THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

Beekeepers association

THE regular winter programme of Tuesday evening meetings of the Aberystwyth Beekeepers Association continues, although the November meeting had to be moved to Monday 19th in the Waunfawr Community Hall.

Around 25 members attended to hear the association’s chairman, Rob Davies, talk on the importance of drones in the life of the honey bee colony.

Rob’s talk was well received and in it, he explained what they do in their short life span before they are all killed off by the workers early in autumn as the colony prepares for the oncoming winter.

He added at the end that there is still a lot beekeepers don’t know about them.

The next meeting of the association is on Tuesday, 18 December, at the Waun Fawr community hall at 7.30pm, and is the annual Christmas social evening and quiz night.

Friends and family welcome.

A warm welcome is extended to both beekeepers and potential beekeepers to the meeting, and the meeting is a good one for perspective beekeepers to go to, to meet beekeepers on a social basis.

Choral society

LAST Saturday, 24 November, over 30 members of Aberystwyth Choral Society were singing carols in the Great Hall of the Arts Centre, at the food fair.

Unlike previous years, the choir was not singing from the centre balcony unaccompanied, but from the stage, which enabled it to be accompanied on the piano throughout.

Conducted by Gareth Kelly and with Janice Rees accompanying on the piano, the choir sang a much-appreciated range of seasonal carols in both Welsh and English.

Many in the choir were doubtless thinking as they left the stage, that the next time they would be standing on it would be on the evening of Friday, 14 December, at the staging rehearsal before the society’s Christmas concert the following evening at 8pm.

The society will be performing three works, the John Rutter Magnificat and two pieces by Faure, his Cantique de Jean Racine, and the very popular Pavane for orchestra and mixed chorus.

Dinosaurs at school

DINOSAURS are visiting Ysgol Penglais’ Christmas fair on Saturday, 1 December.

They will be coming to life through the latest augmented reality developments on the Jurassic World app.

There will also be refreshments, musical performances from students, a Santa’s Grotto, gift stalls, Christmas-themed games and a raffle with a first prize of £100.

The school’s PTA is raising funds for special projects at the school, including the Duke of Edinburgh Award and a laser cutter for the design and technology department.

The fair is open from 10am to noon.

Merched y Wawr

AR nos Lun, 19 Tachwedd, croesawyd yr aelodau gan Eluned Richards, y llywydd.

Cydymdeimlwyd gyda Rhian Harries ar farwolaeth ei chwaer yn ddiweddar, llongyfarchwyd Audrey, Carwen, Delyth a Nan aelodau tîm y Cwis Hwyl Cenedlaethol ddaeth yn gyntaf yn y Rhanbarth ac yn ail yn Genedlaethol.

Diolchwyd i’r aelodau aeth i Hafan y Waun yn ystod y mis.

Lowri Haf Cooke o Gaerdydd daeth i’n diddori. Mae Lowri yn wyneb cyfarwydd, gwelir hi yn gyson ar rhaglenni teledu Pnawn Da a Heno. Bu’n gweithio gyda’r BBC am ddegawd cyn mentro mynd yn hunan gyflogedig.

Mae’n adolygu ffilmiau a dramau ac yn ysgrifennu erthyglau i Golwg, Barn a Taliesyn, hi yw golygydd y cylchgrawn Saesneg Taste hefyd mae wedi cyhoeddi tri llyfr sef Canllaw Bach Caerdydd, Caffis Cymru ac yn ddiweddar Bwytai Gorau Cymru.

Soniodd bod ganddi ddiddordeb o flasu bwyd ers yn blentyn, cafodd fagwraeth o ymweld â gwahanol wledydd gan flasu’r bwyd brodorol.

Cafodd amser ardderchog wrth ymchwilio i’w llyfr diweddaraf , bu’n ymweld â nifer o fwytai yng Nghymru er mwyn cynnwys y gorau i’w henwi a rhoi eu hanes yn ei llyfr Bwytai Gorau Cymru.

Noson ddiddorol arall. Diolchodd Eluned ar ran y gangen gan llongyfarch Lowri am fentro i fyd ansicr. Cafwyd cyfle i brynu’r llyfr ar ddiwedd y noson.

Llyfr darllen y mis i aelodau’r Clwb Darllen oedd Llinynnau gan Llinos Dafis, hyfryd oedd cael croesawu’r awdur i Westy’r Marine prynhawn Llun, 19 Tachwedd, i drafod y llyfr a cael gweld sut aeth ati i’w hysgrifennu.

Cymdeithas yr Aelwyd

BRYNHAWN Gwener, 23 Tachwedd, cafwyd dianc o festri Seion i fynd ar daith y tu ôl i’r llenni yn y Llyfrgell Genedlaethol.

Tasg gyntaf y tywyswyr, Owain a Menna, oedd corlannu’r aelodau yn yr ystafell addysg i wylio cyflwyniad ar ffilm i’r llyfrgell gyda Huw Edwards yn llefaru.

Yna cafwyd ymweld â’r storfeydd yn cynnwys y celloedd diogel lle cedwir trysorau’r genedl, megis y copi gwreiddiol o Lyfr Du Caerfyrddin.

