Month: January 2023

Christmas Celebrated In Style

  Gwenfo School News – December Notes

Christmas Celebrated In Style

What a busy end of term it has been! We have celebrated Christmas in style, with total of 10 Christmas concert performances across our three progression steps. All of our children, from Nursery to Year 6, did an incredible job singing, dancing and acting to get us all well and truly in a festive spirit. Huge thank you to all our staff involved in the preparation and organisation of all those performances, and as always a big thank you to all our families for providing costumes, helping learn lines, and for coming along to support the children. We are so very proud! Thanks also go to those who attended, for the generous donations that will be split between the five charities that staff and pupils chose to support at our concerts; The Big Wrap Collection at St Mary’s, the Food Bank, The Huggard Centre, Marie Curie Cancer Care and Christian Aid’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

Thanks and well done to all of our children who were involved in the unveiling of our school Advent Window, and those who took part in the Carol Service recently. It was a great pleasure to be involved.

We had a wonderful time on Christmas Jumper Day, enjoying a delicious Christmas dinner together with Santa hats and festive placemats.

We are so grateful for a wonderful term together and look forward to a relaxing break before coming back together in the New Year. On behalf of us all at Gwenfo, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.

River Ely was Frozen

 

THURSDAY WALKERS

Bert’s midweek walkers’ final walk (and chat!) of 2022 followed the circuit from Penarth to Cardiff Bay. It was so cold the river Ely was frozen on the surface but with glorious sunshine all the way it was refreshing and felt warm. Coffee and snacks in the Bay, were much appreciated before we went back across the barrage to Penarth.

Happy New Year everyone.

Thurs January 19th, a walk from Penarth taking in a few cliff climbs to help get rid of those extra calories, but there will be time for a coffee. Meet at Wenvoe Village hall at 1pm. Transport can be shared. Bert029 20594418.

All are welcome but you participate at your own risk

 

Intrepid Band of Strollers

CARERS WALK

An  intrepid  Band of strollers  Enjoyed an invigorating  walk around Nell’s point to  Jackson’s bay. Hot chocolate was the  drink of choice for many at the end of the  walk, but one brave walker enjoyed a large scoop of salted caramel ice cream…!!

 

What’s On Articles

 

WHAT’S ON ARTICLES

Would you like to place an article in your magazine. Remember there is no charge for articles, congratu-lation messages, the sale of items by local residents etc.

It would be extremely helpful to the editors if items are sent to both editors e-mails 

ianmoody029@gmail.com

and

hilarythomas1@btopenworld.com

If you have no method of sending us an electronic message then your submission can be placed in the What’s On box in the village shop.

December Report

WOMEN’S INSTITUTE

December Report

Wenvoe WI has been particularly active this month. We held our Christmas Party on the first Thursday evening in the Church Hall, where festive buffet prepared by the members was served. Also, we had a seasonal Quiz, followed by a rendition of an alternative version of ‘Cinderella ‘written by R. Dahl, a nostalgic poem penned by one of our members, as well as a raffle.

On the 7th, we held our annual Christmas Lunch at the Wenvoe Arms where we all enjoyed the convivial atmosphere and dined on traditional Christmas fayre. Many thanks to Jenny and her team for an excellent repast and the usual warm welcome.

Lastly, on Monday 12th we held our Christmas coffee morning in the Church Hall, where we all enjoyed tea/coffee, mince pies and Welsh cakes as we were entertained by one of our members who played carols and seasonal songs on her accordion. Also, we held a quiz and an extensive raffle.

Our next meeting will be on 5th January at 7pm in the Church Hall, when we shall be holding our annual, ‘Bring and Buy’ – one ladies’ junk is another’s treasure! New members are ensured of a warm welcome.

I take the opportunity to wish readers seasonal greetings and a Happy New Year.

Jan Young (President).

