5 NEWS - Relish Publications

NEWS
News in brief
Churches benefit from
grant aid
TWO local organisations are to benefit from the
Welsh Church Fund latest round of grant donations.
Llanwenarth Baptist Church has been allocated £828 so that a door can be erected in the
building’s school room. Meanwhile, St Andrew’s
Church in Tredunnock has been given £1,000 to
help offset the £8,206 needed to repair and
renew the building’s electrical system.
Health council carries out
stroke survey
AS PART of its scrutiny of local stroke services
Aneurin Bevan Community Health Council is
seeking the views of patients and carers.
Anyone who has had local treatment for a
stroke in the last year and has experiences,
good as well as bad, they would like to share
with us is welcome to complete the confidential
survey on our website - communityhealthcouncils.org.uk/aneurinbevan/.
The survey can also be completed by a loved
one or carer. Feedback from this survey will contribute to the findings to be compiled by Health
Board and will be used to improve services.
Telephone: 01873 852187 • Fax: 01873 857677 • Website: www.abergavenny-chronicle-today.co.uk
First take a handful of Welsh chefs...
A TASTY new cookbook has just been published that showcases the very best locally
sourced produce and culinary talents of Wales
reports ANDY SHERWILL.
The book, Relish Wales, offers a flavour of the
Principality through signature recipes provided by chefs from the best restaurants, inns and
hotels across the country - including seven
from the Abergavenny area.
The glossy, hardback book features 84 exclusive recipes and was launched at Stephen
Terry’s Hardwick restaurant on Monday. The
book contains tantalising dishes with a local
flavour including seared scallops with
aubergine caviar and tomato coulis from Simon
King of 1861 at Cross Ash while Karl
Cheetham of the Gliffaes Country House Hotel
in Crickhowell presents a loin of Welsh venison
and James Bumpass of the Three Salmons at
Usk cooks up a treacle tart with toffee sauce
and clotted cream.
The book’s foreword is written by celebrated
Welsh restaurateur Shaun Hill, and includes
an entry from his Michelin starred restaurant
The Walnut Tree.
Shaun explains: “I am, delighted to be promoting this book. It is not simply a showcase
for good cooking and great regional restaurants; it’s also a celebration of the high quality
of food and drink available in Wales.
“Wales has always had good produce and a
solid base of great home cooking, but the
restaurant scene has been a little slow to catch
up.
“Restaurants are now thriving across Wales,
not just in the urbanised south, but across the
mountains and valleys of rural Wales. Being a
chef is like being a craftsman, a deft hand with
slicing and chopping is just part of the story
when combining clever techniques with taste.
This book is not rehashing recipes of age old
dishes but a range of meals that reflect today’s
tastes and are not just nostalgic for a long-lost
past.”
The publisher has issued similar versions of
the cookbook for Cumbria, Scotland, Yorkshire,
and Merseyside.
Stephen Terry said: “Relish Wales is a fabu-
Flood warning issued for
Wales for end of week
ENVIRONMENT Agency Wales is advising people to remain alert for localised flooding as more
heavy rainfall is forecast for Wales today,
Thursday, December 15.
Heavy rainfall and strong winds are forecast
across the country with parts of South East
Wales are expected to be the worst affected.
The agency said that drainage blockages caused by falling leaves and the already
saturated ground in the past few days will contribute to the risk of surface water flooding.
The heavier rain may also cause fast
responding rivers to rise, leading to some flood
alerts being issued in parts of the country. For
the latest on flood alerts and warnings visit environment-agency.gov.uk/flood or call Floodline
on 0845 988 1188.
Christmas classic at school
Tax advice for older
people available
FREE help and advice for older people regarding income tax will be available at the One Stop
Shop, Abergavenny on Wednesday, January 18
from 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Representatives from the charity, Tax help for
Older People will be giving advice, but if you are
unable to attend you can call their free help line
or to book `an appointment call 0845 6013321or
01308 488066.
(01873) 852187
Lynne Allbutt’s
GARDEN TALK
I HAVE been
completely
overwhelmed
by the popularity of
Allbutt’s
Almanac,
thank you
to everyone
who
has
been complimentary and supportive.
