OAKDALE VILLAGE - News page

DECEMBER 2007

JOE WINS! Congratulations to former Oakdale Comprehensive schoolboy JOE CALZAGHE on winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. "I'm shocked - it's a massive honour and it caps off a great year for me," said the boxer who has been a world champion for 10 years. Calzaghe won with 177,748 (28.19%) votes to Lewis Hamilton's 122,649 (19.45%) and Ricky Hatton's 85,280 (13.53%). Enzo Calzaghe, Joe's father and trainer, was named Coach of the Year. Four of Britain's seven world boxing champions are trained by Enzo. ************************************************** BUTCHERS BACK IN BUSINESS An Oakdale butcher is back in business just three weeks after a fire in a neighbouring property forced him to shut his doors. But now Phil Jenkins, owner of Prime Cuts, and his sister are back open at what is possibly the business' busiest time of the year. Phil, who has lost at least £6,000 worth of trade since the fire said: "The shop is our livelihood and I didn't want to let people down. To see my elderly customers so upset and trying to comfort me on the morning of the fire was hard to take." Villagers held a fund-raising charity event to help the couple. Phil said: "We did what we could to get back open and the community were great. We had so much support off everyone in the village. I feel a bit embarrassed but very grateful." Currently trading from a room at the back of the property, which is on the Square, Mr Jenkins said he still does not know how long it will be until the main shop can re-open. The building is owned by Brace's Bakery, which runs the shop next door. The company is still assessing the damage but said it is unlikely to open before Christmas. NOVEMBER 2007

COUNCILLOR CLEARED Plaid Cymru Councillor Allan Pritchard has been found not guilty at Caerphilly Magistrates Courts of obstructing a Police officer in the execution of his duty. The charge followed Cllr Pritchard's intervention in a fracas between some youths and residents on the Square in August. During a two-day trial, Mr Pritchard, who has been a Plaid councillor for 30 years and is the party’s deputy leader at Caerphilly council, told Caerphilly Magistrates’ Court he was called to help when a young student ran into Oakdale Rugby Club. But when the 65-year-old councillor tried to help police by offering explanations of the situation, he was arrested and spent the night in a cell. When he refused to be cautioned over the incident, he was charged with obstructing police. But chairman of the magistrates bench Paul Wilkinson said magistrates found some of the police evidence "inconsistent," and found the evidence of Mr Pritchard and CCTV footage "convincing." In a statement issued shortly after the hearing Cllr Pritchard said : "This is a victory for all councillors who stand up for their communities against anti social activities and to do what is right for their communities. "I would especially like to thank the people of Oakdale and Councillors from all political persuasions for their support and best wishes over the past four months of hell. My family and I have taken great comfort from the many good wishes and support that we have received. "Justice was not just done in this case, but it was seen to be done." PICTURE ************************************************** JOE IN OAKDALE Former Oakdale Comprehensive schoolboy and current WBO, WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine world super middleweight champion JOE CALZAGHE was at Oakdale rugby club on Wednesday. Along with family and friends he enjoyed a great social occasion, during which Cllr Allan Pritchard presented his own miner's lamp to Joe on behalf of the people of Oakdale, in recognition of his incredible, unbeaten, boxing record Cllr. Pritchard is leading a campaign for Caerphilly Council to acknowledge the achievements of Joe Calzaghe as the most successful Welsh boxer of all time, by offering him THE FREEDOM OF THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF CAERPHILLY. SEE PICTURE ************************************************** BLAZE ON THE SQUARE Ten people were evacuated after fire broke out at the former Spar shop on the Square, which left the building and a neighbouring property gutted. Prime Cuts family butchers could be forced to close because of the blaze. Mark Brace, managing director of Brace's Bakery, said their outlet, which shares the building with Prime Cuts, is their last remaining shop. He said: "We have been serving the local village for around 70 years and this is our last remaining shop so we are keen to re-open it as soon as possible. It is unlikely that either shop will re-open before Christmas. Gwent Police said at least four wheelie bins were set on fire overnight on Tuesday in nearby streets, including Oakdale Terrace and Park View. They say the shop fire may be linked to those incidents and are appealing for witnesses. ************************************************** PARTY ENDS IN PUNCH-UP A HALLOWEEN party in Oakdale ended in a violent assault and a 44-year-old local man was taken to hospital with severe eye injuries. The assault was reported to police at around 10.20pm and happened at an address in Llwynon Road. A 36-year-old local man was arrested and later released on bail. OCTOBER 2007

Caerphilly Council are offering free taster sessions for their Adult Education courses throughout November. The courses include Creative Writing, Xmas cake Decorating, Forensic Science, Xmas Crafts (BMI), Spanish for beginners, and DIY Pampering. Classes will be held at Oakdale Community College. Full details HERE SEPTEMBER 2007

