Helping to make Radyr and Morganstown a great place to live and work
Summary of News Items on http://radyr.org.uk
The Orchard, Park Road, Radyr
The Orchard has been awarded the South Wales Echo Food and Drink Award for 2014/15 in September of this year.. The cafe on Park Road has been given 5 star rating for their catering and cleanliness by the local authority.
11th Welsh at Hastings
We are delighted that R&MCC has been awarded £9,700 from
the Heritage Lottery Fund to support our commemoration of WWI.
Over the next two years our community, led by
R&MCC and a group of dedicated volunteers, will explore the effect of WW1
on Radyr & Morganstown, investigating the history of our War Memorial and
contemporary commemorative volume: where people lived and what happened to them.
We will explore how life changed at home, particularly for children, and
compare WW1 histories with our twin, St Philbert de Grand Lieu, Nantes.
Do you have WW1 heritage items
to lend to an exhibition of local memorabilia planned for next spring? Contact Helena Fox on 20842213 or
clerk@radyr.org.uk.
The workers and the results
On 15 September 2014 Radyr & Morganstown WI, in support of Tidy Wales Week, organised a litter pick around the village. This year’s event was bigger than ever with twenty four volunteers, made up of WI members, husbands and friends taking part. Volunteers were split into five groups who were each allocated an area. Between them they managed to fill 25 bags, making a significant difference to the village.
It is a great pity that so much rubbish gets left around Radyr & Morganstown but well done to the WI for making a difference.
Choral Society
Radyr and Morganstown Choral Society
Radyr and Morganstown Choral Society (RMCS) was formed by Peter Esswood in January 2014. In our first nine months as a choir we have performed 2 concerts. In April we performed to a packed Christ Church, Radyr when we sang works including Handel’s ‘Zadok The Priest’, Howard Goodall’s ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ and Vaughan Williams’ ‘The Old Hundreth’ accompanied by David Geoffrey Thomas on the organ and a brass ensemble from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Our second concert in May formed part of the Radyr and Morganstown Festival when RMCS led the audience singing a selection of 1st World War songs during the Concert in the Parc. We were joined by Soprano Laura Clements, who also sung a selection of classics from musicals, to sing ‘Bring Him Home’ from Les Miserables. The choir also sang some Cole Porter favourites and Karl Jenkins’ ‘Adiemus’.
RMCS starts rehearsals again on 10th September, when we will begin to rehearse Howard Goodall’s ‘Eternal Light – A Requiem’. This piece combines a traditional Latin Mass setting with English poetry including ‘In Flanders Fields The Poppies Grow’. Howard Goodall describes his work as ‘a Requiem for the living, addressing their suffering and endurance, a Requiem focussing on the consequences of interrupted lives’. With its combination of 1st World War poetry and the Requiem Mass setting it is appropriate that we are performing this work on Saturday 8th November which is eve the of Remembrance Sunday in this the 100th anniversary year of the start of The 1st World War.
New members are always welcome. RMCS is open to anyone over 16 who wants to sing in a choir. Although experience of singing in choirs and an ability to read music is an advantage, the choir welcomes choral newcomers who enjoy singing. No auditions are required to join the choir. The membership fee for each term is £25. You can come along to a rehearsal to see if you want to join before making any commitments.
We rehearse in Christ Church, Radyr on Wednesday evenings from 7.30 to 9pm. Rehearsals start on 10th September 2014 but you can join at any time.
For more information contact Kathryn Murray by e-mail on kmurray97@outlook.com
Choral Society
Radyr and Morganstown Choral Society start rehearsals for their next concert on 10th September. It will take place on 8th November at Christ Church. More details are available here
A man described as a “professional burglar” has been sentenced to 32 months in custody for the burglary at Salon Nia in Radyr
Work is starting at Radyr Station on 28th July and will continue until the end of March 2015. A new footbridge and lifts are being installed. Whilst the work is taking place up to 23 parking spaces will be lost. Click here to see the Arriva trains notice.
Walkers at the start
Residents of Radyr and Morganstown participated in the 19th Tenovus Walk from Cardiff Castle to Radyr on Sunday 29th June in aid of TENOVUS. They arrived at Christ Church to receive a strawberry tea. Next year Friends of Tenovus celebrate 30 years of fund raising.
Cyril Williams presents to Bob Lewis
Honours List in June 2014
Bob Lewis of Radyr has been awarded the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2014 for services to Ty Hafan.
Ty Hafan was the village charity for 2010. Cyril Williams, then chairman of the Radyr & Morganstown Association presented a cheque to Bob, Chairman of Ty Hafan.
