed.

Although Reader I married him is probably the most quoted, parodied, and adapted phrase in Jane Eyre, the novel actually concludes with a quotation from The Book of Revelations: Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus.

It is not even Jane, or Rochester who quotes this, but St John somewhere in India on his deathbed. True to the majority of Victorian novels there is a happy ending – the good are rewarded and the evil have met their just deserts. God is praised for watching over the characters in the novel and guiding them to their destiny. Jane, although never overtly religious, reaches her true destiny in her marriage to Rochester. She has achieved all she has striven for.

A young woman who somehow just cannot reach her ‘true destiny’ and the reader is left with the lingering doubt that she may never do so, is Scarlett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind. On realising that Rhett Butler is walking out of her life for ever she cheers herself up with the following words: Tara. Home. I’ll go home, and I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.

Scarlett is not a likeable heroine. She is brash, self-centred, and totally heartless in her determination to achieve her own goals. The final words reveal her defiance. There is not only heartbreak, but a note of hope to rebuild what she has destroyed. In many ways she epitomises the America that emerged from the trauma of the civil war, hopeful and optimistic for a better future. But will she achieve her dream? That is something that many readers cannot agree upon.

Alina Trigger

 



 

Tuckers Christmas Reindeer Sale

TUCKERS CHRISTMAS REINDEER SALE


This year’s Tuckers Christmas Reindeer Sale will be taking place on Saturday 20th November from 10am – 5pm at our home (in the garden) 29 Vennwood Close. Mike’s Christmas Garden Reindeers will be on sale along with some hand-crafted Christmas themed items from Wenvoe.

 



 

Sleepwalk on the Severn/The House of Trelawney

OFF THE SHELF


Several members were away in July and so we discussed two books at our August Meeting.

Sleepwalk on the Severn by Alice Oswald

Oswald is a contemporary award-winning poet, and this was our first venture into poetry.

The slim volume is one long poem set at night on the Severn Estuary. It describes the effect of moonrise on people, water, and voices during the five phases of the moon. Characters and events based on real people talk towards the moment of moonrise and are changed by it. The moon is personified as she keeps watch over the estuary and the writing paints beautiful dreamlike pictures of the landscape

Poetry is not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’, so some members of the group were more enthusiastic than others. Overall, we gave it a score of 8/20.

The House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild

We all agreed that this was a good summer read. It is a comic satire on the English Aristocracy and their estates over time. There is the history of the long dead ancestors who founded and added bit by bit to the house and its surroundings. Then there is the quandary of their modern descendants left with the crumbling, dilapidated castle, a shadow of its former glory. The variety of characters of different generations are well described. The way they ultimately address their dilemma is the final twist in the story. It was a fun read enjoyed by all. We gave it 9/10

 



 

Advent Windows

ADVENT WINDOWS?


I hope you are enjoying this summer. Thinking ahead to the wind, rain, snow, hail, storms and dark evenings – I understand there is enthusiasm again for the Advent Windows!!

Last year we launched Advent Windows during strict Covid lockdown. We asked participants to decorate a window on a specified date in Advent. This provided a really good excuse for us all to take a walk around the village and enjoy what people had created. We have now had people contact us to say they would like to do it again.

This is an advance notice to let you know that ‘yes’ we are about to set plans in motion again and will give you more details next month.

Jude Billingham

 

 



 

Sponsor A Stone

ST MARY’S CHURCH TOWER APPEAL
SPONSOR A STONE


You may be aware that urgent, extensive restoration work is needed to restore the tower and porch of St Mary’s church to a safe and structurally sound condition. We are so lucky to have this beautiful, Grade ll* listed building in Wenvoe. Most people would agree that it is a wonderful focal point of our lovely village but the cost of restoration is in the region of £60,000 – a substantial sum of money by any standards. To help raise some of this amount, we have produced Sponsor a Stone certificates which are printed on good quality A5 card and can be purchased for £10 (there is, of course, no limit to the amount of money anyone can donate). The donor’s name will be handwritten onto the certificate; each one will be numbered and will be signed by Rev Jon Ormrod. If you would like to Sponsor a Stone and help preserve our church for generations to come please contact Mike and Glenys Tucker at 29 Vennwood Close or telephone 079 2210 9721.

 



 

Public Consultation on 20mph legislation

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

on 20mph legislation


The Welsh Government has announced that 20mph legislation will figure in this year’s legislative programme

The public consultation on changing the default speed limit on residential streets from 30mph to 20mph is now open until 1st October 2021

You can find the public consultation here at: https://gov.wales/proposal-reduce-speed-limit-20mph-residential-streets

You can find some more information at https://gov.wales/20mph and at https://gov.wales/safer-streets-save-lives

 



 

Service Update. Collection Delays

VALE OF GLAMORGAN

Service Update.

Collection Delays


We are currently experiencing some difficulty providing cover to HGV driving roles within our garden waste collection service.

As a non-statutory service, garden waste collections take place between March and November each year, and drivers are recruited on a temporary basis from agencies. With the current driver shortage our agencies are unable to supply drivers at present.

Because of this, there may be some delays to your garden waste collections. We understand this can be frustrating, but our teams are working hard to collect your recycling as soon as possible.

If your recycling is not collected on the scheduled day, please leave on the kerbside for collection.

 


 

Planning Updates September

Planning Updates September


The following applications have been granted planning permission.

St. Marys Church, Old Port Road. Work to Tree in Wenvoe Conservation Area: Laurel tree to be trimmed to prevent it from hanging over Walston Road

Wenvoe Library, Old Port Road. Work to Tree(s) in Wenvoe Conservation Area: To remove part of multi stem field Maple.

Wenvoe Manor, Port Road. Work to trees covered by Tree Preservation Order 1954, No. 04 – Fell Field Maple (T2) and fell Ash (G2 – x12)


The following application has been withdrawn.:-Goldsland Farm, Wenvoe. Outbuilding – Private gym and Summer house


Application refused – Land adjacent to Station Terrace, Station Road East, Wenvoe. Proposed construction of Berm house. Reasons included ‘occupiers of this dwelling would likely be highly reliant on the private car. Consequently, the development would not support the principle of locating new residential development in sustainable locations, where occupiers have genuine choice of travel modes.’ ‘The proposed development is considered to cause unacceptable harm to TPO no.1’ and ‘the proposed development fails to appraise the biodiversity interests at this site.’ and ‘The proposal fails to make the required financial contribution to off-site affordable housing in the area’.


New library As preparation for demolishing the old library, a survey was carried out, which found that there is asbestos in the building. This is no cause for concern as long as it was not disturbed. Demolition procedures require the removal of the asbestos under special safety precautions. Unfortunately this has delayed the start of the project.

The new start date will be 26th August, with a planned completion 11th October. Unfortunately, this means that the car park will not be available for school parent use until the completion date, although we shall do everything to improve on that date.


The Community Clerk can be reached during office hours Tue – Thur 9am to 1pm and Mon & Fri 2pm to 5pm contact 02920591139 or e-mail Wenvoecc@ googlemail.com. Please note, if you wish to visit the clerk it is strictly by appointment only

 



 

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