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The Story of Winter's Eve 2020


WintersEve2020logo

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Winter's Eve 2020 was very different from previous years!

Here is its story – hopefully, bringing back some happy and festive memories from that time of uncertainty .

It started with the Christmas Tree of Good Wishes on 28 and 29 November when villagers left a lovely selection of messages on the weeping birch tree outside the village hall which Monica wrote up and sent around the village.

ChristmasTreeOfGoodWishes

On the Sunday there was the grand switch on of the Village Christmas Lights – with a wonderful performance by Beth, Mostyn, Maia and Olwen Whelan – big thank you’s to Andrew Bateson, Charlie Bithell, Kevin Wilkinson and Tim Neudegg for help with putting up the lights and marshalling and to John Williams for switching on the church lights, which looked wonderful.

Lights1

Lights2

The fantastic 12 Days of Christmas, organised by Caroline Neudegg and aided by lots of elvish helpers, started on 1 December with a different collection in the telephone box on each of the 12 days for items to make up Christmas Hampers for the Vale and the Dusty Forge Food Banks – in addition a cash donation of £150 was made to Ely & Caerau Foodbank raised from the sale of 100% wool toy and cushion filling produced from the fleece of Romney sheep reared in St Hilary by Heather and Colin Shaw!

12Days

After the 12 Days of Christmas, the telephone box was the location for the Great St Hilary Takeaway with an assortment of gifts, edible goodies, fun activities and surprises for the younger residents of the village.

TakeawayBiscuits

On the weekend of 5 & 6 December there was a lot of brain activity as residents young and old enjoyed strolling around the village finding the clues and solving the puzzle in the St Hilary Xmas Trail devised by Neil and Jayne Warnock.

XmasTrail

The Christmassy Festive Home Competition was held over the same weekend – with the Calcaterras in The Nest winning a seasonal hamper to reward their marvellous efforts – lots of villagers decorated and lit their homes and there were lots of positive and warm comments from those who enjoyed the festive stroll around the village. 

Nest

Finally, Stephanie Edwards and Shaun Dixon entertained villagers on Friday, 11 December with the stunning Carols Round the Village, aided and abetted by Marged, Pat, Caroline and Monica – “exceptional”, “fantastic”, “I could have listened to them for ever” and “absolutely wonderful” were just a few of the comments we received.

carols

Message from the village hall

There will be filming in the village in the near future. With the trustees and committee’s agreement, the production crew will be using the Village Hall as a base. They will be adhering to not only our, but to their own extremely stringent Covid guidelines.
On previous occasions when the village has been used for filming, it has quite naturally aroused some interest and curiosity. Our instinct might have been to go and see what was ‘occurring.’
On this occasion when we are all being told to ‘Stay at Home,’ the committee considers that it would be sensible to do just that.
Looking forward to our first social event in the village hall in 2021. It will happen!
Ewa Thomas (Chairman Village Hall)

The Messages on the Christmas Tree of Good Wishes


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All the messages that were put on the weeping birch tree outside the village hall over the weekend are now on the website – such a lovely collection of kind and thoughtful sentiments

Click here to read all the messages

Here we go again - another enormous lorry stuck in the lane


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Last week a Nolan transport lorry became stuck in the village – and seriously damaged a villager’s car, parked on their drive.

If we are to influence the Vale of Glamorgan Council to take action (and it is a massive “if”), we have to keep the pressure on the council.
If you see an articulated lorry in the village (even if it is not stuck), take a photograph and send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Click here to read the responses from the Council and others

Houses wanted in the village

There are a couple of families looking to move to the village:

"We are a young family looking to move back to South Wales and find a home to bring up our children in the area. We would love to find a property in the St Hilary community. If you are considering selling, then we would love to have an informal chat. We are hoping to find a house with at least four bedrooms. We have no chain and could move more or less quickly as is convenient. Please do let us know if you think it’s worth discussing. Thank you"
In the first instance email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will pass on the message.

A message from Clare Anderson:
“We are actively looking to move into the beautiful village of St Hilary. Having grown up in Cowbridge, we want to raise our children here also. We are ideally looking for a detached property (or land to build) which has 4 or more bedrooms, or the opportunity to possibly extend. We are not in a chain and have a budget in the region of £750,000. We would be interested in hearing from anyone who would like to explore this further.”
You can contact Clare on 07753748044

3Cs

Cut, clear and clean group - all socially distanced
10am Wednesday, 6 January
10am Wednesday, 3 February

3Cs 171108 1

Every 1st Wednesday of the month (normally!). Everybody is welcome to join us – meet at the tree outside the rear door of the village hall.

Click here for the history of 3Cs

Memories of Lockdown (2020)


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In March 2020 the country entered lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic - this is an archive of what villagers got up to during that strange time

See the lockdown photographs

Mental health support


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Julia Davies, a villager who is a fully accredited psychologist and psychotherapist, can provide free confidential online support with issues such as anxiety, stress and insomnia including coping mechanisms for dealing with many life situations: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Foodbank donations


Lynn and Bruce Rankin are collecting food donations on behalf of the Cardiff Vineyard church in Cardiff. The food will be distributed to those in desperate need. Examples include tinned soup, tinned tomatoes, baked beans, instant coffee, rice, pasta, UHT milk, cereal, biscuits – but no fresh items

Please leave donations with Lynn and Bruce at Hendre in a box in their carport (on the right about 100 yards past the phone box on the lane towards Llantrithyd – here’s the link to the map of village houses)

Map of the village with house names


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Click on this link for a pdf file of a map of the location of houses in the village - useful if you need to provide directions to family, friends or delivery van drivers. There are two pages: the first is of houses in the centre of the village, the second is of outlying houses.

Click here to see the two maps on this page

Walk, bacon bap and a coffee/tea


StallingCafe

Stalling Cafe is open 7 days a week from 9am to 2pm.
It's a simple 15min walk up to The Clump, straight across the Roman Road then down a wide track to the Mughal car park.
And a nice option is to cross the A48 (by the bridge) and walk around the perimeter of Stalling Down, returning to the cafe for a coffee before heading back up The Clump and back home. About 1 hour walking time.

Support on local social media


SocialMediaMaster

Help and support during the coronavirus crisis

Contacts for medical concerns


Villagers Alex (registrar in geriatric medicine) and Jonny (public health doctor) have offered to be a contact point for villagers who have medical concerns or on behalf of members of their family. They acknowledge they may not have answers to all our queries, but they might be able to ‘signpost’ villagers to where to go or how to access further information.  Their contact details are 01446 774051 / Alex: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / Jonny: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

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  • News
  • Get involved
  • Information and services
  • Walks and strolls
  • Memories
    • Villager's stories
    • Meet the villagers
    • Memorable events
    • Photo gallery
    • Messages from exiles and visitors
    • In memoriam
  • History
  • Contact