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Recent weeks have seen the celebration of the Queen\u2019s platinum jubilee, including a great display of local memorabilia organised by Mike and Glenys Tucker, which together with the Barry Festival of Transport gave me food for thought on the changes in transport and communications in and around Wenvoe during the years from 1952 to 2022. There were major achievements. For example, in 1952 Wenvoe was on the map with the television mast first broadcasting on 15 August 1952 (in plenty of time for broadcasting the coronation the following year) and on the same scale Rhoose airport, now Cardiff International Airport, was formally opened in October. Incidentally a private airstrip had operated in the 1930s near the TV mast site at St. Lythans Down. Formerly a RAF airfield, Rhoose opened with Aer Lingus flights to Dublin. There were some concerns at the time that the TV mast could be a hazard to aircraft but on 1 April 1954 all civilian flights were transferred from the old Cardiff Municipal Airport and by 1971 transatlantic flights were flying in and out of Rhoose.<\/p>\n
At a local level what transport options were there? In 1952 17% of all passenger mileage was by rail and you could still travel from Wenvoe station, although local passenger services had been reduced to two trains on weekdays with all passenger services being withdrawn in 1962. In WWII Wenvoe tunnel had been used by Royal trains visiting the Cardiff area as it provided safe cover during air raids. In 1952 less than 30% of any distance travelled was by car, van or taxi but private car ownership was growing and whilst a new road bypassed the village in 1931 the Barry MP;; Sir Raymond Gower, was arguing for the Port Road to be given \u2018A\u2019 road status due to the high level of accidents in 1968. Serving the motorist was a local petrol station, Wenvoe garage, which still exists as a tyre centre today. By 1970 the figure of passenger mileage by private vehicles was at 75%, increasing to 85% by the late 1980s where it roughly remains today.<\/p>\n
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In 1952 the highest percentage of passenger mileage was by bus or coach at 42%. The excellent transport festival featured many heritage buses including those operated by Western Welsh and I\u2019m sure many can remember the 303 service from Wenvoe, which in the 1961-62 timetable is a twenty minute service starting at 7:49 am up to 7:29 pm then half-hourly until 11:04 pm. Also passing through Wenvoe was the 305 bus to RAF St Athan and Llantwit Major<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Picture9.jpg?resize=225%2C300\")
What service is available today? The bus stop sign at the Barry end of the village, Old Port Road (N) gives an interesting reminder of bus services in recent years; the 86 and 87 (to and from Dinas Powys) the 90 (to Culverhouse Cross), the 96A (Cardiff to Barry) and the X91 (Cardiff to Llantwit Major). Available before COVID at the Wallston Castle bus stop was the T9 Cardiff Airport Express (always usually empty and referred to as the \u2018empty 9\u2019).<\/p>\n
Cycling is one mode of transport, popular for commuting in the 1950s and 60s, that has seen a revival. Whilst telephone usage has greatly increased and we have witnessed the birth of mobile phones and the internet in this period – how many have learnt to \u2018zoom\u2019 during the Covid lockdown? – we still need to travel, for commuting, shopping and pleasure. But we need to reduce our carbon footprint and cut down the use of the car – when compared to a single occupancy car journey, the local bus (carrying between 30 and 100 passengers) produces half the greenhouse gases – we have only one public bus service, the 96A.<\/p>\n
Stephen K. Jones<\/p>\n
For further details see Wenvoe Online http:\/\/ wenvoe.org.uk\/?m=201710 and the Wenvoe History Group \u2018Gwenfo Gynt\u2019 series<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FORWARD OR BACK?: SEVENTY YEARS OF WENVOE IN TRANSIT Recent weeks have seen the celebration of the Queen\u2019s platinum jubilee, including a great display of local memorabilia organised by Mike and Glenys Tucker, which together with the Barry Festival of Transport gave me food for thought on the changes in transport and communications in and around Wenvoe during the years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-35t","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3845,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3845","url_meta":{"origin":11871,"position":0},"title":"DEVELOPMENT OF CARDIFF AIRPORT","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st October 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The history of the airport extends back to the1942 when the Air Ministry requisitioned land for training Spitfire pilots. After WW2 the airfield was abandoned. The man who decided Rhoose could be the site of a new airport was David Rees-Williams (later Lord Ogmore). In1945 Rees-Williams became an MP;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Miscellaneous"","block_context":{"text":"Miscellaneous","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=127"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9687,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9687","url_meta":{"origin":11871,"position":1},"title":"Turn On, Tune In And Drop\u2026\u2026Everything !","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"TURN ON, TUNE IN AND DROP\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026EVERYTHING ! The Wenvoe Mast is transmitting another Royal Event this June On 17th April, more than 13 million people in the UK watched live television coverage of the funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. The BBC\u2019s coverage of the scaled-back military procession\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Picture3-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2770,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=2770","url_meta":{"origin":11871,"position":2},"title":"Aberthaw, Fontygary and Rhoose","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Aberthaw, Fontygary and Rhoose We started at the Blue Anchor car park, Aberthaw, on a morning heavy with mist, turning to fog in places. We headed back up the road taking the first left and then turning towards the sea. The Aberthaw power station was on our right and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3706,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3706","url_meta":{"origin":11871,"position":3},"title":"Llandow Air Disaster 12 March 1950","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th September 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 In the years after WWII there was a surge in demand for air travel. This was largely met with aircraft that had been sold off as surplus to requirements. People began to realise that travel by aeroplane was something available to everyone, not just the rich. A Cardiff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reader's Travel Tales"","block_context":{"text":"Reader's Travel Tales","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=125"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16638,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16638","url_meta":{"origin":11871,"position":4},"title":"March Church News","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"March Church News Greetings from the Congregation at St. Mary\u2019s church to the wider community of Wenvoe. If you cannot make it to church, follow our Sunday service online at www.ipcamlive.com\/stmarywenvoe. We thank all who regularly continue to support the Food Bank in Barry with their weekly gifts of dry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for March 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for March 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=431"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8684,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8684","url_meta":{"origin":11871,"position":5},"title":"A Remembrance Day Like No Other","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A Remembrance Day Like No Other A headline in my newspaper said it so well \u2018It was a Remembrance Day like no other\u2019 and the same could be said for the year we have been living through in 2020. Nothing has been the same as we have had in what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "St Mary's Parish Church News"","block_context":{"text":"St Mary's Parish Church News","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11871"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11872,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11871\/revisions\/11872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}