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Term 2017 on Monday September 4.

The Scout Hall: The Hall, situated just off Croft Goch Road, Kenfig Hill, is available for hire during the day and certain nights throughout the week.

It is also available for children’s parties. Call Gina on 07752 366 241.

Memory Lane Café: Are you very forgetful? Are you looking after someone who is very forgetful or has been diagnosed with dementia?

Come and meet people in a similar situation at Pyle Life Centre every Friday from 9.30am11am.

Come along for a cup of tea and a chance to talk about any issues you need help with. For more information contact Louise on 07791 891578.

Pyle Parish Hall: St James Church has a wonderful Church Hall which is well equipped for all occasions.

It is available for parties, meeting and classes. Call Sue on 741030.

Miss Saigon Trip: At the Millennium Centre Cardiff, Tuesday, December 12.

Mid-stall tickets cost £65 includes coach which will be leaving Pyle Church Hall 6pm. Money payable by September 3. Contact Euryl Brookes 741077 for more information.

Pyle Life Centre: What’s on?

Mondays – Basic Skills, Cuppa with a Copper, Digital Skills, Bridges into Work 2, Tang Soo Do Martial Art and Zumba.

Tuesdays – Basic Skills, Revolutionize Dance, Kyokushin Karate and Dance Maniax Street Dance.

Wednesdays – Basic Skills, Learn Direct Drop In, Weight Watchers, Lego Club, Ballet, Shotokan Karate and Yoga.

Thursdays – Shelta Cymru, Kyokushin Karate, Cynffig Crafts and Hip Hop with Revolutionize.

Fridays – Bounce and Rhyme, Tang Soo Do Martial Art and Gymnastics for Children.

Saturdays – Story Time and Craft, Baby Ballet with Revolutionize and Dance with Revolutionize.

For more details and times drop in to Pyle Library.

Cruse Bereavement Support Group: The group meets on the first & third Wednesday of each month, from 2pm3.15pm, at St Theodore’s Church, Kenfig Hill.

Contact 01792 462845 for more information or email: morgannwg@ cruse.org.uk.

Cuppa with a Copper: If you would like to chat to a member of your local police team, about any issues that may be concerning you or you would like some crime prevention advice, come along to Pyle Library on Mondays, from 2pm-4pm.

Reading Groups: Join one of the many reading groups in Pyle Library.

The Night-Owls Group meet on the third Thursday of the month at 7pm.

The Daytime Group meets on the last Thursday of the month at 2pm.

The Teenage Group (12-19 years old) meets on the second Thursday of the month.

The Junior Reading Group (8-12 years old) meet on the 2 Tuesday of the month.

Bounce and Rhyme meets on a Friday at 10am. be shared between four cancer charities/causes: MacMillan, Tenovus, Velindre Hospital and Marie Curie. Thanks to Jenny for a wonderful, sun-kissed afternoon and splendid tea and thanks to all who came and supported this event.

Pen-y-Fai Village Fun Day: On Saturday September 2, Pen-y-Fai’s village fun day will take place on the field in front of The Pheasant pub, and once again the congregation at All Saints are running a gift bag, bottle bag and tombola stall.

They are looking for donations of any kind of filled bottle (squash, shampoo, sauces, alcohol) worth £1 or more please, and donations can be left at the back of church or taken direct to Jenny Morgan or Delyth Parry who are coordinating things. Thank you for your support.

PCC Meetings: The next round of PCC meetings is around a month away. Would PCC members please note that

Pen-y-Fai PCC is meeting on Wednesday August 16, from 7.30pm, and Laleston & Merthyr Mawr PCC meets the following Monday, August 21, from 7.30pm in St David’s Church Hall.

Afternoon Tea: On Wednesday, August 9 Jennifer Thomas in Peny-Fai will open her garden to host an afternoon tea – tickets cost £5 and further details are available from Jenny Morgan at All Saints.

Holiday Play Scheme: BCBC supported by Bridgend Town Council is running a a free holiday school holiday play scheme for four weeks until August 25 at Bridgend Recreation Centre.

Parents/Guardians must complete registration forms on each day the chidren (aged eight to 12) attend. Sessions are daily on Monday to Friday from 10am-2pm.

For more information contact: www.bridgend. gov.uk/schoolsout

Fundraising Day Trips: In support of the Bridge Mentoring Plus Scheme Manuela Hiett is organising the following day trip . There are still a few seats available on the coach:

Sunday, September 17: Abergavenny Food Festival. £12. Please contact Manuela Hiett on 07505 530567 or Sara Grinnell at Bridge Mentoring Plus on 01656 647891. Family Home!) as there is no meeting in August.

