CRONICL DYFFRYN CLWYD YOUR FREE MAGAZINE October 2019 for GRAIGFECHAN, LLANELIDAN, LLANFAIR, PENTRECELYN and PWLLGLAS
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CRONICL DYFFRYN CLWYD YOUR FREE MAGAZINE October 2019 FOR GRAIGFECHAN, LLANELIDAN, LLANFAIR, PENTRECELYN AND PWLLGLAS The North Wales Wildlife Trust / Ymddiriedolaeth Natur Gogledd Cymru See the article on page 4 - 5 for details Dyffryn Clwyd Chronicle Page 1 This page could be your advert (in Colour) for £48 per issue or £180 a year (4 Issues) Well, the summer has been and gone and what a mixture of weather we had. Extreme heat, floods, Sion Edwards of Pwll- winds and don’t even mention Brexit. Autumn is glas who is heading for upon us and for many young people it is the start New College Oxford to of a new phase in their lives. New classes, new study music schools and for some even university. Congratula- tions to all. We have one young man, in particular, Sion Edwards of Pwllglas who is heading for New College Oxford to study music. The primary school children in the area will The primary school be moving to the new school in Llanfair once children in the area will (when!!!) the necessary sewer groundwork con- be moving to the new nections are completed, which means more road school in Llanfair blockages (will it never end). The first phase of house building on the new estate in Llanfair will be commencing now that all the groundworks are in place. This will also include bringing mains gas to the site. It will be interesting to see how quickly the dwellings are sold. some funds avail- able for community Looking to the future, there will be some funds projects in the area as a available for community projects in the area as result of the Brenig and a result of the Brenig and Glocaenog wind farms Glocaenog wind farms (see the article later in this Cronicl). If you have some ideas how you would like such funds spent Dyffryn Clwyd Chronicle Page 2 in your area speak to your local community coun- cillors or go to the council meetings to put your point across. As for the Cronicl , I have been rather over- . we have had some whelmed and pleased by the positive response help with advertising to the initial editions, both from the readers and ( Siop Pwllglas and the contributors (both young and old) to such an Eyarth Station B &B) extent that I have had to hold some articles back but would welcome because of printing costs. As you can see, we have more had some help with advertising ( Siop Pwllglas and Eyarth Station B &B) but would welcome more. Any financial help would be very welcome. We have no problem with distribution of the Cronicl but on the publishing side I am very con- scious of the fact that we are relying on a very . we need more peo- small group of people (2) to edit and compile the ple involved. If you are magazine ready for printing. Whilst myself and prepared to be involved Dave (Hislop) enjoy producing the Chronicle, we (especially younger do feel that to future-proof it we need more peo- persons) please contact ple involved. If you are prepared to be involved me (especially younger persons) please contact me and help me form a group of “chroniclers”. Contacts for articles and adverts As usual my email address is [email protected] Tel. 01824707506 or 07950673985 There is a copy of the chronicle at www.llanfairdc.co.uk under news for those not receiving the paper version and there are always spare copies in Pwllglas shop. The deadline date for the Christmas edition is NOVEMBER 30th Dyffryn Clwyd Chronicle Page 3 The North Wales Wildlife Trust / Ymddiriedolaeth Natur Gogledd Cymru The North Wales Wildlife Trust / Ymddiriedola- See photographs on eth Natur Gogledd Cymru have had a presence front page in Dyffryn Clwyd since coming into ownership of Coed Cilygroeslwyd in Pwllglas over 50 years ago. The more recent acquisition of a second nature . both sides of ‘The reserve Y Graig Wyllt, over the road from the 3 Pi- Vale’ are blessed geons pub now means that communities on both with open access to sides of ‘The Vale’ are blessed with open access to outstanding natural outstanding natural beauty. beauty If you have had the pleasure of taking in the stun- ning view from the meadow positioned on top of Y Graig Wyllt then you may have noticed the proximity of not only these two nature reserves, If you have had the but also the greater Site of Special Scientific Inter- pleasure of taking in est (SSSI) area known as Craig adwy-wynt which the stunning view from also includes Eyarth Rocks, managed by Butterfly the meadow positioned conservation. on top of Y Graig Wyllt . If you consider for a moment