The Official Wenvoe Homepage
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CANCER STROLLERS
Raincoats, hats and boots were needed for the Living with Cancer Strollers around Cosmeston. No navigation tools were needed, only carefully planned routes around the numerous puddles. Betty remarked how she has learned to walk in all weathers since becoming involved in the Valeways walks. Well done everyone for being such a resilient, joyful, energetic and fun filled group! Join us!!
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WENVOE PLAYGROUP NEWS AND EVENTS
Just before Christmas, the Playgroup were lucky enough to have a handwash station donated and fitted to support the extra hand washing throughout the pandemic.
Chris Evans from Lawray Architects sought help from Bouygues UK and F P Hurley, after noticing that more hand washing facilities would be helpful for the high number of children in attendance.
Both companies supported our SOS after noticing that many children were using steps to reach the high sinks and noticing many children had to wait in line which took time from their play.
We would like to thank Bouygues UK and FP Hurley for a fantastic job. Well done. The children are preferring the easily accessible, low-level trough and learning to become independent at the same time.
The Village Hall wrote and thanked both companies for their donation as the trough is also benefitting their hirers and parties for younger members. The Village Hall Management will now arrange for a paper towel dispenser to be fixed near to the sink for the children.
The Playgroup continue to hold waiting lists open for children who wish to attend 2022 and 2023 at this time. If you are interested in joining the group, then it is never too early to send an email and join our waiting lists wenvoeplaygroup@btinternet.com
For more details on what we can offer please visit www.wenvoeplaygroup.co.uk to view our Statement of Purpose, Operational Plan and Admissions
Pugh’s are Proud to Present our Brand New Food Hall
Now Open in Pugh’s Garden Centre in Wenvoe!
Following in the footsteps of our hugely popular Food Hall in Radyr, we bring to the Vale a foodie’s paradise. Come and visit us at the garden centre and enjoy…
Pop in and marvel at this brand-new addition to Pugh’s Garden Centre! Open 7 days a week, 9am-5:30pm Monday-Saturday and 10:30am-4:30pm Sunday. More information can be found by following us on Facebook www.facebook.com/pughsfoodhalls. We hope to see you soon!
WENVOE FORUM
Considering Today and Tomorrow
A belated Happy New Year!
Our apologies. We hadn’t realised that the New Year WO copy date was early and we missed the deadline for the January issue. However, our article on Making 2022 happier can still be read currently on the home page of our blog site. Happy reading https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/
For February let’s have a quick look at what the Forum has been up to recently.
Welcome Pack
The ‘Welcome to Wenvoe’ pack that has brought together information provided by many of our community organisations and services, is ready for distribution. If at any time you have new neighbours who have moved into Wenvoe from elsewhere please let us know and we’ll deliver you a printed Welcome Pack to take to them. (gwenfo.forum@gmail.com). The pack will also be available on the blog site (see above) to download. If we have missed anything out or you want to update the information, please get in touch.
From Happiness to Hoppiness
A couple of Wenvoe residents have been involved in the Cardiff Community Hop Growing Group. Members grow one or two hop plants in their gardens and then in mid-September the hops are picked and the harvest pooled to create the Taff Temptress beer brewed by Pipes Brewery in Llandaff. Contributors are entitled to some free or reduced price beer. We were thinking that it would be nice if a few more Wenvoe residents grew some hops and we were able to harvest enough for a ‘Wenvoe’ brew.
Hop rhizomes can be planted in the next couple of months and should produce a small harvest even in their first year. They are very easy to grow, and like to climb, (up to 20ft!) but need not take up a lot of ground space. Dwarf versions are also happy climbing along a fence as long as you give them a bit of encouragement to follow the route you want them to take. Current growers can provide growing advice, though all are beginners.
If you think this is a fun idea please join in. Steve and Sian Jones (gwenfo.forum@gmail.com) are willing to coordinate the link to the Cardiff community while we recruit enough growers for a Wenvoe Beer in the future – suggestions for good name anyone?
Community Energy Scheme
Forum members have met with some Vale of Glamorgan Council officers who are working on reducing carbon footprints to discuss potential community energy generation and other energy efficiency schemes. Ideas are beginning to develop and we hope to hold a meeting with wider community representation soon.
If you want to be part of the discussion and help to shape any future scheme please get in touch. (gwenfo.forum@gmail.com)
We remain in a vacancy at the present moment, and during January we had to revert back to booking places in church for our Sunday morning worship.
