To all WNS members & friends,

We are very excited to share with you this questionnaire, published by Gareth Kiddie who is conducting the feasibility study of The Norwegian Church in Cardiff. Please take 5 minutes to fill in the questionnaire and share it with anyone you know that has an interest in the building or Cardiff Bay.

Norwegian Church group invites public views on its future.

A number of organisations with an interest in the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay have come together to conduct a feasibility study regarding its future. Headed up by the Welsh Norwegian Society, the partnership is now seeking the views of the local community.

Tyra Oseng-Rees, Chair of the Society, explained what they were looking to achieve:
‘The Norwegian Church is an established charity run by the Cardiff Council. Earlier this year the Council gave their support to our proposal to conduct a feasibility study that would explore the future community use of the Church, and in June we commissioned an experienced consultant to conduct the study. Now we are at the stage where we would really like to find out what people think, most especially the residents of Butetown and The Bay, but everyone else that has an interest in the Norwegian Church in Cardiff and beyond.’

The Norwegian Church is an iconic landmark and one of the few remaining heritage buildings dating back to the heydays of Cardiff Docks and Tiger Bay. Built in 1868, it originally stood alongside the wharf at Bute East Dock, and was at that time clad with corrugated iron. For over 100 years the Church provided a place of sanctuary and a ‘home away from home’ not just to seamen from Norway, but the other Scandinavian countries

and Baltic States too. In 1987 the Church was carefully dismantled when the Bute Tunnels were being built and in 1991 building work began to reassemble the Church in its present position overlooking Cardiff Bay. Today the Church remains as much loved building and visitor attraction, but its future is uncertain.

Tyra further commented ‘We can see that it’s been a challenge for the Council to keep the charity going and to ensure that the Norwegian Church meets its objectives – which are largely concerned with maintaining the Church as a museum and public visitor attraction. We are therefore looking to explore all options for the future, and take a fresh approach to this challenge. Please help us by completing our short questionnaire survey and making your views known. Our priority is to ensure that the Church can be used and enjoyed by everybody for generations to come.’

The survey questionnaire is available online by clicking on this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NorwegianChurch

ENDS

Note to editors: Queries regarding the Feasibility Study can be addressed to Gareth Kiddie of GKA Community Regeneration Consultancy – email: gareth@gka.org.uk

To all WNS members & friends,

Summer is here and we should have been celebrating St Hans this past Sunday with our annual midsummer BBQ garden party on Gower. Unfortunately, as with so many other events, this tradition had to be suspended for 2020.

That does not mean WNS is dormant. Virtual May 17th celebrations were a great success and we are planning more virtual meetups in the near future, the first one on July 8th. The work to save the Norwegian Church in Cardiff is gathering momentum following a successful funding campaign. Our online AGM is coming up, with important decisions to make that will dictate the future of our organisation.

May 17th / Syttende mai

Covid19 and social distancing has put a stick in the wheels of WNS activities just as much as everyone else, to the point we have had to be innovative and clever with how we engage with members, especially our annual event Syttende Mai / May 17th. 

As a committee we came to the collective idea that we could utilise Zoom and our online presence to offer something to all in some form of celebration and I think we can say that it was a complete success. It was a lot of hard work to figure out the logistics, but everyone who took part to plan and partake made it a short but entertaining evening where we were able to have people all over the country join from the comfort of their own homes, including several new members. In total about 40 members tuned in and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, showing that there is a thirst for WNS events, even when they are confined to a virtual experience.

Zoom social meetup.

Virtual coffee and cake, Wednesday July 8th at 7PM

After the resounding success of the virtual May 17th gathering, WNS wishes to continue using Zoom until we once again are safe to meet up in person. Limitations force innovation, also for WNS.

On Wednesday July 8th at 7PM we welcome all members to a virtual social meetup on Zoom. Like last time we have created an Eventbrite event for you to sign up. A Zoom link will be sent out per email before the event for you to join. But please remember to get a free “ticket” on Eventbrite as this is a necessary step for us to protect members’ privacy and you will not be able to take part otherwise.

Eventbrite link:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/virtual-coffee-and-cake-on-zoom-tickets-111414257042

We do realise that meeting online can exclude some members or make it more challenging for them to take part. Unfortunately that is a challenge we face a lot these days. If you have any questions on how to install and use Zoom, please follow these instructions that we made for the May 17th event: INSTRUCTIONS

 

 

AGM Sunday Sept 20th at 2PM

Due to the uncertain situation and travel restrictions, the committee has that decided that this year’s AGM will also be held on Zoom, on Sunday September 20th at 2PM. This will give all our members the opportunity to take part, from near and far. Agenda will follow. As with the 17th of May and July 8th Social Zoom, an Eventbrite link with password will be sent out to members to join the AGM Zoom.

