Category Archives: Today’s Treasures

dandelion

Today’s Treasures – Dandelions

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures – Dandelions

dandelion

The Latin name Taraxacum Officinale is derived from the Persian talkh chakok meaning ‘bitter herb’ and Officinale from the Latin officina meaning ‘workshop’ because the plant was used by old herbalists.  The common name ‘Dandelion’ comes from the French dent-de-lion (lion’s tooth) because of the shape of the leaves.

Dandelion is first mentioned by the Arabian physicians of the 10th century and in the 13th century it appears in the Welsh Herbal of the Physicians of Mydrai. But it wasn’t until the 20th century that it was discovered that the main reason the humble dandelion was so effective against ailments like scurvy was because of its high vitamin C content.  In fact, dandelions are more nutritious than many other vegetables – they have more vitamin A than spinach, more vitamin C than tomatoes, and also contain iron, calcium and potassium.

Dandelion tea has long been used to help the liver remove toxins from the bloodstream.  It’s a gentle diuretic providing nutrients that help the digestive system function at peak efficiency – and a cup of dandelion tea is the perfect natural hangover remedy!

The leaves can be added to salads or cooked like spinach and the roots can be dried and ground to make a caffeine-free coffee substitute.  The flowers make a delicate white wine.

Contrary to popular belief, dandelions are actually good for a lawn – their deep, wide-spreading roots loosen hard-packed soil, aerate the earth and help reduce erosion.  They fertilise the grass by absorbing nutrients from deep in the soil through a tap-root, making them available to other plants.

The seedheads – dandelion clocks – have provided children with many hours of fun blowing the seeds away to tell the time – and counting ‘he loves me, he loves me not’.


Cicely Mary Barker writes:
Here’s the Dandelion’s rhyme:
See my leaves with tooth-like edges;
Blow my clocks to tell the time;
See me flaunting by the hedges,
In the meadow, in the lane,
Gay and naughty in the garden;
Pull me up—I grow again,
Asking neither leave nor pardon.
Sillies, what are you about
With your spades and hoes of iron?
You can never drive me out—
Me, the dauntless Dandelion!

Published in the May edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

#dandelions

Powis Castle

Today’s Treasures – Powis Castle

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures – Powis Castle

powis castlePowis Castle, near Welshpool, close to the Welsh border, the seat of the Earl of Powis, was built by the Welsh for Welsh princes – unlike Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech which were built by the English to suppress the Welsh.

The original castle was built in the 13th century by Welsh Prince Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn and transformed into a grand residence in the 1530’s by Edward Gray, Lord of Powis.  In 1578 it was leased to Sir Edward Herbert who bought the castle in 1587 and it remained in the Herbert family until 1952, when it was bequeathed to the National Trust, but the family retained the right to live in part of the castle.

The castle’s Clive Museum contains many precious Indian objects brought back from India by Henrietta Herbert who married Edward Clive in 1784.  Edward’s father was Robert Clive ‘Clive of India’ and Henrietta and Edward and their daughters lived with him in Madras whilst he was Governor there in 1798.

The northern gate (originally the main entrance) is flanked by two figures – two statues installed in niches between the columns – King Edgar the Peaceful – and King Offa of Mercia – who built Offa’s Dyke along the English/Welsh border ostensibly ‘to divide Wales from Offa’s kingdom of Mercia’.

King offa statue

Every castle has its ghosts and Powis is no exception.  In 1780 an elderly lady arrived looking for work spinning hemp and flax.  The earl was away in London, but the steward offered her employment – mischievously installing her in a room known to be haunted.  However, instead of being terrified, the old lady befriended the man in the gold-laced suit and he led her through the castle to find a hidden chest and key.  The old lady presented the treasure to the earl on his return and was rewarded with lodging for the rest of her years.  As well as the golden-clad man, you may encounter a woman in a mob-cap, a lady in black sitting by the fire in the Duke’s Room – where people have also experienced being touched by invisible hands – a child dressed in green in the Clive Museum – and sometimes the ballroom resounds with the eerie notes of ghostly piano music.

 

deer at Powis Castle

Published in the April edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

 

Today’s Treasures – Sunsets

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures – Sunsets

Sunsets are always magical but sunsets on water take on a special brilliance as the rays of the setting sun dance upon the waves, and the golden globe disappears slowly into the sea beyond the horizon.

sunset

The sun’s mild and mellow light spreads sunbeams across the waves, sunlight lingering and deepening as twilight creeps in, softly lengthening shadows and bathing the land in darkness.

sunset on waves

The setting sun paints the clouds with glorious light, creating shades of scarlet, crimson and tangerine in patterns across the sky as the purple of dusk descends on the shimmering sand.

