News

Over the last couple of weeks the Community Council has held its annual meeting and the initial Committee meetings of the year. Congratulations to the new officers who have been elected for 2006/7.

• Chair of Council – Sue Philpott
• Vice Chair – David Silver
• Chair of Finance Committee – Margaret Lloyd
• Chair of Environment Committee – David Silver

All meetings of the Council are open to members of the public and are held at 7.30pm in the Old Church Rooms. Meetings are held on the fourth Thursday of the month with the exception of August and December.

Unfortunately, Val Harvey, our current Clerk/Financial Officer, is moving away from the area and the Council are looking for a person to fill this important part time position. If anyone is interested in applying for the post and would like more information, contact the clerk at clerk@radyr.org.uk or phone 029 2084 2213.

Thanks go to Margaret Lloyd, the outgoing Chair, and to Councillor Marcia Watts who resigned last month. Marcia worked tirelessly for both the Council and the Good Neighbours scheme and will be missed by both groups. This has left a vacancy on the Council. If anyone is interested in this position please contact the Clerk for further information.

Have you done anything interesting in Radyr and Morganstown today? If so maybe you want to tell people about it.

We are interested in hearing from you about happenings in Radyr and Morganstown, or involving Radyr and Morganstown people. Perhaps you could write a few paragraphs for us to publish on-line.

All you need to do is to email your words to web-team@radyr.org.uk with a few days of the event.

Also if your item is important to the community a more detailed article can also be printed in the Radyr Chain.

Do you want the Cardiff Council to take out a loan to finance a £265M school closure & merger plan that your Cardiff Council tax will have to repay at the cost of £13M per annum? 
Do you want to spend more time in rush hour traffic driving through Radyr in the mornings? 
Do you want more car pollution in Radyr? 
Will you appreciate more construction traffic on the roads? 
Do you want at least 50% more children leaving the school gates at lunch times and at the end of the school 
Do you want the education of the community’s children compromised with :-

The closure of schools,

Loss of teaching posts,

Loss of community’s focus,

Larger schools / class sizes

Can you afford not to protest? Want to know more?

Additional information here at The Radyr Website (http://radyr.darkgreen.me/docs/) See list of documents below.

OR

Pick up a leaflet from the local shops,

See parents action group

OR

Just sign the petition!!

Documents available on-line:

1. Minutes of Public Meeting 12 April 2006

The Radyr and Morganstown Festival continues its tradition of inviting local artists to headline at its May Festival. Over the last few years singers Helen Field and Jeremy Huw Williams, both residents of Radyr, have been the main attraction. The 2006 Festival is no exception, Catrin Finch, who lives in Gwaelod y Garth, has agreed to perform at the Festival.

Catrin who has been called Queen of the Harp was until recently Royal Harpist to the Prince of Wales. The Prince revived an ancient tradition, last used by Queen Victoria in 1873, to honour Catrin. In a recent Radio 3 interview Catrin told a story of how her parents took their three small children to a concert given by Marisa Robles to save the cost of a baby sitter. As a result of this visit Catrin became “hooked on the harp”. Catrin is breaking into her busy schedule to perform at the Radyr and Morganstown Festival on Tuesday 9th of May before leaving on an extensive tour with flautist James Galway and the London Mozart Players. Catrin can be seen at Christ Church, Radyr on Tuesday 9th of May at 7.30 p.m.

The other major musical event at this year’s Festival is a visit by the Hermitage Ensemble of St. Petersburg, Russia. The Hermitage Ensemble is a small choir of male voices. All the members of the Ensemble are professional singers in their native St. Petersburg, singing in concerts, choirs and at the world famous Kirov Opera. The aim of the Ensemble is “to bring the Russian tradition of church music closer to the west”. Their concert will contain work by some of the best known Russian composers, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov as well as less well known names like Galuppi and Berezovsky. Banned after the 1917 revolution this sublime music was inaccessible for more than seventy years.

The second half of their programme will be made up of folk and national songs which show a range of emotion and covey the characteristic of the great “Russian Soul”. The Hermitage Ensemble appear at Christ Church, Radyr on Tuesday 2nd of May at 7.30 p.m.

To celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday in 2005 Harold Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pinter is undoubtedly one of the great dramatists of the twentieth century with a string of prize winning plays, The Birthday Party, The Dumb Waiter, Old Times and The Caretaker to name but a few. He is also a prolific writer for the cinema having written more than twenty films, The Servant, The Go-Between and The French Lieutenant’s Woman being, perhaps, the best known.

