Wednesday 5 May 2004 Ralph Robinson Memorial Lecture -     Cistercian Monks of Gwent by Dr Madeleine Gray Tickets £1.50

Wednesday 2^nd June 2004 -Little Acorns by Don Bearcroft

Saturday 19th June 2004- Aberbeeg Hospital Fete. Donations needed for Botany & Books stall, and help to man it 

Mr Keith Dykes Mrs Esme Heal Mrs Kathleen Davies Mrs Margaret Herbert Mr Michael Elliott Mrs Carole Brooks Mrs Dorothy Meredith

If you would like to become a vice-president, (annual subscription £25), please contact Peggy Bearcroft for details.

What comes to mind? The destination for our rubbish bins? Think again. The nature reserve which has been set up on land which was formerly a farm and an old coal pit, is now the highest and most westerly beech wood in Britain. The reserve contains interesting beech and alder woodlands and the open spaces south of the reserve contain many anthills - a delicacy for the green woodpeckers which feed on them. Lichen and mosses are reclaiming the coal pit for nature, and many birds are attracted by the beech nuts or mast in the autumn. Why not call in to see for yourself the next time you pass that way (on a trip to the Festival Shops perhaps?)

How can you lose a bridge? And a Brunei bridge to boot? The never repeated design of the first iron bridge structure to have been built by Isambard Kingdom Brunei had lain hidden and forgotten beneath brickwork additions in the Westminster area of London since 1905. Dr Stephen Brindle, an inspector of ancient monuments, found sketches and other references to the cast iron structure in the National Archives in Kew, when researching the history of Paddington Station. The bridge, hidden by its relatively modern brick additions, had been due for demolition. Instead, the bridge is being carefully dismantled and will be stored until money can be found to restore and re-erect it. Westminster City hope it can be re-used in the form of a footbridge in time for the 200th anniversary of Brunei's birth, in 2006.

2 eggs

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons cooked smoked haddock, flaked

2 slices hot buttered (or margarine) toast

Beat the eggs and add seasoning, milk and smoked haddock. Melt the margarine, add the beaten eggs etc, and cook gently, stirring all the time, over a low heat until the mixture has thickened. Serve piled on toast.

On the brow of every man is written

Whether life by joy or gloom be smitten

Whether to heights of joy he might ascend

Or to the dark, despondent depths descend.

One word to light him through his hardest times

A word which guides him and forever shines;

A word for those who've fallen or have sinned

A word for those whose brightest star has dimmed.

This word, God's generous gift to man

Of all his glorious gifts can span

The gloomiest day and darkest direst night,

Till kindly cheerful dawn once more breaks bright.

And through the bleakest darkness while we grope

Guides us on. This radiant word is HOPE.

Written by the late Theo Carter in World War 2

The following account is reproduced from a letter to a local newspaper by Mary Fishout. Anne Zeigler

"/ have the satisfaction to inform you that the Tram Road Engine goes off very well - we have made a journey on our Tram Road nine and a half miles in length - it took 10 Tons long wts of iron & about 60 or 70 people riding on the Trams which added 4 or 5 tons more to the wt - it goes very easy 4 miles an hour, and is as tractable as a Horse, will back its load & move it forward as little (& slow) at a time as you please - with this Engine we can manage the different tryals.... " So wrote Samuel Homfray following the successful operation of the first steam locomotive in the world to haul a load on rails on 21st February 1804.

The bi-centenary of this historic first journey between Penydarren, Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon will be celebrated by a series of events and exhibitions until September. Events include a replica 'Penydarren Locomotive', a festival featuring Trevethick engines, and a Model Steam Locomotive Rally, to name just a few. The Museum at Cyfarthfa Park should be able to provide more information.

Richard Trevethick (1771 - 1883) was born in Cornwall, the son of a Cornish mine captain. Despite being a brilliant inventor and engineer whose railway engines were running a decade before George Stephenson's, he ended his life in poverty. We in South Wales perhaps know him best for the rail journey to Abercynon, as noted above. The event was a first but a little ahead of its time. The cast-iron rails of the horse drawn trams of those days were simply not strong enough to support the weight of his new-fangled machines and it was to be several years before the idea became commercially viable. Trevethick was inventive but lacking in business acumen. His work took him not only around Britain but around the world, including South America where he worked and then travelled, arriving in Columbia half dead and short of funds. Who should he meet there but Robert Stephenson who gave him £50 for his passage home. Once home the ideas flowed but not financial success and when he died in 1883, he would have been buried in a pauper's grave had his workmates not paid for his funeral. A few months earlier he had written his own epitaph in a letter to a friend: "However much I may be straitened in pecuniary circumstances, the great honour of being a useful subject can never be taken from me, which far exceeds riches ".