The next meeting of the Penyfai WI will be on September 18 when there will be a talk on Love Food, Hate Waste and a harvest buffet to follow.

Community Council: The next meeting of the Newcastle Castle Higher Community will be held in September as there is no meeting in August the business of the community council is kept up to date by the clerk to the Community Council John Richfield who informs councillors of any developments that might affect the residents of Penyfai and Aberkenfig.

Reports are given by councillors in the month of August about on going issues to the clerk that can be reported fully by the Community Councillors in the September meeting.

Play and Community: A message to newcomers to the village of Penyfai with children from two years to four years who are looking to join a play group.

For many years the Play and Community play group has been held in the scout hall on Court Coleman Road Penyfai.

The playgroup is open from 9.15am-3pm in the afternoon from Monday to Friday during term time.

For more information call 07813 392 464. – weather permitting, at the Porthcawl Rugby Football Club grounds off South Road.

It will be open every Sunday until further notice, with an 8am start.

Should you want further information then please contact Martin on 01656 786745.

Lions Books Sales: John Street – These are held on given dates and the next two are programmed for the Saturday, August 12 and Saturday, September 2 from 10am-4pm.

Tai Chi At The Wilderness: There are a series of Tai Chi movement sessions being organized in the Porthcawl Wilderness, every Monday at 10am until Monday, Augustst 14.

There is no charge and it is suitable for all ages regardless of their experience so why not go along and enjoy the session in this beautiful setting.

Griffin Park Table Top Sale: This is held every Friday morning in Griffin Park Hall in New Road starting at 8am and finishing at 12.30pm.

I believe that refreshments are available and from my experience it is usually worth a visit.

Porthcawl RMLI Charity Walk 2017: The Third Annual Porthcawl RNLI Charity Walk takes place on Sunday, September 2017; it starts at the RNLI Shop in Porthcawl Harbour at 11am and you can choose one of three distances.

The shortest walk is from the Lifeguard Station as far as Rest bay and return (approx 5km).

Or you can walk from the RNLI Station as far as Sker Point and return. (approx 10km) or finally you can choose to walk on to the Kenfig Nature Reserve Centre and return (approx 15km.)

Sponsorship Forms are available at the RNLI Shop and at The Boat House Fish Bar on the Esplanade.

Let’s hope the weather is fine and we all turn out for some part of it!

Samtampa 70th Anniversary Commemorative Exhibition: As part of the 70th Anniversary of this dreadful tragedy when so many lives were lost at sea, a special Exhibition was mounted in the Senedd in Cardiff by Porthcawl Shout; this was opened by the First Minister, Carwyn Jones AM and was attended by a number of other Assembly Members as well as quite a large contingent from Porthcawl including the then Mayor and mayoress of Porthcawl, Councillor and Mrs Rob Lee.

The occasion was also supported with both musical and dramatic presentations by school children from Middlesbrough, Mumbles and Nottage Primary in Porthcawl the three areas most affected by this tragic event.

As not everybody could make the journey to the Senydd on the day there are still a large number of people who did not get to see the exhibition, and so it has been decided to mount it in the Y Centre in John Street for the last two weeks in August commencing on Monday, August 14 at 11am when it will be opened by the current Mayor of Porthcawl, Councillor Lorrie Desmond.

Artifacts from the Samtampa are on display in the Museum and can be viewed in conjunction with the Exhibition in the Y Centre.

The Monument to those who drowned in the Samtampa which has been commissioned by SHOUT and funded in part by Dr Gilbert Clarke who was in practice with his late wife in Pyle but who lived on West Drive, and partly by the Big Lottery Fund is well under way and will, when finished be installed as part of the Harbourside Scheme.

I would like to think that when finished it will remind people not only of the men lost when the Samtampa was wrecked, but also of the many sailors who have lost their lives in the dangerous and treacherous seas off the South Wales Coast over generations; and I suppose that this is a timely reminder of another ship which went down on Margam Sands on September 1, 1908.

The Amazon was a four masted barque which was sailing from Swansea to Iquiqui in Chili loaded with a cargo of ,2000 tons of coal when it was caught in a storm in the Bristol Channel and blown by horrendous winds and mountainous waves on to the shore on Morfa Beach not far from Sker Point and 19 members of the crew lost their lives again in sight of safety and watched by hundreds of helpless spectators.

There is a plaque recalling the event in the RNLI Lifeboat Station in Port Talbot but as next year, 2019 is the Welsh Government’s Year of the Sea perhaps it is a fitting time to think of all who have died in this area of the Bristol Channel.