St Hilary Foragers' Produce Market - Sunday 26 September
St Hilary Book Club
Jude Bateson and Pam Wilkinson are considering setting up a St Hilary Book Club, which will meet once a month.
The aim of the group will be to discuss a variety of different genres in a comfortable, friendly and social setting – perhaps with a glass of wine!
Thye aare holding a preliminary meeting to discuss the idea at 7.30pm on Tuesday 5 October at The Old Farm, St Hilary.
If you would like to attend please speak to or email Jude This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Pam This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Yoga classes are back!
6pm, Tuesdays, Village hall
(5.30pm on the 2nd Tuesday of the month)
(5.30pm on the 2nd Tuesday of the month)
Yoga classes will commence at 6pm on Tuesday evenings from 21 September (5.30pm on the 2nd Tuesday)
As the number of yogis participating is limited there will be no drop-ins and classes will need to be pre-booked in 4 week blocks
Bookings are accepted on a first-come first-served basis 7 days prior to each 4 week block – if new Covid restrictions are imposed any missed classes will be refunded
Pre-paid fees for each block of 4 weeks are £20 via bank transfer - details will be sent once the booking is confirmed
The dates for the blocks for the rest of the year are as follows:
• Block 1: 21 & 28 September and 5 & 12 October – booking opens 14 September
• Block 2: 19 October and 2, 9 & 23 November – booking opens 12 October
• Block 3: 30 November and 7, 14 & 21 – booking opens 23 November
• Block 1: 21 & 28 September and 5 & 12 October – booking opens 14 September
• Block 2: 19 October and 2, 9 & 23 November – booking opens 12 October
• Block 3: 30 November and 7, 14 & 21 – booking opens 23 November
If you need any further explanation or to book for block contact Ann Culverwell This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 07855 448 356.
Foraging – would it be different if we lived in Greece?
In recent weeks we have been busy foraging for ingredients for the forthcoming St Hilary Foragers Produce Market – Sunday 26 September, 12 noon–3pm. We have also received generous donations of fruit and vegetables from our lovely friends and neighbours which means that there will be a wide and wonderful variety of produce to tempt your tastebuds on the day – delicious homemade jams and chutneys, tasty soups and sauces, zingy apple juice, gorgeous crumbles and pies (savoury and sweet). And, new this year, some of our young entrepreneurs in the village will be selling Fablas ice cream with homemade blackberry coulis.
Many of the ingredients we use come from local hedgerows and woods. There is an abundance of blackberries, sloes, elderflowers/berries, wild garlic and other goodies growing wild around the village and, further afield along the coast, sea buckthorn and seaweed. Offers of apples are plentiful as there are many trees in the village, some left over from the days of orchards attached to village farms. Neighbours and friends have gifted courgettes, carrots, beetroot, rhubarb, grapes, black/redcurrants, damsons and plums from their gardens and allotments. And on rare occasions we receive a few figs. How lucky we are!
Whilst on holiday in Crete this year, it occurred to me that where we stayed has similar opportunities for foraging, but for different produce.
Click here to see what it would be like if we foraged in Crete!
4,000 bulbs for the village! Save the dates: 9 and 10 October
Jayne Warnock and Clare Green, who are leading the bulb planting project following the BBC donation, are planning a bulb fest on the Village Green on Saturday 9th October (10am to 1pm) and on No Man's Land on Sunday 10 October (2pm to 4pm). All welcome. Please save the dates. More details will follow.
Donations of bulbs will also be gratefully received.
And villagers will be encouraged to adopt a patch of land outside their homes and to plant bulbs in their own gardens or in tubs to brighten up the village in Spring.
Village Lunch – and the first outing of the marquee (September 2021)
St Hilary Church and the Village Hall Committee held a collaborative lunch on the village green on Sunday 5 September 2021
A fantastic opportunity for the village to get together after 18 months of Covid restrictions
About 70 people attended the delicious lunch, shielded from the beautiful but hot sun, by the new acquired village marquee purchased with a grant from GVS
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St Hilary Forum – Supporting the Village
or, demystifying the elusive organisation!
Can you answer the question “what is the St Hilary Forum”? Probably not. So here is your crib sheet.
The short answer is that the Forum helps projects and ideas to come about by:
- Providing village insurance for events and activities
- Having a constitution, necessary for applying for grants
- Managing a bank account to pay for, build up and hold reserves for village equipment
The Forum does not (to date) hold or undertake activities itself. But the above three “enablers” means that lots of villagers can.