Sunsets have inspired many writers, poets and musicians, the coalescing colours and shapes, the ever-changing patterns in the sky are mesmerising, like a symphony getting louder and brighter, then fading away into darkness.

“There is nothing more musical than a sunset.”  Claude Debussy

sunset on field

“Don’t forget: Beautiful sunsets need cloudy skies…” Paulo Coelho

sunset on beach

Published in the March edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

 

Today’s Treasures – Lake Bala – Llyn Tegid

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures – Lake Bala – Llyn Tegid

The largest natural lake in Wales, fed by the River Dee (Afon Dyfrdwy) which has its source on the slopes of Dduallt (Black Hill) in the mountains of Snowdonia.

It is thought that the lake was once much larger and extended much further north (over Bala town) and south to Llanuwchllyn – and probably previously flowed west into Cardigan Bay, whereas now the River Dee flows north east through it, then along the Welsh border, around Chester and eventually into the Irish Sea at Liverpool Bay.

Formed by glaciers, the lake is home to a rare whitefish called the Gwyniad, a relic of the last Ice Age, and a very rare mollusc Myxas Glutinosa – the Glutinous snail.  In the summer it’s calm surface and shallow edges are ideal for watersports and kayaks, canoes and paddleboards pepper the surface.

The Bala Railway, built on a section of the former Ruabon to Barmouth GWR route (closed in 1965) runs along the south east shore from Bala to Llanuwchllyn (the village above the lake).   The railway has 3 steam locomotives, 2 of which were rescued from Welsh slate quarries.  The 2 ft narrow gauge steam trains trundle along the tracks providing stunning views of the lake and glimpses of the surrounding mountains – Arenig Fawr, Aran Benllyn and Aran Fawddwy.

Llyn Tegid translates as ‘Lake of Serenity’ and it certainly lives up to its name.  Even in winter, when the lake overflows appropriating the car park and lakeside pathways, the scenery is stunningly beautiful, with windblown waves caressing the trees and bushes at the edges of the lake.

According to legend, the lake has its own monster – ‘Teggie’ haunts the underwater palaces of King Tegid and his wife, the white witch, Ceridwen, legendary mother of the famous Welsh bard Taliesin who was Celtic mythology’s ‘Chief of Bards’. He served in the court of several mythic kings including King Arthur where his powers of poetry and prophecy were highly regarded. Sometimes, on moonlight nights, it is said that the towers and turrets of King Tegid’s castle can be glimpsed beneath the waves.

lake Bala

Published in the February edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

Today’s Treasures – Planet Earth

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures – Planet Earth

The world is a cornucopia,
People scurrying like ants,
A kaleidoscope of colours,
Leaving everything to chance.

No paintbrush guides creation
We multiply like flies,
We desolate our planet,
Pollution fills our skies.

We ignore the population,
Expanding uncontrolled,
Exhausting natural resources,
Minerals, trees and oil.

If we believed in reincarnation,
Would we still destroy future needs,
Food and water running out,
Plastics fill our seas.

Seed banks full of species,
Nowhere for them to grow,
Hundreds of extinct animals,
With no jungles or plains to roam.

Future generations need us,
To treat the world with care,
Our children need a planet,
Free from polluted air.

Reusing, recycling, saving,
Using wind, water and sun,
Convert to sustainable sources,
Before coal and oil are gone.

Carbon is our life blood,
We waste it at our peril,
Every person has a duty,
To conserve the world together.

Aluminium is fully recyclable,
Use instead of plastic,
Buy local – less food miles,
Eat all the food, don’t waste it.

Crisis What Crisis?

Grow your own food,
East less meat,
Wear more clothes,
Turn down the heat.

Walk or ride instead of drive,
Repair instead of replacing,
Reduce, reuse, recycle,
There’s still time for us to change things.

Published in the Janary 2023 edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

rowan berries

Today’s Treasures – Autumn

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures – Autumn

‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ that inspired Keats to write his poem ‘To Autumn’.

autumn tree

Leaves turning from green to gold to auburn, watery sunshine filtering through gnarled branches with crooked fingers, stretching towards the light; eiderdown clouds in quilted patterns sending sunbeams spotlighting acorns underfoot.