Presentation to LATCH
Radyr Tennis Club celebrate 100 years this year. The original wooden club house was rebuilt in the 80s and extended during 2011. The club has always been recognised as one of the best tennis clubs in Wales with superb facilites. It is only in the last few years that the grass courts were converted to all weather surfaces. Most of the courts are floodlit for evening tennis matches. A very active club with many social events. The 100 years is being celebrated with a dinner at Cardiff City Stadium in Leckwith on Friday 6th June.See photos of the Dinner – click here
The Club presented LATCH, the Festival charity with a cheque of £600 raised by members.
Radyr Post Office
A release from the Post Office gives news of a change to the Post Office services in Station Road, Radyr. The Post Office is to be relocated within the Martins Newsagent shop with effect from June 2014. The existing area is to be closed off and the service counter will be incorporated alongside the retail service till. This will obviously be a congested area for the staff and queuing customers. The branch will be open longer 6am to 5.00pm/5.30pm on weekdays and open on Sunday from 7am to 1pm. Some of the services will be withdrawn and there is no mention of any agreement with NatWest Bank to clear cheques or provide any additional facility. A full service for the Post Office will be provided at the Whitchurch office some 4 miles away.
A customer questionnaire has been set up on the following website www.postofficeviews.co.uk. This site will be open until the 21st May. The Post Office (and the shop?) will be closed for three days in June. However the details and the form requesting feedback can be accessed here and here. We urge as many Radyr residents as possible to send in their views.
The Post Office appear to be responding to the questionnaire with individual letters. Does this mean they are listening and are willing to change? They have indicated that there is no special arrangement with NatWest Bank locally, however they state that agreement has been reached on a national bases!
Stuart Davies – Service Manager I am in my tenth year working for LCD. I began as a Support Worker in Llanelli Supported Living. Over the years I worked myself up to Senior Support Work Team Leader and then to Service Manager managing 2 Supported Living Services.Now being at Danybryn has given me a fresh challenge and I’m looking forward to a bright and positive future for all.
Helen Leigh – Operations Manager
Helen who is at present acting as Interim Director at Danybryn, joined Leonard Cheshire Disability in 2013. She is a qualified nurse and has been involved for many years working as a volunteer for Scope and the National Autistic Society. As she has a brother who has Autism, she is very aware of people with special needs. Helen is a Trustee for Independent Living in Pontypridd and a Governor for a Special School in the Rhondda Valley. Helen has been married to Martin for twenty four years and they have two sons – Dafydd and Ieuan.
Shelly Bryant – Activities Organiser
“ I joined DYB nearly four years ago as a Catering Assistant (Bank staff) whilst studying for my BA (Hons) in Art Practice. This course enabled me to gain valuable experience in conducting workshops with people of various backgrounds and disabilities. In November 2013 I was given the opportunity of joining the activity department and becoming DYB’s Activities Organiser”.
……and says “Goodbye” to Jean who is retiring….. “Jean joined Leonard Cheshire in October 2003 as Secretary in he Admin department. During her ten years with Danybryn, she also provided administration support for our regional office and for the last four years has been based on reception. She always had a welcoming smile for visitors and would go that extra mile to help. She was well liked by service users and staff alike and was a valued member of our team. Once she announced her retirement, gifts and cards came flooding in – a testament to how popular she was. She
will be greatly missed but we wish her well for the future”
Stars of the BBC TV series Casualty visited our Danybryn service today, to film scenes
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‘Casualty’ Filmed at Danybryn |
for an episode that will air next year.
Jane Hazlegrove, who plays Kathleen Dixon, was joined by Casualty newcomer Lee Mead, who found fame on talent casting show ‘Any Dream Will Do’.The actors were filming a hospice scene for the drama series, and used the service in South Wales for the scenes. They took time between shots to chat with the residents.
Derek Bateman, volunteer coordinator, said: ‘The actors were very friendly and spent a lot of time chatting to everyone. They were very interested in resident Martin Williams, who is planning to climb Ben Nevis next year.
‘We chatted a lot to Lee Mead, and we are hoping that he will donate some tickets to one of his future stage shows so we can auction them off to raise money for the service.’
Lee Mead tweeted from the service during the filming, to say that the residents and carers at Danybryn are amazing.
NatWest Station Road
We have been formally notified that the Station Road Branch of NatWest is to close on the 31st July 2014. This is despite the bank’s promise ” We never close the last branch in town”.