To celebrate this incredible career the Radyr and Morganstown Festival will close with a visit by Fluellen with their production of one of Pinter’s best known plays The Caretaker. The Sunday Times called it “A modern classic, tough, cruel and brutally funny”. Fluellen is the resident theatre company at the Grand Theatre, Swansea and this will be their third visit to the Radyr and Morgantown festival where they have built up quite a following. They previously brought Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Victorian melodrama Maria Martin to Morganstown Village Hall.

The Caretaker can be seen at Morganstown Village Hall on Friday 12th of May at 7.30 p.m. Tickets £8 and £6 are available on Cardiff Nick Hawkins 20842561 or Allan Cook 20843176.

All Day Challenge at Radyr Golf Club – for Tenovus 

on Sunday June 25th 2006.

Oliver Duckett, a professional golfer at the Radyr Golf Club intends to play TEN rounds of golf in ONE day to raise funds for the local cancer charity Tenovus.

The first round will start at the very early hour of 4 am in order that Oliver can utilise the long summer hours of light and the coolness of the morning. The plan is to complete TEN rounds by 4pm. The attempt will prove to be very arduous, as the golfer knows, having succeeded in completing 150 holes (8 rounds and 6 holes) in his 2005 event, on one of the hottest days of last summer, despite suffering from a hamstring injury during the first few holes. This Challenge Day will be another, important, step towards Oliver`s ambition to beat the Guinness World Record of 209 holes.

The First Minister for Wales, the Rt. Hon. Rhodri Morgan, has kindly accepted an invitation to support the event for part of the day.

All are welcome to attend the event, for all or just part of the day, to walk the course to support Oliver, or just to enjoy a barbeque and a drink on the patio or try your luck in the putting competition, which will go on during the All Day Challenge.

The Tenovus Friends wish to extend grateful thanks for the adoption of the Charity by Oliver. Your sponsorship, for this exciting event, whether or not you are able to attend on the day, would be very much appreciated.

If you would like to sponsor Oliver please ring the pro shop on 029 2084 2476 or Betty Fitzgerald on 029 2084 2096.

Well done to the 10 little girls who attended the Festival Queen auditions on Wednesday evening at the Guide Centre. The results are

Festival Queen: Hayleigh Bradley

Her attendants are: Jessica Watkins and Bethan Munt.

The girls are all 10 years old and attend Bryn Deri School. Thank you all for coming and a big thank you also to Brown Owl and the brownies for allowing us to interrupt their meeting to hold the auditions.

The following email was sent to the press by Cllr Marion Drake regarding the proposed closure of the Friary in Cardiff City Centre.

You can read an earlier article from the South Wales Echo at About the Closure of the Friary, and also http://www.savethecardifffriary.co.uk.

I am contacting you to say how appalled I was to hear of the threat to the Friary and its continued use by the music service and other council services which provide very important support to people with specific learning needs.

The Music Service provides opportunities for hundreds of young people from all over Cardiff to come together in a central, easily accessed venue to develop skills which greatly enrich their own lives and the lives of our whole community. They make a great contribution to our culture and are important in Cardiff’s ambition to be recognised as a great Cultural Capital of a great Cultural Nation. To disperse these youngsters and their tutors to other venues across the City in order to reduce spending on them is not acceptable and I will be voting against this proposal.

During the year I was Lord Mayor of Cardiff ( 1998-99 ) many amazing events took place in Cardiff – such as the European Summit and the visit of Nelson Mandela to receive the Freedom of the City Amongst these I have never forgotten the concert given by the Youth Orchestras for the senior citizens of Cardiff. This was provided free and St David’s Hall was filled to overflowing with elderly residents. The quality of the playing and the pure enjoyment of young and old responding to one another was pure magic. In addition to their normal school day these youngsters had already played a concert the previous evening and their commitment to the physical demands of another full evening and that of their parents in bringing them and collecting them from the hall cannot be praised highly enough. It gave me great pleasure to be able to write to each member of the youth orchestra and their tutors, as Lord Mayor, to thank them on behalf of the people of Cardiff.

This free concert is still an annual event greatly looked forward to by many of our senior Citizens as the highlight of their year.