VILLAGE SUPPORT FOR COUNCILLOR Between twenty and thirty villagers turned out to to support Councillor Pritchard when he appeared before Caerphilly Magistrates court on 28th October. Other supporters included Llanelli AM Helen Mary Jones, representing the Assembly's Plaid Party, shadow leader of Caerphilly council Plaid councillor Lindsay Whittle, and fellow councillors Phillip Bevan and Judith Pritchard. Vital CCTV evidence, which had been witheld from the defendant by the police, was produced by them in court. Cllr. Pritchard's solicitor therefore asked for time to view the footage in detail as this could be critical to the evidence at the trial. After studying the video evidence, which runs for over half an hour, the solicitor informed the court that he would wish to run the whole video to the Magistrates in order for them to get a full picture of what had taken place on the evening in question. It was decided to adjourn the case to 21st and 22nd of November. ************************************************** AMERICANS VISIT OAKDALE The Charleston Outlaws rugby team, from the USA, arrive in Cardiff on Thursday Sep 27th to play two matches against Welsh opposition. Their first game will be versus Division 4 club Llandaff North on Thursday, and after a tour of the home of Welsh rugby, the Millennium Stadium, on Friday they are due to arrive in Oakdale to play at the Rec. on Saturday 29th. The short tour has been arranged by their coach, Chris Greenslade, who was born and brought up in Oakdale and is now resident in the US. The game, which is part of Oakdale's centenary celebrations, will kick off at 1.30. It is hoped that a large crowd will turn out to welcome the American visitors. SEE POSTER AUGUST 2007

ARREST CASE UPDATE Councillor Pritchard has now appeared at the magistrates court and formally entered a plea of not guilty to the charge. His case will now go to trial at Caerphilly Magistrates Court on the 28th September at 10.am ************************************************** COUNCILLOR ARRESTED IN VILLAGE SQUARE FRACAS Fighting broke out last night (Sat 4th) on the Square between a group of village residents and some youths who are accused of verbally abusing them. Local councillor Allan Pritchard, shadow deputy leader of Caerphilly council, was called to the scene and attempted to defuse the situation. He, and another person, were then arrested by the police, handcuffed, and taken to Ystrad Mynach police station, where they spent the night in custody. Councillor Pritchard refused to accept a formal caution and was consequently summoned to appear before the magistrates court on August 21 on a charge of obstructing the police in the execution of their duty. It is believed that none of the youths were arrested. JULY 2007

BLAZE AT CROESPENMAEN FIRE crews have tackled a blaze in the premises of D S Smith, Celtic Packaging, on the Penyfan Industrial Estate. The blaze, which lasted for several hours badly damaged the unit, which is a large building housing packaging materials and machinery. Some parts were unaffected, and no-one was injured. ************************************************** PENMAEN WOODS HAND-OVER Pupils from Oakdale Comprehensive school are leading the way as work starts on re-creating a unique woodland in the heart of the village for local people to enjoy. Penmaen Woods has been owned by the Lewis family for generations. They planted it with different seedlings from all over the world, due to the family’s connections with John Hodder Moggridge, the much-travelled founder of Blackwood. Now David Lewis, one of the last surviving members of the family, has turned it over to Oakdale and Penmaen Community Partnership which plans to create the Roger Lewis Woodland Garden with a £55,000 grant from Cydcoed – Woods for All, the Forestry Commission Wales programme which promotes Welsh forestry for community development. And students from the school who are working towards their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award have formed a tidy-up team which has begun clearing rubbish and undergrowth from the site as the project gets underway. A second group from the school is involved in an exciting artwork project to design two new feature gateways for the woodland. You can read a fuller report on the project on the Forestry Commission site HERE JUNE 2007

FLY-PAST A SUCCESS The fly-past by a World War 2 Dakota on Saturday was a spectacular success. Nearly 1,000 residents turned out to watch the event, which was part of the village Centenary celebrations. The Square was crammed with people as they gazed sky-wards to see the veteran American aircraft pay its own special tribute to the village. Granville Hale, Secretary of the Oakdale and Penmain Partnership, who organised the event, said that they wanted something spectacular to “get the ball rolling.” Flying low enough for the spectators to see the aicraft in detail the pilot made four passes over the village before returning to base. With the promise of a Carnival, street parties, concerts and a specially written play among the year-long programme of events still to come, the village is living up to its reputation of being a well-organised, close-knit community that welcomes the World. SEE PICTURE MAY 2007