Mae’r bwthyn ar y bryn, chwedl Hywel Teifi, yn gartref i oddeutu 7,000,000o lyfrau, llawysgrifau prin a gweithiau celf gwerthfawr a gedwir mewn storfeydd pwrpasol, rhai ar y silffoedd symudol electronig diweddaraf.

Ymhlith y miloedd o fapiau tynnwyd sylw’r aelodau at fap Arolwg Ordnans 1889 o dref Aberystwyth a gweleyd leoliadau sydd wedi hen ddiflannu ac enwau sy’n ddieithr heddiw. Wyddech chi mai Smithfield Road oedd enw Coedlan y Parc bryd hynny?

Carol service

THERE will be a remembrance carol service with light refreshments at Aberystwyth Crematorium starting at 11am on 15 December.

Plascrug bridge club

RESULTS from 6 November: 1 John Holmes and Alan Stein; 2 Betty Brookes and Mike Jones.

13 November: 1 John Holmes and Alan Stein; 2 Sue Sherman and Jean Harrison.

20 November: 1 Alan Stein and John Holmes; 2 Pamela Woodhouse and Margaret James.

Penglais school

STUDENTS at the school have become the first cohort in recent years to complete their Duke of Edinburgh award. A a celebration evening was held in the main hall to commemorate this event. 66 students have completed their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award.

They were across Year 10, 11 and 12 groups and have spent 12 months diligently engaging in new physical activities, refining important skills, and delivering charitable work within the local community.

The event was filled with tales of the adventures and exploits of the students, as each group delivered brief presentations detailing their overnight expeditions.

All students were able to vividly recall their shared memories of friendship, teamwork, and determination that they experienced during a summer that strangely managed to be both exceptionally hot, windy and wet.

A raffle comprising a dozen gifts kindly donated by local businesses was also held on the night and helped to raise over £100 to support Penglais DofE.

The Duke of Edinburgh team at Penglais would like to thank all of the parents, staff and organisations for their goodwill, time and support over the past year. This has allowed the school to deliver this award for the first time in several years.

Public lecture

PROFESSOR Michael Cox, director of LSE IDEAS (one of the leading university-based think-tanks in the world), will deliver a lecture entitled ‘EH Carr: Nationalism and the Nation-State in an Age of Crisis’ at Aberystwyth University on Tuesday, 4 December.

The lecture serves both as the EH Carr Annual Memorial Lecture and one of the Centenary Speakers Series celebrating the 100th anniversary of the establishment in Aberystwyth of the world’s first Department of International Politics.

Edward Hallett Carr, professor in the department between 1936-47, was a notable intellectual in British life, and he has left his imprint on the understanding of international politics wherever in the world it is studied.

The lecture will take place in the Main Hall, International Politics Building, from 6pm to 7.30pm.

The event is free, and all are welcome.

Michael Cox, an Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics, is a highly prolific writer on the Cold War and especially US foreign policy.

Ken Booth, president of the David Davies Memorial Institute, said: “Prof Cox probably knows Carr’s work better than anyone.

“He is a challenging speaker, and his topic is of immense significance at a time when nationalism is threatening the liberal international order that has delivered unrivalled peace and prosperity to many parts of the word since 1945.

“The world is at a crossroads: Carr and Cox are seriously thought-provoking guides.”

Bibliographical Group

THE SPEAKER at the Bibliographical Group on Tuesday, 20 November was Dr Dylan Foster Evans, a native of Tywyn with family connexions in Aberystwyth, who is now head of the School of Welsh at Cardiff University.

The title of his lecture, held in the Drwm at the National Library, was ‘Sir John Prise of Brecon and his Commonplace Book’.

Sir John Prise held several important offices during the reign of Henry VIII, including being Secretary of the Council in Wales and the Marches.

He was involved in the dissolution of the monasteries, during which he acquired a number of valuable books and manuscripts, including the earliest Welsh manuscript, the Black Book of Carmarthen.

He was also the author of Yn y Lhyvyr hwnn, the first book printed in the Welsh language, and Historiae Britannicae Defensio, a defence of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account of Welsh history. The National Library held an exhibition about him in 2015.

The commonplace book, now held at Balliol College, Oxford, is Sir John’s manuscript collection of personal notes, selections from Welsh literature, wisdom and religious texts, a bardic grammar and short comic narratives (some of which have been considered unfit for publication!).

Together these throw valuable light on a figure who played an active part in Welsh political and religious life during the period of the Protestant Reformation and the so-called Acts of Union.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 22 January at 6.30pm in the Four Seasons Hotel, when Dr Christopher Baggs will speak on ‘George Gissing, Library History and Me’.

50+ Forum

AT THE end of October, Aberystwyth 50+ Forum members enjoyed a trip to the Arts Centre cinema to see A Star is Born, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. This was followed by tea and cake in the Arts Centre café.

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

One of the issues that has been of particular concern over the last few months has been care for older people in the Aberystwyth area following the closure of Bodlondeb and the proposed development of an extra-care home on the site of the old Plas Morolwg building – a location which is not suitable for older people with mobility issues.

Members spoke against the development for this reason at the Ceredigion County Council development and control meeting last week, but planning permission was granted nonetheless.

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

The next meeting will be today (Wednesday, 28 November) at 2pm, in the Morlan Centre, when county councillor Alun Lloyd Jones will be talking about aspects of his work that are relevant to older people.

If you’re a member of a club, society or group, send your news to [email protected]