It is however only one of the many events put on by our talented youngsters who spend hours of hard work practising to develop their skills to the highest quality in a venue which is valued by all for its suitability and the musical tradition that is now associated with it. The Friary has become the home of music for thousands of young people who developed their musical skills there, are currently l developing their skill there, and those who are already working hard in our primary schools so that they can develop their skills there when they are old enough .To deprive them of this centre would be to fail to give recognition to the value of these young people to the community of Cardiff.

As already stated, for all these reasons, I will be voting against the proposal to close the Friary.

Cllr Marion Drake

Radyr student Harry Ferrier will shortly be off to Monaco with other members of the Cardiff based The Unknown Theatre Company to represent Wales and the United Kingdom in the prestigious “International Mondial du Theatre” event. The competition is held every four years and this year twenty four nations are competing for this coveted award.

Each country hosts a cultural evening which includes the best of its traditional national food and drink; so Welsh cakes, Bara brith and local beers and wines will also be on the menu. The group will be performing ‘Dance with Dragons’, a musical play by Philip Mitchell with music by Matt Brind. These two exceptionally talented young Cardiff men have already made their mark by putting on their own successful musical last year at the New Theatre, Cardiff.

The Unknown Theatre Company was formed in 1997, and has a cast of 19 young men and woman, whose average age is eighteen. They have competed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the past three years and in 2002 won the Sony Global Search for New Musicals as part of the International Festival of Music Theatre with Dance with Dragons.

Its going to cost them around £22,000 to fund their programme in Monaco and whilst they have been doing everything possible to raise funds with concerts, bag packing, fayres and garden parties (one of which was held in Radyr recently) they still have a way to go. You can help with grants or donations or by attending their performance at the Millennium Centre Studio on 26 or 27th June before they go to Monaco.

Please lend them your support. To know more please contact Jane Donoghue at jane@unknowntheatre.fsnet.co.uk

The Council Planning Meeting on 15th June approved the plans for a new Radyr Health Centre on the Rectory Gardens site, behind Christ Church on Heol Isaf. This is excellent news as the existing Health Centre in Park Road is grossly overstretched. The new Centre will have five consulting rooms on the ground floor, together with two trainer consulting rooms, two nurse treatment rooms and a phlebotomy room. Upstairs there will be offices, a meeting room, minor operations room, nurse treatment room and four other rooms for use by chiropodist, counsellor/dietician and physiotherapist.

Thanks are due to Councillor Marion Drake for all the lobbying that has been necessary to ensure the success of this application, which will also delight the 785 people who signed the R&M Association petition in support. It will, of course, be some time before the new facility is built and ready for use.

Consideration of a further application, for a new Rectory, also on the Rectory Gardens site, was deferred until the next Planning Meeting, on 20th July. This is primarily to allow time for the Councillors to make a site visit. There are certain contractual links between the two applications which may or may not prove of relevance later. However it does look as if the future of Healthcare in our community is assured.

The first Tenovus Sponsored Walk along the Taff Trail was organised in June 1995 and raised £1,371 for the Charity. Since then the event has taken place each summer and the number of walkers has increased every year until, in 2004, over 40 walkers took part and raised the magnificent sum of £3,700. A large proportion of funds raised on each Walk since 1995 has been due to the participation of Mrs Mollie Tilley and the many generous sponsors from her Yoga classes.

Since 2000 the Rector, Rev. B. Barlow has also taken part and the amount raised has been considerably boosted by the very kind support of his parishioners. Many grateful thanks go to them and to all our walkers and their sponsors for the really wonderful support the Friends of Tenovus Group has received.

The Strawberry Tea, organised by Janet Boyce and other Tenovus ladies, as a separate event in 2000, was combined with the Walk in 2001 in order to refresh the walkers and to enable other villagers and friends to enjoy a delicious Tea on the lawn at Christchurch.

We have been very lucky and grateful to have been entertained over the years, at the Strawberry Tea, by the Radyr and Morganstown Mellingriffith Band, the Tongwynlais Brass Band and more recently the Radyr Big Band.

If you would like to help us help Tenovus then join in The Walk, sponsor a walker or come along and enjoy a summer tea and music at Christchurch on the 26th. June. For sponsor forms or tickets for the Tea ( £4 and £2 children under 11) please ring Betty Fitzgerald 20842096

The 18th Radyr and Morganstown Festival finished in grand style on Sunday 15th May with the Cymanfa Ganu. Gareth Davison led a large congregation in their favourite hymns, supported by Brian Evans (organ), the Cambrensis Brass Ensemble and the Bryn Deri School Choir. It had been a hectic, but enjoyable time with 39 events tightly packed in over the two week period. In the words of the Festival Queen, Jessica Evans, “The Festival fortnight was filled with lots of fun events.” Many of those events were specially organised for children and young people.

