Rebecca Perry - Monlife - Page 6

Ian Phillips, Museum Custodian 2004 -2021

Earlier this year on 26th February the Museum Team sadly had to say goodbye to our custodian, Ian Phillips. Ian was taken ill while attending a GP appointment and despite the valiant efforts of an army of paramedics, Ian could not be saved.

Ian had a varied career , in the late 1960’s/early 70’s studying photography at Regent Street Poly, later working in London as a chef and a salesman. After deciding he had had enough of the high life in London he returned to Abergavenny and became a partner in a photography studio in the town. A further venture was as the owner/ instructor of a local Hang-Gliding school , a role he later combined with being a “stay at home “ Dad with his two sons Rhodri and Nye . His wife Tracey says “He did an exceptional job and our two boys (grown men already!) are his greatest legacy”.

In 2004 Ian was appointed as a “relief/temporary” custodian at Abergavenny Museum , he was later made permanent in that post and was still there 16 years later. Tracey says – “he loved working at the Castle , he cared about the castle , he enjoyed the company of his colleagues , and most of all Ian was a polymath, and his role as custodian gave him ample opportunity to share his knowledge with both colleagues and visitors, and dare I say it , and yes I dare , gave him the opportunity to show off !”

His interest and expertise in so many areas was legendary within the museum team and he enjoyed sharing his knowledge with our visitors. He was our “go to “ person for any problem at the museum that needed a practical solution, be it needing to cover a shift at short notice, a broken display case or last minute adjustments needed prior to the opening of the latest exhibition … it is so hard to envisage our team without him . We will all miss him very much.

Should anyone like to make a donation in Ian’s memory his family have asked for donations to Wales Air Ambulance Service. The donation page is on their website, www.walesairambulance.com.

MonLife Leisure Centre’s are Making The Comeback

Following on from the positive announcement made by the First Minister we are pleased to announce that we will be opening our gym, swimming pool facilities, Indoor Exercise Classes and swimming lessons at all four Leisure Centres and the Toning Suite at Monmouth on Tuesday 4th May in line with the Welsh Government guidelines. 

Prior to this on the 26th April we will also be launching the Les Mills Body Pump series which will see the start of our outdoor classes, we will be launching our outdoor timetable over the next few days so keep a look out on social media for further updates.  There will be a maximum of 30 adults (including instructors) that can attend these sessions.

As before when we open up the gym, swimming pool and indoor group exercise classes for your safety there will be limited numbers. These sessions will be bookable online for members and launched over the next few days.

Membership payments will resume from the 15th May and will be adjusted accordingly. All accounts will be automatically unfrozen with the exception of Swimming Lessons, please contact the membership team it you wish your account to stay frozen.

We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for your support and kind messages during this difficult period and we are all looking forward to welcoming you all back safely.

We would love to hear about your experience being back in your MonLife Leisure Centre so please let us know.

If you have an enquiry regarding your MonLife membership then please email monmemberships@monmouthshire.gov.uk or call 01633 644499.

SEE YOU VERY SOON

MonLife Tearooms Open at Old Station welcoming its 2000th customer

Despite the difficult times that we have all faced, we were delighted that after 6 months of hard work the newly refurbished Tearooms at Old Station Tintern is now open!

Now managed by MonLife, we have launched a complete new menu and high quality light lunch offer with a huge emphasis on local quality suppliers, with even our coffee being roasted in Wales!

Tearoom Supervisor Ellie Thomas – “It’s really been an outstanding success to date we have only been open a month and already attracted our 2000th customer this week, who between them all have drunk an incredible 3000 cups of coffee. It is however our local cakes that everyone has been raving about! I guess we are so lucky here in Monmouthshire to have so many excellent local producers and suppliers that we can keep adding more and more local items week by week”

The Tearooms at Old Station Tintern are open daily 10.00 am – 4.30 pm and offers a varied menu of snacks, sandwiches, paninis, hot and cold drinks.

It has even been a huge success with the many dog walkers who frequent the site who cant seem to resist the doggy ice cream and free dog biscuits available.

MonLife Heritage Joins the World of Instagram #Winning

Connectivity to the world around us has become something of a daily necessity. Our phones, tablets and laptops, are never far away from us, meaning that we can check up on local community news, travel, weather, what our family and friends have been up to and more – all before stepping foot out of our door. For most of us we thrive off the convenience of connectivity and there’s no denying that the past year has taught us new ways to keep in touch with our loved ones and work colleagues.

Whether you took part in a live Facebook workout from one of the MonLife Leisure Centres, liked and commented on a MonLife Twitter post, clicked a link from MonLife Heritage or shared a MonLife post to your personal social media page to spread the word, we can all agree that we have recognised the importance of a good platform over the past year.


