Community News: Aberystwyth

THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

Wildlife Trust

THE first of the north Ceredigion section of the Wildlife Trust south and west Wales’s monthly evening meetings, was held on Monday, 3 October, at 7pm in room C22 in the Hugh Owen Building on the Penglais Campus.

Chairman Fiona Corke was delighted to welcome students to the well-attended meeting.

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After the usual business had been dealt with, the meeting had an update from Emily Foot, the trust’s Ceredigion wildlife officer, on the work she has been leading with her team of volunteers, managing the Trusts Ceredigion Nature Reserves.

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Members also reported on unusual wildlife sightings in the county which they had noted over the summer.

Fiona then went on to introduce Simon Ayres of the Wales Wild Land Foundation who gave an interesting talk on the Cambrian Wildwood Project.

This is taking place on Bwlch Corog, 350 acres of moorland acquired for the project along with a small area of ancient woodland alongside two upland streams flowing through the site in the north of the county.

The Cambrian Wildwood Project aims to get native woodland established naturally with only minimal intervention –the blocking of drainage grips to enable areas of Purple Moor Grass to revert to blanket bog and heather moorland, and the planting of around 8,000 native trees in small groups across the site, to provide a seed source in this relatively treeless upland landscape.

The next meeting of the section, will be on Monday, 5 November at 7pm in C22 in the Hugh Owen Building when Andy Jones of BSBI Wales will be talking about Arrowheads and Weasel’s-snout: the Significance of Arable Weeds as Archaeology in Wales.

All are welcome and further information is available from Naomi Davis on [email protected]

U3A

ON 20 September, a talk with the title ‘Women tourists in Wales during the 18th and 19th century’, was given by guest speaker Michael Freeman.

He included extracts from published manuscripts and accounts of women tourists and experiences while travelling through Wales.

A selection of very interesting paintings and scenes of road conditions were screened so the members could view the often uncomfortable journeys that were endured by tourists to reach their destination.

The mode of transport was horse and carriage, for sometimes as far away as London.

Michael Freeman was thanked by the members for his entertaining talk and this was followed by refreshments.

The next meeting on Thursday, 18 October at 2.30pm at the Morlan centre will be a talk by Jennifer Cairns with the title of ‘Old Land and Traditional Spirits’.

A celebration of Ceredigion and Carmarthen ghost stories, personally collected by Jennifer from people who have had interesting local experiences on both sides of the Teifi.

New members welcome.

Pay-as-you-feel

FOLLOWING the success of the Thursday lunchtime pay-as-you-feel café, Aber Food Surplus and St Paul’s Methodist Centre are marking one year since the project began, by holding a celebration on Thursday, 18 October, between 11am and 1.30pm.

The café was launched as a three-month experiment last autumn, with the help of a grant from Aberystwyth Town Council.

The ethos of the café is to provide a friendly, welcoming place to all, whilst reducing waste by making delicious food from vegetables that are perfectly good to eat, but would otherwise have been thrown away.

The café has no fixed prices, but is run on a ‘pay-as-you-feel’ basis, encouraging customers to consider the time taken collecting and preparing the food, cooking costs, and the overall social experience.

The centre is open from 11am, and food is served between noon and 1.30pm.

Cymdeithas yr Aelwyd

’GWYNT yr hydref ruai neithwr …..’.

Ydy, mae’n fis Hydref a’r aelwyd yn barod am dymor newydd.

Hawdd cynnau tân ar hen aelwyd ond dydy’r hen aelwyd hon a sefydlwyd yn 1933 ddim yn rhy hen i arbrofi a newid.

Felly yn ystod tymor 2018–19 ni fydd pob cyfarfod yn cael ei gynnal ar nos Wener.

Bydd ambell gyfarfod ar brynhawn Gwener a gofynnir i’r aelodau gadw hyn mewn cof.

Cynhelir cyfarfod cynta’r tymor am 7yh nos Wener, 12 Hydref, yn festri Seion, Stryd y Popty, a gobeithiwn allu croesawu ambell aelod newydd fydd wedi sylweddoli fod £5 am 18 cyfarfod yn dipyn o fargen.

