Month: November 2022

Tucker’s Christmas Reindeer Sale

 

It’s almost here! Come along to the 4th annual Tucker’s Christmas Reindeer sale on Saturday 19 November from 10am to 4pm at 29 Vennwood Close (the road opposite the church). Apart from the stars of the show there will be some lovely things to buy and a festive atmosphere to get you in the Christmas mood. We are being joined by some local crafters on the day including Trevor and his lovely Christmas houses, Linda and her sewn crafts, Llinos will be taking orders for Christmas wreaths and small Christmas trees sold in aid of Velindre and 2 card sellers. Heulwen will be raising money from her cards for the Library hub and Esther will be raising money to replace her mother’s memorial bench which was situated on the village green until a storm destroyed it last winter. There will be Tucker family crafts and some really cosy crocheted blankets sold by Justine.

We will be holding the usual raffle with some excellent quality prizes including luxury food hampers, a home baked and decorated Christmas cake, some very interesting bottles and some items that would make ideal gifts for adults and children. Once again, profits from this and from the sale of some crafts will be donated to our charity of choice, the Wenvoe Wildlife Group. Rumours have been circulating that there might be a visit from a gent on a sleigh in a red and white suit and these may very well be true and may offer an excellent photograph opportunity. There will, again, be home made cake sold by the slice and all craft tables will be under the cover of Christmas decorated gazebos and festive music will provide the backing track to the whole event. Why not join us and pick up a reindeer and some Christmas spirit! These have become collectors items so start making a list of people who deserve one as a gift. Bring a friend and have a festive catch up. We are so looking forward to seeing you there.

 

Drop Some Of Your Carbon Footprint

WENVOE FORUM

Considering tomorrow today

Click and drop some of your carbon footprint

How many of us really think of the electronic data we store as part of our carbon footprint? Not many we suspect, until someone like us, points it out. We may be familiar with the idea that server farms, huge banks of computers, that are used for creating crypto currencies like Bitcoin; use lots of energy. But have you considered that all the data that Google, One Drive, Photobucket, Instagram, Facebook, etc etc etc “generously” save on our behalf, free of charge is using energy and therefore has a carbon footprint. If you generated the data it’s your carbon footprint!

Of course some of that carbon footprint replaces a much higher footprint represented by other non-electronic forms of data storage. For example, over its lifetime, the valuation report of 64 pages on a prospective house purchase surely generates, less greenhouse gas emissions as a digital version rather than printed out. However, here is where you might be able to do your bit to reduce global warming. If that report from 2015 is still stored in the cloud, it is still using energy and every day it sits there unused it is using energy. This is where you can help, delete it when you have finished with it.

According to Tom Jackson, Professor of Information and Knowledge Management, Loughborough University and Ian R. Hodgkinson Professor of Strategy, Loughborough University writing in The Conversation (theconversation.com) huge amounts of data is stored unnecessarily and energy is wasted contributing needlessly to greenhouse gas emissions. Jackson and Hodgkinson provided some staggering statistics.

More than half of the data collected and stored by firms is only used once

For a typical data based business, say insurance, of 100 employees they create 3 000 gigabytes of unwanted, but saved, data every working day.

Storing that data for one year has a carbon footprint equivalent to 6 flights from London to New York

Over a year, the never to be used again data that companies store has the carbon footprint of 3 million transatlantic flights.

Back in 2020 is was estimated that all digital data storage accounted for 4% of total greenhouse gas emissions and was growing rapidly

Unless action is taken, by 2025 and estimated 181 zettabytes (that’s 181 trillion gigabytes if it helps) of data will be stored; much of it unwanted and gobbling up energy unnecessarily.

Clearly as individuals we are small fry in the data stakes, however, as often, it’s a case of everyone needing to do a little bit which adds up to a lot. Let’s imagine you take 10 photographs of the family around the Christmas tree intending to send one to relatives in Australia with a Christmas message. Lunch is ready and rather than deciding which, you save them all to Photobucket to sort out and send later. It is likely that the majority of them become unwanted data as you never delete them. If you consider how many mobile phones there are you can see how if everyone takes a little care about what is happening to their data a chunk of global warming could be avoided.

We urge you to just stop and think about what you deliberately save to the cloud to your own Drop box space or Google drive or whatever you use. Go back and delete photos and files that you don’t want or better still select the version for long term storage as you save them and get rid of the others. Be mindful that some applications will keep a copy of your data even after you have deleted it, but that discussion is for another time.

