Celebration and Circle Dancing – January 2026

Whitchurch WI enjoyed a celebratory buffet at the January meeting. Our usual buffet at the December meeting was postponed until the new year because the hall was unavailable. The hall was still not available in January, as the new roof was not yet completed, but we were able to enjoy our meeting in the cafe area. A splendid feast was offered through the generous contributions of the members.

Before enjoying the buffet, we were entertained by Pat Adams, who introduced us to Circle Dancing. She enthusiastically declared that it was fun, good exercise, and had 'gorgeous music'. Pat explained that circle dancing is an ancient tradition practised in many parts of the world, including Britain. Most of the dances practised these days come from Eastern Europe. Most villages would have four or five dances that they practised regularly with the whole community coming together to dance -- from infants to the elderly.

For her demonstaration for our WI group, Pat introduced several simple walking dances. Most of the dances included arm movements relating to the theme of the dance, and she encouraged those who remained seated to join in with these upper body movements. She taught seven dances: the first from Armenia; the second from Ukraine; the third dance was a seed sowing dance from North America; the fourth was a tweed-makers dance from the Hebrides; the fifth a Scottish sea shanty; the sixth a Turkish stamping dance, and the last one a selkie dance from the Scottish islands.

The dancing was most enjoyable, and, followed by the buffet, it was a perfect meeting.

Should anyone wish to join in with more circle dancing, Pat has several regular groups and she can be contacted at adamsp37@aol.com for details. She can also be found on Facebook: Circle Dance in Cardiff. The groups are: Insole Court , Thursdays, 11:00 to 12:00; in Fairwater on Fridays; U3A group meets at the Tabernacle in Cardiff, 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 11:00 to 12:00; and quarterly gatherings in Bedwas.

Dathliad a Dawnsio Cylch – Ionawr 2026

Mwynhaodd Whitchurch WI bwffe dathlu yng nghyfarfod mis Ionawr. Roedd ein bwffe arferol yng nghyfarfod mis Rhagfyr wedi'i ohirio tan y flwyddyn newydd oherwydd nad oedd y neuadd ar gael. Nid oedd y to newydd ar y neuadd wedi'i gwblhau eto, ond roedden ni'n gallu cael ein bwffe yn ardal y caffi. Cynigiwyd gwledd ysblennydd o gyfraniadau hael yr aelodau.

Cyn mwynhau'r bwffe, cawsom ein diddanu gan Pat Adams, a gyflwynodd Ddawnsio Cylch i ni. Dywedodd yn frwd ei fod yn hwyl, yn ymarfer corff da, ac yn cael ei ymarfer i 'gerddoriaeth hyfryd'. Esboniodd Pat fod dawnsio cylch yn draddodiad hynafol a ymarferir mewn sawl rhan o'r byd, gan gynnwys Prydain. Mae'r rhan fwyaf o'r dawnsfeydd a ymarferir heddiw yn dod o ranbarth Dwyrain Ewrop. Byddai gan bob pentref bedair neu bum dawns a ymarferir yn rheolaidd gan y gymuned gyfan – o fabanod i'r henoed.

Ar gyfer ei harddangosiad i'n grŵp WI, cyflwynodd Pat sawl dawns gerdded syml. Roedd y rhan fwyaf o'r dawnsfeydd yn cynnwys symudiadau braich yn ymwneud â thema'r ddawns, ac anogodd y rhai a arhosodd yn eistedd i ymuno â'r symudiadau corff uchaf hyn. Dysgodd saith dawns: y gyntaf o Armenia; yr ail o Wcráin; y drydedd ddawns oedd dawns hau hadau o Ogledd America; y bedwaredd oedd dawns gwneuthurwyr tweed o'r Hebrides; y bumed yn sianti môr o'r Alban; y chweched yn ddawns stampio Twrcaidd, a'r olaf yn ddawns selkie o ynysoedd yr Alban.

Roedd y dawnsio yn bleserus iawn, ac, wedi'i ddilyn gan y bwffe, roedd yn gyfarfod perffaith.

Os yw unrhyw un eisiau ymuno â mwy o ddawnsio cylch, mae gan Pat sawl grŵp rheolaidd a gellir cysylltu â hi yn adamsp37@aol.com am fanylion. Mae hi hefyd i'w chael ar Facebook: Circle Dance in Cardiff. Y grwpiau yw: Insole Court, dydd Iau, 11:00 i 12:00; yn Fairwater ar ddydd Gwener; mae grŵp U3A yn cyfarfod yn y Tabernacl yng Nghaerdydd, yr ail a'r pedwerydd dydd Mawrth, 11:00 i 12:00; a chyfarfodydd chwarterol ym Medwas.

Newsletter – January 2026

🎆 🎇 🎉 Happy New Year! 🎉 🎇 🎆

January 12th meeting:

Our new year speaker is Pat Adams who will be talking to us about Circle Dancing. There will be an opportunity to join in and try it out.  We will also enjoy our celebratory buffet postponed from the December meeting.

The repairs being undertaken to the roof of the hall are not completed, so once again the meeting will be held in the coffee bar area.

Our charity:

It is time to start thinking about which charity we will support in 2026. A cheque will be presented to Velindre next month for the 2025 fundraising. Thank you all for your contributions. 

Information

    Link to the Glamorgan Newsletters.

