News

R&M experienced its heaviest snowfall since January 1982. These are the snow pictures of the village sent to: d.cargill@ntlworld.com creating a village snow photo gallery – 110 photos. Click on the photo to enlarge.

As previously reported, ‘Cafe Lazio’ has been taken over by Alan and Mary ‘Veg Vendor’ and will now be known as ‘Seasons Kitchen and Bar’. Supported by Jill, they re-opened for business on Wednesday, 8th December.

Opening hours are from 09:00, starting with a good Welsh breakfast, moving through ‘Light bites’ and lunch, to a children’s menu and afternoon tea, and ‘fine dining’ from 18:00 until 22:00. They are serving traditional British food with a modern and seasonal flavour. There is also a bar with wines from around the world, plus beers, lager and cider.

The food is cooked by two new cooks, Huw and Daniel, who have previously worked on Cruise Liners. So you can be assured of the highest standards.

We wish all of them well in their new venture.

Alan and Mary will, of course, continue to run Veg Vendor.

If you want further information, or to make a booking, contact Alan on 029 2084 4759.

Radyr Comprehensive School has transformed a former minibus garage into a unique workshop so it can deliver its first ever Auto Engineering Course.

Staff from the Design and Technology department are teaching the course from the workshop to pupils at the school as well as children from partnership schools Cantonian, Glyn Derw, Fitzalan and Michaelston College, as part of the 14-19 curriculum.

The new workshop – which will be known as the Radyr Engineering Development Centre – was opened on Monday 22^nd November by Mr Glyn Evans, the lead external verifier for the IMI (Institute of the Motor Industry) Awards.

The IMI is the leading awarding body for the retail motor industry and offers an unrivalled range of motor industry qualifications that demonstrate skills and competence.

Also attending the launch was Jordan Chamberlain, European and British Go-Karting Champion and Nick Cooper from the South Wales Police Collision and Forensic Investigation Unit who was promoting Road Safety.

Radyr Comprehensive Headteacher, Steve Fowler said: “This is a fantastic new facility. It is great to see the enthusiasm and commitment from Radyr students and those from other schools in the west of Cardiff. They are really enjoying the course and my thanks go to my colleagues Mark Roberts and Paul Atkins for making the programme such a great success.”

Councillor Freda Salway, Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, said: “Radyr Comprehensive School is currently the only school in Wales to have this IMI approval status, and the school and it partners have done a brilliant job setting up this workshop and launching this course which is proving extremely popular. I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the 14-19 network in Cardiff and Coleg Glan Hafren.”

The Festive season arrived in Radyr and Morganstown on Thursday 2nd December with the lighting of the Christmas trees. Over 300 residents were entertained by the City of Cardiff (Melingriffiths) Band and the choirs from the two Primary Schools. Most of the shopkeepers in Station Road stayed open late and provided refreshments to callers.

The Association in conjuction with the R & M Community Council provided mulled wine and a barbecue. Father Christmas was in attendance much to the delight of the all the children.

Our thanks to all helpers, participants and residents of Radyr and Morganstown. Special thanks to our local police and the Methodist Church for their support.

Congratulations to the winners of the shop window competition.Whites Dental Surgery and all those who took part.

1. Whites Dental Surgery

2. Enerchi

3. Salon Nia

Highly Commended in Alphabetical Order: Cathedral Cleaners’; Christian Aid; Headway; Martins Newsagent; Michael Graham Young Estate Agents; Radyr Eye Care; Spar; Veggie Vendor; X Cell Hairdressers.

We look forward to an even bigger event next year.

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Cyril Williams

The Owen family have asked us to let you know that Rhodri’s funeral will be held at Christ Church at 1pm on Tuesday October 26. Flowers from family only, please. If you would like to make a donation in memory of Rhodri, the Owens have nominated the charity PAPYRUS. You can link to the website here.

The Radyr & Morganstown Association wrote an article for the latest (October 2010) edition of the Radyr Chain which, unfortunately, got left out. As it contains information on the immediate plans for the Association, notably about future meetings, we thought we ought to ensure as many people as possible get to read it anyway.

You can download a copy here.

Saturday, October 9th saw Treforgan W.I.’s first Harvest Supper and Barn Dance. The ladies of the Committee and their helpers prepared a magnificent three course supper and Goronwy Jones provided the music and humorous, but necessary, instructions for the Barn Dance which followed. It was great fun and a very enjoyable event for all. Well done Treforgan W.I.

On behalf of the whole community of Radyr & Morganstown I would like to express our sorrow at the outcome of this week’s tragic events.

