Helynt neithiwr… hefo'r coed… / Yesterday's events… trouble with trees...

Fel y rhan fwyaf ohonoch cawsom drafferth gyda'r gwyntoedd cryf ddoe.

Like most of you we had trouble with the strong winds yesterday.

The phone rang early afternoon as I was setting off on a home visit… residents of Llanllwchaiarn whose house overlooks the church and Churchyard. They informed me that a large tree had fallen in the Churchyard. Wyn and I set off immediately to investigate. We found two trees down. One had fallen and broken the fence… it almost covered the whole of the parking ground… but… there was worse to come… In the Churchyard itself another tree… a huge beech tree, had fallen, broken the fence and has most certainly broken a good many headstones. This will cause upset to many people… and so the media was contacted and they were keen to report about our mishap in the county Times this week… a wonderful opportunity for me, on behalf of the Parish, to say that we deeply regret any pain and upset caused to families due to the fallen trees and consequent damage to the gravestones.

I was asked to be at Llanllwchaiarn Churchyard for 8-10am for the photoshoot!

Here are a few of the photo's taken by the photographer for The County Times… and thank you Dominic for arranging this.

Now I am trying to establish on whose property these trees stood… it certainly isn't Churchyard land… and so hopefully the owners of the land will arrange for the trees to be cleared, the fence to be fixed and more importantly, for the headstones to be fixed or replaced. 

And so… off I go to chase some people up so that a decision can be made as to who is responsible as regards the clearing up and repairing!! I will keep you informed… and I truly regret the upset this will have caused individuals and families who have loved ones buried in the Churchyard.

On a happier note, some loose tiles which fell off our roof last night thanks to efficient workers and to Dewi Thomas. 

And I have had a very excited visitor at the rectory… Alex… who will be joining us at the Mission Area of Cedewain very soon. She is so much looking forwards to the beginning of her new adventure… and I am looking forwards to working with her and having her as my colleague….

More later...