MYSTERIOUS BOX:

The box is old and is a collectable item according to my research on the computer.

Someone, somewhere has either accidentally or deliberately included it in his or her donation.

The box is safe and well, therefore if the kind person who donated the parcel to Knit Knats wishes to recover the box then do please telephone me with details of said box and I will arrange for it to be collected.

DAMAGE TO THE CENTRE: After a long period of calm the criminal element have decided to strike again by smashing a window in the community centre.

They have also been seen running about on the roof of the Church in St Martin in the Gaer.

Perhaps the term criminal element is a touch too strong for these characters.

Budding criminal element would seem to be more suited to their depredations.

Another nuisance aspect is in the supermarket trolleys that are left lying about in the underpass at Gaer Vale.

Not only unsightly but also potentially dangerous to any person walking through the underpass during the dark hours.

Yet another very long-term danger is in the fencing on the bridge leading from Marryat Walk to St David's Crescent.

This menace should be either pulled down or repaired before a child is hurt on their way to school.

GAER YOUTH ACTIVITIES: The latest activity is in the fly fishing course that some of the youngsters are about to attend.

Having watched a very nice trout caught in the River Ebbw by that method and marvelled at the skill involved, I shall be on the lookout for a band of the Gaer youth performing the same skill.

Having grown up with the Ebbw being a grossly polluted and coal blackened mess, it is a delight to see it sparkling in the sunlight and actually seeing fish swimming in clear water.

While on the subject of the Ebbw, I have seen an old picture of people being baptised in the river. If this was during the late 19th century they must have been very coal blackened Christians.

Does anyone know when the baptisms in the Ebbw ceased?