Month: December 2024

“Midnight Blue” by Simone van der Vlugt

OFF THE SHELF

“Midnight Blue” by Simone van der Vlugt

The group were all quick to agree that this was an excellent easy read for the month and gave it a score of 8 out of 10.

The book is set in the Netherlands in the 17th Century and although lacks historical references there is an excellent plot which twists and turns throughout the story. Catrin, the main character of the book, is a strong and ambitious woman who leaves her hometown, after the death of her husband. There is a dark shadow cast over her exodus which gradually unfolds throughout the story and her dark past is forever following her. She first finds employment as a housekeeper in Amsterdam, where the city is flourishing, and it is here that her talents and skills as an artist are discovered. Catrin tries to fulfil this ambition but is thwarted until she leaves for the smaller city of Delft. As a designer of ceramics, she tries to survive life as a widow and finally marriage. The book is written in the first person, and this helps to develop Catrin’s strong emotions and feelings that have been formed by her relationships and hardships in her life.

 

Isobel Davies

“Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano is an unlikely title, for a book about William, who has great difficulties relating to a real world.

After a childhood of neglectful love, his parents had lost a baby and were incapable of showing any feeling. William’s one interest in life is baseball and he achieves a scholarship to a college. He meets Julia and her loving family of sisters who almost adopt William. So, the story continues with Julia, a great world organiser falling for William and they get married, later in life, they divorce, and he marries her sister, who through her love of books, understands William and his isolating life.

The group gave the book a score of 8 out of 10

Anne Gill

Advent In St. Mary’s Church

CONSIDERING OTHERS DURING ADVENT 

This year during Advent we are considering others in need both locally and farther afield

Each Sunday throughout Advent we will remember those locally who are struggling financially and those farther afield who may have lost everything they own and are displaced away from their homes.

Locally we already donate goods each week to the Vale Foodbank. The goods are taken to the warehouse in Barry, which services 8 contact centres around the Vale. The Foodbank is affiliated to the Trussel Trust, whose philosophy is: “We don’t think anyone in our community should have to face going hungry”.

To access help individuals or families need a referral from someone in the caring services for 3 days emergency food. Two examples of those who have needed help include:

Holly who is a single parent with a daughter. She lived in a poor area with drug taking and trading all around, sometimes outside her door. She moved to a better area to be near her parents, however her rent doubled. She had never claimed benefits and remained independent setting up a small business selling second hand clothes. She did this from her home until she gained a space in a local shop to increase her sales. All was going well until her daughter became ill culminating in her needing a stay in hospital for 3 weeks. When she came home soon their cupboards were bare, bills were rising, and debts seemed inevitable. After seeking help at a Citizen Advice Bureau she was referred to her local Foodbank

Richard had been in the police force for 6 years followed by 12 years in the military. He was fit and did not foresee any problems. However, he then had a chest infection followed by two major strokes, 19 mini strokes, and was deemed unfit to work. He needs constant medication and found the cost of transport to get his prescription expensive, and so he found he had to choose between his prescription and buying food. He like Holly was referred to the Foodbank by Citizens Advice.

Both Holly and Richard saw the Foodbank as a lifeline, where they were made to feel welcome and cared for. Indeed, it was the way help was given that gave them encouragement and took away fears about seeking help

Current information of the Vale: During October there were 680 referrals, of which 438 were adults and 242 Children (of those 88 were new referrals). Stock was low during the summer months due to increased referrals, however many donations from Harvest celebrations have made improvements. These should help until January, however this prediction is causing concern as in previous years these Harvest collections should last through to the spring.

Looking further afield Christian Aid helps us to identify communities and individuals who also need our actions. Not all places in crisis reach our TVs or newspapers, or the media soon loses their interest.

“No Room for Comfort and Joy”

The Republic of Sudan has been at war between factions within the military since 2023. 15 thousand have lost their lives and 9 million have been displaced. There is evidence of killings, looting and sexual violence. Many of those fleeing for their lives have made their way to South Sudan, where the UN has declared the situation as the world’s worst hunger crisis. It is there we find Christian Aid taking action.