 

Ham Mac & Cheese / Spiced Turkey Noodles

Ham Mac & Cheese

300g dried macaroni

40g butter

40g plain flour

500ml whole milk

2 med leeks thinly sliced

1/2 tsp mustard powder

250g mixed cheeses [blue cheese, good cheddar, Caerphilly]

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

150g ham, cut into smallish pieces

100g mozzarella, chopped

75g breadcrumbs

25g grated Parmesan

Cook the macaroni in a large saucepan according to packet instructions. Cook the leeks in a frying pan in a little butter until softened set aside. In a separate saucepan, heat the butter until melted, then whisk in the flour until smooth and cook for about 2 mins, or until pale golden brown. Whisk in the milk a little at a time, waiting until the mixture has thickened after each addition before adding any more and whisking continually. After all the milk has been added to the mixture you should have a smooth sauce. Add all the cheeses to the sauce and heat gently until it has all melted. Season to taste with salt and fresh black pepper, mustard powder and nutmeg. Drain the cooked pasta and tip back into the pan and tip the sauce mixture in with the pasta. Add the leeks and ham and stir into the pasta to combine. Transfer to a large oven proof dish and top with the chopped mozzarella, breadcrumbs and the Parmesan. Place under a hot grill until the topping is golden brown and bubbling

 

 

Spiced Turkey Noodles

250g medium egg noodles

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 limes juiced

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves thinly sliced

1 red chilli thinly sliced

500g cooked turkey, sliced

2 spring onions, thinly sliced on a diagonal

100g beansprouts

30g salted peanuts [or any other nuts you have left over]

chopped coriander and lime wedges to serve

Cook the noodles according to pack instructions, then rinse in cold water, set aside. Mix the soy, lime juice and sugar together.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok and add the garlic, chilli, turkey and spring onions. Fry for about 2 mins, then tip in the noodles and the beansprouts and fry for about 1 – 2 mins more. Pour the sauce into the pan and toss everything together well, working quickly to coat all the vegetables and noodles. Once everything is heated through well, season, and sprinkle with the coriander and the nuts, serve with lime wedges.

 

Place-Names Derivation – Llwyneliddon / St Lythans

THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES

LLWYNELIDDON / ST LYTHANS

The Welsh name is made up of two elements – ‘llwyn’ and ‘Eliddon’. ‘Llwyn’ is the Welsh word for ‘grove’ or ‘copse’ and the second element ‘Eliddon’’ is the name of the saint to whom an earlier church was dedicated. So ‘Llwyneliddon’ literally means ‘the grove of Eliddon’. There are examples in some manuscripts of the name being recorded as ‘Llaneliddon’(Church of Eliddon) – but there is no concrete evidence that ‘llwyn’ was mistakenly written for ‘llan’.

The English name ‘St Lythan’s’ is merely the Anglicised form of the name, Sant Eliddon.

But the present church in the village is not dedicated to St Eliddon, of whom very little is known, but to St Bleddian (or Bleiddian) – again of whom very little is known. At one time, the village was known as Llanfleddian Fach (The church of Bleddian) – the adjective ‘fach’ (minor) being added to differentiate it from Llanfleddian Fawr (Major) – which, as you know is situated near Cowbridge – nowadays spelt Llanblethian.

TWYNYRODYN The name comprises three ele-ments – ‘Twyn’, ‘yr’ and ‘Odyn’. ‘Twyn’ is a common Welsh noun meaning ‘knoll’ or ‘hill’ and ‘odyn’ means ‘limekiln’. Between these two nouns we have the definite article ‘yr’, which normally translates as ‘the’. But when it stands between two nouns, it conveys ‘of the’. So, ‘Twynyrodyn’ trans-lates as ‘Hill of the limekiln’. There is an area of the same name at Lavernock and at Merthyr Tudful.

LLANCARFAN The name consists of two elements – ‘Llan’- which you now know means ‘church’ – and ‘Carfan’, which is the name of the nearby stream or brook. There is no certainty about the meaning of ‘carfan’. It could be a personal name – or it could mean ‘ridge’ – referring to a boundary of some kind. An earlier form of the place-name was Nant Carfan – ‘nant’ meaning ‘stream’ or ‘valley of the stream’.

TRESIMWN / BONVILSTON Both the Welsh and English names of this village are based on the name of the Norman family which settled in the area in the 12th Century. The village is probably named after Simon de Bonville.

The Welsh name, ‘Tresimwn’ is made up of the pre-fix ‘Tre’, which you now know means ‘homestead’ of ‘settlement’ – followed by the Christian name Simwn.

On the other hand, the English name ‘Bonvilston’ uses another part of the family name, ‘Bonvil’ followed by the suffix ‘ton’, again meaning ‘farmstead’ or ‘settlement’.

ABERDDAWAN / ABERTHAW Again, we see that there are two elements in the Welsh name ‘Aberddawan’ – ‘aber’, meaning ‘estuary’ in this instance followed by the name of the river – ‘Ddawan’. Historic manuscripts show that the original name of the river was ‘Naddawan’ – but the un-Stressed first syllable was lost, to give us ‘Ddawan’ today. I have mentioned previously that river names are among the oldest examples of all languages – and this is true in this case. The meaning of ‘Ddawan’ or originally ‘Naddawan’ is uncertain – unless it is based on the Welsh verb ‘naddu’, which means ‘to cut’ or ‘to hew’ or ‘to whittle’. This could then describe the river cutting through the land-scape. But this is all surmising.

