Just a Quick Note – 03/11/22
BEING SANTA – AGM – QUIZ – LITTER PICK – ARCHAEOLOGY – SWARD MANAGEMENT – WIND FARM ON MYNYDD MAEN – NEWPORT CASTLE
Just a Quick Note
3rd November 2022
The e-newsletter of the Twmbarlwm Society
Hello Folks
Now that the clocks have gone back it’s time to hunker down for winter – and with the way the weather has been of late who wouldn’t blame you if you shut yourself away until March. But that will cost you a fortune in heating bills, so why don’t you just come on out to one of our events and sit and enjoy an evening talk in a lovely warm rugby club.
Here’s what we’ve got lined up…
UPCOMING EVENTS
We haven’t been able to hold any talks for the past couple of years for obvious reasons – so this autumn and winter we are hoping to hold a talk every month – all with an interesting historical theme – and if we can work in a tenuous link to Twmbarlwm so much the better.
Our next talk this coming
Monday 7th November 2022
we are presenting what I’m sure will be a very entertaining talk entitled:
“BEING SANTA”
Presented by Roger Morgan.
** STRICTLY NOT FOR BELIEVERS **
This talk looks at the myth and origins of Father Christmas, from Wotan the Norse God to St Nicholas. It also considers the origins of many of the Christmas traditions, presents, trees, Father Christmas entering the house through the chimney and so on.
Roger is a real entertainer with his anecdotes about life in Santa’s grotto and some of the strange, terrifying and hilarious things that go on when you wear the big red suit.
This is sure to be a fun filled and informative talk.
It’s at Crosskeys Rugby Club – doors open at 7:00pm – for a 7:30pm start
See the website for more information or the attached poster – if you could print it out and display it where everyone can see it, so much the better.
also in the pipeline…
7th December 2022 – Christmas Quiz – we haven’t held our quiz for three years so I’m sure some old adversaries will be back to defend their title and retain the magnificent trophy
1st February 2023 – The Lost Farms of Mynydd Maen – Rod Southall
1st March 2023 – The Newport Transporter Bridge – Speaker to be confirmed
5th April 2023 – The Newport Medieval Ship – Jeff Grosvenor, Friends of Newport Medieval Ship
The talks will be held at Crosskeys Rugby Club – dates and times are yet to be confirmed – please check our website closer to the date.
Entry will be £3 per person – or free to paid up members of the Twmbarlwm Society (you could pay £10 to become a member on the night and so get free entry to all future talks).
THE HISTORY OF NEWPORT CASTLE
We have already had the first talk of the year which was on The History of Newport Castle presented by Will Davies of Cadw. We had a great crowd turn out for this – over 40 people and it proved to be a very interesting talk with Will giving us some new insights into the castle’s past. It was unfortunate we had a couple of technical problems towards the end but Will, forever the professional, continued his talk as though nothing had happened.
The information Will presented in the talk will be available as a downloadable document very soon on our website.
We have since sorted out the technical problem and you can rest assured all future talks will go smoothly, without any hitches (ooo look there goes another flying pig).
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
14th November 2022
The Society’s AGM is only open to paid up member and Notice has already been sent out to them – however if you are interested in the Society’s work and would like to consider joining us you would be welcome to come along. The AGM is to be held at the Philanthropic Inn Pontywaun on 14th November 2022 at 7:00pm. I’d appreciate if you could inform us by email if you intend to attend.
The Last-Sunday-Of-The-Month Litter Pick will be:
Sunday 27th November 2022
Please make your own way there, we meet at the car park below the Twmp at 10:30 am.
We are usually there for a couple of hours and we collect litter from the area immediately around the car park and some of us walk around the wider area to check out fences, paths etc. and effect any repairs if we are able. Tools, Pickers, Bags and Gloves will be supplied.
This is also a great opportunity to meet other members and learn more about the area and the work that the Society gets involved with.