New Forum members are always welcome to join e-mail us on gwenfo.forum@gmail.com Contact to us on :-Facebook: Gwen Fo @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1/ and Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook. com/groups/635369267864402 or twitter @ForumGwenfo

Meaning Of Place-Names Part 5

THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES

MERTHYR DYFAN

 – The Welsh word ‘merthyr’ is seen in a number of place-names in Wales – and this again is often mistakenly translated. Many people are familiar with the word ‘merthyr’ which derives from the Latin word ‘martyr/martyris’ – meaning ‘martyr’ – a person who dies for his beliefs. And it is a temptation to translate place-names such as Merthyr Dyfan, Merthyr Tudful, Merthyr Mawr as churches dedicated to the martyrs Dyfan, Tudful and Myfor (which has given us ‘Mawr’ today).

But there is another Latin word – ‘martyrium’ – which means ‘shrine’ or ‘ the place where a saint’s relics lie’. And that is what we have in the place-name Merthyr Dyfan – the martyrium or shrine of Dyfan. The same is true of Merthyr Tudful and Merthyr Mawr. Nothing is known of Saint Dyfan – though tradition states that he was one of four saints who were sent by Pope Eleutherius to bring Christianity to this part of Britain in the 2nd Century.

The name ‘saint’ was used by the Celtic Church – and earlier – to refer, simply, to a holy man or woman. The four saints were Ffagan, Elfan, Meudwy and Deruvian – four missionaries of their day. Scholars don’t give great credence to this tradition – and furthermore, there is no proof that the person who was named Deruvian was indeed our Dyfan.

It is said that it was Saint Teilo in the 6th Century who was responsible for creating Dyfan’s martyrium – and the present church on the site – which dates back to the 13th Century – is dedicated to St Dyfan and St Teilo.

HOLTON – This name is made up of two Old English words – ‘hol’ and ‘ton’. The first element ‘hol’ simply means ‘a dip/ hollow’ and the second element ‘-ton’ is the suffix which means ‘a homestead, or ‘a settlement’ (which has given us ‘town’ in modern English.) So Holton could mean ‘a homestead or a farm in a hollow.’

BUTTRILLS – This name again is easily explained. The two elements are ‘buttr’ and ‘hills’ – meaning ‘butter hills’ – an area where there was good pasture for the production of butter.

TREGATWG – CADOXTON – The Welsh name Tregatwg is made up of two elements – ‘Tre’ and ‘gatwg’. The prefix ‘Tre’ is the Welsh equivalent of the English suffix ‘-ton’ – and as explained above, means a ‘homestead’ or a ‘settlement’. It has given us ‘tre(f), meaning ‘town’ in modern Welsh. The second element is a version of the name St Cadog. So this homestead was situated near where the saint had his cell.

The English name is merely the Anglicized version of the name Cadog or Cadoc – the ‘x’ being merely a different spelling which has developed over the years. He was born around 497 and he established a monastery and an important centre of learning in Llancarfan. There are many churches dedicated to him in Wales and in Brittany.

MÔR HAFREN – SEVERN ESTUARY / BRISTOL CHANNEL – The Welsh word ‘môr’ is derived from the Celtic word ‘mori’ and it simply means ‘sea’. The second word, ‘Hafren’ again derives from a Celtic word – ‘Sabrina’ – which gave us ‘Habren’ in Old Welsh and ‘Hafren’ in modern Welsh – the consonant ‘b’ having softened to ‘f’ (which represents the ‘v’ sound in Welsh of course) – and the initial consonant ‘s’ becoming ‘h’. So, remembering the Welsh word order, ‘Môr Hafren’ literally translates as ‘Severn Sea’. The word ‘Severn’ is also derived from ‘Sabrina’ but you’ll notice that the ‘S’ has been kept and, like the Welsh word, the original ‘b’ has softened to ‘v’ – to give us ‘Severn’.

The consonant ‘s’ in a Celtic – or in a Latin – word often becomes ‘h’ in Welsh. In another example we see that an earlier word has developed into ‘salt’ in English but into ‘halen’ in Welsh.

By the way, an ancient legend tells us that Sabrina was a Celtic princess who was drowned in this river by her stepmother, thus giving it its name!

Next month – Llanilltud Fawr / Llantwit Major, y Rhws / Rhoose, Sain Tathan / St Athan, Penmarc,

Ann M. Jones

A Warm Welcome At The Hub

WENVOE COMMUNITY HUB

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

COME OUT OF THE COLD FOR A WARM WELCOME AT THE HUB

It is reported that even with the recently announced government measures, 1 in 4 people will find it difficult to heat their homes sufficiently this winter.