The Festival commenced on Saturday 30th April at Ty Gwyn Farm with the Gymkhana, organised for the 14th year by Val Allen. Jessica’s diary reads, “I and my two Princesses, Molly Ellerman and Georgina Johnson judged and presented a cup to the winner of the fancy dress competition.” As a gesture to Val Allen the Festival committee awarded the ‘Ken Innes Bowl’ to her and Tom, for all their hard work over many years.

In the evening, the Cardiff Male Voice Choir entertained a large audience to some excellent renditions across a wide spectrum of music. Look out for the name of Jordan Davies, boy soloist, who in most people’s opinion is ‘going places’! Jessica enjoyed the concert “a selection of lovely songs,” whilst Molly said “the conductor thought the concert was the next day but luckily he checked the programme and it was Saturday. We were all glad about that.”

The Boule Tournament on the Sunday has been likened to a ‘mediaeval jousting match’ with 16 senior and 3 junior teams spread out across the Comprehensive School hockey pitch. A small village of tents and picnic gazebos provided an area for refreshments for the gathering crowd. No wind, no rain and one of the best views in Radyr added to enjoyment of the day. Radyr & Morganstown/St Philbert Twinning Fellowship provided the logistical support for the event. Previous boule experience was not required. It must be one of the easiest games to play and bears a remarkable resemblance to marbles. The 16 teams entering for the ‘Mike Tarr Trophy’ were soon whittled down to a thrilling final between ‘Ten of them’ (a Tenovus team) – confusing for the progressively well oiled scoring crew, and ‘Equipe Vitel’. The winners were ‘Equipe Vitel.’ The presence of Monsieur Vitel, looking and sounding remarkably like a Frenchman may have been a key factor!

3 Junior teams competed in a league table and the final placings were – ‘The Green Chillies,’ second – ‘The Gunners’ and third – ‘Rhiwbina Riots.’ A new junior trophy is being presented next year. All proceeds of the day are being donated to the Festival Charity, Tenovus.

The Community Council church service and reception was well attended by representatives of local organisations and political leaders of our ward. Ann Pash of Tenovus introduced the work of the Charity and was delighted that the Festival committee had chosen Tenovus this year.

Bank Holiday Monday was cool and the clouds began to form – the maypole was erected in Windsor Gardens and fingers were crossed.

At 2 O’clock the crowds began to gather at Windsor Gardens for the Crowning Ceremony. The weather improved a little and the sun was trying to shine. In the words of Jessica, “My favourite event was the Crowning Ceremony where the Maypole dancers from Bryn Deri School, folk dancers from Radyr Primary, Stagecoach and Radyr Comprehensive School pupils performed and made it a really enjoyable afternoon. I then went on to the Danybryn Cheshire Home to visit the residents, tea with the WI and then on to Children’s Tea Party at Morganstown Village Hall.” Princess Molly was impressed by the Maypole dancers performing the Weave dance although she remarked “that they did get a little mixed up around the maypole! It’s thanks to Derek Cox for coaching them so well in the all the dances.

Many more events took place throughout the first week, including a barbecue, discos, storytime and the Good Neighbours Tea Party on the Wednesday afternoon. Jessica especially enjoyed this event, “The Good Neighbours Tea Party was really fun and I helped to pick the raffle tickets and give the prizes out”. The Bryn Deri School choir, including Princess Georgina, performed in front of a very attentive audience. Jim Goodwin, one of the Wardens of Radyr Woods provided an excellent walk and talk in the evening, showing the development and restorative work done in the wooded area alongside Radyr Sidings. Meanwhile the guides and brownies were throwing the dice to create their beetles at the Beetle Drive whilst Allan Cook introduced Dr R Alun Evans to a well supported Welsh Evening at the Old Church Rooms.

Unfortunately two events had to be cancelled. The first was the 5 a side football Competition on the new Muga at Morganstown. The contractors had failed to deliver this new facility in time for this event. It has been postponed to a future date. Watch this space!