The English name, ‘Aberthaw’ is the Anglicisation of the name ‘Ddawan’ – the unstressed final syllable having disappeared – leaving us with ‘Thaw’ as the name of the river.

TREBEFERED / BOVERTON You’ll notice that we have the now familiar elements ‘Tre / -ton’ – meaning ‘farmstead’ or ‘settlement’ – in the Welsh and English names. This leaves us with ‘Befered’ in Welsh and ‘Bover’ in English. These are derived from the name of someone named Bouvier – but nothing is known of a person of that name.

Next month – Some Cardiff suburbs.

Ann M. Jones

 

First Year’s Progress

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

Annual Report

We opened the new Hub in May 2022, and we thought you should know how we are progressing in our first year.

Our strategic plan is a Hub which is: innovative, central to the Village, a focal point for leisure, information, and activities and inspires a love of books. It should be highly regarded by our community, supported, and respected by our Community Council and fund raising.

Since we reopened, we have increased our registrations by 113 new members. More people are borrowing books, meeting up with their friends, attending groups and events with the latest figure of 1,064 visitors in the month of November. We are now officially counted as the busiest Community Library per capita in the Vale of Glamorgan.

The Hub directors and workers are all volunteers, without whom the Hub would not function. Although we have attracted several new members to the team, we are always looking for new volunteers to keep abreast of our growing services and provision.

As well as our increase in borrowers, we have developed several groups. Clwb Clonc, our group for those wishing to practise their Welsh language skills, has so increased in membership that we have to hold it in two separate sessions on Mondays. Building on this format, we have developed a French and an Italian group. The Stitches group are busy with their sewing and wools crafts churning out wonderful projects, many of which they have donated to the Hub. The notorious Silver Foxes continue with their antics on Fridays.

Reading helps improve children’s vocabulary, communication, writing and grammar skills. We hope to make a difference to their development by encouraging children to read. Starting with our Babies and Toddlers group when Bernie and Jill lead the little ones in Storytime, songs, and rhymes and where we see tiny tots begin to appreciate the value of books. The playgroup also visits us regularly as borrowers and we are delighted to make Thursdays available to Wenvoe school when every child in the school regularly visits and borrows books from the library. Alina, our Schools Liaison Volunteer organises this as well as the Summer Reading Challenge.

Our Police Community Support Officer joins us every six weeks when we have a Cuppa with a Coppa. This provides us with a chance to discuss any policing issues that may be affecting us as individuals or as a community. Monthly talks at the Hub are always a sell-out and we have an interesting variety of topics to which you can look forward in 2023. Our most recent initiative is the Wellbeing group for carers and those, they support who are living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment.

The Hub is helping to support its community through the cost-of-living crisis by offering a free warm welcome. We have a supply of board games and activities in readiness for those of you who don’t want to heat your homes when you can visit a warm and friendly environment and meet up with your friends.

Our strategic view for 2023 is to continue to re-structure our book content to be more what our readers want. To seek more volunteers through personal contact and promotion. To continue to work with Wenvoe Primary School and Wenvoe Playgroup. To manage our finances wisely – keep costs down and raise income. Also, to organise another Village Show

Coming up in the New Year:

Wellbeing Group: 2pm Friday 6th January

 

Talks at the Hub-Steve Jones – Brunel in south Wales. 7pm on Friday January 27th. Tickets are £3 and on sale now

Cuppa with a Coppa: TBA

 

 

Letterboxes

LETTERBOXES

When did you last test your letterbox?

It is surprising how difficult it is to use some house-hold letter boxes. Some have springs that will take your fingers off if you are not careful, draft protec-tors which are almost impossible to push items through, boxes mounted so high on an external wall you almost need a step ladder to use. A household pet that snatches the item from you and your fingers if not smartly removed.

Why not test your box NOW. Take this magazine and go and post it through your letter box. Was it easy to post? Try it again; maybe you were lucky the first time. While you are there try a single piece of paper, a real test for any box. If there was no problem – congratulations. If you did hit a snag try and resolve it for the sake of all the people who have to make use of it. Think of your postman, your What’s On magazine deliverer etc.

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