Here in South Sudan we meet Sheda who is married with 3 children. The youngest is 6 and the eldest also has a 6 year old. Previously she lived in the Republic of Sudan, where she farmed her food organically and though poor the family were able to care for themselves. Looking back to March 2023 Sheda describes: “Fighting broke out and homes were bombed, food was no longer available. The situation was dire. Conditions were very bad for us”.

Sheda’s brothers were killed and she decided to travel with her daughters and granddaughter to South Sudan, her husband stayed and she has not heard from him since. They had no belongings, just the clothes on them.

At the settlement Sheda who previously grew her own food now relies on food and cash supplied from Christian Aid and their partners.

Our role this Advent:

Vale Foodbank: We will be concentrating on collecting food, both festive foods and staple items, to replenish food stocks. Suggested foods for Christmas parcels include, Tinned ham and salmon, Christmas or sponge puddings, Christmas biscuits, Selection boxes, Custard, Savoury snacks, Christmas cake or mince pies.

If you would like to contribute there are collection boxes in the church porch which are emptied regularly.

Sudan Crisis: A Retiring collection for the settlements in South Sudan, will be taken each Sunday in Advent. envelopes will be made available for gift aid.

For further information please contact Jude Billingham on 01756112897

 

Energy Security

WENVOE FORUM

Considering Tomorrow Today

Why not build into the Community plan , – Energy Security

One of the potentially biggest problems facing us, here in the UK in the next couple of decades is the failure of our power generation and distribution network. The world around us has changed and will continue to change. Our National Grid, which was so efficient when created was designed to carry electricity from large generators to much smaller consumers and cabling, switches, controls etc reflect this structure with safety switches that blow if certain components are over stretched. The future is more likely to see small distributed generators feeding into the central system so the grid is upside down, back to front certainly, in some way, the wrong way round. Now the temptation is to give up and leave such matters to the Government, it is the long term strategic player, or is it? Governments have very short term 4/5 years of secure power to act, whereas the community may be here for generations. Setting Energy Security as a long term aim of the Community Plan informs the direction of travel, opens the way for perhaps a shared bulk purchase of solar panels, it’s a starting point and one which might be achieved.

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To join our Facebook group, please ‘friend up’ with the Gwen Fo ac-count @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1 and then jon the Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/635369267864402

Some further information and updates, blog site https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/. Any Wenvoe community member is welcome to join the Forum meetings, via Zoom, which are normally held 19.00 on the second Thursday of each month. E-mail gwen-fo.forum@gmail.com if you wish to join

Quick and Easy Macaroni Cheese & Easy Christmas Cake

Pacific Pie

A childhood favourite, loved by kids and almost impossible not to have all the ingredients making it a good standby supper……..

Ingredients for 4

3 large floury potatoes
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter
450g tinned tuna (keep the oil)
2 medium onions
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1tsp sugar
1tsp red or white wine vinegar
300g frozen peas (thawed)
1 pkt ready salted crips, smashed up
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  • Boil the potatoes until tender, then drain.
  • Mash with milk and butter.
  • Preheat oven to 200c or mark 6.
  • Heat oil from tuna and fry with onions until tender, don’t let them brown.
  • Add tomatoes, sugar and vinegar and season to make the tuna sauce.
  • Transfer tuna sauce to bottom of baking tray and cover with mashed potato like a shepherds pie.
  • Cook for 30 mins and sprinkle crisps on top just before serving.
  • Serve with mayo or tomato ketchup!!

 

Nutty Carrot Cake Traybake

Using a combination of granulated sweetener and muscovado sugar helps to reduce the sugar in this yummy tray bake!