The first week finished with a Charity Coffee Morning and a Grand Festival Concert in Christ church. Jessica and her princess were in attendance presenting the artists with a bouquet of flowers. “I went to a concert in the church called “From Milan to Manhatten”. I thought Helen Field and Jeremy Huw Williams were amazing singers.” What about that ‘Toreador Song’! And ‘We’ll Gather Lilacs’! A truly superb evening of beautiful music, well performed!

The start of the second week – phew! We return to Ty Gwyn Farm for the Dog Show. Over 30 dogs and their owners competed in 9 classes of events. Jessica and her princesses helped out, “the show was great fun and dogs were so cute!”

The Radyr Parish Music Group performed ‘Best of British’ in the evening, a selection of songs from many British musicals. Jessica thought it was one of her favourites “because it was hysterical. The Wonder Bra lady was so funny. I also thought that the man who sang ‘Want some Madeira me dear’ was funny too.”

Sunday brought out the footballers – 450 in total! The under 9’s competed in the morning in a knockout event – Radyr Rangers winning the title. In the afternoon the older group battled it out for the silverware. Meanwhile members of the Association and Tenovus were cooking nearly 500 burgers, sausages and bacon for the hungry hoards.

On Tuesday, for the second year the Boule Tournament between the pupils, parents and staff from Radyr Primary and Bryn Deri Schools was at the Comprehensive School. As a tribute to the versatility of the game, the double booking of the hockey pitch did not interfere with the keen return match to decide which school would take away the winners cup, and who would take the, only slightly, smaller runners up award.

A suitable stretch of grass and cinder path was selected for the 6 children’s teams, who were soon deeply involved in the nuances of boule throwing and point scoring. The Twinning Fellowship provided referees. Both schools fielded a parents and teacher side. At times the contest was noisy and boisterous, but what can you expect from grown ups! The juniors demonstrated a remarkable insight into the game and this bodes well for the future of the main event. Everyone was a winner but Radyr Primary took the winners cup by 2-1. Bryn Deri parents took the winners trophy and the teachers from Radyr Primary were winners. The Trophies will reside with the schools until the return match next year.

In the evening the History Society were hosts to a large gathering outside City Hall for the walk around the City. Their guide Dennis Morgan gave a conducted tour of the historic and interesting places within our Capital City, which is celebrating its 100th year.

The Festival Queen and her Princesses were guests of honour at the Festival Theatre with its final production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. This was performed by a Swansea based drama company, ‘Fluellen’. The audience were thoroughly entertained with a solid Shakespearian experience. This performance, organised by Allan Cook and sponsored by the Arts Council.

Nick Holmes, as Quiz Master kept the full house at the New School Rooms with the teams seriously brain storming the questions, which ranged from science to geography and general knowledge. The winners were the Community Council, now we know what they get up to on a Thurday night!

The Coffee Morning in the Library was ably hosted by Phillip Lee.Unfortunately Caroline Noall, our librarian, was unable to attend due to family commitments. The Library are hosting an exhibition of photographs of ‘old Cardiff’.

Imaging 2000, our local Photographic Society gave a pictorial display by digital projection of events throughout the year, including this year’s Festival..so far, on video film highlights from ‘The Sorcerer’, ‘Festival Opera Concert’ and ‘The Cemetery Club’ performed by Radyr Drama Group in 2004. Jessica liked the underwater pictures best! They were very pleased to be presented with framed portrait photographs. Unfortunately the “Beat the Parents” evening at the new Sports Hall had to be cancelled due to insufficient entries. This sounded an exciting event and I think young people around the village have missed a great opportunity to use this new facility in a fun environment.

The last Saturday..a double phew! Whilst the Tennis Club opened their doors to all budding tennis players the Association and helpers were erecting marquees and tables for the Festival Carnival. It had to be ready for 1pm for arrival of the Festival Queen and Derek Brockway of BBC Wales. Chris Gray in his black convertible Mercedes arrived at Morganstown Village Hall to drive the Festival Queen and her enterage around the village. Jessica’s diary says, “It was the Festival Carnival day and we rode around the village in an open top car, then to the Carnival where we opened the fete with Derek Brockway.”