Rhodri Owen was a loved and respected pupil at Radyr Comprehensive School and he will be deeply missed by his friends, teachers and fellow pupils.

I would like to offer the condolences of the Community Council to Richard, Liz, Catrin and their family at this extremely difficult and heart-breaking time. I would also ask people to respect their privacy as they have requested.

David Silver

Chair, R&MCC

More than fifty local people joined the Community Council in an environmental event in Pentwyn Park on October 2. We planted hundreds of native Tenby Daffodils, sowed wild flower seed and made bird and bat boxes. The event was part of a Village Plan project to enhance our local green spaces. We felt it was important to use native bulbs and wildflowers to increase the biodiversity of the park and provide much-needed flowers for our local bees. Some of the bird and bat boxes will be put in the park’s trees and some went home to local gardens. We handed out leaflets provided by BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) at Forest Farm with information on how and where the site the boxes.

The weather was perfect in a weekend with otherwise torrential rain and it was terrific to see people enjoying the outdoors. Many people, both adults and children, said how much they enjoyed the event and asked the Community Council to do this more often.

Especial thanks go to all the children who worked really hard making the boxes as well as digging holes, planting bulbs, saving worms and discovering mini-beasts as they dug! It was a pleasure to work with them and they are a credit to our community.

Photos by Anne Silver

Pentwyn Park Environmental Event Photographs

View this gallery on Flickr

The Taekwondo World Championships were held in Telford International Arena on the weekend of 11th and 12th September. More than 1800 Competitors took part from every continent in the world.

A Junior event was held on the Saturday and the Senior event on the Sunday. Participants from all styles of Taekwondo took part in full contact WTF (Olympic Style), semi contact Taekwondo International Style, Patterns and Destruction. The standard of competition was obviously very high, people train for years specifically for this event.

Wales had an excellent haul of medals, the students we would like to mention here train in the schools in Bridgend, Rhondda, Radyr, Pontypridd and the Vale.

Congratulations to Rachel Mortimore of Radyr, who won a silver medal in the Ladies Blue Belt Light Heavyweight Sparring event.

The ten strong Fluellen company brought Emlyn Williams’s best known play – The Corn is Green – to Morganstown Village Hall on the 23rd of September. The almost full house enjoyed one of the best productions that this talented company had to offer.

This thought-provoking play had some immensely funny moments and had a fine central performance from Clair Novelli as Miss Moffat. Fluellen ended their short tour in Morganstown having opened the production at the Grand Theatre in Swansea earlier in the month.

For anyone reading this now, it should be noted that the water main is fully repaired and Heol Isaf returned to normal usage. Dwr Cymru Welsh Water have said that this second fracture of the water main in Heol Isaf is a very unusual occurence and does not indicate any underlying defect in it. Further problems are not expected.

The water main is being repaired but there is a gas leak which will take longer to repair.

Current estimate is that Heol Isaf will remain closed until at least Saturday afternoon and possibly into Sunday when a temporary repair to the road has been effected; a proper repair will follow and may entail further road closure but it may be possible to do one side of the road at a time and keep the road open but with traffic lights to limit flow to one direction at a time.

Dwr Cymru Welsh Water have issued the following Statement:

20 August 2010

Re Road closure Heol Isaf, Radyr 3.30pm update

Following a burst water main in Heol Isaf, Radyr early this morning, all supplies should have returned to affected customers.

In order for repair work to be carried out safely it was necessary to close part of Heol Isaf. We anticipate that the repair will be completed later today and we hope to reopen one carriageway on Saturday afternoon. We aim to have the road fully reinstated and open to traffic by Sunday.

A diversion route has been agreed with the Highways Authority and we assure motorists that we will be working as quickly as possible to reopen the road.

Access will be maintained for residents and emergency vehicles.

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Ends

Enquiries to Dwr Cymru Welsh Water press office on 02920 556140

Water Main

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Heol Isaf is closed except to residents between Windsor Road and Llantrisant Road due to a burst water main about 80 metres north of the previous major burst.  I have no reports of homes deprived of mains water but am trying to contact Welsh water to determine this and confirm their plans to get back to normal.  I have spoken to the Works Manager at the site and he advised that the current plan is to find the fault, clear the debris and reopen the road until Monday when a full repair will be started; I will ask that they work round the clock to achieve a rapid repair. The matter is complicated by a smell of gas which could be serious.

In the meantime police are diverting traffic towards the Comprehensive School out of Radyr via Golf Club Lane which is now one-way with a policeman on Llantrisant Road and one on Heol Isaf.