Ingredients:

150g plain flour

3tsp baking powder

40g light brown muscovado sugar

10 tsp table top sweetener

60g walnuts, chopped roughly

120g carrots, grated

2 medium eggs,

50g low fat spread, melted

2 tsp ground cinammon

30g sultanas

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
  • Line a tin approx 20cm by 20cm with baking paper.
  • Sift together dry ingredients into a bowl, flour, baking powder, sugar, sweetener and cinnamon.
  • In another bowl beat 2 eggs and add the melted low fat spread.
  • Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture, then add the carrots, walnuts and sultanas, fold and don’t over work mixture.
  • Pour into lined tin and bake for 30-35 mins, using skewer to check centre which should come out clean when cooked

 

 

The Festive Season Is Upon Us

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

The Festive Season Is Upon Us

With the festive season upon us, the garden gets a bit neglected. That is probably one of the reasons artistic gardeners say we should leave the dead stalks of perennials standing, as it gives structure to the plot. It’s bad enough that the garden starts to look untidy let alone adding to the mess. If you must have some winter structure, get some dogwoods as they have colourful stems and really do look like you’re trying to do your best. Most of the bulbs we’ve planted are in pots that have been dug into the ground so that when they’ve finished flowering, we can retrieve the pots and give the bulbs a feed then let the foliage die down out of sight ready for the Autumn. Hedgehog houses are a good addition to the garden and we are encouraged to help our little friends but check on the occupants as rats love the dry space you have so kindly provided. The Wenvoe Wildlife Group and other prestigious charities would like us to have a wood pile which provides shelter for insects and a snacking area for birds, frogs and hedgehogs. Don’t just throw the wood down like some irate fly tipper; stack it properly so it’s not an eyesore. A couple of stones stacked up will entice the snails to settle in for the winter, then just before the green shoots of Spring appear you can collect and dispose of the blighters.

If we are properly organised, then we should be sending the mower for a service. There is usually a discount at this time of year. If you wait for the Spring when the workshops are busy it can be weeks before you get your machine back. Sharpen all your hand tools now so you’re ready when growth starts. There will be a sharpening day at the wheel wright shop in January for shears, secateurs, mower blades and hooks. Details of dates in the next issue of What’s on.

 

Have a lovely Christmas and a good new year.

Take care and happy gardening

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

 

“Still Life” by Sarah Winman

“Still Life” by Sarah Winman

This novel engendered a lively discussion and was generally considered an enjoyable and involving read.

The many characters are diverse and their lives are documented over four decades. Much of the story alternates between England and Italy, where the descriptions of Florence are highly evocative: several Page Turners remembered happy visits, although one reader had an unwelcome reminder of a bottom-pinching experience while there!

Much of the book explores the nature of enduring loyalty and friendship and how these survive absence.

Claude, the talking parrot, was deemed ridiculous, but entertaining. For some, the lack of quotation marks was irritating, but others thought conversations flowed more effectively as a result. Some varied comments: well-written with flashes of brilliance; disjointed; too many descriptions of meals and coffee breaks.

Two Page Turners enjoyed listening to the novel on eAudiobooks via the BorrowBox service at the Hub. A great read with score of 7 out of 10.

 

Many thanks to Sandra for hosting and providing delectable cakes.

The Life And Times Of Saint Nicholas

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SAINT
NICHOLAS

Should you wish to make a pilgrimage to honour the life of Saint Nicholas you would not be going to Lapland. Firstly because according to popular culture he is still alive and kicking up there in the frozen wastes. Secondly you would be going in entirely the wrong direction. You would need to head south to Bari. No, not Barry, but its almost namesake: the southern Italian port city on the Adriatic.

About the man himself. According to the available literature (ie Wikipedia) he was born in 270AD in Patara on the Mediterranean coast which is now in present day Turkey. His father was an early Christian bishop and following a series of miracles in youth it was inevitable that he would also become a priest. Eventually when a vacancy for a new Bishop of Patara arose, he was the logical shoe in for the role.

