Autumn Workshop 2025

After the success of our summer workshop we were invited to return to the library this October half term to run a workshop for children on their school break.

Of course, never one to turn down an opportunity to promote the society in the locality, Trips Secretary Elizabeth and her daughter Gwennan ran an hour long crafting session on the afternoon of Monday 27th October. 

The theme this time was Autumn Leaf Animals and after a busy weekend of picking and drying bags of leaves, we were ready to roll. 

The children used our templates to stick leaves to create the spines of a hedgehog, tail of a squirrel or wings of an owl but many also used their own imagination creating their own illustrations and using the leaves to make lions, rabbits and more! 

We had an incredible turnout across the hour and even had to set up more tables to accommodate us all! A huge thank you to everyone who attended and the library for hosting us. 

Llantwit Major Lesiure Centre Open Day 2025

After the success of our drawing workshop in the Library this summer, we were asked if we’d host a similar activity at the leisure centre 2025 open day.

This time, to tie in with the change of location, we threw a children’s ‘Design your Dream Outdoor Space’ session for an hour during the morning.

Nature and a healthy lifestyle go hand in hand so we helped our attendees create an environment where plants and animals can thrive alongside people enjoying activity and sport

A race track lined with wildflowers? Treetop climbing? Play equipment with built in bug houses? Football against a team of hedgehogs? The only limit was their imagination and we had a wonderful time.

Held on Saturday September 13th, it was a miserable day with a weather warning which brought crowds of people into the leisure centre to enjoy free classes, swimming, soft play, mooch around the stalls and take part in all the wonderful workshops being held.

Our hour was followed by our friends at the library which was extremely well attended.

wreath making 2025

In December, Cath Speakers Secretary and Elizabeth Trips Secretary attended a wreath making evening with Rob Evans at Pheasant Acre Plant in Llangan.

Rob had amassed a huge variety of evergreen foliage for us to use, such as ivy, thornless holly, viburnum, skimmia, euonymous, elaeagnus, eucalyptus, juniper and more. He started by showing us how to secure wire to the moss-filled base, and then place individual or small bunches of foliage to the base, starting at the bottom outside edge, and winding the wire over the stems and base to attach them securely, with the next piece placed halfway up and the third at the top, each being secured in the same way.

We then worked our way around the base, adding foliage to cover the previously wired stems, until the whole ring was hidden with foliage of various textures and colours. We could then add seedheads, flowerheads such as hydrangeas, berries and pine cones, all wired individually and attached by inserting the wires into the base amongst the foliage and secured at the back. The final touch was a hessian loop securely attached to the top to hang the wreath, and a ribbon bow at the bottom if desired.

Rob had provided us with a tin of chocolates, some mince pies and a very tasty clementine Bucks Fizz. It was a very enjoyable and educational evening and we came home very satisfied with our creations, which incidentally are still going strong!

Many thanks to Rob and his wife Helen for their hospitality and warm welcome. We look forward to going again at the end of this year!

Llantwit Major Library summer reading challenge 2025

In the summer of 2025, Llantwit Major Library hosted a variety of workshops based on the theme of gardening, so when we were asked to participate it was a no brainer! 

On Friday 25th July, the horticultural society joined forces with the library and set up a drop-in workshop for children to come and draw their `dream garden`. Elizabeth, our trips secretary, and Gwennan, our website co-ordinator, were in attendance. We combined the event with an invitation  for the children to enter their creations in our show.

10 children aged between 11 months and 12 years attended and spent a chatty, crafty morning designing and drawing. The concentration levels were impressive and the resulting pictures were of an extremely high level, some of which are displayed in the library. 9 of the children have entered the show and we look forward to welcoming them on the day to see their drawings on display.

In the afternoon, we held a similar workshop for Vale Plus and Elizabeth was joined by Emily Yorke-Wade who knows many of the members of the group, and who made their day when they saw her! The pictures created were very detailed and colourful, and the group spent a happy hour deciding on the elements they wanted to include, with some drawing their dream garden and others choosing from a selection of pictures we had cut out from magazines to stick onto their pictures. 

Both workshops were a huge success and a big thankyou goes to the staff at the library who couldn`t have been more helpful, providing us with all the paper, pencils and colouring pencils we required, together with books for inspiration.  Thank you also to Gwennan and Emily for their valued help.

Cheese and wine evening 2024

On Friday May 24th the Society held a cheese and wine evening at the Llantonian Hall to say thank you to all our volunteers who help in various ways, including manning the store on a Sunday morning, helping to unload deliveries of compost and other items at the store, making and serving the teas and biscuits at our monthly talks and washing up afterwards, and providing assistance to our show secretary in the setting up and running of our annual show.

The evening was organised by our show secretary, Tim Prior, and our speakers secretary, Cath Thomas. 35 invited guests attended and enjoyed a substantial and very tasty buffet which included bread, cheese biscuits, pate, many varieties of cheese, grapes, pickled onions and pickles, with a choice of wine or fruit juice.

Our chairman, Bill Lee, thanked all our volunteers for their willingness and commitment to the Society. Without them, it would be a lot more work for the committee and we are very grateful for the time and effort our volunteers give to the Society.

Wreath Making 2023

At the beginning of December, some of the Society's members visited Pheasant Acre Plants in Llangan to learn how to make a festive wreath.

We were greeted with a moss filled wire ring, a vast selection of greenery, berries, dried fruit slices, tiny pumpkins, cinnamon sticks, pine cones and a roll of florists wire, with no idea what to do with it all!

Luckily, Rob, owner of the nursery, was on hand to show us the order in which to tackle it, and advising us on the best greenery to use for the outside of the ring to create a substantial base then filling in the rest of the ring with our choice of greenery and berries, ensuring they were tightly wired to make a solid structure. We then added the fruit slices, pine cones, etc to create a colourful and, I'm sure you will agree, beautiful Christmas wreath. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon and definitely learned a lot. Many thanks to Rob for his patience, advice and a very warm welcome.