Another New Walker

 


LIVING WITH CANCER
STROLLERS


Another new walker was welcomed to the group at Cosmeston and was soon chatting to some of the regulars! The regulars now include 2 babies who are carried around the lakes in slings, enjoying the fresh air, flowers and bird song, like everyone else. All ages are welcome, though we cannot promise to transport you!!

 



 

Annual General Meeting



WOMEN’S INSTITUTE


Annual General Meeting.


Wenvoe WI met this month as usual, and our meeting on this occasion was our Annual General meeting, held with a Glamorgan Federation advisor – Ms Viv Hayes – present.

Both our Secretary and Treasurer gave their annual reports which were accepted by the members present. This was followed by the President’s address, during which thanks were expressed to the following for their kindness and services rendered: Jennie and Digby at The Wenvoe Arms for their support and allowing us to use their outdoor premise during the Covid restrictions; to the Church of Wales and Mrs Carol Wyllie for the use of the Church Hall.

A new Committee for 2022-2023 was adopted:

President – Mrs Janet Young.

Deputy President – Mrs Madeleine Rees.

Treasurer – Mrs Debbie David

Secretaries – Mrs Pam Ewington and Mrs Diane Pate

Other Committee members – Mrs Pat Weavers, Mrs Jean Woodman, Mrs Alex Griffiths and Mrs Paula Johnston.

Our next meeting on June 2nd will be our Jubilee Party when members will wear their ‘Jubilee hats’. This will take place at the earlier time of 6.00pm in order to facilitate members who wish to join in with the village walk to the Lighting of the Beacon.

New members are always most welcome.

Janet Young (President

 



 

May 2022 Book Choice




Apeirogon by Colum McCann

This novel brought out many different emotions from the group. The book is based on a true story of a friendship of two men – an Israeli and a Palestinian – who were brought up to hate each other’s race but who were united by the grief of the killing of their daughters in the Israel / Palestine conflict by the opposite side. It shows how the two men are now journeying together, because of their grief, and striving to find the road to a peaceful future.

The book has a large number of stories weaving through it and describes the limitations under which both sides live daily, both emotionally and physically. It is written in 1001 chapters; some are only one single sentence long and some of the group felt it took a while to get used to this fragmented structure. The group’s opinion was divided about the book itself, with some members describing it as beautifully written, very creative and a wondrous read which had them thinking deeply about all aspects of it. Other members, whilst acknowledging the skill of the author in his writing and research, felt it was a very harrowing and difficult book to read and that some of descriptions were given in graphic detail.

It is a hard hitting and powerfully written book and the group were divided in recommending it; some recommended it very highly and others recommended it only to those people who had done some research before starting it. The groups average score for the book was 7.

 



 

It’s A Walk ‘N’ Talk Group



CARERS WALK


A chill wind helped to blow the strollers on the carers walk along the beach at Barry Island. It was great to welcome Alan back to the group as he has missed the last few walks with his caring responsibilities. There was a lot of chat, quite rightly, as it is a walk ‘n’ talk group. Join us – there will always be someone to chat with!!



 

Fantastic Views of Cold Knap

The Stress Buster Strollers



On a beautiful sunny day, 3 new strollers joined the stress buster walk. The group enjoyed fantastic views of Cold Knap and Watchtower beaches. Two strollers had the misfortune of deposits from an overhead bird…the risks of a coastal walk!!

 



 

Must Do Gardening Tips for June

THE VILLAGE GARDENER


Must Do Gardening Tips for June


Thoughts of Michelle Morgan on patio gardening:

  1. If you are not happy with how your pot plants are looking change them as the season is too short to put up with something that displeases you.
  2. Pot stands on wheels make it so much easier to move pots around.
  3. Calendulas are cheap to buy. Three plants will fill a large pot and give a display all summer.
  4. Blueberries do well in pots with ericaceous compost. You will have to net them when fruit has formed.
  5. The downside of having a lot of pots is constant watering and feeding.

 

Advice from Gerry Crump, the gentleman gardener.

  1. Don’t plant early as it’s just a waste of resources.
  2. Take care of your tools and they should last a lifetime.
  3. When planting seeds always label them properly.
  4. Do not take too much on, or you will not enjoy the garden.
  5. Grow what you like to eat and what the ‘other half’ likes to look at.