Whilst he was Bishop he was credited with various Good Works, the most memorable being the gifts, initially made anonymously, of purses containing gold coins to a father facing penury whose three daughters faced a ruinous future. Which is, children, the reason behind us all gifting presents to each other at Christmas.

But there’s more than just this to his name. A ship he was on was nearly destroyed by a terrible storm but he rebuked the waves. Thus, Nicholas became venerated as the patron saint of sailors and travellers. And in due course also of merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers (hence their Three Golden Balls), toymakers, unmarried people, and students. He died in around 343AD and was buried in Myra which is also in present day Turkey.

And so, back to Bari. Until Italy was unified into one nation in 1861, it was a diverse collection of city states. A rival state was that of Venice, and in the 800s AD, they had stole the body of Saint Mark from Alexandria and this became the focus for highly profitable pilgrimages to Venice. The citizens of Bari were quite jealous of the Venetians and decided that they also needed a Saint for people to come and venerate and generate some revenue.

A group of merchants stole most of his skeleton, ostensibly to prevent it from falling into the hands of an invading Muslim army. They brought them to their hometown, where they are now buried deep underground in that city’s cathedral.

Tony Hodge

It Soon Went Bottoms Up

VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP

It Soon Went Bottoms Up

What started as a full complement of eager veterans ready to clear the vast amount of detritus from the bottom of Pound Lane, soon went bottoms up. Things were going so well, until the police turned up with a warrant for the arrest of team member Gareth (Shady) Williams. Despite some not so convincing protests from the rest of the team, they put Shady in a police van. Big John took it upon himself to lay in the road to prevent the constables taking Shady away, the problem with that was, he didn’t have his glasses on and was lying down at the back of the van and they just drove off. Shady was later bailed for £5. His friend has started a gofundme page to get a legal team on the case. It stands at 90p. Charges relate to his time in France before he was extradited.

Our meeting for December has yet to be confirmed as there could be more arrests from our group if Shady starts squealing under interrogation. If you think you might fit in with this bunch of outlaws, please let the Godfather know.

 

Merry Christmas you filthy animals.

 

Library Hub – December 2024

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

Library Hub – December 2024

Books New Arrivals – our selection

Children’s fiction: The Glorious Race of Magical Beasts by Alex Bell

Crime: Safe Enough by Lee Child. New collection of short stories

Fiction: Such Charming Liars by Karen M McFarlane. ’It’s their last heist and they only have one shot’

Non Fiction: Most delicious poison by Noah Whiteman. Spices to vices – The Story of Nature’s Toxins

Report from the Hub

Coffee at the Hub, why not come in and drink a coffee. We also sell Fruit Shoots (sugar free) and a small selection of ice creams / popsicles.

As winter approaches and the days shorten and become colder, please feel free to pop into the hub for a browse and/or a chat. You will always be greeted with a warm welcome and a friendly face. Also, please remember, that with increasing reliance on technology, we are happy to assist with accessing information on-line. Help is also available from Citizens Advice, Age UK and One Stop Shop.

Christmas Raffle – Clare Ellis has provided the Hub with more wonderful hampers this year. Look out for it in the Library – tickets £1.00 each. Monies raised will go towards the upkeep of the library

Reminder: The Library no longer takes second hand books or magazines due to lack of space. The British Heart Foundation in Barry will accept books.

The Community Library/Hub organised a very successful trip to Westonbirt Arboretum in October. Apart from the initial shower of rain, it was a long walk but seeing the trees in their autumn colours was wonderful.

Keep an eye out for our next trip in the new year.

Watch this Space

  • Cuppa with a Coppa – tba at 2.20 pm in the Hub
  • Wellbeing Group – Friday 13th December 2024 between 2 pm and 3 pm in the Hub
  • On Saturday 16 November. Wenvoe Library joined with Dinas Powys and Sully community libraries for a local Christmas Post. Each card posted will cost 40p and will run until Saturday 14 December 2024. Full list of streets accepted will be displayed in the Library. All monies will contribute to the running of the Library.

 

 

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