The Hub is helping to support its community through the cost-of-living crisis by offering a free warm welcome. You can stay as long as you like during opening hours in a cosy, accessible, and supportive environment. Feel at ease, meet up with neighbours and have a chat. We have free WIFI, and the use of computers and tablets. You can book free one-to-one sessions to come to terms with your digital devices or trace your family history. We even have a selection of board games and activities to keep you all occupied and of course, lots of books. Our friendly volunteers are always at hand to give you a warm-hearted welcome at the Hub.

WELLBEING GROUP

We have been asked if we could start a support group for carers and those, they support who are living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment.

We are pleased to do so, with the following arrangements: This is a self-directed, peer support group for carers and those they support who are living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment. The group will be user-led and aims to provide an opportunity for carers to share lived experiences and relax in a supportive and discrete environment. The group will meet on Friday afternoons when the Hub is closed for other activities. Initially, we were thinking of meeting monthly, but this can be increased according to need. The first session will be at 2p.m. on Friday 25th November at the Hub

Although the group will be led by carers, we have experienced volunteers at hand who have worked with people living with dementia. As well as serving teas and coffee, depending on the dynamics and needs of the group, our volunteers are looking forward to engaging with the people whom you support in a variety of stimulating and memory-related activities.

If you are interested in joining the group, please ask a volunteer to add your contact details to the list.

Talks at the Hub -7pm Friday 25th November.

To help commemorate the month of Remembrance, Andy Kellet, an expert on WW1 and an experienced tour guide of the battle sites, will give November’s Hub talk entitled: Oh, What a Lovely War? The reality of World War 1. Tickets are £3 and available in the Hub. Our talks are very popular so book early to avoid disappointment.

A Cuppa with a Coppa at the Hub 2pm Wednesday 16th November

Our Police Community Support Officer Stephen Davies has been moved to cover Cowbridge. We will

be so sorry to see him leave. However, he will be at the Hub to introduce Adam Wood our new PCSO. They will be bringing along: –Mike Clogg, Vale Council operational manager for neighbourhood services and transport and Gary Williams from South Wales Police Go Safe road safety.

They will all be on hand at the Hub to listen to your concerns and offer advice

WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN OUR TEAM OF VOLUNTEERS?

What is a volunteer at the Hub? A volunteer is someone like you who registers with Wenvoe Community Library Hub to take on a defined role and offers their time, skills, and expertise free of charge to keep the Hub open.

Do I need qualifications? No qualifications are required. You will be fully trained in whichever area you choose to volunteer.

Why volunteer? Volunteering enables you to play an active role in the community, meet new people, make friends, learn new skills, and make a difference.

How often do I work? You can work as many or as few hours as you wish. Some volunteers work several sessions a week and others work two sessions a month. Volunteering with us is designed to be as flexible as possible to accommodate your other commitments.

What will I do? You can either work on librarian duties or work in the café. Most volunteers choose to do a bit of both. Depending on the talents and experience you may bring, you might also want to be involved in participating in other activities such as social media, web design, planning events, fundraising and so on …….

How we recruit: Email us wenvoelibrary@ outlook.com . You will be asked to complete a short registration form and meet up for an informal chat with the Volunteer Coordinator who will set up your induction and training.

We look forward to meeting you

 

Food For Fireworks

Sticky Sausage Baps with Beer Braised Onions

12 pork sausages

3 tbsp runny honey

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp soy sauce

6 white floury baps, lightly toasted

Onions: – 25g butter

1tbsp olive oil

3 large onions, halved and finely slice

200 ml dark ale [ not bitter ]

1tbsp soft dark brown sugar

To serve – American mustard, ketchup, chilli sauce and brown sauce

To make the onions, heat the butter and oil in a frying pan over a low heat. Fry the onions for about 20 mins until soft. Stir in the ale and sugar, then cook for another 25 – 30 mins until it has evaporated and the onions have turned golden and caramelised. Fry the sausages in a large frying pan until golden all over and cooked through. In a bowl, mix the honey, mustard and soy, and drizzle over the sausages. Pile the sausages into the baps with some of the onions and your favourite sauce. These are ‘ YUMMY ‘ I don’t think you will have made enough !!!