the wildlife which are associated with these nature reserves, such as, the 28 species of butterflies including North Wales’ strongest population of the Pearl-bordered Fritil- lary butterfly found at Eyarth or the rare Limestone woundwort found at Coed Cilygroeslwyd we begin we begin to see how to see how isolated many of these species have isolated many of these become, and perhaps how managing small pockets species have become, of nature in these reserves just isn’t enough. and perhaps how man- The concept of landscape scale conservation is aging small pockets of new to many, and it essentially involves the join- nature in these reserves ing up of dots, looking at the habitat ‘hot spots’ just isn’t enough like nature reserves and creating wildlife corridors to link them together, forming wildlife highways or stepping stones for species to use in the search for new habitat. Today, this ‘access to suitable habi- tat’ is even more crucial with more uncertain and Dyffryn Clwyd Chronicle Page 4 erratic weather increasingly ‘out of season’. The Wildlife Trusts throughout the UK are trying to prove the benefit of this concept through a na- what we need now is tionwide network of ‘Living Landscapes’, of which people and communi- there are currently 3 located in North Wales. ties to actively begin Although the Llanfair area is not yet considered restoring and improving one of these ‘living landscapes’ it most definitely the landscape within has the potential. The natural wealth in the area which they live. is clear to see, but what we need now is people and communities to actively begin restoring and improving the landscape within which they live. Some work has already begun. If you live locally you may have been involved in flood alleviation work in the uplands around Clawddnewydd or busy making bird boxes for pied flycatchers in Pwllglas, or perhaps propagating rare local wild- flowers such as the wild daffodils at Coed Cil- A new Otter Holt has ygroeslwyd. been constructed on a The 1st Saturday of the month attracts young fam- section of one of the ilies to ‘Grwp Gwyllt’ to discover nature on their rivers running through doorstep and get involved in local conservation the catchment efforts. A new Otter Holt has been constructed on a section of one of the rivers running through the catchment with plans for another one soon. Habitat improvement work at Pant Ruth are also planned for the autumn of 2019, if you want to get involved. keep an eye on the The newly established Llanfair-Fyw conservation Llanfair Fyw Facebook group will be leading a number of meetings, page for regular up- events and activities over the coming year so dates please keep an eye on the Llanfair Fyw Facebook page for regular updates and remember that details of the breeding bird survey at Coed Cil- ygroeslwyd are regularly updated at siop Pwllglas. Contact: iwan.edwards@northwaleswildlifetrust. org.uk for more information. Dyffryn Clwyd Chronicle Page 5 Early childhood memories (1938-1950) by Denis Edwards I was born on a small farm on the Nantclwyd estate in Llannelidan, called Nant Y Hendy (creek of the old house) about a mile from the village school. I was an only child so enjoyed being with all the animals on the farm. One shire horse did all the work, ploughing, tilling hay cutting etc. We also had a lovely sheepdog “Nell” which accompanied me wherever I went. I enjoyed harvest time very much, as my father’s friends and neighbours came to help. Mid-after- noon I would be sent to the Leyland Arms to fetch a gallon of beer for the friends and neighbours. My mother made lunch for the helpers (egg and The sandwiches were cheese sandwiches). The sandwiches were made made with butter with butter churned by hand by my mother with churned by hand by my a little help from myself when mum got tired. The mother with a little help bread was also made by mum from grain milled to from myself when mum flour in the mill at Pwllglas. As a thank you to the got tired helpers some rows of potatoes in the field would be made available for them to dig up. We were in the flight path for German bombers going to Liverpool during the war. You knew them because they made a throbbing sound, totally dif- ferent from our planes. They would mostly fly at dusk and afterwards we would go up high to see Dyffryn Clwyd Chronicle Page 6 the red glow of flames over Liverpool on a clear night. One night we had a visit from the home guard to say our blackout curtains weren’t closed One night we had a visit properly. Mother and father got a right telling off. from the home guard to say our blackout There were two shops in the village.