I will issue updates as more information arrives

Rod McKerlich

1. If you require more details on any News story just double click on the header.

2. If you go to the foot of the story you may see a gallery of photographs. Click on a thumbnail and you can see your own slide show of the whole gallery.

If you have a news story about Radyr or Morganstown, please email it to us. Stories with photographs have the best chance of being published.

A group of residents and supporters travelled to Snowdonia to climb Snowdon. Martin Williams has been suffering from Multiple Sclerosis for many years and has in the past climbed a number of British mountains. His sons and their football colleagues agreed to carry Martin up the 3000 feet to the summit of Snowdon and back, taking all of 7 hours.

Dan y Bryn - Martin's Mountain Ride

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Hello.

My name is Gareth Bird and I will be running thirteen unforgiving miles to raise vital funds for Atlantic College RNLI Inshore Lifeboat (ILB) Station. Atlantic College is an international sixth form establishment boasting a largely student run RNLI station responsible for rescue operations along 20km of the Bristol Channel.

For a selection of my pictures, please scroll down to the Gallery at the foot of this page.

During my two years at Atlantic College I was heavily involved with the ILB Station. After morning lessons had finished, myself and other student volunteers walked to the station to see what work needed doing. Some afternoons training boats would launch allowing practicing of boat handling skills, other days were spent in the workshop changing wonky propellers or patching holes and when the sea was very rough we’d shelter in the station office and run through chart reading, navigation and radio communication skills.

Students wishing to join the college’s RNLI operations make a two year commitment to join the Inshore Lifeboat (ILB) Service. The first year is spent gaining basic skills needed for lifeboat crews. In the second year, students join the lifeboat crew or train as RYA Instructors. I was asked by the Station Head to train with the RYA as a Powerboat Instructor. I subsequently worked in a close knit teaching team ensuring new students had the skills and confidence needed for their second year.

The Bristol Channel is one of the busiest shipping waterways in the world and is often hit by storms and high seas. It is therefore essential the Atlantic College RNLI crew are trained to the highest possible standards. Almost every afternoon the RNLI crew launch the lifeboat to undergo training exercises.

This emphasis on training results in a lot of wear and tear on the crew’s equipment. Fortunately the college’s lifeboat is in good condition so I don’t need to raise the £160,000 to buy a new one, or the £48,000 needed to refit it! I am setting my sights on more moderately priced, but no less important, items. Below is a list of essential inshore crew kit.

• Gloves: £16
• Drysuit: £319
• Thermal Suit: £82
• Helmet: £166
• Lifejacket: £222

It would be wonderful to raise enough to cover the costs of some items; I’m sure a new drysuit with no leaks or a new pair of warm gloves would be very much appreciated by current and future crew members.

If you would like to donate to or find out more information about my fundraising effort you can do so through my fundraising website: www.justgiving.com/gareth-bird. (It is just like online shopping. You ‘pay’ by credit or debit card through a secure website, all funds are held by JustGiving until the Half Marathon is over and are then transferred securely to the RNLI.)

At www.justgiving.com/gareth-bird you also can view my fundraising and training progress, see more photographs and access my blog where I’m posting regular updates. Alternatively you can contact me by email and I will get back to you to discuss other methods.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this and for any donations you would like to make. Every donation large or small is greatly appreciated. Please wish me luck for the big day!

RNLI Half Marathon

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The Village Plan has now been printed. Click here to reach the page where you can download your own copy.

A printed copy is being hand delivered to every household in R&M. The plan was drawn up using your responses to the community questionnaire circulated in 2009. It has been written by the project team comprising members from the Radyr and Morganstown Community Council and Radyr and Morganstown Association.

The plan itself contains a lot of information about the area, the first time this has been available in one place. One of the most important parts of the plan is the project list near the end. These projects have been developed from your responses to the questionnaire. We believe they cover the areas you were concerned about and deal with the issues you requested.

Work has already started on many of the projects and a few have already been completed. A copy of the Village plan, the report from the questionnaire and the update chart on progress on the projects will be found on the Village Plan page in the Community Council section of the R&M community Website.

Please read the document and if you have any questions contact any of the project team or the clerk to the Community Council.

If you wish to help with any of the projects please let us know via the clerk at the Old Church Rooms or at clerk@radyr.org.uk.The more people working on them, the faster we can complete them.

Some of these projects are short term and some will take a considerable time. Some are outside our control so they will probably not all be successful. However, they should all be of benefit to the local community and hopefully bring the community together.

David Silver

Chair of R&M Community Council