Please make your own way to the car park at the end of Mountain Road, below the Twmp (Risca side of Twmbarlwm). We will provide tea and bikkies to all helpers after the pick and there will be soft drinks on offer too – or bring your own picnic if you need to.
Don’t forget – if you are taking a walk up there any day of the week for exercise, why not think about taking a rubbish bag with you to collect any litter on your way – every little helps. If you do leave any filled bags in the corner of the car park, make sure to let us know so that we can inform the council to collect it.
THE STORY OF LAST MONTH’s LITTER PICK
I need to say a special thank you to our volunteer litter pickers who turned up last weekend.
It was not a pleasant day – it had been raining all night yet fortunately the rain had stopped by 10am – but when we arrived at the car park it was to find a very large fly tip of household rubbish strewn all around the car park.
There was kiddies’ toys, plastic furniture, clothing, kitchen utensils, a suitcase etc. – it looked like someone had just cleared out a shed or spare room.
Amongst it all was a lot of correspondence with an address on – we have since handed over that evidence to the council’s investigators and they will be pursuing the case – so if it was your rubbish please expect a knock on your door very soon.
It is the council’s general advice that when you find such a fly tip to leave it alone and report it to the council for their investigators to handle it – but there were a dozen of us there and we were there to do a job. We assessed the situation and decided the best course of action was to gather the rubbish into one spot, reported it to the council and it has since been removed – we are very grateful to CCBC for their prompt action.
Apart from the fly tip there was loads of spent fireworks around the area – which fills me with dread for the coming weekend. If you, or anyone you know, are planning on going up there to set off your fireworks this please do us all a favour – just don’t do it.
OTHER NEWS
ARCHAEOLOGY
– I’m afraid there’s no news yet on the report of the archaeological excavations we did in August with CPAT but a few of us went to an Open day that CPAT hosted in Brecon recently. The day consisted of a series of talks about the work of CPAT and one of the subjects they covered concerned their work on Twmbarlwm – nothing new was revealed in the talk but it was nice to see the rest of the mostly professional audience showing such great interest in our mountain.
SWARD MANAGEMENT
– Another report we are waiting on. After the Bio-Blitz in early October we are expecting a report that will influence how we manage the SAM on top of Twmbarlwm – this will probably include fence building and re-seeding of some areas and in the meanwhile we are in the process of making applications to find funding for this project.
WIND FARM ON MYNYDD MAEN
There are currently plans underway for the development of a wind farm on the Penyrheol end of the Mynydd Maen ridgeway – this will consist at least 15 x 150m tall wind turbines. They will be very visible from the top of Twmbarlwm (as shown in the artist’s impression below) and other locations from miles around. Some of our Trustees met with the company (RES-Group) to learn about the implications this development will have for Twmbarlwm. It’s yet to go through planning and will take a few years before any work starts but the Society will keep a watching brief on the project and will keep you aware of progress.
See the company’s website here: https://www.res-group.com/en
And the project specific website here: http://www.mynyddmaen-windfarm.co.uk/consultation/
Visit our website http://www.twmbarlwm.co.uk for up to date information on the work of the Society or follow our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/twmbarlwm for announcements and discussions
Many Regards
TERRY EVANS
Chairman Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society
Address general queries to: twmbarlwmsociety@gmail.com
These details are posted on our website and on FaceBook – but if you know of anyone who is interested but don’t get their news through the internet – could you please let them have a copy of this message.
DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO BECOME A MEMBER?
We are always looking for new members to help us further the aims of the society which are “…to research, restore and protect Gwent’s most iconic landmark, Twmbarlwm” – and in particular we are looking for members who really want to get involved and help with our work – and to bring new ideas to the table.
The Twmbarlwm Society has existed for over 12 years and so far have achieved quite a lot on the mountain and we are recognised by local councils, Cadw and other official bodies as a major influencer in environmental, and historical issues of the area.
Next year promises to be another exciting year with CTS being heavily involved in major local projects and we need people with the skills to help move these projects forward.