 


June is the month when show growers put their hanging baskets up to display. If that’s what they do then it’s good enough for me. It is very tempting to put them up early but patience will ensure a better display. Once the sweet peas come into flower, start picking for the house as the more you pick the more they flower. Try not to let any set seed early in the season or the plant will think it’s job is done. Using a hoe on dry days in the boarders is a good way of killing annual weeds. If we need to water please follow the advice of experienced gardeners by watering early in the morning or late at night. When watering the borders, a good soak once a week should be adequate. Don’t think about watering your lawn unless you have a lot of time on your hands. Grass is tough and can withstand a drought but, by watering a little, you will encourage the roots to come closer to the surface and make the grass more susceptible in dry weather.

‘No Mow May’ is the latest must do according to experts and TV gardeners. Not so sure about that myself. On the plus side it has stopped your cats killing so many birds as there are a lot more mice running around in the long grass for them to bring home for you. If you have a lovely weed free lawn then letting it grow for a month it’s not going to provide much nourishment for insects etc. On the other hand your lawn may be full of weeds so crack on and spread the seeds over your neighbour’s gardens! It seems to me those popular presenters can tell us what to think sometimes. I have been bitten and stung as much recently as I have been over previous decades so will take some convincing that there are less insects around presently. I have to add though that it is probably my fault that I get bitten so often because when Monty Don told us we should have a ‘No Wash April’ I thought he meant me and not my car. No wonder I had to sleep in the shed!!

On the allotments the pigeons are testing the resolve of gardeners by pulling up young onions and eating the new growth of brassicas. The only way to combat this is by netting and using stakes as support. They are also partial to soft fruit, so be warned. They say that bamboo grows quickly but just plant a row of any veg seed on a clean cultivated patch and the minute you turn your back it’s covered in weeds. This is why growers plant in rows as weeds don’t grow in a straight line. Thinning out the crop on fruit trees is a task that needs to be done to get larger fruit. We do get a June drop where trees will drop fruit to look after the stronger ones, but often it’s not enough to prevent branches breaking under the weight.

Thank you to everyone who supported us for helping to make the plant sale such a success and helping the Wenvoe Wildlife Group continue their outstanding work all around Wenvoe.

Take care and happy gardening

 

The Village Gardener

 



 

Considering Today and Tomorrow

What Can We Do?



Considering Today and Tomorrow and this time Yesterday too.

With curious crowns adorning the letter box and our revered red phone box, the Jubilee celebrations gain prominence. Inevitably those of a certain age look back and several Forum members can reflect on the early years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. We are normally a forward thinking group, keen to do our bit for the environment, so is there anything we can learn from those memories about securing a more climate friendly future? Most of our memories are of a time that was considerably less comfortable and sometimes just as bad for the environment but hidden amongst the memories are some useful tips.

Dominant in my memory of the 1950s is the call of the rag and bone man. His voice rang out sonorously and effortlessly in a 4 note repetitious call, but what he called I could never work out. What he did was take away unwanted and broken items, scrap metal, wood, stones and bricks and sometimes lost items than had ‘fallen off’ something or somewhere. It was a serious recycling service. Single bricks of use to no one gradually became a neat pile in his yard that was enough to build a garden wall. The scrap metal went to be melted down and lengths of wood are always handy. When I moved to Wenvoe, a few years ago, there was that call again, amplified now by electronic means, still totally incomprehensible but nevertheless quite clearly the all-purpose recycling centre.

Memories of washing day seem to loom large. All the week’s washing was done on one day, either by hand or in a tub washing machine.

“My Mum wrung out washing by hand and had a grip that would beat most navvies. Clothes drying was weather assisted on a double washing line with a fixed low line and a high line that pulled up to the top of the posts and into the wind. When she had her first ‘washing machine’ it had an electric mangle which she always complained never got enough water out.” GS2

During most of the Winter, the washing line had frozen clothes on them. In honesty, I don’t know how my mum managed to dry clothes every week in those days.” DP

These days we use tumble dryers which gobble up electricity and money and fewer people have that high washing line in the garden to make use of the sun and wind which come for free. Clothes dried in a breeze are easier to iron too, making an extra saving on electricity, something to note for today. I think I’ll contact Monty Don and ask Gardeners’ World to feature how to fit a washing line into modern gardens. It may do as much good for the environment as their campaign for peat free compost.