In March, we at MonLife Heritage decided to join the wonderful world of Instagram – www.instagram.com/monlifeheritage to see what all the fuss is all about, we’re glad we joined as it’s an incredibly connective place to be.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with Instagram, it’s a global photographic and video sharing platform, that can be used for both personal and commercial purposes, to network with others through liking, sharing, commenting and following. So far, the main focus of our Instagram page has been to promote our new Collections website – www.monlifecollections.co.uk that went live at the end of March and we’ve recently been posting about the reopening of our museums at Abergavenny and Chepstow.

As with our Facebook and Twitter page, all of the latest updates on MonLife Heritage news and events are posted to our Instagram page, along with our new feature – Record of the Week, where we share details and photographs of an object from our new Collections website.

We are always looking for new ways to bring informative content to our followers and expanding our reach on Instagram, so we’d love it if you could head over to our page and tap the follow button.

MonLife Heritage Museums brand new collections website

MonLife Heritage Museums are proud to announce the launch of a brand new collections website at www.monlifecollections.co.uk The new website provides free access to search hundreds of records, allowing users to read material and view images for items within the collections from across Monmouthshire. The Museums team will continually be adding more to the website, so we recommend that users keep coming back to see what’s new.

  • Discover historical objects, works of art, photographs and documents cared for by MonLife Heritage.
  • Search for special people, explore notable places, travel through time and discover different themes.
  • Hundreds of Monmouthshire records are already on our collections search.

Due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, MonLife Heritage have been researching new ways to diversify our offer – between January and March 2021, with thanks to a Welsh Government Local Government Cultural Recovery Fund grant, members of our team have been able to dedicate their role to the creation of the collections website. We have worked alongside Digital Heritage Consultants, Orangeleaf Systems Ltd to build our bespoke website.

Lydia Wooles, from the Museums online project team said “We really hit the ground running with the project, as a team we’ve learnt a lot in a short timescale. Records have been carefully selected to provide users with a flavour of the wide variety of artefacts and documents that we hold. It’s been such a rewarding experience working on this project.”

All of the records on the website relate to the story of Monmouthshire and include the nationally significant Nelson collection. From archaeological finds, extensive costume collections, to photographs and postcards – there is something for everyone.

Open Access Play Opportunities through MonLife

DUE TO HIGH DEMAND, THESE SESSIONS HAVE NOW BEEN FULLY BOOKED

Open Access Play Opportunities empowers children and young people to engage in a wide variety of play activities in a safe supervised environment.

Children will have access to a range of play based activities which will all be based outdoors for the Easter holidays.

The MonLife Open Access Play provision will take place at Abergavenny, Monmouth, Caldicot and Chepstow Leisure Centre.  All sessions are FREE and your child will learn new skills through a range of different activities and develop their confidence through meeting new people.

Following the current Government guidelines these sessions will take place outside and will be 1 hour and 55mins long.  There will be a maximum of 30 children per session per day and will run from 10am – 11:55am.  These sessions are for 5 – 11 years only.

To register your interest please complete the following form – you will then receive a call from the relevant Leisure Centre to confirm your booking.

To register your interest click HERE

Please be advised that if there are any changes following the Welsh Government announcement and guidelines we will communicate the cancellation of sessions.

Please click HERE for a list of FAQ’s

Council to create community nature spaces for Monmouth’s Rockfield Estate

Monmouthshire County Council is to consult over plans to encourage nature to thrive around Monmouth’s Rockfield estate.  It follows a grant from the Welsh Government’s Local Places for Nature fund to undertake a study that involves residents in developing nine community nature spaces and designing enhancements for nature at four neighborhood play areas across Overmonnow.

Community nature spaces include areas for growing vegetables, flowers and fruit trees and tree planting as well as re-wilding areas into mini meadows, offering opportunities for residents to enjoy nature and for children to play.  In addition to providing benefits for residents, they also present valuable habitats for pollinators and other forms of wildlife.

The council has appointed specialist environmental consultancy Pegasus Group to carry out a detailed survey of the sites, public consultation, planning and design works.  This study will enable the community nature spaces to become a reality during the 2021/22 financial year, subject to further funding approval from Welsh Government.

The project is likely to involve transforming some of the smaller and less well-used amenity play areas into community nature spaces.  Meanwhile, the council will expand the playground at the central open space next to the Rockfield Community Centre to cater for children of a wider age range and provide more accessible play equipment.

Councillor Jane Pratt, Monmouthshire’s cabinet member with responsibility for parks and open spaces said: “Among the lessons that the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have taught us is the importance of a variety of good quality and easily accessible open spaces so families and individuals can spend time together outdoors experiencing nature on their doorstep.”

Councillor Richard John, cabinet member with responsibility for bio-diversity added: “This project is another step in the council’s journey to improve local environments and benefit pollinators.”

