THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

Book launched

A NOVEL has been written celebrating Aberystwyth’s narrow-gauge railway history.

By the Banks of the Rheidol by Geraint Roberts was launched with a question and answer session in a restored 1930s railway carriage at the Vale of Rheidol Railway.

Carolyn Hodges, head of English publishing at Y Lolfa, introduced the book before interviewing Geraint about how he came to creative writing after a degree in mining geology, his writing process and the research involved in this book, set around 1900.

“I found the book really engaging when I was editing it,” said Carolyn.

“The story’s really gripping and it’s full of historical detail. It was fascinating to read about Aberystwyth and Talybont at the turn of the 20th century and to learn so much about the industrial heritage of our area.

“It was really interesting at the launch to hear more about Geraint’s creative writing process – authors all seem to work in slightly different ways, and it’s always a real treat in these question and answer sessions to get a peek behind the scenes of the finished novel.”

The launch was a success despite the very autumnal weather. The train carriage was packed full of enthusiastic attendees, who asked some probing questions of their own towards the end of the session­.

Geraint, who is retail manager at the railway, said: “I was delighted to have such a big turnout of people, especially given the inclement weather. I hope that everyone had a great time.”

Thanks were given to the Vale of Rheidol Railway for hosting the launch and to Geraint’s mother for the excellent refreshments.

Cardiganshire Horticultural Society

THE October meeting took place in Waunfawr Community Hall on Tuesday, 9 October, and attracted a very good audience.

The speaker was 19-year-old Huw Richards-Price from Tregaron and his topic was growing vegetables, which he has been doing in his parents’ garden for the last 15 years.

He gave a particularly impressive talk and came over to his audience as a charismatic man, a marvellous communicator and a man full of sound ideas, with an avowed mission to promote organic sustainable principles of vegetable growing to all.

He has been particularly keen to both educate and involve young people and has been using Facebook and Twitter to great effect.

He also runs a YouTube channel, with a huge audience watching the many videos he has produced.

A CHS approach to several local schools saw three pupils from the gardening club at Penglais in the audience and all three really enjoyed and contributed to an evening which will be long remembered by those present.

The summer trips organisers are just starting to pull together ideas for their 2019 programme. Huw said that for the evening garden visit followed by supper he would be delighted to show the party the gardens at his parents’ home and the new garden he is constructing there.

He suggested the Talbot Hotel in Tregaron as the venue for supper.

The November meeting is on Tuesday, 13 November, at 7pm, when the speakers will be Dave and Gill Holt from Midway Plants at Penybont, near Llandrindod Wells.

Midway Nurseries has been run by the Holts for over 30 years and one of their particular interests is fruit trees and their care.

During the evening they will discuss the planting, growing and pruning of fruit trees; the regeneration of old fruit trees; and the different methods needed to prune apples and pears compared to stone fruits.

Anyone interested in gardening and horticulture is welcome to join for what is sure to be an interesting meeting.

Choral society

THE first four Tuesday evening rehearsals in the Old Hall, Old College for the society’s 48th year of concerts have seen conductor David Russell Hulme mainly concentrating on the choir getting to grips with the difficult opening chorus of the Rutter Magnificat.

This will be the main work performed at the society’s Christmas concert in the Great Hall, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, on Saturday, 15 December.

Both chairman June Wilson and David Russell Hulme were delighted to welcome a good number of experienced soprano and contralto singers into the ranks.

There is still time for more newcomers, particularly tenors and basses, to further swell the ranks.

Anyone interested is welcome at the 7.30pm Tuesday evening rehearsals in the Old Hall. The society operates a no auditions policy.

Cymdeithas yr Aelwyd

NOS Wener, 12 Hydref, croesawyd yr aelodau nôl i dymor newydd gan ein llywydd am eleni, sef Delyth Evans.

Gwesteion arbennig y llywydd yn y noson agoriadol oedd aelodau Côr Cymunedol Eglwys San Mihangel, Aberystwyth, a’r cyfeilydd David Evans.

Delyth yw arweinydd y côr hwn sydd ar fin mynd ar daith i Israel, lle byddant yn cynnal tri chyngerdd o gerddoriaeth draddodiadol Cymreig, yn Haifa, yn ysbyty Nasareth, ac yn Eglwys Gadeiriol San Siôr yn Jeriwsalem.

Roedd rhaglen y côr yn cynnwys emynau Cymraeg, cerdd dant, alawon gwerin a deuawdau offerynnol, ac fe gyflwynwyd yr eitemau gan Jamie Medhurst.

Dymunwn yn dda i’r côr ar y daith.

Rotary club

GUEST speaker at last week’s Rotary meeting was Louise Jagger, director of development and alumni relations at Aberystwyth University.

Her subject was the exciting project for transforming the iconic Old College building into a modern facility that will serve both the university and the local community.

Proposals include providing space for meetings and conferences, events and activities; there would be studios for cultural activity, and an enterprise and innovation centre to support and offer facilities for start-up businesses in areas such as digital technology.

It would be an opportunity to put on display the extensive collections of artworks and museum artefacts that are currently held by the University.

Louise Jagger was thanked for her interesting and informative talk by vice-president David McParlin, one of several Rotary club members who had worked for many years in the Old College building.

George Simpson

AN RAF veteran who lived in Aberystwyth has died.

George Simpson, who was in his 80s, helped raise money for the RAF Wings appeal by collecting donations.

He also helped raise cash with former pub licensee Kara Bland and customer Aled Hughes for the Ceredigion Flood Appeal fund with a parachute jump from a plane, although he himself was stopped from jumping at the last minute.

Mr Simpson was also part of a campaign to get a plaque installed at Bronglais Hospital to honour the work of Dr Peter Edwards MBE who was a pioneer in the treatment of tuberculosis having been under his care at the Joint Cheshire Sanatorium in Staffordshire.

Mr Simpson died at Bronglais Hospital on 8 October.

50+ Forum

AT the end of September, the Aberystwyth 50+ Forum was given a nudge towards healthier eating by Janet Bouchier, a public health dietitian employed by the NHS.

Janet came to speak at the September meeting of the forum and after talking a little about her work, she set the members a task.

Using the Healthy Eating Guide, she asked them to put foods into the food groups in the guide.

This gave rise to a lot of discussion about what a balanced diet should consist of and how much of each of the main food groups we should be eating.

Afterwards, members enjoyed an afternoon tea of sandwiches and cake but with the healthy addition of fruit and raw vegetables.

The Aberystwyth 50+ Forum was set up to provide information and give a voice to those over fifty on issues that affect their wellbeing.

Meetings are held every two months in the Morlan Centre with trips and outings in the intervening months.

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, 28 November, at 2pm, when Cllr Alun Lloyd Jones will be talking about his work as a councillor that is relevant to older people.

The next outing will be a visit to the Arts Centre cinema on 31 October to see the silver screening of A Star is Born.

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