Month: November 2022
November Letters
I would like to thank all who came to the funeral service of June. The support was magnificent and much appreciated at this time of my loss of June. My thanks to the vicar who took the service and to the church members who organised the details of the church and decorations etc. Everyone without exception agreed that the ceremony was full of love. June, a local girl was truly very well thought of by the village and beyond. So again many thanks to the Villers, friends and family support.
Roger Davis
I was slightly amused to see the letters of outrage by those who objected to the article by Andrew Davies MS in the September edition of WWO. Some years ago, I was helping the WWO team by supplying front-cover articles and I asked our local Member of the Senedd – Jane Hutt to write for us. I must confess to being a Conservative ( a little tricky sitting here the day after the Chancellor was sacked and Liz Truss under great pressure!) but I felt that it was appropriate to have our local Assembly / Senedd representative have her say. The fact that Jane is a Labour party member did not matter. There were some who objected at that time. So, in the end, it could be said that we are square with both parties having had space in our splendid magazine.
Alun Davies DL
Death of an Innocent Snail
VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP
Another Fine Morning
On yet another fine morning on the village green, the team cut the roses back to stop the 
winds damaging them over the winter. Ian set about planting a tree donated by Pam & Tony Hodge, replacing the one that had died.
Not all good news as there was damage to fauna on the green, when Gareth sing song trod on a snail. When asked why, he said it had been following him around since he’d left the house.
The highlight of the morning was having Wenvoe’s very own Queen Zena to be present at the burial of a time capsule celebrating the events from the Jubilee in July.
Thanks to new members the group are getting more done in the village, there is always a warm welcome to anyone who cares to join us. Our next meeting will be on 7th November at 9.30 to clean up before the remembrance day service.
Playgroup Waiting List
WENVOE PLAYGROUP NEWS AND EVENTS
Registered Charity, right in the heart of the Village.
Wenvoe Playgroup operate from the Village Hall, varied hours from Monday to Friday. For operating hours and much more please visit our website www.wenvoeplaygroup.co.uk and read our ‘Statement of Purpose and Admissions found in documents. Wenvoe Playgroup is a registered charity, managed by a voluntary committee. We wanted everyone to know that we plan to be fully booked until July 2023 and have a waiting list for any spaces which may become available. Our waiting list for September 2023 is also very high and I would suggest if you are thinking of joining before December 2023, please send us an email to add your name to the waiting list wenvoeplaygroup@btinternet.com. It is never too early to put your name onto the waiting list. Some families apply when their children are a few months old, hence our waiting lists are up to September 2024. On Sunday 4th December, our Committee are planning to hold our Christmas Fayre, open to all, 1pm to 5pm. We hope that there will be lots of things Christmas, gift ideas, refreshments and a chance to visit Father Christmas/Santa. If you would like a stall at the event, please contact Louise 07912 781497. Watch out for the SANTA RUN on 10th December too. All families welcome. Watch out for the posters with QR codes for more details
Before The Coffee Gets Cold
OFF THE SHELF
“Before the coffee gets cold” by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
I think we all found the idea of this book interesting. Who would not like to go back in time, even for a few minutes. The book provided lots of discussion. The writing at times was a little underwhelming and the stories felt superficial. This could have been because some of the excitement/tension/emotion was lost in translation. Still frustrated that we didn’t find out what happened to the ‘ghost’. However, we all enjoyed the book and gave it an overall score of 8.
Tina Alwyn
Walk at Barry Island
CARERS WALK
21 walkers joined the Carers walk at Barry Island today, including 2 new strollers to Valeways. Sunshine, fabulous views, chatting to fellow walkers and chocolates from Kath, who was celebrating her 78th birthday, encouraged the walkers to reach the ice creams on offer at the completion of the walk
The Big Butterfly Count
The Big Butterfly Count
The results for the Big Butterfly Count for 2022 show a continuing overall decline in numbers – a 2.8% drop for the UK but an increase of 9% for Wales was encouraging. The butterfly with the biggest rate of decline was the Marbled White and this was the same result for Wales. Wales also showed significant reductions for Ringlet, Large White and Small White. The biggest increases were for the Common Blue and Holly Blue but with Wales recording the biggest increases for Holly Blue and Brimstone. We have noticed Holly Blues doing well in Wenvoe particularly along the trees in the school and in gardens. A blue butterfly flying higher up, say around 5 to 10 metres above the ground, is likely to be a Holly Blue.
The Speckled Wood (see photo) has done well both in Wales and throughout the UK with several local people reporting them in their gardens. One interesting behaviour we have noticed is how territorial they can be. One adopted a small section of patio, turning up by mid-morning every day and then furiously defending it against any other trespassing butterflies, no matter which species. Even the occasional falling leaf would be checked out and warned off.