    MyWI site (registration and log in required)

Groups:

    Book Group: Wednesday 14th January / 11.00 am / La Cucina da Mara

    Family History: 26th January / 2.00 pm / 113 Pantbach Road

    

    Poetry and Prose Group: Monday 19th January / 10.45 am

    The Ark coffee bar, Ararat / Topic: communication

    Craft Group: January 19th / 2 pm / 18 Heol Stradling

    St Mary's Gardens: Tuesday 13th January / 10 – 12

 

Following meeting:

    Next meeting: 9th February in Ararat Church Hall (hopefully!), Whitchurch Common, 2 pm. Michelle Michaelis will be talking to us about ‘Spies, Suffragettes and Stewardesses’.

December 2025 meeting

🎅🎄 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!🎄🎅

Ararat Church are having the roof of the hall renovated so Whitchurch WI gathered in the Ark coffee bar area for the December meeting. This made for a less celebratory event than is usual for our December meeting as we could not share a buffet, but this will happen in January instead.

We were entertained by musicians from Ysgol Glantaf who played a selection of Christmas songs.

 Members sang along and the young people played beautifully. There was also a quiz, guessing the titles of Christmas songs from their initials. It was a joyful and enjoyable meeting.

Newsletter – December 2025

      🎄🎅🎄🤶🎄🎅🎄🤶🎄🎅🎄🤶🎄

 December 8th meeting:

    There is no speaker at this month's meeting, but we will be entertained by children from Glantaf School performing Christmas songs. Owing to the repairs being undertaken to the roof of the hall, the meeting will be held in the coffee bar area.

Outings and events:

    On November the 29th we had a stall at the Ararat Christmas Fair. Many thanks to committee members Liz, Yvonne, Linda and Sandra for staffing the stall. We raised £137 for our charity.

Information
    Link to the Glamorgan Newsletters.

    MyWI site (registration and log in required)

Groups:

    Book Group: Wednesday 10th December / 11.00 am / La Cucina da Mara

    Family History: 26th January / 2.00 pm / 113 Pantbach Road

    

    Poetry and Prose Group: Monday 19th January / 10.45 am
    The Ark coffee bar, Ararat / Topic: communication

    Craft Group: January 19th / 2 pm / 18 Heol Stradling

    St Mary's Gardens: Tuesday 9th December / 10 – 12

    Tangle Art Group – this is discontinued.

 

Following meeting:

    Next meeting: 12th January in Ararat Church Hall, Whitchurch Common, 2 pm. This will be our New Year Celebration. Please bring food to share (see sign-up sheet at the meeting). There will also be a demonstration of Circle Dancing with Pat Adams and an opportunity to join in.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you all!

🎄🎅🎄🤶🎄🎅🎄🤶🎄🎅🎄🤶🎄

––

Federation Quiz

Four members represented Whitchurch WI at the annual Federation Quiz.  We didn’t win but our score wasn’t too far behind the winners!

A day in the life of a Community Ranger

Rhodri Hughes, a Community Ranger, was our speaker at the November meeting. He told us that he started in the Parks Department, but is now a ranger working with community groups. Their prime focus is nature conservation and biodiversity improvement. The rangers manage a very large area: 407 hectares – the equivalent of 503 football pitches. There are 21 Green Flag sites in the UK and most are in Wales.

The Parks Department began in 1891 and was formed by the Pettigrew family. Pettigrew  was a pioneer gardener. Originally there were park keepers for every Cardiff park, and the last one of these retired in 2022. In 1979 the park keepers’ responsibilities became part of the local authority, and then they were renamed ‘rangers’ in the 1990s. There are three types of ranger: urban, woodland and community. 

Urban rangers cover a wider range of work than just gardening – such as dealing with fly tipping and rough sleepers. Woodland rangers are tree surgeons and highly trained. They are also responsible for the Radyr hydroelectric dam, and for Flat Holme and Steep Holme.

There are nine Community Rangers who work a seven-day week on rotation in all weather. Rhodri said that he finds it interesting and challenging work. They have won the Green Flag award for their guided walks, open days, work with kids, and school trips. They work with all ages – from little reception children to university students. Community rangers also work with volunteers and ‘friends’ groups. Some ‘friends’ groups have existed since the 1990s. Last year there were 4,282 volunteer hours of work completed. They also have working partnership with other organisations, such as Coed Caerdydd, The Local Nature Partnership, Cardiff Rivers Group, Cardiff Conservation Volunteers, charities, and corporate groups. Rangers also help with wildlife monitoring, such as surveys and recordings.

Rhodri has been a community Ranger since September and works a rota of eight days on, two days off; seven days on, four days off. He then gave us a glimpse of what eight days of work might look like:

1. wetland work in the morning and in the afternoon admin, such as answering emails.

2. a Halloween craft event for children, and looking at folklore and mythology.

3. a site meeting with management about the eviction of an unlawful occupation of council land in the morning, and in the afternoon grass cutting.

4. working with volunteers at Coed y Felin, Lisvane, putting up fencing to prevent erosion by people who don't keep to the paths.

5. sharpening tools, and an evening bat walk which 74 people attended in Hendre Park, St Mellons .

6. assisting storm response tree gangs dealing with fallen or dangerous trees, such as an old tree that had come down across the path at Forest Farm.

7. Meadow management and green hay trials. This is taking cuttings from one area with a lot of wildflowers to other areas with fewer wildflowers, such as taking mowings from Forest Farm and Grange Moore Park to other areas. The grounds maintenance team do most of the mowing.

8. working with Friends of Saint Mary's Gardens in Whitchurch. This friends group was started by WI members for the community and wildlife. It's won awards. This year it was very close to getting a level five, and that's what we're going for next year.