King Quercus, standing tall, golden oak leaves fluttering down, alongside the copper beech, Queen Fagus, in all her autumn glory; bright red rowan berries adorning the mountain ash eagerly sought after by the birds that remain with us when their cousins fly south for the winter.  The robin, perched at the top of the hawthorn tree, resplendent in his winter red breasted waistcoat sings songs of summers to come.
rowan berries
The red berries of arum lilies and strings of bryony beads decorate hedgerows fluffy with aptly named old man’s beard.

bryony berries

Toadstools love the damp autumn days and often appear overnight like magic, inspiring stories of fairies and elves tiptoeing at tea parties and dancing in fairy rings.

This year is a ‘mast year’ for acorns – every few years some species of trees and shrubs produce a bumper crop of seeds or nuts – guaranteeing that there will be some left over after the badgers, squirrels, mice and birds have eaten their fill – to germinate and grow into baby trees.  Smaller crops in other years give the tree chance to recover energy and also regulate the population of the animals and birds that feed on the nuts.

autumn treesPublished in the December 2022 edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

Today’s Treasures – Blackberry Fair 2022

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures – Blackberry Fair 2022

The magic is back – Blackberry Fair was amazing again – wonderful people, incredible music – and so many smiles – it was like we had all been saving them up for 3 years – since the last street festival here.

This living, breathing celebration of music, song, dance, poetry and street theatre, stretched from Green End to the Bull Ring, and on – up to the Black Bear and beyond – and attracted more visitors than ever – enjoying local food, real ale, mouth-watering sweets, freshly-baked cakes, and real sausages and beef burgers – all accompanied by street music wherever you went in this normally tranquil, market town.

Whitchurch’s unique street carnival inspires, fires the imagination, screams innovation, young and old are all captivated, drawn into the spirit of creativity and sustainability – all shared by bands from far and near – the Old Time Sailors, Cosmic Rays, The Odd Bods, music from every genre – including the hypnotic, mesmerising music from Zuma – with its exotic, tantalising, foot-tapping beats.

The crew, and all the volunteers were dressed up alongside the musicians and Morris dancers – there were magicians and wizards, mad hatters and giants – and plenty of pirates – Theodora the Witch and Harbinder the elephant, and all the characters that followed the raven and the unicorn as the Carnival of Hope wound its way through the town, gathering at St. Alkmund’s church at the end of the afternoon.

Thank you Steve and your army of volunteers for another amazing festival of music and mayhem, light and laughter, sunshine and smiles and all the characters, singers, dancers, artists and musicians who made the day so special.

Published in the November edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

morris dancers

train

Today’s Treasures – Cambrian Heritage Railways

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures – Cambrian Heritage Railways

train

In the 1860s, the Cambrian Railways Company was based at Oswestry station and ran over 300 miles of track, east, west and south.  Their building complex included a large engineering works making engines, carriages and wagons.  The building still stands but the trains have gone – the passenger services ended in 1966 and the engine sheds now have other uses.

Happily, heritage trains still run from Oswestry station which is the home of Cambrian Heritage Railways. Trains run by volunteers travel along the 1.5 miles of track to Weston Wharf (home of the Stonehouse Brewery) and back.  A short stretch of track has also been reinstated between Llynclys and Pant and a station halt has been completed at Pen y Garreg Lane.

In September Cambrian Heritage Railways hosted a special day out.  We boarded the train at Oswestry station and rattled along the tracks to Weston Wharf.  Sitting in one of the old carriages, visions of Victorian children boarding the train to Barmouth with buckets and spades came to mind.  And I could almost imagine Poirot sitting opposite me looking out of the old sliding down windows as trees and hedges, and old walls slide past – past the church, the overgrown headstones leaning against ancient railings, then slowing down into the Weston Wharf yard with the relics of goods trains and the engine shed.

There we met the volunteer stationmaster (reminiscent of the Fat Controller of Thomas the Tank Engine days) who told us about the days of the goods trains – the railway used to transport coal from a local colliery at Morda – then an entrepreneur discovered there was clay under the coal and set up Sweeney Brickworks so the trains then carried bricks.  And quarry trains ran from Blodwel Quarry in the Tanat Valley until 1988.

A heritage bus arrived to take us to Llynclys South station where we enjoyed an excellent cup of tea in the buffet in a restored carriage.

Then we climbed aboard a brake van to travel to Pen y Garreg Lane and back.  The track was overgrown, adorned with autumn’s bounty – elderberries, blackberries, rosehips and rowanberries, and brambles and traveller’s joy climbing with gay abandon over fences and trees and hedges.

