Month: April 2016

Bargoed

We started the Bargoed walk in the Pengam area. Soon after starting, we came across a very tall sculpture in a small public garden. The 40ft statue, which is called the Lady of the Stream, was erected in 2009. It stands on a former ash-tip, which was reclaimed as a playground and then became rundown. The statue depicts a woman watching over children in the area, supposedly in reference to Pengam folklore of youngsters drowning in a stream.

Moving away from the town we crossed Gelli-Gaer Common with the usual grazing horses. It was a grey day and the environment quite bleak. Within the Capel Gwladys area, there are regular shaped mounds, which are variously described as marching camps or Roman Practice camps. The Roman army was in the area from 47AD – 113AD and used these camps regularly to practice making temporary fortified camps by digging ditches and making ramparts.

We continued in a generally northerly direction towards Pen-y-garreg farm and then Deri where we turned southeast. In Parc Cwm Darren we came upon a memorial stone ‘In memory of those whose lives were touched by the tragic events at the Darren Colliery on October 29th 1909’, below are listed the 27 names of those who died.

As we came down the valley, we followed a fast flowing stream; a bridge we crossed had a sign nearby ‘Caradoc’s bridge’. Caradoc was a Silurian leader who fought against the Roman occupation in Wales, but was eventually captured and taken to Rome. It is believed that this bridge near Deri has been called Caradoc’s bridge in his memory. The valley was steep sided and had layers of stone beside the watercourse. One area had some lovely Gorse bushes in full bloom.

1459597376[1]Approaching the built up area of Bargoed, a large viaduct towered over us with many arches, some people scrambled down a steep slope to reach its base while most of us detoured through the local streets to come down more gradually.

Our route now took us through a recently created woodland park – The Bargoed Woodland Park, which covers Bargoed, Britannia and Gilfach collieries. The country park has been created from barren waste ground left after the closure of the last mine in 1985. 90,000 new trees, 6500 bulbs and 8000 wild flowers have been planted.  This was once part of the largest colliery tip in Europe. LS Lowry immortalised it in his 1965 painting ‘Bargoed’. The Rhymney River flows through the park and after the winter rains it was in full flow, there were rapids in places and a dipper was spotted flitting across the rocks midstream. 

Coming closer to the town again a pretty stream ran next to the path and we passed under a modern road bridge with a stylish profile. Our final stretch took us alongside the river Rhymney through a quiet wooded valley to return to the cars.

Total distance covered was 8.75miles and the climb was 950ft.

Penperlleni

this walk was our first since meteorological spring began and it was certainly a lovely day, lots of sunshine with some cloud and not too cold. Basically it was a lovely gentle country walk with swathes of wild primroses in places.

The route took us south from Penperlleni towards Little Mill and almost immediately we saw our first lambs of the season.  Next we approached Cwm Hir, we wondered what awaited us (given its English pronunciation) but we walked through it without spotting anything of note.

Later there was an old metal, elaborate structure which carried a water course over a railway. From here we made our way to Glascoed and then towards Monkswood. We were now approaching the River Usk and as we passed through a field with a large flock of sheep an oldfashioned windmill could be seen in the distance. Lunch on the banks of the Usk was delightful in the sunshine with the fast flowing river very close.

Unfortunately we had to climb uphill straight after eating (always a challenge) but definitely worth it. Towards the end we passed a lane with a sign ‘No Parking  Entrance in use DAY and NIGHT’ – pretty impressive since the lane was blocked by a fallen tree.

We reached the cars and as we took off boots, the weather changed and we had a short flurry of sleet/hail, we had covered 7.25 miles and 900ft.

March 2016

The month of March has been one of the most crowded of months in the calendar due to Easter being earlier this year.

Mothering Sunday was a very happy crowded church with the Pebbles Group playing an important part in the morning service, showing us their portraits of their Mums and what she meant to them. All very touching and often quite funny in a nice sort of way.

Holy Week which began with the Palm Sunday ceremonies was kept with solemnity in the days leading up to Good Friday, when the commemoration began at St Lythan’s church, then continued with the walk down to St Mary’s for the final hour marking the time of Christ’s Crucifixion. 

The following day the church was beautifully decorated for Easter Day with lilies donated by members of the congregation in memory of loved ones departed.  On Easter Day 9.30am morning service was a very special one, when the newly lit Pascal Candle was brought into the centre of the church.

The Easter garden in the church porch was blessed and the service proceeded with the baptism of 4 young people, who with their Godparents and supporters filled the church to capacity. It was a most joyous occasion and will long live on in the memory of other joyous occasions that the church has experience during the past years. As the congregation left the church Easter Eggs were given to the children and adults and were greatly appreciated. Once again the Queen of Festivals as Easter is often called lived up to all expectations with wonderful singing, memorable readings from the Bible, and with the affirmation of our own Baptisms many years ago and in different places, all remind us that we are one family with God our Father.