If you've been to Monmouth you will have seen the statue in Agincourt Square of Charles Rolls, depicted in his flying suit, cigarette in mouth and model plane in hand. The model is of the Wright Biplane in which he was killed at the age of 23.

He was a true pioneer whose interests lay in motoring and aviation. Born into the aristocracy, his first car was a three and a quarter horsepower Peugeot - the first car ever seen at Cambridge. He caused quite a stir when he drove it home to _ Monmouth, a journey which took two days. He was responsible for changing the national speed limit at that time from 4mph to 12mph and perhaps it was his fondness for speed which led him to turn his attention from ballooning to aeroplanes. In 1910 he was the first to cross the channel non-stop both ways. Sadly it all ended in tragedy. Rolls was killed in 1910 in Bournemouth when his plane broke up in mid-air. His name lives on and is still associated with powerful engines, the world famous Rolls- Royce company having been started up following a meeting in 1904 with a fellow car enthusiast - Frederick Royce. Charles Rolls is buried at Llangattock churchyard. Memorabilia of him and his family -Lord and Lady Llangattock - are on display in the Nelson Museum in Monmouth and give an interesting insight into the life at that time of an aristocratic family.

Balls of this type were cast in the ironworks of the area during the Napoleonic Wars. During this period of war the Monmouthshire Militia was used in case of invasion and to quell civil unrest.

In 1557 with the threat of invasion the lieutenant and deputy lieutenant were commissioned to raise and drill all able bodied men. The men were raised by ballot and enlisted for 3 years, drill practice was within 6 miles of their homes and in 1558 power was given to impress men. The law was changed in 1604  with the introduction of gunpowder changing methods of fighting. Foot soldiers were armed with muskets and harquebuses mixed with pikes, although during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st the longbow was still a favourite weapon. Muskets were heavy and could only be used with a rest, wide bore and fitted with matchlocks they were carried by boys when on the march.

In 1643a lighter musket was available used without a rest a bandolier employed for carrying powder charges and the balls were carried in a pouch.With the introduction of the Flintlock and Percussion cap the effectiveness of concentrated fire in volleys proved more effective and the drill manual was updated. During the civil war Charles

The militia declined after the Napoleonic Wars until the Russian War, it was embodied again in 1900 with the war in South Africa, 15th January 1908 it was replaced by The Special Reserve.

There were many Punishments for breaches of discipline: drunk on duty-10 shillings or 1 hour in the stocks (fetters were used in prison and the stocks in the market square for public offences). A common punishment was "The Wooden Horse" the legs were sometimes fastened to a movable truck and the planks of the horses back were set at an acute angle. The prisoners hands were tied, weights were attached to his feet and he was then perambulated around the barrack square, Artillery men were ordered to "Ride the Gun" with 12 pound cannon balls attached to their ankles.

Some prisoners were made to carry three muskets on each shoulder for 1/2 mile. For offences by Sutlers, Jews or brawling women the Whirlygig was used. It consisted of a circular wooden cage set on a pivot, whirled around at a high velocity it made the occupant violently sick.

The death penalty was by means of beheading (officers and aristocrats). Shooting (pistols for the cavalry, muskets were used for the Infantry). Admiral Byng was shot on the Quarterdeck of the Monarque 14th March 1757 under the 12th Article of war for not having done his utmost to relieve St Philip's Minorca. Hanging was used for the basest of crimes and desertion.

The punishment of branding and the cutting off of an ear or nose was also used for different offences, the running of the gauntlet (German, gasse, a street; \aufen, to run). Whipping was common and the use of the "Cat-o'-nine-tails" continued in the Navy after it was abolished in the army. It fell to the drummers to carry out this punishment in the army. The worst punishment as far as the soldier was concerned was to take away his sword and make him a Pioneer.

I have read a graphic account by an army surgeon who had witnessed a flogging the results of which are too horrifying to repeat in this newsletter. When I hear people saying, "bring back the cat" it makes me think of this article and that they would do well to read it before making such comments.

Perpetrators of crimes must be punished but it should be tempered with justice and mercy.