Celebrating Twenty-One Years of Walking in the Vale VALEWAYS Yn dathlu un mlynedd a’r hugain o gerdded yn y Fro Newsletter Spring 2018 Ar lan y môr mae rhosys cochion Ar lan y môr mae lilis gwynion Ar lan y môr mae 'nghariad inne Yn cysgu'r nos a chodi'r bore. ‘Down by the sea red roses are blooming; Down by the sea white lilies are gleaming; Down by the sea my true love is dwelling, Sleeping all night, rising up in the morning.’ Welcome to our Spring Newsletter which starts with one of the most popular, traditional Welsh love song, sung by numerous artists including Kathryn Jenkins, Aled Jones and Duffy as part of their repertoire. The accompanying illustration entitled ‘The bench at Dim Hole, Llantwit Major’ is the work of local artist Martin Kaye and is part of his current project of illustrating the whole of the Heritage Coast! See more of Martin’s paintings on his website www.fachlwyd.co.uk and read more about events in Llantwit Major further down. As we wave goodbye to the Year of the Legends we dive well and truly into the Year of the Sea. What an appropriate theme for our walks! Almost every Guided Walks Programme has included a walk along one of the Vale’s varied coastline and the current programme is no exception. The current programme invites us to visit Penarth (8 May), or to explore the coast around the most southerly point in Wales at Rhoose (Sunday 8 May). The coastal walk on 3 June takes us to Nash Point while the walk on 11 June takes us ‘To the Beach and Back’. The Coffee Shop Strollers also continue to make good use of the coastline with Cold Knap, Barry Island and Llantwit featuring regularly in their walks. 1 The 9th Vale of Glamorgan Walking Festival takes place this year from Tuesday 15 May to Sunday 20 May 2018. There will be a series of varied walks over six days to suit every fitness level, interest and ability. From the launch at Porthkerry Country Park to the ‘Sundowners’ walk to end the festival you can be sure that whichever walks we take the sea isn’t far away. Walks have been arranged along the beautiful coastline from Penarth Pier to Tresilian Bay. Look out for lighthouses (Walk 7) and lime works (Walk 18), beaches (Walk 2) and burial sites! (Walk 15) One walk (Walk 20) even includes a boat trip! For more information please visit the exclusive website - www.valeofglamorganwalkingfestival.org.uk or phone 01446749000. “In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of” … alabaster? Well, along the coastline between Penarth and Lavernock, that might be true especially if that young man has a degree in Geology! The outcrops of pink and white stone along the cliff floor might be a familiar sight to many a walker. In the past the alabaster was a popular material not just for the production of plaster but also for carvings and the production of sculptures. On the north wall of the chancel at St Mary’s Church, Penmark are two memorials created using Penarth alabaster, a tribute to members of the Lewis family. For more information and photographs of examples of the use of Penarth alabaster in South Wales, please see a publication ‘Penarth Alabaster’ published by the Welsh Stone Forum. We are unsure if it’s sold in Waterstones. For a more scholarly study of the area, there is an opportunity to explore ‘Deserts, Earthquakes and Tropical’ (Walk 22) in the Walking Festival. Memorial to the Lewis family in Penarth alabaster at the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Penmark Further along the coast we reach The Knap and our thoughts turn to one of Barry’s most famous inhabitants. The composer Grace Williams was born on 19 February 1906, to musical parents. The family moved to 9 Old Village Road when Grace was a baby and she lived there for most of her life. She was a regular visitor to the beach at Cold Knap and the sea was a constant inspiration. It is not surprising that amongst her best known works are her ‘Sea Sketches’, composed in 1944. The suite, written for strings and orchestra, is divided into five movements, each capturing the sea in all its evocative moods - High Wind, Sailing Song, Channel Sirens, Breakers and Calm Sea in Summer. The blue plaque on Grace Williams’ birth place in Wenvoe Terrace and the family home at Old Village Road 2 Having won the Morfydd Owen Scholarship in 1923 Grace was able to study Music at Cardiff University, The Royal College of Music in London and then at Vienna before returning to Britain. In 1946 Grace Williams returned to Barry to live, to be a full time composer and to look after her ailing parents. At the age of 