The Lent Lunches continued week by week, with soup provided by members of the congregation. The Lent group met in the Rectory to study the Psalms and the Bible Study group met in Sully on a number of weeks. The theme of Lent this year was to take on something extra rather than giving something up, and  these group meetings and Wednesday lunches were all opportunities for doing something extra during Lent.

The recent fine sunny but cold weather has enabled our stone mason to work on the stone wall in the grave yard, and the results are already showing great improvements. The removal of the sycamore trees has proved to be the correct course of action with daffodils blooming in profusion on the top of the wall which enhances the appearance of graveyard and cemetery alike. The ground surrounding a church is often called “God’s Acre” and here in Wenvoe we try to maintain as high a standard as possible, knowing that many in the community appreciate its surroundings for quiet contemplation and silent prayer. 

During Lent all our “brass ware” at the altar and in the chancel has been removed in place of more simpler candles and ornaments. Shortly before Easter the Brass Cleaning team met to polish and buff up the brass ware in time for the Easter celebrations.  They meet at different times of the year to keep the brass shining for our Sunday worship, not only are candlesticks involved in this, but the hanging lamps and the various brass commemorative plaques on the wall as well.

A vote of thanks to all the volunteers who turn up to get their hands on the Brasso with rubber gloves, and they seem to thrive on the heady aroma of polish. The weeks following on from Easter are generally quieter ones, but the work doesn’t stop. Plans are being made for Pentecost on May 12th and the Queen’s 90th birthday on June 12th. Watch this space. Easter Greetings to all readers

 Parry Edwards

March 2016

A mix of news this month, some good and some not so good. To start with the not so good, the area known as Molluscopolis on the Upper Orchid Field has been destroyed by a vandal or vandals. It has been in place for 6 years and in 2011 won an Innovation Award from Keep Britain Tidy, the only time this has been awarded in Wales.

Sometime in early March in a systematic attack, every pot was broken, every notice ripped down – even the nestboxes and an owl box built by the Scouts were pulled down and smashed. It will be reconstructed but it is a mystery why anyone should go to such lengths particularly as vandalism is relatively rare around here.

The police are involved and have examined the area. If anyone sees anything suspicious or noticed anything unusual going on at the beginning of March please contact our local police officer, Kieron Byrne, on 07584 883323.

On a brighter note we have been offered funding of £250 by the Vale of Glamorgan Council to develop and enhance the sensory garden on the Community Orchard. This involves installing two additional planters with appropriate 'sensory' plants, providing signage including, hopefully, some in braille, purchasing tools that can be used by visiting groups such as Scope and creating a living willow structure. 

Conservation work by the group has involved planting replacement fruit trees as well as primroses, bluebells and snowdrops. We have cleared much of the undergrowth that runs the length of the Wild Orchard at St Lythans and removed some of the branches of the large Sycamores that shade out some of the trees at the north end of the orchard.

In April we plan to sow wildflower seeds in Grange Park and Walston Road with the help of children from Wenvoe Primary School. Wildflower seed has been passed to the Vale of Glamorgan Council so that they can spread them on the Alps roundabout and to a group in Cowbridge for them to use in Old Hall Gardens as they did last year.

We are also hosting a meeting of Forest School teachers and will be taking them on a tour of some of our local orchards.

Planting Out

All tender plants are at risk from frost until the end of April/ May and need to have protection in a greenhouse or conservatory so if you buy plants over the next few weeks, make sure they are fully hardy before risking them outside.

Long-term, hardy shrubs or trees should be fine for planting outdoors now, even if they are carrying blossom. If you took late autumn or winter cuttings of pelargoniums, fuchsias or other tender plants they will need re-potting now.

If you grow courgettes, marrows or squash, now is the time to sow seeds and these will also need early protection in the greenhouse. Use 9cm plastic or degradable fibre pots. Fill each with potting compost and insert one seed up to 2cm below the surface.

Move your plants to a coldframe during this month and harden them off in May before planting out. Although it gets a little more difficult each year that passes the dry, sunny spell in the middle of March encouraged me and other allotment holders to make a start on rotovating or digging the ground. For me there’s nothing as satisfying as the sight of freshly turned-over soil, ready to be planted with whatever I want to grow throughout the summer.

My Dad was the same and was devoted to his allotment and he was fortunate that his patch was just across the road from our house.

QUEEN’S 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION.

In co-ordination with other communities throughout the country Wenvoe will mark the special occasion by lighting a beacon positioned at the highest local point ie the Quarryman’s Tribute which is located opposite the turning in to Twyn-yr-Odyn.

The lighting ceremony will take place at 8.30pm Thursday 21st April, everybody is welcome to help mark this historic occasion.   Is your birthday on the 21st April? Would you like to be the person to light the beacon?

Please inform the Council Chairman at ceinwenfrost@uwclub.net. If know of somebody who is 90 on the same date that would be superb.

My Fruitful Fields

I have been taking Treasure Hunting for the past 20 years and look forward to my copy every month. In the last couple of years I have had some cracking finds, the best coin probably being a Durotriges silver stater which is dated 1st century BC. I am almost sure that it is the only silver stater that has been found in Glamorgan where I live.