“I can remember my mother’s snort of derision during an early East Enders episode. The characters were bemoaning their poverty. She said ‘Well, if they stopped buying kitchen rolls that would save a pretty penny. What’s wrong with an old rag for those jobs? (We used to have rag bag of them) Rinse them out, dry them off and you can use them again!’ I have to say that when a leading manufacturer of kitchen rolls advertised their product as ‘rinse-able and strong as bull’ I recalled her with a wry smile.” GS1

Ice on the inside of windows, layers and layers of clothes, getting dressed and undressed under the bedclothes … there were lots more memories and maybe more lessons for another day

 



 

Upper Cwmbran

 Upper Cwmbran


We parked in Upper Cwmbran, climbing to The Square, which has stone cottages arranged in a square with one side open to the countryside. There was a public house ‘The Squirrel’ which had a school, on the upper floor, for local children. The bus terminus was the site of a mill pond and wool factory which manufactured red flannel shirts for miners.

A stile led to a footpath and the remains of Mineslope Colliery. A noticeboard explained that the beautiful landscape surrounding us was once a thriving industrial site. In 1837 two levels were driven into the hill to extract coal and clay. The clay was used in a nearby brickworks whilst the coal was taken by tram to the newly erected wharf at Caerleon and on to London. The line of the tramway is still visible behind Brickyard cottage which together with Mineslope cottages were built for local workers.

Mineslope Colliery was developed to exploit ‘black gold’. Neglected buildings were demolished in the 1980s and renovation of the site began in 2012. The Engine house remains are visible as is the Lamp house, where miners would have lit their lamps before going underground. There are remains of the fan house, which would have extracted foul air from the mine using a steam driven fan.

We continued, accompanied by a group with 3 Rottweiler dogs which made some of us uneasy, but the dogs were well behaved and playing amongst themselves. We soon came to Blaen Bran reservoir, which is derelict, and the rottweiler group peeled away. Several trees in the forest had been severely damaged by recent storms.

Now we were coming up to the mountain ridge and were exposed to a strong cold wind. The surrounding countryside and Cwmbran were spread out below us and we spied Llandegfedd reservoir in the distance. We followed a good track and after a while found deep ruts, damage from off road vehicles. We passed several mine boundary markers and reached the trig point at the walk’s highest point. We strode across the mountain top, skirting muddy stretches and following a long line of electricity pylons for a time. At lunchtime we ducked down into a dip in the hill sheltering from the wind (partially successful). We had good views of a deep valley and remembered a previous walk.

The track down the mountain was good and we soon found ourselves in the company of a few off-road motorcyclists, we got off the dusty track to avoid being sprayed. Signs warned of a steep drop into a quarry to our left. Turning at the southernmost point of our walk, we spotted the top of Twmbarlwm peeking above the hills.

 

Now we quickly lost height and came below the quarries, which were covered in vegetation. Three ewes with their lambs walked at the side of the track with us which seemed strange until we realised a man with a dog, was walking behind them. He turned back up the hill before he reached us, and the ewes headed to safe pasture. We had seen buzzards, crows and heard the delightful song of the lark. We passed a pond with a couple of geese above farmland.

Continuing, we were surprised to find a noticeboard about Llanderfel chapel, its remains being in the field ahead. Derfel, known as Derfel Gadarn (mighty, valiant, strong) was a 6th century monk. Legend says he was a follower of King Arthur and one of seven warriors to survive the battle of Camlan. He became a monk after the battle and founded two churches, the other in North Wales. He became bishop of the monastery on Bardsey Island, a holy place where some 20,000 saints are said to be buried.

In the Middle Ages the chapel was part of the Llantarnam Abbey to Penrhys pilgrimage route. Thousands of pilgrims visited the chapel as it was thought that Derfel could enter Hell and bring back the lost soul of a relative. In the sixteenth century a wooden statue of St Derfel was taken from the chapel, under Henry VIII’s orders. Legend said that if the statue was burnt it would burn a forest; it was used as firewood in the public burning of John Forest in 1538 – a Franciscan friar and the confessor of Catherine of Aragon.

As we descended into the valley it was warmer and we spotted stitchwort, sorrel, bluebells, violets and 3cornered leeks.

It had been a windy and cool day but, at the end of the walk, the sun shone and we sat outside for tea with cake (supplied by two of our group with recent birthdays. Thank you both).

Walk 7.5miles 1400ft – Map OS152

 



 

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