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Has something of interest happened that we've not mentioned? Why not use our feedback link or drop the details into St. Brides Major Post Office. After taking part and coming second in 71 Degrees North, Gavin Henson had three months of tuition in dances such as the Quick-step, Waltz and Paso Doble; he then reached the semi-final of Strictly Come Dancing held on 12th December, 2011. Trees were planted in Corntown village by Ewenny Community Council, to celebrate the ending of World War II. Following the ceremony tea and cakes were served at the village hall, where wartime memorabilia was on display. Ogmore Centre Trust in Ogmore-by-Sea closed completely in May, 2010. The slipway at
Rivermouth was removed for safety reasons, which made accessing the beach at
Ogmore-by-Sea extremely difficult for residents and tourists. Owing
to the rocks along the foreshore it was also more dangerous for members of
Penybont Surf and Life Saving Club to carry out
or help with rescues.
Southerndown Surf Lifesaving Club were able to buy resuscitation aids and were presented with a new rescue board in May, 2010 following many months of fundraising by the Landlord and landlady of The Three Golden Cups, Southerndown, who organised auctions and raffles during the summer of 2009. Franklin's Cafe Bar in Ogmore-by-Sea also held a book sale to raise monies and Regal Travel gave a generous donation. February, 2010 saw the approval of plans to turn the Baptist Chapel on Ewenny Road, St. Brides Major, into a two-bedroomed dwelling. A local schoolboy and member of Bridgend Chess Club entered the Gibraltar Chess championships while visiting his uncle and won the under-18 trophy. St. Brides Major School had a portable classroom installed at the beginning of April, 2009. Tarmac moved the fence surrounding Pant Quarry, St. Brides Major, to their permitted boundary in early March 2009 but agreed to keep about 70 metres of it in situ near the area of the Roman Road on the common. Hobbs Quarry had obtained planning permission to extend in 1979 and the boundary fence had not been moved to reflect this since that time. Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales, officially blessed the newly refurbished All Saints Church, Southerndown, at a service held on St. Davids Day, Sunday, 1st March, 2009. Wick General Stores was voted Best Independent Venue and The Ewenny Pottery Tearooms was voted Best place for a Cuppa in Wales in the regional round of the inaugural AA Patrol Approved Awards. On 12th February, 2009, the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales published its first draft proposals following completion of the first stage of a review of community boundaries in the County Borough of the Vale of Glamorgan. In this document it was suggested that the Community of St. Brides Major be divided to form two new Communities broadly in line with the existing Wards (ie St. Brides Major with Southerndown and Ogmore-by-Sea) and for each to have its own Community Council. The Commission was not persuaded that it would be in the interest of effective and convenient local government to extend the proposed Ogmore-by-Sea community boundary to include the area of Southerndown. Tuesday, 3rd February, 2009 saw a fall of snow heavy enough to close schools and businesses which gave parents and children a chance to build snowmen and go tobogganing and sledging down the "Slip" at Pant, St. Brides Major. Rugby international Gavin Henson and singer Charlotte Church added to their family with the arrival of baby Dexter Lloyd. A Southerndown farmer was honoured by the RSPB at an Assembly reception in January 2009 for his environmentally friendly methods and efforts to help save birds and their habitat. The fairy navigation buoy moored about 800 yards from Porthcawl harbour broke loose in the middle of January, 2009 and washed up near Whitmore Stairs (around three quarters of a mile south east of Southerndown) where it was found a week later by Steve Jones of Porthcawl RNLI. Trinity House had already replaced the buoy. Work began in December 2008
on alterations and upgrading of
Swans once again returned to Pitcot Pool, St. Brides Major, after a gap of about ten years, joining the ducks and geese already in residence. A local farmer won the Guild of Fine Foods Gold Three star Award for organic lamb. On Monday, 25th August, 2008 a Southerndown WI member and cookery demonstrator at the WI Denman College was featured in an episode of ITV's Hairy Bakers series and showed how to make a Victoria sponge. Nicole Cooke won a Gold Medal on Sunday, 10th August, 2008 in the Cycling Road Race at the Beijing Olympics. A victory celebration and tour was held on her return in August, 2008, when friends, family and well-wishers lined the route through Vale villages, including St. Brides Major, waving flags and shouting good luck or rode their bikes and joined the cavalcade on its journey. July 2008 saw the launch of the Ewenny and St Brides Major (Church in Wales) web site. Llantwit Major beach, Limpert Bay, Whitmore Bay and Dunraven Bay in the Vale of Glamorgan, as well as Rest Bay, Sandy Bay and Trecco Bay in Bridgend County Borough, were recommended by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Good Beach Guide as among the best in Wales for water quality in 2008. Six other local beaches which achieved basic passes were Watch House Bay, Cold Knap, Jackson's Bay and Penarth beach in the Vale together with Newton Bay and Ogmore beach in Bridgend.