Those who want to help our butterflies are encouraged to plant wildlife-friendly habitats – for instance Holly and flowering Ivy for the Holly Blue and Hop, Elm and Nettles for the Comma. The caterpillar of the Speckled Wood favours our taller wild grasses such as Cocksfoot, Yorkshire Fog and False Brome so if you have sufficient space for a wild area, that can help all sorts of wildlife
October Meeting
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
Watch Co-ordinators met on 12 October and items from their meeting and from wider Watch groups, included the following.
When to ring the Police – 999 is for urgent calls. The Police prefer to hear from you when the incident is actually happening. Call if you see something suspicious, for example excessive domestic arguing, disturbance (such as a party or gathering) at unsocial hours (use 101 for daytime), suspicious activity day or night. If it is happening now the Police can investigate and speak to those involved; the call will also be logged.
101 is for non-urgent items such as those where damage has already been done. Crimes can also be reported online. Just Google “Report South Wales Police” where you will see various options. Choose the appropriate one and complete the questionnaire before submitting. Facebook also has a South Wales Police site where crimes can be submitted.
Scams – We make no apology for again warning residents against scammers. A current scam relates to the government energy bill discount scheme where a fake text purports to be from the UK government and contains a link which is false. Remember, you do not need to apply for the £400 discount, it will be applied automatically from October 2022.
Operation SNAP – Operation SNAP is a police response to increasing submissions of video and photographic evidence relating to driving offences that members of the public have witnessed. Until now, these reports have been submitted to the police in all sorts of ways and so a streamlined process has now been developed to deal with them. The police hope this will make it easier for all involved. Enter “gosafesnap.wales” into Google for more information.
Local items – Two members attended the AGM of the Vale of Glamorgan Watch and reported that the police are placing more emphasis on educating offenders rather than arresting them and that the police want to recruit more members of the ethnic minority groups into the force.
A report was received of bulk rubbish being dumped in the lanes near Wenvoe quarry. This is an ongoing problem which seems impossible to solve. The Vale council will remove rubbish on public land but that on private land is the responsibility of the landowner.
Alan French
October Notes
Gwenfo School News – October Notes
We can hardly believe that at time of writing we are approaching the end of our first half term back at Gwenfo. It has been a busy and enjoyable half term full of new and exciting experiences. The children have settled in so well and we extend a very warm welcome to all our new children and their families as well as a warm welcome back to our wonderful school family. As we look forward to our half term break, we look back with gratitude on everything we have learnt in the last eight weeks.
The recent lovely weather has meant some great playtimes together on the field. We are enjoying being back together in the hall for assemblies and sharing our worship as a school. Our first value of the year is Generosity and we will be exploring how God shows generosity and how we can be generous to each other.
At the beginning of term, we spent time reflecting on the loss of Her Majesty Elizabeth II, thanking God for her long-devoted reign, and celebrating her life. We are so proud of the thoughtful responses our children had in our time of national mourning.
Years 4, 5 and 6 recently had an exciting trip to see Opus Pocus Live. They loved experiencing live mu-sic back in a theatre hall. We are now really looking forward to our Christmas trips! Year 5 successfully kicked off a year of class assemblies with an amazing assembly about Generosity. We loved the singing and dancing! Year 4 will be up next with Harvest and we know they will do us proud. At time of writing Year 6 are preparing to head off on their residential. We will be sure to ask them to feed back about it next month.
We would like to extend our thanks to all our families who supported our Wear Yellow for Mental Health Day. We have raised almost £200 for Young Minds. We are so grateful for the continued generosity of our school community.
We would like to welcome to our school community our new PGCE students who have just begun their first placements with us. We hope they feel a part of our school family and enjoy their time with us.
100th Year Celebration
Village Hall News
We would very much like to say a great big THANK YOU to Johnny Tudor for donating his time in hosting and performing at our 100th Year Celebration last month. Feed back from the evening was very positive. Some quotes from the evening “Best night ever” “Need to do this again” “Can’t wait for the next one”. A great night was had by all. Thanks John.
Thanks must go to Ritchie aka Michael Buble for donating his time to perform and to Russell for volunteering on the busy bar. Thank you all.
We will be holding our Christmas draw on Tuesday 13th December at 7pm. Tickets are available from Committee members and from the village shop. Tickets are £1 each and all proceeds will go to the hall.
If anyone would like to donate a raffle prize then please email us on wenvoevillagehall@yahoo.co.uk and we can arrange to collect from you.
Its thanks to everyone in the community who support our hall, through hiring or fundraising that we can offer such a wonderful facility at the heart of our village