The large crowd were well entertained with the Cardiff Ladies Morris Dancers, including Derek the dancer, Ballet, the Pop School and plenty of music created by courtesy of the Baptist Church and by Neil Cargill. The stalls were busy, the bar and the barbecue were kept fully occupied. Inside the hall the NSPCC were making teas and providing cakes for the punters. The winners and all entries to the Children’s Colouring Competition were on display alongside the excellent exhibition by Imaging 2000 of their Photographic Competition, won this year by Mick Sullivan, the Festival Photographer. The winners of the Colouring Competition were: Radyr Primary – Catherine Liguz, Laura Green, Rhianne Smith, Vishnu Suresh and Ioan Phillips. Bry Deri School – Lauren Philpin, James Ponsford and Lewis Richards. A number children received merit awards – Jessica Gelder, Jack Sheppard, Katy Smith, Katie Whelan, James Cargill and Isobel Eddy. We had one entry from Park Road Nursery School, Sophie Thomas

Keith John, local artist and resident, provided the original drawings for this competition and held a public exhibition of his works in the Radyr library.

Back to Jessica’s diary for the evening event, “It was the Band Concert. I thought it was excellent and we were asked to draw the winning tickets for the Festival Draw, it was really fun!” The Radyr & Morganstown Melingriffiths Brass Band were joined by the Radyr Comprehensive School Big Band for this event.

Chairman of the Association, Nick Hawkins presented a ‘big cheque’ to Richard Walker, Chief Executive of Tenovus.

Sunday morning, the sun shone, the wind changed direction and the poor ducks in the River Taff were blown up stream. Eventually one or two appeared and thankfully the winning number was 27 (my favourite number!!) It took some time to rescue the ducks but we hope that they are now all safe and well!

We are now back where we started, at the Cymanfa Ganu with the church resounding to ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Guide Me O thy Great Redeemer’ and the sweet echoes of the choir. Jessica ends her diary, “I made a little speech at the Cymanf Ganu to thank Bob and Maggie Roberts for all their help through the Festival”. I had such a good time being Festival Queen and I will never forget it.”

A truly fine way to round off a very successful Festival in providing fellowship and friendship around the village and financial support to many charities. Our Festival Charity, Tenovus has raised £2500 with the help of our Festival activities. A good job done by all!

Thanks to our sponsors, Amersham plc, Arts Council for Wales, Cardiff County Council, McCarthy & Stone, Pughs Garden Centre, our village shops, Derek Brockway, Mick Sullivan, our Festival Photographer, Nick Hawkins and members of R & M Association, helpers and of course, to residents of Radyr and Morganstown, old and new.

The Twinning Fellowship held it’s Bi-Annual Quiz Night in the Old Church Rooms at the beginning of April. It was a full house as 9 teams competed for the prestigious gold medals.

Mr Alan Doe, from Radyr Golf Club was our Quiz Master once again and as usual was assisted by Mr. Dale Edwards. A variety of general knowledge questions keep us all busy. Several questions about France had us scratching our heads, this included a French man, school teachers and members of the Twinning Committee. The winners by just one point were the Bar Stewards and they were delighted to receive their golden (chocolate) medals and the genuine bottle of Champagne.

A tasty supper was served during the evening and everyone enjoyed themselves in true Twinning Fellowship style.

M.R.

The recently completed Sports Hall at Radyr Comprehensive School is a new multi purpose facility and can cater for many different sports and activities.

Whilst it will be used by the school during the normal working day, it is now being made available for hire outside school time.

It will be available for community use from 6-10 p.m Mon-Fri, and during both day and evening at the weekend.

The school prefers prospective “customers” to block book several sessions in advance over a period lasting between 4 and 10 weeks.

As well as the sports hall at Radyr Comprehensive School, there is also a fitness gym which will be opening during April 2005. This is a fully furnished, top class gym, and will be available to the local community for a small charge. Everyone who wishes to use the gym must first sign up as a member which includes health check up and induction. Again, the gym will be open Mon-Fri 6-10 p.m, and at weekend.

Another great opportunity for people to try something new is the recent Arrival of the Tae Kwon Do Association of Great Britain and are currently looking to attract new members of all ages and abilities to come and try this Martial Art (with the first session free).

Also at Radyr Comprehensive School Sports Hall from 6 – 7 p.m every Thursday.

At a ‘Youth Forum’ chaired by Councillor Marion Drake on Tuesday, 7th December it was confirmed that funds were now available for the construction of a ‘Multi-Use Games Area’ in Cwm Farm Park adjacent to Radyr Gardens.

The all weather facility has been designed by an enthusiastic group of local youngsters who attend the Youth Forum. It will cost in excess of £50,000 and will provide teenagers with a place to play football, basketball and a range of other sports. Construction will start soon and should be complete by the end of March 2005.