In early 2008 several World War II bombs that had been
unearthed at the site of the Asda store being built in Bridgend were detonated
at Merthyr Mawr sand dunes; then on 3rd April, 2008 a WWII mine was washed
ashore at Southerndown. Police and coastguards made
sure the public left the area while the bomb disposal squad got to work; the
mine was St Brides Major School was successful in a bid for a £62,000 safe routes to school community grant from the Welsh Assembly. A teacher from St Brides Major School was on Alan Titchmarsh's programme on Monday 10th March, 2008 to receive an award for the gardens. The schools grounds featured: Warm welcome garden; Woodland, organic fruit and vegetable garden; Easter garden, Jewish garden; Sensory garden; Patchwork garden; Butterfly garden; Flower diary garden; Woven willow playground; Maze; Nature reserve and wild flower meadow; Craft willow bed; Willow weaving workshop. Rugby Union player Gavin Henson (a former pupil of Brynteg School) was a member of the Welsh team that won the Grand Slam on Saturday, 15th March, 2008 in the RBS Six Nations Championship, having beaten England, Scotland, Italy, Ireland then France during the tournament.
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Christian Williams, who used to ride at Ogmore, won at Folkestone on Monday, 21st January, 2008 whilst riding Alex Hales' horse, Superior Wisdom, in the novices hurdle. This was Christian's 27th winner of the season. Assembly Members Carwyn Jones and Jane Hutt met with Roger Lewis, chair of Ogmore Centre's trustees (and Chief Executive of the WRU) on Friday, 4th January, 2008 to discuss the future of this educational establishment. Vale AM Jane Hutt then met with BCBC leader Councillor Cheryl Green and Chief Executive Dr. Jo Farrar on Monday, 14th January, 2008 and it was reported that an assurance had been given that the Ogmore Centre would re-open as soon as possible and provide facilities for the benefit of local children. Local girl Jemma travelled to Penarth on Saturday, 5th January, 2008 and took part in a performing masterclass, which included having to ad lib to "Ready Steady Cook" whilst being filmed, as well as learn and perform a hip-hop dance. Jemma won the scholarship to attend a 12-week course of acting, dancing and singing with Fern's Entertainments, working with top acting coach Peter Ferns. A villager from St. Brides Major came third in the Best Kept Front Garden section of the 2007 Vale in Bloom competition. During gale force winds on Wednesday, 27th December, 2007 a fisherman was swept off Witches Point, Dunraven Bay, and became the first known person to be successfully rescued after being washed off the notoriously dangerous rocks. A flotation suit he was wearing enabled him to survive 20 minutes in the water whilst awaiting rescue by the Porthcawl lifeboat team, who had been summoned by his friend. Several local riders, some with horses stabled in Southerndown, went with their riding club to perform Goldilocks and the Three Bears at the final of the British Riding Club's Quadrille of the Year competition held in the Grand Hall at the London Olympia Horse Show on Wednesday, 19th December, 2007. They were one of four out of 17 entries chosen at the selection trials held in Addington earlier in the year and the first Welsh club to go forward to Olympia. At a reception held at No. 10 Downing Street on Tuesday, 18th December 2007 for winners of the Vodafone Life Savers Awards, Prime Minister Gordon Brown congratulated a fire-fighter from Ogmore-by-Sea for his bravery on Tuesday, 25th July 2006 when he saved the lives of four children who had got into difficulties on the River Ogmore after falling off an inflatable lilo which was being rapidly taken upstream. Hero David Jenkins received a letter of commendation from the Chief Fire Officer of the South Wales Fire & Rescue Service in May 2007 and Bridgend County Borough Council awarded him a Gold Citizenship Award. Ogmore Centre Trust closed in December, 2007 and winding up proceedings began after the lease was handed back to Bridgend County Borough Council by the trustees. Rugby international Gavin Henson and singer Charlotte Church came to live in the area and celebrated the arrival of baby Ruby Megan. A former green keeper at Southerndown Golf Club, qualified for the Open at Carnoustie and retained his Order of Merit in 2007; the first player since John Roger Jones 24 years before and only the fourth since World War II to win two Welsh amateur titles in a row. St. Brides Major Church in Wales Primary School were awarded first place in the Best Kept Village School Competition in 2007.