NHS Retirement Fellowship

MEMBERS met at Aberystwyth Fire Station on 10 September for a talk by Charlie Taylor.

As well as an operational fireman he is on the International Search and Rescue Team whose training takes place in Swansea.

The team, together with other teams covering the UK, works closely with the Home Office and flies to affected areas once a call-out for humanitarian assistance is received.

He specifically concentrated on two disasters, an earthquake in the Dominican Republic of Haiti on 12 January, 2010 and a tsunami in Japan, on 11 March 2011, and described the resulting devastation.

Charlie explained how a base is organised for the teams at such incidents such as sleeping arrangements, mapping systems used where no communications exist and dogs with their handlers deployed. The doctors are trained vets too.

A Pride of Britain Award was given at a reception in Admiralty House, Whitehall for the UK International Search and Rescue Team’s work in Haiti.

Dianne Bishton thanked Mr Taylor for his amazing talk and for doing this work.

Parkinson’s UK

AFTER over 26 years of meeting in the rugby club, the Parkinson’s group met in July for their first meeting at the football club.

The chairman welcomed a large crowd to the meeting and specially welcomed Judy Southgate, back after her treatment, also Dr Peter Gardner. He also welcomed back Iona Williams, who is now at Hafan Y Waun.

The treasurer had received a cheque from The Lady Grace Trust. The ladies from Penrhyncoch also raised £105 from a table sale.

After a previous discussion a three-day break has been arranged at the St Kindals Hotel, Llandudno from Friday, 17 May to Monday, 20 May with a trip up Snowdonia Railway on the Saturday for approximately £270. If anybody is interested, contact Hefin Jones on 615177.

As this was the September meeting the speakers were president Dr Phil Jones and Bethan Pryse, the Parkinson’s nurse.

A general discussion took place on various treatments and research taking place. Many questions were asked by members and a shortage of prescriptions at chemists was reported.

In her report Bethan said that she had handed her notice in. She agreed to stay on for six months to help the new nurse settle in. She started as the Parkinson’s nurse in 1977.

The chairman thanked Bethan for all her help over the years and said that he had known her for a number of years as she was in school with his daughter and wished her all the best.

Liz Nicol thanked Dr Phil Jones and Bethan for giving up their time and coming to talk to the group and wished Bethan all the best and thanked her for her wonderful service.

The next meeting will be held a week earlier on 15 October when Paul Clasby will be talking about guide dogs.

Rotary club

THIS WEEK the club warmly welcomed Dr Warren Docker of the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, who gave a presentation based on a recent TV documentary he had been involved with, unlocking a little-known facet of the life of Winston Churchill.

Evidence in the form of letters and tapes has come to light pointing to an affair between Churchill and Doris Castlerosse, a high-living socialite in 1930s London.

Doris had a reputation for fast living in her search for a rich, preferably titled, husband and had found one in the shape of a maverick Irish peer, Valentine Castlerosse.

She was rumoured to have had several affairs during her marriage and apparently first met Churchill in 1933 during his three-week stay at the Chateau de la Raison near Cannes.

Clementine Churchill hated the place because of its wild parties and louche atmosphere and the vast sums Churchill gambled while there.

President Michael Deaville thanked Dr Docker for his informative talk and the way in which it gave members a more rounded and complete picture of the great man.

Waste talk

ALUN Elidyr, actor and farmer-presenter of S4C’s Ffermio, will be a keynote speaker at a Ceredigion Green Party public debate focusing on the problems of food-waste and discarded plastic.

Also at the open-to-all event in Aberystwyth will be members of Aber Food Surplus, which works to reduce food waste and redistributes unsold food; the Plastic Free Aberystwyth campaign; and Mererid Jones, Ceredigion County Council waste projects officer.

This is the latest in a series of Green Party Saturday afternoon platform events on pressing environmental issues, and will include a question and answer session and group discussions to analyse issues and identify potential solutions.

It will be chaired by Mirka Virtanen, Wales Green Party deputy leader.

The event is at the Morlan in Queen’s Road, Aberystwyth, on Saturday, 20 October and will begin with a free lunch at 1pm, to include dishes made with surplus food from local supermarkets.

Aberystwyth Bridge Club

Community News: Aberystwyth

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