Senior members of the Cardiff Kyokushin Karate Club, which meets in Morganstown Village Hall, travelled to ‘Ware’ in Hertfordshire on Friday 5th November to compete in the Annual Tri-Nation Knockdown Tournament, competing against England and Scotland.

Due to circumstances beyond their control – cancelled flights – the Scottish Team could not attend and for all we know could still be sat on the tarmac at Prestwick Airport.

In spite of this set back, the event, which was well supported, went ahead. The Welsh Team, consisting of fighters from both Cardiff and Barry Kyokushin clubs acquitted themselves admirably.

In the Wuko section of the competition, where full contact is not allowed and is won on a points scored basis … Wales won conclusively … winning 4 out of their 5 fights. Later in the knockdown, where full contact is allowed – all techniques are permitted except punching to the face and head … although kicks in this area are perfectly legal!!!

Again Wales triumphed, winning 3 out of their 4 fights.

The event was rounded off with presentations, a wonderful buffet and a disco. One further event put on by the Welsh Team was a full rendition of the ‘Full Monty’ … showing off their Welsh thongs to the delighted/shocked audience.

We look forward to showing off the skills and abilities of the fighters – both Junior and Senior – at the forthcoming ‘Christmas Bash’ on December 19th in Morganstown Village Hall.

The Cardiff Kyokushin Karate Club, based at Morganstown Village Hall, exchanged their normal “fight night” for a more fitting “fright night” this Halloween.

The spookily decorated village hall was filled with in excess of 50 youngsters dressed in a wide range of scary outfits ranging from vampires and demons to skeletons and Captain Hook!!!!

Mums and Dads entered into the spirit too, with many a green faced witch being sighted … Shihan Gary Bufton dressed as a ”Kabuki Warrior” along with Sempai’s Huw Manning – “Darth Maul” & Terry Birkett as a “Ninja”, took the children “Trick or Treating” around the neighbouring streets.

Several Tonnes of sweets later, this was followed by a great spread of party food and – party games both for children and parents!!!!

Shihan Bufton would like to thank all those who helped out, making the evening such a success special thanks going to Saranne Bufton – buffet, Sempai Steve Crane – music, Paul Ridgway – face painting – Jim Ridgway – cooking, Ivy and Ken and Julie Williams, Tracy Morrison and “Moley” for all their help!!!!!!

Six members of the Kyokushin Karate Club based in Morganstown Village Hall will be representing Wales in a competition against Scotland and England in Hertfordshire on the 6th November.

On the 11th – 13th November, Club Instructor Sempai Huw Manning will also represent Wales at an invitation only International Tournament in Sweden.

We wish them all success.

It has just been confirmed by GMX, a Property & Planning Company, that McCarthy & Stone have re-submitted their planning application for the development on the Radyr Arms site of 46 sheltered apartments for the elderly. Given that, regretfully, we have lost our pub and thus the prime reason for rejecting the application, planning permission is likely to be accepted.

Goodness gracious Gregson! Playing Edward Gregson`s ‘PARTITA’, Radyr & Morganstown (Melingriffith) Band won first prize in the Fourth Section at the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea, when taking part in the Regional Boosey & Hawkes Championships.

Competing against 14 other bands they gained a massive 176 points, ‘The People Challenge Tribute’ Cup, a Cheque for £200 and a place in the UK finals on 11/09/04 at Harrogate. Their performance was described by the Adjudicator Steve Pritchard-Jones as “ Confident and rhythmic” with special praise to Euphonium soloist, Colin Evans.

This is the Second major trophy in recent times winning S.E.Wales Competition at Treorchy in November. The Band is still searching for a Percussionist, and interested in taking part in all the varied 17 engagements the band take part in each year. Further details can be found at the bands popular website: www.radyrband.co.uk

The band will next perform on Tuesday 6th April at 7.00pm in the Penygrawsi Pensioners Concert, Llantrisant. Those wishing to attend see contact details on band web site.

It has been announced that the Radyr Arms will close, and on 1 December 2003, the Building will be boarded up and all its contents removed. It will then be allowed, by its owner, to deteriorate to the point where it will need to be demolished.

Following demolition the owner expects to be able to get the planning permission it was refused earlier. If this should happen, the wishes of the residents of Radyr and the findings of a National Assembly inspector will have been totally ignored.

We are therefore challenging the Noble House Pub Company Limited’s plans through both the Council and the Assembly.