70, Grace Williams died on 10 February, 1977. The ‘Morfydd Owen Scholarship’ was named after the Welsh composer, pianist and mezzo soprano Morfydd Llwyn Owen who tragically died in 1918 at the age of 26. Look out during the rest of the year for events commemorating the centenary of her death. Look out also for the featured walks ‘Barry Women’s Trail’ (Walk 21) and ‘Memorable Women of Barry’ (Walk 25) in the Walking Festival. The sea, as we know can also be dangerous and unforgiving. The cargo ship Malleny, on a voyage from Cardiff to Rio de Janeiro with a cargo of coal, lost her rudder in a storm in the Bristol Channel and drifted towards the shore. She struck the Tusker Rock, near Porthcawl, losing all of her 20 crew members. The crew were buried in a communal grave in the nearest churchyard at Saint Mary’s Church, Monknash. The grave is marked with a large stone. The inscription on the top of the stone reads - THE TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF THE CREW OF THE SHIPWRECKED MALLENY LOST ON THE TUSKER ROCK 15 OCTOBER 1886. The rest of the inscription alas is another victim to the passage of time and is almost undecipherable – a challenge for any intrepid walker! Let us know. The story was featured in the HTV programme, ‘Coast and Country’, (Series 3 Episode 1) where reporter Andrew Price was guided around parts of the Vale coast by Phil Gibbins. The communal grave at St. Mary’s Church, Monknash A post script to this event is that Edwin Waters, the ship’s carpenter had been paid off in Amsterdam and had left the ship. His family thought he died with the others and were in mourning when he arrived home! 3 Barbara Palmer It is with sadness that we report the passing of another of Valeways stalwarts, Barbara Palmer. “Barbara Elizabeth Ann Palmer was one of the co-founders of Valeways and initially was a founder member of Penarth and District Ramblers. In the early days a group of enthusiastic volunteers began the daunting task of recovering the public footpath network in the Vale. Barbara worked tire- lessly with the group discovering blocked and overgrown footpaths and making them accessible to the public. When the Millennium Heritage Trail project was launched, she designed routes in the eastern Vale, from St Fagans through Dyffryn and as far as Rhoose, a distance of some 16 miles, thoroughly researching and writing the first four sections of the Millennium Heritage Trail book. Barbara was a quiet, reserved lady, who has done so much to encourage walking and make the Vale footpath such a joy to walk to-day. She would have been delighted that Valeways volunteers continue to look after the foot- path network. Barbara, the enthusiastic historian and geologist but mainly the passionate walker has hung up her boots for the last time. We shall miss you but your legacy continues.” Thanks to Val Warlow for this tribute. As a result of the recent bad weather the ‘Friends of Valeways Walk’, the guided tour around the Senedd building in Cardiff Bay was postponed. The new date is Saturday 12th May. If you wish to support the charity by joining the scheme and take part in its special events, please contact Carolyn Gully on 01446 749000 or go to www.friendsofvaleways.com. In the meantime however, anyone wishing to make a donation to Valeways can do so by using https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/valeways. Many thanks to all who donated to Valeways. Good news for walkers and Coffee Shop Strollers in the Llantwit area! Llantwit Major has become the first town in Wales to sign up to a free water refill scheme. The scheme, called ‘Refill’ encourages people to refill their plastic water bottles in shops, cafés and other businesses in a bid to reduce the use of ‘single-use’ plastic bottles and plastic waste. Llantwit Major also hosts its own Vale of Glamorgan Walking Festival Programme featuring places of interest in this historical town. Look out for featured Llantwit walks (Walks 5, 6, 7, 8 and 24). Llantwit Major will have an additional attraction during the month of May when it hosts the Llantwit Major Art Trail as part of the Gwanwyn Festival. Gwanwyn, the Welsh word for Spring, is a month-long annual festival held across Wales to celebrate creativity in older age. Gwanwyn’s aim is to offer opportunities for greater participation by older people in the arts, whether visual arts, drama, storytelling, music, literature, photography, dance or film. The Art Trail plans to display art works in various locations throughout the town including the Galilee Chapel at St Illtyd’s Church.