The use of Zoom has been a great success so far, allowing the WNS committee to remain functional and effective despite lockdown restrictions. We have decided to keep committee meetings on Zoom beyond lockdown and Covid19, to allow members from all over Wales to take an active role in the committee.

Annual Booklet 2020

As is tradition we have started compiling and designing the WNS 2020 Annual Booklet for our members. We e wish to invite all of you to share photos and personal stories relating to Norway, your connection to Norway, May 17th or other contributions you think may be suitable for our members to enjoy.

More info on this will be presented by our chair Tyra Oseng-Rees during the July 8th social Zoom. If you are unable to join us then, but have questions regarding this, please email us here: contact@welshnorwegian.org

 

 

Please make the most of your membership by taking an active part in Welsh Norwegian Society.

Welsh Norwegian Society (WNS) works to promote continuing close links between Wales and Norway. The Society organises special events and social functions with a Norwegian flavour. It encourages participation in cultural skills and activities related to Norwegian heritage. Without member contributions the Society would not be able to offer the range of activities it does – Syttende Mai, Juletrefest and St Hans celebrations. As a paying member you will be invited to attend these events, gain access to a vast library of Norwegian literature and receive regular news updates. Anyone with an interest in any aspect of Norwegian life, culture or heritage will be warmly welcomed.

 

by WNS Welsh Norwegian Society, Organizer

Thank you for helping towards the goal of keeping this Norwegian Church heritage alive, and the church building open to the public.

A special note for the 75th anniversary of VE Day
 
As we mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day this weekend, it’s an opportunity to remember all the Norwegian seafarers who passed through the Norwegian Seamen’s Church in Cardiff Docks, including the many who lost their lives in the war effort. During this time, the Norwegian Church became a lifeline for the seamen who were unable to return home to occupied Norway. The church performed vital welfare services including safe keeping of money which could later be returned to families, if men were lost at sea.
 
This photograph shows a wartime wedding at the Norwegian Church, attended by one of Norway’s most famous war heroes – Leif Andreas ‘Shetlands’ Larsen. He was the groom’s uncle, and can be seen on the left of the photo.
 
We, the Welsh Norwegian Society, are passionate about ensuring this important heritage is preserved at the Norwegian Church for present and future generations to appreciate.
Help us to fund the feasibility study that will find the best way of saving the Norwegian Church as a building for the people, not for commercial profit. Click here to go to the GoFundMe.
 

This year WNS invites members to celebrate Syttende Mai / May 17th on Zoom.

Please follow this LINK to sign up for free! If you are not a member this would be a good time to join for £5. More details below.

May 17th / Syttende mai

We are nearing the annual celebration of the Norwegian national day on May 17th – the main event for WNS. Traditionally it is a day of people coming together to celebrate Norway’s independence, history and core values, and reflect on what these mean to us.
 
This year a lot of traditions will be broken. 2020 will go down in history as the year the human world came to a unified halt – forcing people, institutions and businesses to cancel ordinary life and isolate in order to stop the spread of an invisible threat. Despite big changes and uncertainty for most, a lot of people have found a renewed appreciation of the things most dear to them. Connecting to other people is more important than ever and we have to be creative to meet up with the ones we love.
 
This year the WNS committee has to decided to run an experiment. We will host the May 17th celebrations for our members as a group meeting on Zoom. This is the only way we can get together without putting anyone at risk, and cancelling it all together is out of the question!
 
The event will start at 8PM, but we will open the Zoom meeting 15 minutes before to give everyone a chance to set up and connect. We are putting together a short programme for the evening and hope to see as many members join in as possible! For this to work we need everyone who can attend to sign up for free following this link: Eventbrite. In a week’s time we will email those who have signed up with instructions on how to join, along with a password. It will be a video conference, so feel free to dress up!
 
Would you like to make a contribution on the day? We would love to feature music, song, poetry and speeches. Maybe someone remembers celebrating May 17th as a child and can tell us what it meant to them? If you have any ideas or would like to join WNS for £5, please get in touch on contact@welshnorwegian.org.

For instructions on how to install and use Zoom, please follow this LINK.

Welsh Norwegian Society (WNS) works to promote continuing close links between Wales and Norway. The Society organises special events and social functions with a Norwegian flavour. It encourages participation in cultural skills and activities related to Norwegian heritage. Without member contributions the Society would not be able to offer the range of activities it does – Syttende Mai, Juletrefest and St Hans celebrations. As a paying member you will be invited to attend these events, gain access to a vast library of Norwegian literature and receive regular news updates. Anyone with an interest in any aspect of Norwegian life, culture or heritage will be warmly welcomed.