CENTENARY YEAR GATHERS STEAM The Official Programme for the Oakdale centenary year celebrations is now at the printers, and will shortly be distributed to every household in the village. The attractively-produced 42-page booklet contains not only details of the events taking place over the next year, but also features a wide variety of articles, poems, photographs and tributes from present-day and former residents of the village. Programme ************************************************** ISLWYN ELECTION RESULT Irene James LAB 8,883 37.7 -18.2 Kevin Etheridge IND 6,665 28.3 +28.3 Alan Pritchard PC 5,084 21.6 +2.7 Paul Williams CON 1,797 7.6 -1.5 Mark Maguire LD 1,135 4.8 -1.3 Majority 2,218 9.4 Turnout 23,564 43.0 +3.6 ************************************************** OAKDALE GOES TO THE POLLS Oakdale residents, along with other electors across Wales, go to the polls on May 3rd to elect a new Assembly member. The Islwyn constituency is expected to be a hard fought battle with no fewer than five candidates standing for the seat. CANDIDATES: Kevin Etheridge (Independent) Irene James (Labour) Mark Maguire (Liberal Democrat) Allan Pritchard (Plaid Cymru) Paul Williams (Conservative) CONSTITUENCY STATISTICS Voters: 54,943 Average Band D Council Tax: £983.61 Proportion of population who are Welsh speaking: 5.7 per cent Pensioner population: 21.5 per cent Unemployed: 5.5 per cent 2003 ASSEMBLY ELECTION RESULTS Irene James Labour 11,246 54.9% Brian Hancock Plaid Cymru 3,926 19.2% Paul Taylor Tinker Against The Assembly 2,201 10.7% Terri-Anne Matthews Conservative 1,848 9.0% Huw Price Liberal Democrat 1,268 6.2% Majority - 7,320 35.7% Turnout - 20,638 40.3% APRIL 2007

WELSH SCHOOL A STEP NEARER The establishment of a Welsh medium primary school at Rhiw-Syr-Dafydd came a step closer this week with the news that councillors at Caerphilly will be invited to give the go-ahead to a formal public notice. After a sustained campaign to save the premises from demolition by residents of the village, Caerphilly Council cabinet has agreed £200,000 for the changes needed to the site. The decision was made in order to to satisfy the increasing demand for Welsh medium primary education in the area. ************************************************** HOME DELIVERY An Oakdale father has delivered his baby at home - again. Darren Welsh rang the Welsh Ambulance Service when his wife, Nadine, went into labour at their home in Llwynon Road. The call was answered by a newly trained ambulance controller, Emily Davies, who was on her first-ever 999 shift. She successfully talked him through the birth of his fourth child, Scott, who weighed in at 5lb 8oz. The same thing happened when the couple's 22-month-old son, Liam, was born. The only difference this time was that Nadine made it downstairs and gave birth in the living room. The couple's other children, Crystal, nine, and Danielle, five, are both said to be thrilled by the new arrival. ************************************************** RECORDS TUMBLE AT THE MILLENIUM STADIUM Congratulations to former Oakdale Comprehensive school pupil JOE CALZAGHE on the record 20th successful defence of his World super-middleweight title at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff on Easter weekend. The bout, in front of a European record-breaking indoor crowd of 35,000 people, saw him equal the records of fellow greats Larry Holmes and Bernard Hopkins. MARCH 2007

HOTEL AT THE POND? A proposal to build a country hotel, inn and restaurant at Pen-Y-Fan pond is set to go before Caerphilly council planners. An application for the development has been submitted by Oakdale Design Services at Newbridge. We'll try to keep you up to date on this application. ************************************************** OAKDALE CRIME FIGHTERS Oakdale Comprehensive School will represent Caerphilly in an all-Wales police school liaison crime prevention quiz. The quiz, which takes place on Thursday, March 15, aims to educate young people about crime and test their crime prevention knowledge. The Year Eight pupils will be competing against four other schools. FEBRUARY 2007

RHIW-SYR-DAFYDD SCHOOL - TO BE SAVED? According to a press release from Caerphilly Council there could be hope yet for the Campaign to save Rhiw-Syr-Dafydd school buildings. The announcement says: "Welsh medium education in the Caerphilly county borough received a boost this week with the Cabinet announcement that a new Welsh primary school is being proposed for Oakdale. "Demand for Welsh medium education in the area has been steadily increasing over recent years. Pupil numbers in Welsh primary schools have increased from 1,719 in 1996/97 to 2,036 at September 2006. "The proposed Oakdale Welsh Medium Primary School will be created in the former Rhiw Syr Dafydd primary school building in Oakdale. The premises will be vacated later this year when the pupils relocate to a newly-extended premises nearby." It goes on : "As the new school would be located in an existing building there would be minimum costs associated with the creation of the new facility. The catchment area for the new school would include Blackwood, Oakdale, Pontllanfraith, Ynysddu and Cwmfelinfach." The proposal will be considered by the authority’s Cabinet at its meeting on 13th February. (LATER : At a meeting of the Caerphilly CBC Cabinet it was agreed that the proposal to retain Rhiw-Syr-Dafydd School would go out to public consultation, which means that the principle has now been accepted by the Cabinet for the school to be retained by the Council and will not be sold off.) ************************************************** TRANSPORT ON THE MOVE The Rhymney Valley Transport Preservation Society is moving some of its collection of old vintage buses and lorries to the Pen-y-fan industrial estate over the coming weeks as the first step to establishing a working road transport museum in this area . The voluntary organisation, based in Bargoed, has run out of storage space there, and has acquired a unit on the Pen-y-fan site to continue housing its ever-growing collection of bus and coach, road haulage and emergency service vehicles. They are currently planning a festival on the Blackwood Showfields to raise awareness in transport preservation in South Wales and at the same time raise much needed funds for the Wales Air Ambulance organisation and other worthwhile charities. JANUARY 2007

JAKE'S REPORT You can now watch the whole of Jake's report (see earlier story) on the BBC website HERE