A Campaign group has been formed to lobby the Welsh Government to scrap Cardiff’s Local Development Plan and re-instate it with a Regional approach to planning and development. The Welsh Government has the power to take these steps similar to Scotland, they have already accepted the principle of regional economical planning – why not housing? Over 25 years the population of Cardiff is forecast to increase by 42% against a historical increase of around 4%. 41,000 new dwellings are proposed to built with 18,000 on green field land with little improvement to the infrastructure. There are proposals to open up, junction 33 of the M4 and run a tram/rail link from Creigiau to Llandaff, demolishing several relatively modern houses along the way! There is a considerable number of vacant properties around Cardiff, estimated to be 10,000 of which some are in need of renovation. If you would like to join this campaign please complete the form below and send it by email to: neilmcevoy2004@yahoo.co.uk or call 07974439640. There is a facebook page – “No LDP Cardiff”
Our R&M Community Council along with other local councils have formed a working group to oppose the LDP in its present form.
At the consultation meeting last Monday the Council officers issued an “Alternative Site Representation Forms” for residents to complete. The form can be found on the Cardiff County Council site – www.cardiff.co.uk which can be emailed to LDP@Cardiff.gov.uk. You are being encouraged to support the deletion of Strategic Site C – “North West Cardiff”. This will force the planners to review the development West of Radyr to St Fagans.
Councillor Rod McKerlich
I append a description of the changes to local bus service which will take effect on 20th April. I know that partial restoration of the link to Canton will be popular and realise that the reduction in service to Radyr Gardens will cause disquiet; I objected to this cut and was advised that hardly anyone uses the service to Radyr Gardens except early and in the early evening when the service remains
County Councillor Rod McKerlich
Route 63: Overall there will still be 2 buses per hour to and from the Central Bus Station via Cathedral Road, Llandaff, Danescourt as now except most journeys will end at Radyr (Caer Graig) with the extension to Ffordd Berllan is discontinued except for Mondays to Fridays where two journeys will start at Ffordd Berllan at 0733 and 0800 to maintain a peak hour journey to the city centre and provide the facility for pupils from the Ffordd Berllan area to travel to Radyr Comprehensive School. The journey at the end of the school day will also continue beyond Radyr (Caer Graig) to Ffordd Berllan for returning pupils. Customer who travel during the daytime to/from Ffordd Berllan are directed to new route 66.
Route 66: Certain journeys on route 66 now start and end at Ffordd Berllan after serving Fairwater and Danescourt. These journeys will also serve the Caer Graig and Dan-y-Bryn Avenue areas of Radyr restoring a link direct to and from the shopping centre in Canton. Unfortunately there are only 4 return journeys on route 66 but this is the best possible provision under the circumstances.
The levels of cuts announced by Welsh Government in making changes to the All Wales Concessionary Travel Scheme are large. We have gone through and evaluated every journey on every service to understand the levels of usage and best match our resources to that demand. We have also looked at our own cost reducing exercise and efficiency measures internally and we are too working through them. Making cuts to services or increasing fares are always a measure of last resort for us. Our aim is to always provide the most comprehensive bus service across the city that we can.
Cardiff County Council’s Budget proposal which includes the closure of Radyr Youth Centre. (response closed on the 13th Feb)
Extract from the budget statement:
Youth clubs will no longer be provided from: Radyr Youth Centre, plus provision at Creigiau and Gwaelod y Garth, Whitchurch Youth Centre plus provision at Tongwynlais, Llanishen Youth Centre, Ty Celyn Youth Centre, Howardian Youth Centre, Pentwyn Dome, Trowbridge , and Dusty Forge, Ely. Additionally we propose to reduce funding for open access youth provision at Cathays Community Centre. However, through the community building review we are planning to continue offering training for young people from the Dusty Forge; Duke of Edinburgh awards through school premises in North Cardiff; and street based and mobile youth services for the North of the City.
Go to www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp to have your say.
22nd February: There has been a reconsideration of the proposal and some youth activities may well be saved !
Radyr Weir
The Wardens of Forest Farm have given notice that work is going to commence in late Summer on the turbine project at Radyr Weir. This will result in the Taff Trail being diverted around this area. The work will take up to 9 months to complete. Trees are being felled now to clear the site for this work to commence.
Alun Michael's presentation
Alun Michael, the South Wales Police Commissioner, made a presentation with questions and answers at the International Hotel, Tongwynlais on Thursday 13th February 2014. Alun gave a report on his first year in the office and outline his future plans for policing in our area. Free refreshments were served from 6.30pm. The meeting will started at 7pm. There were a number of stalls, including Age Concern and Cardiff Neighbourhood Watch displays. All residents were welcome to attend.
His speech included –
plans for crime reduction and improved reporting of crime statistics,
working with County Councils to ensure that youth and Senior Citizen’s activities were maintained,
making the police more accountable,
setting up of a scrutiny panel to review police cautions and out of court disposals,
increasing the South Wales precept by 5% (to recover spending deficits compared with other areas of Wales),
working with other agencies such as Neighbourhood Watch to prevent crime,
attempting to improve 101 system and police response to 999 calls,
working with the Chief Constable and senior officers to ensure that front line policing is protected.