Merched y Wawr

ABERYSTWYTH-BASED charity Merched y Wawr has won the innovative fund-raising award at the Third Sector Awards Cymru, organised by Wales Council for Voluntary Action and sponsored by Class Networks.Merched y Wawr, which has members all across Wales, has been collecting accessories for the heart and has seen the sale of donated accessories raise more than £23,000 in its first year, all of which has been given to the British Heart Foundation in Wales.Jason Mohamed presented Meryl Davies (president), Gwyneth Griffiths (treasurer), Einir Wyn (secre-tary) and Tegwen Morris (national director) with the glass award (see picture, right). Meryl Davies thanked all the enthusiastic members and friends and said this award was for every single one of them for their valuable contribution to all collections undertaken.

Inner Wheel

THE FEBRUARY meeting was held on Monday, 8 February at Waunfawr hall with president Pat Griffiths in the chair.The speaker for the evening was member Jan Young, local volunteer officer for Home Start, the leading family support charity in the UK.Her professional presentation in-cluded an explanatory PowerPoint and a DVD based on interviews with families who had benefitted from the scheme and their volunteers.Home Start, which began in 1973 as a local group, is now a national charity with hundreds of Home Start groups, including in Ceredigion. They offer support for families who may need help for a wide range of reasons including bereavement, family breakdown or feelings of isolation and provides non-judgemental practical and emotional support, helping to build the family’s ability to cope.Volunteers are recruited and trained by paid staff who in turn are supported by the national organization, working in partnership with statutory and voluntary organizations locally to give the families the best possible help. Confidentiality and commitment are key expectations of volunteers.Every family is special and volunteers offer support in the family home, making it family focused and working to empower parents and children to strengthen relation-ships.Parents may self-refer or Home Start may be contacted by other groups with the consent of all involved.The enthusiasm and dedication of the volunteers and the success of their work was very clear from the presentation and members’ interest was evident from the numerous questions about the work.The next meeting will be on Monday, 14 March, when the guest will be the president of Aberystwyth Rotary Club.

NHS Retirement Fellowship

THE NHS Retirement Fellowship met on 8 February in Waunfawr Community Hall, when they welcomed Anne Jeremiah, chair of Aberystwyth MIND, Eurwen Booth, board member and Fiona Aldred, Chief Executive, when Fiona gave an illustrated presentation on the work of MIND.Fiona explained that MIND is a mental health charity, founded in 1946 and is a national campaigning organization aimed at promoting better mental health, supporting those suffering mental health problems and raising awareness of mental health issues and reducing the stigma surrounding them. It is known that one in four people will suffer mental health problems in a year and by 2020, depression is expected to be the second biggest cause of ill health after heart disease. It is the largest mental health charity, with 143 branches across England and Wales, 20 being in Wales. Each branch has to earn their money locally. The president is Stephen Fry and celebrities such as Ruby Wax and Alistair Campbell who have suffered problems, publicly offer their support.Aberystwyth MIND, founded in 2004, has gone from strength to strength with the support of its volunteers and has raised just under £500,000. It now offers a drop-in centre, recovery courses, well-being service, community and individual support, an autism social group and a very successful woodland group. In 2016, the Urdd will be supporting MIND by fund-raising and raising awareness.It is hoped to develop eco-thera-py, set up a recovery college, pro-mote perinatal work and lobby for changes in mental health services.Club chair Margaret Evans thanked Fiona for her excellent and very informative presentation and congratulated her and her colleagues on the time they give on such a worthwhile cause.The next meeting will be on 14 March when Roger Bray will speak about green Aberystwyth.

Holy Trinity Church

ON SATURDAY morning, 6 February, the Archdeacon of Cardigan, Venerable Dr Will Strange, led a workshop on ‘our lives of private prayer’ at Holy Trinity Church’s Buarth Hall (pictured, below).Approximately 60 people, from the northern end of St Davids Diocese, came along, with very many saying afterwards how much they had enjoyed and appreciated the morning. Plans are in hand to run another in the series of occasional workshops in the autumn.