Four The village shop in St. Brides Major changed hands in July, 2007.
Julie Hegarty returned to St. Brides Major
Church in Wales Primary School and visited Southerndown Beach with
Year One pupils to learn about the crabs and jellyfish that can be found there.
This event was televised and broadcast on Thursday, 12th July, 2007 to coincide
with the launch of her book carrying a message about bullying. Julie said
that
St. Bridget's Church Fete held on Saturday, 30th June, 2007 included a challenge to identify the names of scarecrows placed around St. Brides Major. We thought we spotted "The King and I" and maybe "King of the Road" A Summer Festival was held by The Three Golden Cups in Southerndown on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th June, 2007 featuring live music, including local bands, and there was a BBQ. The Fox & Hounds, St. Brides Major, had a new landlord in June, 2007. Assembly Minister Jane Hutt visited St. Brides Major on Monday, 4th June, 2007 to discuss the potential extra 200 lorries a day travelling through the villages (to and from Aberthaw) owing to the need for Aberthaw Npower to remove approximately 10,000 tons of pulverised ash over a period of six months as an interim measure. Following an evaluation exercise it was decided to transport the material via an alternative route. Cyclist Nicole Cooke won the GP Costa Etrusca in March, 2007 and then the Women's Tour De France Feminine, ie La Grande Boucle, for the second time in June, 2007. Trevor Fishlock visited the area for his TV programme Fishlock Trails. The episode broadcast on Thursday, 15th March, 2007 covered from Penllyn to Merthyr Mawr via Colwinston and St. Brides Major and featured an item about the headstone in St. Bridget's Church graveyard for the crew members washed ashore after the Malleny was shipwrecked in 1886. Funds were provided by the Vale Council to improve play facilities for children in rural villages and the play area in St. Brides Major was refurbished in early 2007. Star Cottage in Ogmore Village was ruined by a fire on Friday, 3rd November, 2006 that destroyed the thatched roof. More than 50 fire-fighters were at the scene. In October, 2006 St Brides Major School came second in the "We are the Champions" competition organised by the Vale of Glamorgan Council. A golfer originally from Southerndown won the 2006 Welsh Amateur Golf Championship. Cyclist Nicole Cooke won Germany's Thuringen Rundfahrt and France's La Grande Boucle as well as a Bronze Medal in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, in 2006. Owing to financial difficulties of the Ogmore Centre Trust, in 2006 the adventure holiday and educational activity centre Kingswood Trust became involved in running the Ogmore School Camp (as it was commonly known in the past). The Pelican in her Piety, Ogmore, was challenged by The Carpenters Arms pub from Ilsington, Devon, to a tug-of-war across the River Ewenny. The best-of-five contest started at 5.00 pm on Saturday, 19th August, 2006 amid singing and cheerleading contests, raffle and bucket collection. All proceeds were donated to Macmillan Cancer Support. On Tuesday, 25th July, 2006, a fire-fighter saved the lives of four children who had got into difficulties on the River Ogmore after falling off an inflatable lilo which was being rapidly taken upstream. Following assessment of water quality and beach management, Southerndown beach was awarded Blue Flag status in 2006. At a dinner held in the Mount Sorrel Hotel, Barry, on Friday, 13th January, 2006 the Heritage Coast Apartments complex in Ogmore-by-Sea was declared winner of the "Built in Quality" award organised by the Vale Council in the multiple housing/conversion category. The 15 luxury apartments were designed by Newport architects GBW Architecture & Design Ltd and built by Lynch and Co.
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