Message from Cllr. Dean Lewis

Would it be possible for you to get a post out to inform your readers that the post office will be closed until the 30th of November, due to Marcia needing an operation on the 23^rd after suffering with chest/heart complications?

Wishing her a full and speedy recovery from myself and all of the residents

DEAN LEWIS

Extra good wishes from RDN.  Marcia has contributed excellent stories for us over the years.

RDN TEAM

I have an anxious problem
And it’s worrying you see
I can’t think past the dreaded COVID
For the life that once suited me

It’s been like a strange horror story
And it’s not over yet
Time is getting more precious each day
The older and wiser I get

I must start thinking positively
But it’s hard when I look around
With social distancing and isolation
And face masks on the ground

But the cavalry is coming
Boris has told us that soon it will be here
The toot of the bugle is sounding in the distance
But call it a vaccine, if you prefer

I want to be an optimist
But being pessimistic is more my style
But hope always springs eternal
And time will surely tell, in a while

We all want this to be over
We all want to see this come to an end
But Lets hope it’s sooner rather than later
Because life is given only as a lend

So in the end we must think past COVID
It’s vital for the life that lets us be free
But the when, where, how and why?
Must be left to the Powers that be!!

~ ~ ~

 ‘Arthur Rose’

Resolven

13 November 2020

~ ~ ~ ~

‘Lest We Forget’

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae was a Soldier, a Physician and a Poet whose inspirational poem is synonymous with the First World War.

At the age of 41, John McCrae enrolled with the Canadian Expeditionary Force following the outbreak of the First World War. It was his second tour of duty in the Canadian Military. He had previously fought with a volunteer force in the second Boer War.

He had the option of joining the Medical Corps because of his training but he volunteered instead to join a fighting unit as a gunner and medical officer. His father was also a military man and John McCrae had grown up believing in doing his duty and fighting for his country.

John McCrae fought in the second battle of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium and during this battle his close friend Alexis Helmer was killed on  May 2^nd.

The Lieutenant Colonel was present at the burial of Alexis Helmer and actually performed the service himself and was struck by all the poppies that were quickly growing around the graves of those who had died. This scene affected him deeply.

The next day he composed his famous poem while sitting in the back of an Ambulance outside Ypres. Today, this location is known as the John McCrae Memorial Site.

The poem and the poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations particularly in Canada where ‘In Flanders Fields’ is one of the nations best known literary works.

It also reminds us that in all acts of conflict past and present, where there is loss of life, each and everyone of them gave their tomorrow for our today.

‘WE WILL REMEMBER THEM’

~ ~ ~ ~

From Mike Davies and RDN Team

~ ~ ~ ~

Zoe Lake from the village is providing Christmas Day Lunch doorstep deliveries for elderly, vulnerable, disabled and families in need in Resolven Melincourt and Clyne. She is raising funds for this on a just giving page and has so far raised just shy of £500. This is a very selfless task that Zoe is undertaking and we at the Community Council applaud her for her action. 

Please could I ask that if anybody knows anyone who would benefit from this to please get in touch with me on 07784735055 and I will pass the names onto Zoe. 

Also below I have included the link to the just giving page if anyone is able to donate

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zoe-christmasdinner?utm_id=2&utm_term=9r6Jaw3yk

Thanks

Neal Francis (Chair Resolven Community Council)

Also a message from Zoe (below)

I’m sure you can all agree that this year has been very difficult and challenging emotionally and financially for many people within our area. A lot of people are feeling lonely and isolated. Some families have lost jobs and even loved ones. We all need a little help sometimes, so this year I will be providing Christmas dinner doorstep deliveries for the elderly, vulnerable, disabled and families in need within our area. If you or anyone you know of would like a Christmas lunch delivered or have an elderly neighbour please if you can ask them and send me a message, confidentiality is an essential part of this service.

I  have set up a donation page if anyone would like to make a donation to this service, no matter how small, you will be helping to provide a Christmas dinner for those who need it and any funds left will be donated to the local food bank which will go on to help even more people.

We may only be a small village, but when it comes to giving a helping hand we always comes together and help when we can.

Let’s make this Christmas the best we can in the circumstances 

Zoe Lake

On a wet and windy morning last Friday members of the Community Council and volunteers arrived to begin the installation of a new garden planted specifically to attract butterflies.

The Community Council had received all the materials and tools from ‘Keep Wales Tidy‘ whose representative Kathryn Brixton also attended to give advice.

The area chosen was the surround of the bowling green adjacent to Vaughan Avenue end so that it was visible to the outside and protected on the inside.

The trellis and raised bed was planted with clematis, and honeysuckle and bulbs and plants in the raised bed are snowdrop, bluebell, wood anemone, lavender, field scabious, meadow cranesbill, wild carrot, kidney vetch,  rough hawkbit.

There were shrubs of dogwood, dog rose, broom, elder and hawthorn which will hopefully grow in the Spring.

The Community Council also received 2 birdfeeders and sacks of birdfeed from ‘Keep Wales Tidy’.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Thanks go to Cllr Kamila Kulik who was the main organiser of the project, Cllr Alun Morgan, Cllr Aylwin Jones, Roy Gillespie, Gareth Evans, Christine Twaite, and Cheryl Payne.

~ ~ ~ ~

Photographs by Hugh Lewis, RDN Team