We are finding our way in the Ministry Area of De Morgannwg, and have produced our first quarterly Ministry Area magazine. At present it is only online, but we hope to be able to print hard copies for those of the congregation that are not IT minded.
Our representative on the Ministry Area council (MAC) will be Jude Billingham, who will report back to the local church council, the decisions arrived at and will present any local concerns that need to be addressed, by the council on our behalf.
Jude has kindly allowed me to include the items she wrote in the latest MA Magazine here:
Ministry Area Connections: St. Mary’s Church Wenvoe
We said farewell to Rev. Jonathon Ormrod, our parish priest for the last seven years in the Autumn. Jon, as he wished to be called had accepted the position of Priest in Charge of the church of St. Martin’s in Worle, outside Weston super Mare, and we wish him and his family every blessing in his work there. During his tenure here, together with the parishes of St. Lythan’s and Sully, much has been achieved. Under his shepherding, the congregation has swelled, our “Pebbles” group has grown, and during the past 18 months with the COVID-19 virus, he has been a rock to so many people, and he leaves the parish of Wenvoe in a better state than when he and Sheonagh arrived. Jon did not wish for any “fuss” when he left, no presentation was his wish, for he realised that in today’s uncertainty of the rising costs of living, he would rather people give to far more worthy causes than his leaving for another parish. So, it was with a final tea party at Sully (with a simple gift of a new Preaching Scarf) and his final services on the 30th October he bade us farewell. Those of us who were able to join him in his investiture in Worle were pleased to see him wearing his new preaching scarf!
The parish is now in the care of the Area Dean, the Rev. Andrew James of Dinas Powys, who with our assistant curate the Rev. Kevin Barry, will be the Ministry team until we enter the Ministry Area of De Morgannwg on the 1st January 2022. During this time other priests have been welcomed in to lead services until a new Vicar is appointed.
The Harvest Festival service took place and was well attended within the Welsh Government’s recommendations. At that time there was no need to book places to attend services, but the sanitizing of hands and the wearing of face masks remained mandatory. Singing was allowed and it was great to include the Pebbles group helping to lead the worship once again. The appeal for tinned or dry goods brought in a huge response and was taken to the Food Bank in Barry. A collection for the Christian Aid Harvest appeal was also taken which amounted to £326.00.
In the run up to Christmas we held the carol service in St Mary’s Church. This was a scaled down version of previous years, but still very moving with hope for the future. The midnight service was sparsely attended welcoming in Christmas more quietly, but enjoyed by those present. The Christmas Day service was at St. Lythan’s and the following St. Stephen’s Day was at Wenvoe. Thanks to the visiting priests who made this possible.
Christmas Appeal: Sully joined Wenvoe to take a Christian Aid collection for the Christmas Appeal. This year they featured how they could help women in obtaining clean water. The example was a woman called Adut in Southern Sudan who had no choice but to give her children dirty water to drink. Their water supply came from the local river where cows and goats drink and where villagers wash. With help from Christian Aid they now have a pump for clean water from an underground water source. With further funding other villages can have this too. The collection raised £116 and this has been sent to Christian Aid.
Donations to the Vale foodbank have continued from Wenvoe and Sully throughout 2021. Additional Christmas goodies were readily donated. Many thanks to all who donated for this Christmas Appeal and to those who give regularly.
Alongside foodbank donations many gave generously to the ‘Big Wrap’. This initiative helps families in the Vale who are experiencing difficulties to provide gifts for their children. This year the Big Wrap decided to concentrate on collecting for teenagers as other organisations often provide gifts for younger children and the older ones miss out. This proved quite a challenge! However, many thanks for all the imaginative ideas and gifts which filled the car boot, with an additional £312 to enable the Big Wrap to provide gifts.
A number of Faculty applications have been submitted to the Diocesan Advisory committee (DAC) for work we wish to undertake in the future. They are for the new lighting scheme, the disposal of 2 pews, the removal of the “snail creep” mortar within the porch and for the restoration of the reredos at the altar. These are on display on the church door, for inspection and comment.
Our curate the Rev. Kevin Barry, was priested by Bishop June in a ceremony at St. Peter’s church in Dinas Powys. on the 30th January. This church is the largest in the MA and to accommodate all who wished to be present it was decided to move the event from Wenvoe. This means that Kevin will be able to celebrate the Eucharist in our churches without the need for a visiting priest.