My next brilliant find was a Roman hoard of 34 coins which were all copper dating from AD 28-29. They involved two emperors, Carausius and Allectus and apparently the latter emperor murdered the former one. I had found over several years about seven similarly dated coins from the same field but over quite a wide area.

It was quite exciting on the day that I found the Roman hoard. I found one coin, wandered about for about 30 minutes and arrived back to where had I had found the original one. I then had another ‘bleep~ and dug out another coin, then the bleeps kept coming and within 10 minutes I had 20 coins in total. Two were even stuck together.

I had to leave the area as I was going to watch a rugby international in Cardiff but returned the next day to the same spot where I found 14 more coins plus a round ring object that probably had a bag with the coins inside, as there was no trace of a pot, Steve Sell, Mark Lodvic and Edward Besley from the National Museum in Cardiff came at a later date to inspect the site and had a small dig, hut no more coins were found. The hoard is now at the Museum wailing for a Treasure Inquest.

On the field where I found the silver stater, I also found a Roman silver Republic coin of Farat in poor condition which has been dated by the museum at c.60 BC. Also on the field I found eight hammered coins and nice silver posy ring inscribed ‘I like my choise’ which is now waiting for a Treasure Inquest.

On my own farm, on one field where I have detected on for 23 years I found a small Bronze Age hoard. A year ago I found an axe one evening with a small piece missing from it. The following evening I found the missing piece! The next night I found another broken axe but have never found the other part. This autumn we ploughed the field and cultivated deeply and found another brilliant find in the same area – it was a beautiful decorated Bronze Age socketed spearhead in very good condition. The museum now has the axes and the spearhead, provisionally dated to early to mid-Bronze Age. They are both going forward to Treasure Trove.

I would have loved to keep the spearhead as I’m sure it would have belonged to the chief of the tribe who was living on our farm. Somebody was here 3,500 to 3800 years ago, farming the same sod as myself and hunting the same pastures and wood and this same field has yielded many more finds – a 13th century religious copper seal, a Roman bucket mount and about a dozen hammered coins. I also found a medieval buckle, which is about the best I've seen for a long time. I mostly detect in the evenings because I’m still working on the farm.

What a wonderful relaxing hobby we all have. We all I think, have lean times but hang in there and hopefully a cracking find or two will materialise.

Gwyn Rees, 

RECYCLING – WASTE MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS IN WENVOE

In Wenvoe our weekly collections for household waste and recyclable items are on Friday. This is the day we have to scurry out of bed early to put our bins and bags outside – as they have to be there before 7.00am, but you are not meant to put them out overnight as the paper and cardboard may become soggy and the birds and animals might scatter the contents about. For anyone unsure about when to put out their recycling the dates are helpfully given on page 3 of Wenvoe What’s On.

The recycling of items that can be recovered is very important and we should all make a positive effort to separate those many things which can be recycled such as Paper – Glass – Cans – Cardboard – Plastic – Clean foil – Empty Aerosols – and Cartons. These items should be put into the special green bins or blue bags which are readily available from the Alps Depot in Wenvoe at cost of £1 each. These items most definitely should not be put into black bags, Tesco bags and preferably not into any other plastic bag.

The Vale of Glamorgan Council is required by law to increase the amount of household waste that is recycled and this target is becoming higher each year. This year the target is 58% but it rises in 2019 to 64% and in ten years’ time it has to reach 70% which will be challenging. Councils who miss targets receive punitive financial penalties. So we all need to make a greater effort to recycle the items above – and to avoid the lazy option of putting recyclable items into a black bag.

Some may ask why we have to separate our rubbish, and there are a number of good reasons why we should. When we recycle, used materials are converted into new products, reducing the need to consume natural resources. If used materials are not recycled, new products are made by extracting fresh, raw material from the Earth, through mining and forestry. Recycling also helps conserve important raw materials and protects natural habitats for the future.

Using recycled materials in the manufacturing process uses considerably less energy than that required for producing new products from raw materials – even when comparing all associated costs, like transport. Plus there are extra energy savings because more energy is required to extract, refine, transport and process raw materials ready for industry compared with providing industry-ready materials. Recycling reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging), refining and processing raw materials all of which create substantial air and water pollution. As recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to tackle climate change.

Current UK recycling is estimated to save more than 18 million tonnes of CO2 a year – the equivalent to taking 5 million cars off the road. When we recycle, recyclable materials are reprocessed into new products, and as a result the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites reduces. There are over 1,500 landfill sites in the UK, and in 2001, these sites produced a quarter of the UK's emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Reducing kitchen waste is also very important. There are some obvious ways to achieve this such as buying less food, making good use of leftovers, and turning unused vegetables and salads which may have passed their “use by” date into good tasty soups.

Making a good effort in recycling shows good integrity, good community spirit and an awareness of the environment. If you do not have enough green bins or blue bags the council staff at the Alps depot will be pleased to sell you some. Let us in Wenvoe set a good example of environmental awareness.