U3A

AT THE July meeting, Michael McCarthy of Music Theatre Wales gave a talk entitled Making New Opera, gaving personal insights into his work as commissioner, producer and director of opera.

He said that people often say they don’t understand modern music but in fact hear a great deal of it when they watch films. It has the power to prepare people for the action that follows, he said.

With examples from works in which he has been involved, he showed how the music can contribute to the telling of the story in opera or, on occasion, defeat our expectations. An example of the latter is the end of Philip Glass’ opera The Trial, based on Franz Kafka’s novel, which is quite jaunty although poor K is being led to execution.

Opera can tackle difficult subjects. One such challenging one is the latest work he has been involved in, The Golden Dragon, which was recently premiered in Cardiff. This originated as a play by the German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig.

The opera, with a score by the Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös tells the story of an illegal immigrant working in a kitchen who suffers from toothache but can’t access health care because he has no papers. The tragic end is, however, transformed by transcendental music. This opera will come to Aberystwyth on its tour in 2017.

After the summer break, the new session of U3A begins on 15 September.

Ramblers

After a week of dull, damp weather, Saturday, 30 July, was warm and sunny. Seventeen Ramblers turned up for a walk led by Haydn Foulkes and Timothy Cutts.

A scenic bus journey down the coast brought us to the start of the walk in New Quay, from whence the low tide allowed us to begin by walking along the beach towards Cei Bach. In due course, we ascended to the woods and enjoyed the picturesque scenery of the coastal path. We had our picnic lunch on a grassy cliff at Gilfachyrhalen with lovely views back towards New Quay, then continued to Aberaeron where most of the party chose to end the walk in the early afternoon.

However, four hardy walkers continued to Llanrhystud, enjoying further stretches along the beach, the pretty gardens at Aberarth and Llannon, and walking along the edge of fields of barley and oats – a rarity in this part of Wales.

The mountains of Snowdonia and the Llyn Peninsula were visible in the distance, and closer at hand we saw a variety of birdlife, including wheatears and wagtails. The sun was still shining when we completed the 14-mile walk in the early evening.

Royal British Legion

THE July meeting proved to be very lively as members were joined by the new district membership support officer, Anna Looker.

The briefing she gave on plans for the future in the Legion brought a good exchange of views, particularly regarding the situation with communication from the top down to the grass roots. The views expressed were accepted by her and will be taken to the management in both Cardiff and Haig House.

The chairman pointed out that the secretary, due to health issues, is retiring at the AGM and without a secretary the branch cannot carry on. He pressed those present to consider their willingness to take on the post but if not able to do so to actively recruit a new secretary.

The trip to the RAF Air Show at Cosford Aerodrome proved to be very successful and was thoroughly enjoyed by those attending.

The next social events planned are a clay pigeon shoot and barbecue on Saturday, 28 August, and a visit to the National Arboretum on Saturday, 29 October. All the details of both these events are available from John on 01970 358095, email [email protected].

These events are open to all and not just members of the Royal British Legion.

The next branch meeting will be held in the Railway Club at 8pm on 17 September.

Rotary club

This week the Rotary Club was pleased to welcome the district governor, Steve Jenkins, and his wife, Felicity, to our weekly meeting.

Steve is a native of Cardigan and was most pleased to revisit the county of his birth. He spoke of the broad aims of rotary whose membership internationally is now at its second highest ever, thanks to buoyant recruitment in India and the Far East. The theme this year is ‘Rotary Serving Humanity’.

The first club in Wales was founded in Cardiff and would be celebrating its centenary in 2017, a very special occasion for all clubs in the District. A series of events would be organised to mark the occasion.

Steve had set three priorities for his year in office:

1. Eradicating polio, where numbers have fallen dramatically as a result of a world-wide efforts involving Rotary to only 16 so far this year, compared with 1,000 per day before the campaign.

The district has raised the equivalent of $880,000 towards the campaign (including $80,000 from Aberystwyth) and Steve is hoping to reach $1,000,000 before the end of his term of office.

2. Sponsoring scholarships and studentships, where over the years almost 300 awards had been made from the district. The Aberystwyth club has sponsored some 25 per cent of these awards over the years.

3. Increasing membership in the district by encouraging the establishment of clubs in communities currently without one and developing e-clubs, open to people with time commitments elsewhere as well as to all Rotary ambassadors and scholars with links to the area.

Club president Derrick Whiting thanked the district governor warmly for his talk and wished him every success for his year in office.