The church is open in line with the Welsh Government regulations. A warm welcome to all.
Keep safe and wear your mask.
Parry Edwards
Gwenfo School News For February 2022
We’ve been so delighted to welcome back our children after our Christmas break. We look forward to a busy and enjoyable Spring Term. We are glad to welcome back our friends from The Baxter Project and Cardiff City Foundation.
This half term our value is Perseverance, which fits in perfectly with our Action for Happiness this month, Trying New Things. We’ve been trying new things and not giving up when things get difficult. We’ve been making new friends in school and talking to people we don’t usually talk to in our classes. Year 2 learnt to make pompoms and did a fantastic job. Year 6 had a first session with Forces Fitness, taking part in team building activities including a very competitive tug of war.
We have some exciting new topics to explore this term. Years 5 and 6 are learning about Identity. They’ve been talking about what it means to be us. Year 6 are also looking at some great science fiction texts such as War of the Worlds. Years 3 and 4 are learning about coal mines with their history-based topic, Pits and Ponies, Years 1 and 2 have an exciting space-based topic called Moon Zoom. Year 1 have been busy creating a class Space Station, whilst Nursery and Reception are exploring nighttime. They’ll be learning about bedtime, people who work at night and nocturnal animals.
On January 25th we took part in Mr Urdd Day, dressing in green, red and white, and taking part in a World Record attempt singing and dancing to Hei Mistar Urdd with schools across Wales. This exciting day was to celebrate 100 years of Mr Urdd, the mascot of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, who provide experiences to young people in Wales through the medium of Welsh
Llantrisant
Parking downhill from the Bull Ring in the centre of Llantrisant, we set off back to the top of the hill and straight down the other side, where we joined a footpath. From here we walked a wide circle around the town, in a clockwise direction.
At times we came close to the busy network of roads around the town, Talbot Green shopping centre and even the Royal Glamorgan hospital. We walked through woodland, followed a tributary of the river Ely, and then the river Ely.
It was firm underfoot for almost the whole walk with good paths, sometimes tarmacked including a disused railway. But where they weren’t solid, they were still firm as the ground was frozen which was lucky as it was muddy where ice had defrosted.
At one point we walked past a sign ‘Private Land Keep Out’ followed by ‘The owners accept no responsibility for loss or injury to persons trespassing on this land’ – we were on a legal footpath which was soon confirmed by an RCT footpath sign!
For lunch we distributed ourselves on mossy walls, logs, and leafy mounds, looking for all the world like a group of gnomes.
The end of the walk involved a long climb from the bottom of the valley to ‘Billy Wynt’ on the hilltop of Y Graig. The squat tower is generally believed to be the remains of a 13th century windmill, but records suggest it was an auxiliary tower of the castle.
The tower was restored as a folly in 1890. Some of us climbed the spiral stairs inside the tower to emerge on the perimeter wall and all of us took in the 3600 views, including the whole of the walk we had done. As we gathered to leave a man came over to talk to us: a Freeman of the town, he was attending to animals in the adjacent field. As a Freeman he is allowed to graze animals, and has a horse, a Billy goat and 3 Nanny goats. He also has beehives which are still active as the winter weather has been so mild. He is continuing a long tradition, Llantrisant common has probably been grazed by Freemen’s animals for over a thousand years.
Returning to the town via a grassy footpath we passed in front of some tiny cottages at Heol y Graig and found ourselves surrounded by history.
Llantrisant has a notable history, today we are all aware of the Royal Mint in the town, but we were surprised by the wealth of history which is still evident as you walk around it.
The Bull Ring has shops and the ‘Model House, craft and Design Centre’ and has been updated with memorial benches for World War II and a memorial stone for the dead of World War I, but it is still dominated by the statue of Dr William Price (a fully qualified doctor and surgeon who promoted Welsh culture, proclaimed himself Archdruid of Wales and was a militant leader of the Chartist cause). Dr Price felt cremation was healthier than burial as it avoided contamination of the water supply. He attempted to cremate his baby son who died at 5 months but was stopped by a constable. A landmark court case followed in Cardiff. He defended himself brilliantly, was found not guilty and later cremated his son. This enabled the Cremation Society to further their cause and the Cremation Act was passed in 1902. He was cremated on 31 January 1893 before 20,000 people.
