Friends of St Augustine’s AGM
The Annual General Meeting of the members of the Friends will take place on Thursday 13th June at 2pm in the Parish Hall, Albert Road.
Please note the date in your diary.
Churchyard Work Party
The churchyard maintenance volunteers meet on a Tuesday afternoon from 2.00 – 4.30pm with a break for refreshments. Volunteers are welcome to join in at any time during the session.
If you would like to join us please let Debbie Court [DJCourt@hotmail.com] know.
We have some tools and have safety equipment but please bring shears, secateurs, trowels etc.
Dawn Chorus
John Wilson from the Glamorgan Bird Club will be leading a Dawn Chorus walk starting at The Kymin House at 7am on Saturday, 20th April 2024.
The walk will be from The Kymin to St Augustine’s church where John will give a short summary of the walk and refreshments will be available.
Binoculars are recommended but not essential.
Children are welcome but must be accompanied by an adult
The walk is free but donations are always welcome.
Don’t forget to set your alarm clock!
The Windsor-Clive Family
On Thursday 11th April more than 50 people gathered in the Parish Hall, Albert Road to hear Chris Riley’s talk on the Windsor-Clive family.
The story started in the 11th century with an entry in the Domesday Book for Stanwell, a village now in Surrey and not very far from Heathrow Airport. You wonder what the inhabitants of the village would think if they came back today!
The Windsors became Lords of the Manor of Stanwell and the history of the family and the crown became entwined.
At the Battle of Bosworth on the opposing side to the King. The Windsors had remained a Catholic family and they lost a lot of their lands, but they were later restored. The family remained Catholic during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I which resulted in them being fined and unable to hold high office although Edward Windsor held the title of 3rd Baron Windsor
In 1628, Thomas Windsor had no son to follow him but he had 2 sisters. Elizabeth married Dixie Hickman, son of a wealthy merchant family. The family was Protestant. Thomas left his money to Elizabeth’s son provided he took the family name Windsor.
The son, Thomas, became the 7th Baron Windsor and 1st Earl of Plymouth. He and his wife had 2 sons, Other (pronounced Oh-ther) and Thomas. Thomas married Charlotte Herbert.
Other’s son, also called Other, became the 2nd Earl of Plymouth.
Thomas and Charlotte’s son Herbert became Viscount Windsor and his daughter married the Marquis of Bute (a Scottish nobleman).
Land in Penarth was owned by Bristol Cathedral and was leased to the Lewis and Herbert families.
The 3rd Earl of Plymouth married Sarah Archer and became an MP. Their family included Harriet (Baroness Windsor) who paid for the building of the ‘new’ St Augustine’s.
Enter – Robert Clive. He was a soldier who fought wars in India in the 19th century including the Battle of Plassey. His daughter, Henrietta, married the 1st Earl of Powis.
Robert Clive married Lady Harriet Windsor in 1819 and their son, Robert Windsor-Clive, married Lady Mary Bridgeman. The families had properties in Ludlow (South Salop).
The family spent a lot of money on church buildings.
In the 1830s Penarth, which had been a small agricultural community, began to grow. In 1851 the harbour and railway were built followed in 1860 by the docks and further railway works.
Lady Windsor originally hired the architect Charles Edward Barnard to plan the enlarging town and a new, enlarged St Augustine’s Church. She didn’t like his plans and turned instead to William Butterfield who had been the architect of her church at Alvechurch. Robert Forrest became the agent for the Windsor-Clive family in their plans for the fast-growing town.
This was a very interesting talk and explained the familiar names we see every day in the street names of Penarth.
The Story of Flatholm
On Thursday, 29th February 2024 about 40 people gathered in the Parish Hall to hear local historian Alan Thorne’s talk about Flatholm.
Alan told the history of the island from Roman times to the end of the Second World War. Flatholm has been used as an isolation hospital during cholera outbreaks as well as defending the Bristol Channel and the ports from Cardiff to Bristol on both sides of the Channel.
Flatholm may be best known for the first broadcast of radio waves across water from Lavernock Point to the island by Marconi.
It also played a part in the formation of the Missions to Seamen.
The lighthouse has played an important part in preventing shipwrecks in the area. Today, Flatholm is a wildlife sancturary.
Christmas Tree Festival
The Penarth Christmas Tree Festival was held in St Augustine’s on 9th and 10th December. 2023 It was not a Friends event but was another opportunity to see the church and raised over £3,000 for charity.
Quiz Night
The Friends held their Annual Quiz Night 16th November and more than 40 people came to have their general knowledge (and memories!) tested.
An enjoyable evening was had by all.
Concert by Penarth Community Choir
32 people gathered in St Augustine’s to enjoy an afternoon concert by Penarth Community Choir on Saturday, the 21st October. The choir sang a mixture of songs, including folk, and songs from the musicals with the audience encouraged to sing along to Doh Re Me.
The concert was followed by tea with home made cakes which was also enjoyed.
Visit to Alvechurch – cancelled
This outing, which was to take place on Thursday 28th September, has been cancelled. This unfortunate decision has had to be taken as there have been too few bookings to justify the cost of hiring a coach.
The Friends apologise for disappointing those who have already booked and were looking forward to the visit to Alvechurch.
Booking fees will be refunded as soon as possible.
Bat Walk
More than 20 people gathered in St Augustine’s at 7.30pm on the warm, dry evening of Friday 15th September for a short talk before the bat walk.
After being lent bat detectors they made their way into the churchyard to search for bats. Unfortunately the bats were being very shy that evening and there were fewer of them around than hoped for.