You can now buy your copy locally from
Waterstone’s and McDonald’s Nursery in
Abergavenny and Book-ish and Black
Mountain Chocolates in Crickhowell and of
course on line at www.lynneallbutt.com for
just £4.99
I also have another local book signing at
the Browning Bookshop in Blaenavon on
Saturday 17th from 11am – 1 pm.
Call Steph on 01495 790089 for more
details and please come along and say
‘Hello’, as well as my Almanac, you are sure
to find a Christmas present for everyone
there!
The weather continues to be a top topic of
conversation. We have had some lovely days
in work where you would think it was May
rather than December but the on other days
we have almost been blown inside out and
got wetter than an otter’s pocket. One day
last week my brother swore the wind blew the
sugar out of his cup of tea!
This time last year we were covered in a
white blanket of snow and today (December
15) in 1944 Glenn Miller’s manager noted,
‘You could cut this fog with a knife’, as they
waited to fly out to Paris for a Christmas concert.
Despite most airports remaining closed,
their single engine Noorduyn Norseman took
off into the low cloud and it nor Miller were
ever seen again. (taken from The Wrong Kind
of Snow, another great read and written by
local authors Antony Woodward and Robert
Penn)
The great thing this year is that the soil has
been so workable. It’s best to keep off it when
it’s really wet as you compress the essential
little air pockets and hamper natural drainage
but raised beds will be coming into their own
as you can keep on top of them from paths.
I’m still harvesting the colourful Rainbow
chard and Brussels sprouts from my own garden and the chickens enjoy a few curly kale
leaves most days.
The chard is as colourful in the garden as it
is in any dish, and I have just found a lovely
recipe for Rainbow chard with garlic and
lemon as a Christmas side dish which will be
great to try if I have any left by the 25th!
5
PUPILS at King
Henry VIII School
have been presenting
the
timeless
Christmas
classic
‘Scrooge’ The Musical
at the school this
week.
The story is based
on
the
Charles
Dickens novel ‘ A
Christmas
Carol’
with book, music and
lyrics
by
Leslie
Bricusse.
The musical starts
on Christmas Eve
and while most people are finalising
their
Christmas
plans.
Scrooge,
played by Lewis
Indge, is determined
that Christmas day
should be like any
other working day.
That is, until he is
visited by four different ghosts. Jacob
Marley, played by
Tom Ashby, Ghost of
Christmas
Past,
played
by
Kelly
Whistance, Ghost of
Christmas Present,
played by Keane
Davies
and
the
Phantom, also played
by Keane Davies, who
each visit during the
night of Christmas
Eve to show Scrooge
the errors of his ways
and try and get him
to change.
The family that is
most affected by
Scrooge’s meanness
is the poor Cratchit
family lead by Joe
Pugh and his son
Tiny Tim, played by
Charlie Smith.
This year’s production is again directed
by
Miss
Leanne
Phillips and the
musical director is
Miss Sian Precious
and the successful
closes
production
tonight.
Tickets are available from school
reception at £7
adults and £5 children. Call 01873
735373 for details.
lous way to showcase some of our beautiful
country’s fabulous eateries and to be able to
share our food with a wider audience.”
His own recipe creates a colourful starter
consisting of pork belly and black pudding and
lobster with apple and mustard which come
complete with a garnish of dandelion and pea
shoots. Meanwhile Rupert Taylor of the Bell at
Skenfrith cooks up a delight from the restaurant’s home grown heritage tomato range for a
starter and a pan-fried fillet of brill, an
European flat fish, with fennel cabbage and
citrus dill risotto with orange dressing.
Paul Webber the chef at The Beaufort in
Raglan has submitted his starter of a breast of
lamb with poached pear and paloise sauce followed by a main course of Gloucester Old Spot
Pork Wellington boudin noir and mushrooms
duxell, pomme Anna and Calvados.
•Rupert Taylor, Simon King, Karl
Cheetham, James Bumpass and Stephen
Terry