A Blue plaque indicated that four cottages were one of the first workhouses in Glamorgan (1784). Behind the large parish church of St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St Dyfodwg is the historic part of the town. Here are the remains of the castle which was fortified by Richard de Clare in 1246. It was damaged during the 14th century and King Edward II was imprisoned at the castle in 1326. Owain Glyndwr may have inflicted further damage. In 1767 the estate came to the 1st Marquess of Bute and the tower was dismantled. Local houses (including the police station) were built or restored with its stone and sections were transported to rebuild Cardiff Castle.
A stone commemorates the 650th anniversary of the charter to the town and the presence of Longbowmen from this area at the battle of Crecy 1346.
The Guildhall was established in 1346 and rebuilt 1773, where the Hundred Court was held, dispensing local justice, and governing the ancient borough. In 2017 it was refurbished to become a heritage and visitor centre.
Beating the Bounds is an ancient tradition, a ceremonial seven-mile walk took place in May or June to avoid spoiling the harvest, this ensured that prior to maps, knowledge of the boundary was understood. It continues every seven years and attracts over 10,000 visitors to the old town. I wonder how much of the route we walked.
Walk 7.8 miles, 750ft. Map 151.
VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP
The team’s first outing of the year took place on the old narrow section of Walston Road adjacent to Grange Avenue. The gang set about cutting back the ivy growing on the wall to give pedestrians a better view of oncoming traffic. We must have looked a sorry bunch as Jenny, a nearby resident, came out with biscuits to cheer us up.
This road used to take all the Quarry traffic from Whitehall Quarry before the owners built a road down to the Tarrws, which is now an extension of Walston Road. The photograph is of two cottages lived in by the Crump and Watts families that were situated at the far end of Walston Road next to the old Whitehall quarry. When the quarry first started blasting the owner, Mrs Osmond, had to send some men to the Watts’s cottage to relay the slabs on the floor of the house which always dislodged during blasting. This happened regularly until the quarry workings moved further away from the cottage.
The Environment Team would like to thank the people who help to keep Wenvoe looking good by regularly collecting litter.
The Environment Team will meet again on 14th February at 9.30 at the same location on Walston Road. As always, we would be very happy to welcome anyone who would like to join us for a couple of hours.
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
February tips from Sharon at British Soil.
Advice from Barry Harper of Twyn allotments.
There are countless magazines, radio and television programmes offering advice on what we ought to be doing in the garden in any given week. We need to be checking the local weather forecast before we start planting. There can be as much as four weeks between planting times between the southeast of England and the Scottish Highlands. Plants grown under nursery conditions will not take kindly to being put out in cold wet weather. Unless you can take care of the plants you see early in the season looking very inviting in neat rows on the garden centre shelves, please wait until clement weather can give them a good start.
The really warm weather in December has kept the grass growing as well as weeds and has also brought on daffodils early. During January the cyclamen and pansies were being pushed out by overzealous, under planted bulbs and corms. The Autumn sown sweet peas have put on a lot of growth and need the tips taken out to promote new side shoots. Repotting will help to give the roots space to grow.
Wisteria should have its Winter prune now to make sure it flowers well. Cut the shoots back to three or four buds but be careful to leave the main frame alone. Mahonia can be cut back now as the flowers fade. If the shrub has a good shape about it just remove the flower spikes. If it’s looking straggly you can prune it hard, and it will come back strongly.
The wet weather in late Winter will make greenhouses damp, the lack of sun to dry the air out can bring about grey mould which can do serious damage to over wintering plants. On milder days open doors and windows, check the leaves of plants and remove damaged ones. If some plants are badly infected remove the whole plant to the outside.
Allotment and veg gardeners have been troubled with potato blight over the last couple of years. It is very difficult to control but there are some preventative measures to take. One thing which can help is to grow early varieties such as Charlotte and Anya. Sarpo potatoes have a good resistance to blight. Experienced gardeners always leave a bigger gap between the tubers when planting as an increased air flow when plants are maturing helps enormously in blight prevention. If you grow potatoes in containers make sure you clean them out and disinfect to stop any infection and change the compost. Those gardeners who planted broad beans in the Autumn have seen a lot of growth due to mild conditions, which means they will need support.
Take care and enjoy your gardening