Then we travelled back to Lynclys and clambered aboard the old bus back to Weston Wharf, enjoyed lunch and delicious cakes in the station buffet, then caught the train back to Oswestry.

A fabulous day out!

Thanks to all the members and volunteers – if you would like to join them – find out more www.cambrianrailways.com

Published in the October edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

 

 

 

old oswestry hill fort

Today’s Treasures – Old Oswestry Hill Fort

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures – Old Oswestry  Hill Fort

old oswestry hill fort

Old Oswestry is one of Britain’s most impressive Iron Age hillforts, a unique ancient monument of national importance and a valuable ecological habitat.

From around 800 BC until the Roman invasion in 43 AD it was an important stronghold where people lived, worked and traded.  In the early 9th century, it became part of the route of Wat’s Dyke, a 60 km bank and ditch, similar to Offa’s Dyke which divided the Anglo Saxon kingdom of Mercia from the Welsh kingdoms to the west. Wat’s Dyke stretches approximately 40 miles from Basingwerk Abbey to Maesbury incorporating the hillfort in its length.

It is traditionally believed that the Battle of Maserfield was fought near here in AD 642 when the Pagan Kings – Penda, Eowa and Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon along with Prince Cynddylan ap Cyndrwyn beat the invading Christians under King Oswald of Northumbria.  Oswald was killed in the battle and later became venerated as a saint. His body was dismembered, and legend tells of a raven carrying an arm to an ash tree – Oswald’s Tree – attributed with miracles – and a spring called Oswald’s well where the arm fell from the tree – the springwater is believed to have healing properties.

The Normans built Oswestry Castle and founded the town on the lowlands to the south of the hillfort.  The Welsh name Croesoswallt means ‘Oswald’s Cross’ but the Middle English name Oswaldestroe translates as ‘Oswald’s Tree’.

It is a mythical place, known in Welsh as Caer Ogyrfan, meaning ‘City of Gogyrfan’, referring to the father of Guinevere in Arthurian legend – it is said to have been the birthplace of Queen Guinevere – Gwenhwyfar in Welsh Literature – and Prince Cynddylan is said to be the last descendant of King Arthur to reign in the Welsh Marches.

The imposing ancient hill fort dominates the skyline on the fringe of the market town of Oswestry and the summit gives panoramic views across North and Mid Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire.

old oswestry hill fort path

Published in the September edition of the Whitchurch Gossip


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bee on comfrey

Today’s Treasures – Bees

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures – Bees

bee on comfrey

Some interesting facts about bees:

  • There are over 25,000 species of bees.
  • Honeybees live in a colony, but many bees are solitary and nest alone – but often near to other bees.
  • Most bees live for about 6 weeks, but some bees live for years.
  • In one day, a foraging honeybee can visit up to 2000 flowers.
  • It takes around 12,000 bee hours to make a 1.5 kg jar of honey.

beehive

Male bees do not sting, and their job is to mate with the queen.  The worker honeybees are female and do sting – but only when it’s really necessary as they are damaged in the process and die afterwards.

Turning nectar into honey is a two-stage process involving chemically changing the sugars in the nectar from complex to simple sugars and reducing the water content. When complete, the honeybees seal the honeycomb with a white wax cap. This keeps the honey fresh in a natural airtight container for the winter.

If natural, raw, unfiltered honey is stored properly in sealed containers it can last virtually forever – the bees’ honey-making process combined with the high sugar content and low pH prevent organisms from damaging it.

beekeeper

Bees love my herb garden, sage and thyme, lavender and chives – and, later in the year, hyssop, rosemary and marjoram – and they love the wild flowers – especially comfrey and foxgloves.  I’ve spent many relaxing hours watching them popping into foxglove bells and cleaning the pollen off the fairy shoes – as Enid Blyton so elegantly described the stamens.

Wild flowers are generally much better for bees – cultivated forms are often hybrids propagated by cuttings and they have evolved without need for pollinators so most produce little nectar or pollen.  So, plant old-fashioned varieties of hellebore, salvia, rudbeckia, cosmos, sedum and verbena – and snowdrop and crocus for early spring when there are very few flowers – they provide a much-needed source of pollen for our bees.

Some businesses have planted wild flowers around their car parks and installed beehives – like Midcounties Co-operative – who now have a head beekeeper, Lee Franklin, at their head office in Warwick.

www.midcounties.coop

Published in the July edition of the Whitchurch Gossip