 

 

Spiced Toffee Apple Traybake

250g plain flour

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp mixed spice

200g golden caster sugar

75g soft light brown sugar

2 large eggs

150ml vegetable oil

350g Bramley apple sauce

toffee sauce to serve

Apple topping

25g butter, plus extra for the tin

2 tbsp soft light brown sugar

2 eating apples, peeled and cut into thin wedges

To make the apple topping, heat the butter in a pan and stir in the brown sugar until melted, then add the apples and toss until coated. Set aside and leave to cool. Heat the oven to 180C. Butter and line the base of a deep 22-23cm square cake tin. Mix the flour

bicarb, ginger and mixed spice in a bowl. Put the sugars, eggs, oil and apple sauce in a separate bowl, and whisk until combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients, beating until combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. Arrange the apple pieces on the top and drizzle over the sauce from the pan. Bake for 40 – 45 mins. Keeping an eye on it and cover the cake with foil for the last 5 – 10 minutes if it’s browning too much. Cool the cake for about 10 mins then turn out. Serve warm or at room temperature. Drizzle with toffee sauce.

 

 

Bonfire Banoffee Pie with Sparklers

300g ginger nut biscuits

100g butter, melted

5 ripe bananas, peeled, slice lengthways, then in half

1 x 397g tin caramel, such as Carnation

3 x 200g bags of marshmallows

Cake sparklers, optional

Line the base of a 21cm loose bottomed tart tin [31/2 cm deep] with non stick baking paper. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until they reach a fine crumb, mix with the butter and spoon into the tin. Use a spoon and a flat bottomed glass and press the crumbs onto the base and around the sides of the tin. Chill in the fridge for about 30 mins. Lay the bananas on the base in an even layer, cut them to fit evenly. Spoon the caramel into a bowl, scrape it out, don’t waste any. stir well until smooth, then pour evenly over the bananas, use it all up, the higher the better. Chill for 30 mins. Preheat the grill. Arrange the marshmallows on top, starting with an even layer all over, then pile 2 – 3 high in the centre, [ check how much room you have under your grill first ] Grill for about 15 sec, or until gooey and brown on top. Decorate with cake sparklers, if you like *

* Follow the safety instructions on the packet. and keep away from any part of the body children and flammable materials

Community Councillor Vacancy

 

COMMUNITY COUNCILLOR VACANCY
WENVOE WARD

Notice is hereby given that a vacancy exists in the Wenvoe ward for the appointment (by co-option) of a Councillor to serve on the Wenvoe Community Council.
Suitably qualified persons* are invited to apply for co-option.
Applications should be made in writing to the Clerk to the Council at the address as given above on or via email to wenvoecc@gmail.com before 17 November 2022.
*(Qualified person is either on the electoral register of the Council’s area, or during the whole of the last twelve months resided in the locality or within three miles of it, or occupied as owner or tenant any land or premises therein or had his principal or only place of work there).
Debbie Barrett-Plows
Clerk to the Council

 

 

Community Council News Nov 2022

COMMUNITY COUNCIL NEWS

The September meeting of the Council was delayed until 29th September in respect the demise of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

Three new members, Sally Milliner, Rhys Jervis and Paul Gaughan have been welcomed to their first meeting of the Council. The resignation of Russell Godfrey was accepted by the Council and there are now two vacancies left to be filled by co-option.

 

Police Matters – A total of 62 crime and ASB incidents were recorded in the period from 13July to 7 Sept but no breakdown is currently available. At the September meeting police had recorded a total of 16 incidents over the previous month.

Work should start by the end of October on the replacement patio outside the Library. Bredon Quarry are providing support through the provision of aggregate for the base. Council are awaiting the outcome of a grant application from the Stronger Communities Fund before proceeding with the replacement of the Community Centre windows.

A discussion took place about the Council becoming involved in the creation of a Wenvoe Rural Affairs Forum. It was agreed that such an initiative would be welcome bearing in mind the challenges facing the rural community and the need to assess them in the context of wider policies and decision. Terms of reference would now need to be drawn up.

Concern was expressed about comments emanating from Council and reported in Wenvoe What’s On earlier this year. This concerned the alleged illegal blocking of public rights of way at Whitehall Farm. On being told that Vale of Glamorgan Council legal and other departments were involved in all stages of the process Council accepted that a misunderstanding had occurred and apologised if any inconvenience had been caused.

The meeting also discussed, once again, the status of the Library/Hub and it was accepted that it should be regarded as a community venture. In the circumstances it was agreed that the Hub would only be charged a peppercorn rent for the remainder of the current Council period. They would however continue to pay for their own electricity costs. Amendments to the existing licence agreement would now need to be agreed.

There are concerns over the condition of the grass verges in Rectory Close following an accident to a resident.

Proposals were made to resurrect the Village Carnival next summer and a subcommittee is being created to take this forward

 

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