Norwegian Church: Exciting News

We are pleased to tell you that our WNS grant application to The Architectural Heritage Fund was successful! We have been awarded £4000 towards a feasibility study to explore the best way of saving the Norwegian Church for the community.

As we mentioned in the last newsletter, we must now start to raise the match funding – our target is to raise a further £4000. The WNS committee have set up a public fundraiser on the ‘GoFundMe’ online platform. The committee also agreed that we will donate £500 from WNS funds.

Individual donations

We are hoping that some WNS members and friends might also feel able to pledge individual donations towards the feasibility study. We appreciate these are challenging times and it won’t be possible for everyone, but you can still help by sharing the news of our appeal with others. 

The feasibility study is the essential first step towards saving the Norwegian Church, so any donations, of whatever amount, will be contributing to a special project which will keep this unique building for its intended community use. The grant award from AHF is a great endorsement of the importance of this project.

You can find the GoFundMe page by following this link: GoFundMe – Norwegian Church Match Funding Appeal

Read more about the appeal on our web page:
WNS – Save the Norwegian Church

To all WNS members & friends,

Wishing you a Happy Easter / God Påske in spite of these challenging times. We hope that everyone is keeping safe and well with adequate food supplies and other essentials.
 
It would be great if we could use these WNS newsletters to keep each other company, and to share some of our news about things we’ve been doing to keep our spirits up, including activities with a Norwegian twist.

I’m pleased to be the guest writer of this first Lockdown Newsletter as it gives me the chance to share with you how much Mum (Mary) and I have been enjoying the daily YouTube videos by the well-known Norwegian knitting designers Arne and Carlos. They have been in quarantine in their home in Valdres, Norway for several weeks now, and have organised a daily Knitalong to support their family of fellow knitters across the world. Each day they issue a new design on their blog to knit (or crochet or cross-stitch) and later on they will show how to join the knitted squares.
You don’t have to be a knitter to enjoy their videos – their understated humour and general outlook on life is just brilliant, and we often learn things about Norwegian life and culture.
And, as Arne and Carlos frequently remind us: Remember, you may be isolated, but you are not alone!

You can find the Knitalong patterns and links to their Youtube channel on their blog https://arnecarlos.com/blog/

As Easter is here, Tyra has also suggested that we could share some stories about our Easter experiences past and present, including traditions from Norway.

So please keep in touch, and stay safe and well. We look forward to the time when we can all meet again for a coffee afternoon at the Norwegian Church!

Karen Allen
ka.allen@btinternet.com / contact@welshnorwegian.org

NB. This newsletter will be posted to members who are not on email, so we make sure all WNS members are supported during the lockdown. If anyone would like any help with accessing the Arne and Carlos knitting patterns, please let us know. Or if you would just like a chat with a committee member in Norwegian (or English), don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Update on the Norwegian Church

Back in December, Huw Thomas, Leader of Cardiff Council, wrote to WNS indicating that they were willing to explore a Community Asset Transfer of the Norwegian Church. This would effectively mean transferring the charity to become independent again, as opposed to being under the wing of Cardiff Council. Members will be aware that WNS campaigned persistently during 2019 to save the Norwegian Church from the council’s plans to lease the building to a commercial tenant. So this message from Huw Thomas was long overdue.

However, we are required to show that any new arrangements for the Norwegian Church would be sustainable in the long run, and so we have to raise funds for a feasibility study. We anticipate this will cost approximately £8000.
At the end of February, WNS submitted an application to the Architectural Heritage Fund for a grant which can provide up to 50% of the costs, i.e. £4000. So now we have to raise the remaining £4000. With the current national coronavirus emergency, there are many arts and cultural organisations in difficulties, and members of the WNS working group have been discussing how best to go about raising the necessary funds, especially with so many other good causes calling for public support. We would very much like to hear from anyone who has any thoughts and suggestions on this subject; not just the fundraising aspect, but about what we should do next.

In early March, we had a follow-up letter from Huw Thomas which seemed a bit more negative (before the coronavirus crisis had fully erupted). At the time we sent our reply, the full implications of coronavirus were becoming clear and we asked for WNS to be consulted about what will happen to the Norwegian Church during the crisis. We have not yet had a reply to this. We appreciate the council is under extreme pressure at the moment, but we are not prepared to stand by and let the Norwegian Church be a casualty of the crisis. The building is closed, of course, but it isn’t clear what costs the charity (Norwegian Church Preservation Trust) will still incur during the lockdown.

Don’t forget coffee and cake with Welsh Norwegian Society this Sunday 8th March 2-4pm Norwegian Church
We will have Norwegian books for exchange so if you like to read in Norwegian come and have a look of what we got. #EXCHANGE #readNorwegian