Marquee and event awning available for hire
The village marquee and event awning are both available to hire by villagers for use within the village – and hopefully a PA system very soon
Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for details
Coed's Big Picnic: 4 August 2021 - and over £655 raised for Ayla
Bill and Gill Clay hosted a Big Picnic on the lawn at Coed Hills on Wednesday 4 August 2021. The first time the village had been able to come together during the pandemic.
It was a fantastic intergenerational occasion with entertainment, fun, swimming, games - and fantastic weather.
A massive thank you to Gill and Bill Clay for hosting and organising, and to Caroline Neudegg and her merry band of helpers for pulling it all together.
The Help Ayla Thrive donations raised £655 with other donations being given directly to https://uk.gofundme.com/f/help-Ayla-thrive
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3Cs
Cut, clear and clean group
10am Wednesday, 6 October
10am Wednesday, 3 November
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
Community Café
Village Hall
11am Wednesday, 6 October
11am Wednesday, 3 November
Drop in for coffee/tea, cake and a chat. 10.30am to 12 noon every 1st Wednesday of the month
Update (22 July): Japanese knotweed warning
Following the initial discovery of Japanese knotweed on the Downs, Mads and Will surveyed the area on Saturday 17 July and found a few more areas of growth.
Above is a map of the knotweed, marked in red, that has been found. Further down this post are some of pictures to help identify it. It would be really helpful if everyone could keep eyes open. It is an imported and extremely invasive plant…you do not want this in your garden. It doesn't seed itself - it is spread through tramping it when walking and there are now some outbreaks close to paths. (Please note that a patch on the outside of the dwarf wall around The Clump turned out not to be knotweed - apparently, it is a "bushy shrub!")
Martin Andrews of the Vale of Glamorgan Council has visited the common with Will and found knotweed in the scrubland opposite the gates to the radio masts. He has engaged contractors in to deal with this after it flowers in September. Martin has recorded the position of the other growths and is going to look at the land records to see if it is council land. If it is council responsibility, he will arrange for contractors to start treatment.
Help for landlines going digital
If you have a landline, you will be migrating to a digital service sooner or later – some in the village already have. This means that you will plug your phone into your broadband router instead of your phone socket on the wall. BT call this Digital Voice.
The concept is simple – just replace the router, if you have been sent one, and plug the phone line into it on the day that your service provider tells you that the service is being migrated. Providers promise to help you through the process every step of the way, so you should get lots of notification about it.
However, we have recently provided help to a villager which suggests it might not be that straightforward. The villager’s phone had stopped working and the villager said that they did not recall getting any information about the migration date but had received a new router out of the blue.
Most migrations will be easy. But if you are technologically differently abled, have a problem, or know a villager who would like help contact Terry Dennis or Chris Jones and we will do what we can.
PS it is not in the BT instructions, but when the landline is migrated to digital, the area code needs to be added for local calls, like mobiles.
A £1,000 grant and marquee for the village!
Fantastic news
A massive thank you to Monica for spotting the opportunity to apply to Glamorgan Voluntary Services (GVS) for a grant towards the cost of a marquee for the village
The application has been approved and the funds of £1,000 have been received – and the village now has a marquee (and it is massive)!!!!
Neil Warnock and Terry Dennis (mainly Neil) researched the specification for a marquee for the village
We plumped for 6mx12m with heavy duty material and an opportunity to purchase one was approved by the Forum
As well as the thanks to Monica and Neil, more thanks are due to Charlie, Kevin and Jayne who helped to erect (and then immediately dismantle) the marquee to ensure all the bits and pieces were there
Bulbs and plants for the village
Jayne Warnock and Clare Green are developing a plan for the planting of bulbs in the autumn – more details in due course
Picnic bench update
Caroline Neudegg is leading the project for a picnic bench for the village which is close to fruition
Ewart Schofield and Stephen Craddock have offered to help with the construction of the table and the base respectively
Save the date! Winter's Eve 2021 - Sunday 5 December
Yes – it’s coming back
Winter’s Eve will be held on Sunday 5 December
Hopefully, we will able to hold performances in the Hall and children’s activities in the Church – and build in some favourites from last year, such as Carols Round the Village, Festive Homes, the Xmas Trail, 12 Days of Christmas and much much more!
Trees in the village and the Vale
Here is some really useful, interesting and important information about trees in the vicinity of St Hilary which was posted recently on Facebook by Ewart Schofield of ESA Treecare.
Walks and strolls
The walks and strolls section of the website includes:
- The 10 core circular walks from St Hilary ranging from gentle strolls (1 to 2 miles) to monster expeditions (over 10 miles)
- 4 different routes to Cowbridge, which can be combined for circular routes
- Strolling over The Clump for a takeaway coffee at Stalling Café or round the Garn or to Beaupre Castle
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
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.