In addition to engaging with local residents, the council will involve other project stakeholders including the local county council member, Monmouth Town Council, Transition Monmouth, ACE (Action on Climate Emergency), Gwent Wildlife Trust, Rockfield Community Centre and NRW (Natural Resources Wales).

A short questionnaire about the project can be accessed via the following link: www.monnaturespaces.co.uk – also, anyone wishing to comment on or become involved in the project can forward an email to: naturespaces@pegasusgroup.co.uk

Tree Maintenance at Caldicot Country Park

In order to keep Caldicot Country Park an enjoyable and a safe place for you to walk, you may have noticed that we are currently doing work on some of our trees in our beautiful park. Don’t worry, this is all timed to avoid the bird nesting season and the trees have all been assessed for bat roosts (but none have been found). We won’t be long finishing this work, so please bear with us.

Here’s why we are doing, what we are doing…

  • An increase in pressure from footfall and more frequent flooding has placed a lot of stress on some of our trees, and their health is now starting to suffer. Some of the trees we are working on have become a safety risk with branches, and in some cases, whole trees starting to fail.
  • As the canopies of trees planted close together are co-dependent, changes in one tree can affect the life of another. So when we need to carry out essential tree work of this nature, we tend to do so in groups of trees rather than individually. This is why we have currently cordoned off a large area of the avenue in the park.
  • A lot of these trees that you can see along our avenue today, were first planted at the same time almost 150 years ago, which means that inevitably, they will all start to decline at the same time many years later. This time is now, so for us to ensure that the avenue retains its special value as an important habitat and landscape, we are adopting a phased approach to replacing trees rather than waiting for major failures to occur. We do this through a programme of selective tree removal to create gaps for replanting, and some careful pruning of other trees to reduce the risk of any failure. This all helps prolong their life and the special nature of the avenue.
  • Any new trees that we plant may be of a different species to the ones they are replacing. This will improve resilience against tree diseases, and help manage any stresses that may emerge in our country park in the future.

Thank you for your understanding and for helping to look after our country park so that future generations can enjoy it too.

Competition Time, help us name the MonLife Mouse

We need your help to name the MonLife Mouse!

Meet our new Old Station Tintern mascot. This lovely little Dormouse can be found between the pages of our brand new family activity pack – Explore and Create at Old Station Tintern.

The only problem is, our Dormouse doesn’t have a name! We’ve come up with all sorts of ideas but we bet can you can do better than us so we’re launching a competition called ‘Name that Mouse!’

All you have to do is click on the link below and submit your ideas and contact detailshttps://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx…

The winner of the competition will receive:

• A free copy of our new family activity pack
• A free ride on the Old Station Tintern train
• Free Family drinks and cake at our newly refurbished café

Deadline for entries is Friday 12th February 2021

Winner to be announced Wednesday 17th February 2021

This project is funded by The Sustainable Development Fund, a Welsh Government initiative supported by the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership.

MonLife offers online 60 plus fitness package

MonLife is launching an exciting new scheme offering support for people aged 60 and over to become more physically active.  MonLife’s 60 Plus Fit4Life membership scheme provides six months’ free access to online classes to include yoga, pilates, tai chi and gentle exercise with virtual coffee catch-ups – and guidance and motivation to help achieve increased fitness are included in the package.

The service is currently available online but as soon as the county’s four leisure centres at Abergavenny, Caldicot, Chepstow and Monmouth re-open, participants will receive one month’s free membership followed by the attractive offer of a reduced £16 monthly fee.  In addition, MonLife will give away a starter pack including resistance bands, dumbbells and an exercise mat to the first 85 people who join.

MonLife will join with other Welsh leisure providers to deliver its 60 Plus Fit4Life initiative, made possible thanks to funding from Sport Wales and the Welsh Government.

Sport Wales CEO Sarah Powell said: “We want people in Wales to have a lifelong enjoyment of sport and by working with partners to help provide additional or supplemented offers that aim to specifically meet the needs of the over 60’s locally we hope that we see even more individuals from this demographic staying or getting active.

“Over the past year we’ve all had to think even more about how we keep ourselves healthy, probably in different ways to what we would have done prior to the coronavirus outbreak.  We know that being physically active is one way to help keep us mentally and physically fit, while providing a brilliant way to connect with others.  So I urge people to take a look through their local authority at the different opportunities that are available to help them do this.”

Councillor Richard John, Monmouthshire’s cabinet member with responsibility for MonLife added: “Our 60 Plus Fit4Life sessions will offer people over the age of 60 the opportunity to become more physically and socially active as we know how important it is to stay well, especially during this difficult time.

“Our committed staff will offer support, advice and guidance every step of the way to help keep up motivation.  We will continue to offer a wide range of digital fitness programmes for people of all ages to keep their minds and bodies active.  We look forward to welcoming the public back to our MonLife leisure facilities when conditions allow.”

To apply for the scheme click on: https://bit.ly/2NLFKou

#BeActiveWales