THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

CANTM

THE Ceredigion Association of National Trust members enjoyed a wonderful talk at their Winter Warmer meet at Aberystwyth Golf Club by Hannah Englecamp who talked about her 1,000-mile walk around Wales with her donkey.

The next meeting of the association will be held on Wednesday, 20 March at Libanus, Borth with tea and coffee served at 11.30am and a talk by owner Peter Fleming, followed by lunch at 12.30pm and a mystery film at 2pm.

The five-day holiday is now fully booked with 40 members travelling to Grange-over-Sands and visiting a selection of National Trust properties.

Consider joining your local trust to not only sponsor Llanerchaeron but to also enjoy the monthly activities.

Stroke club

FOR the lunch outing on 20 February, 47 members gathered together at the football club.

They were greeted by Ann, the chairlady, who hoped they would all have a good time.

Jean and Alma did the rounds of the tables with the raffle tickets, then it was time for some members to be addicted by the very helpful staff with their meal from the carvery, followed by the able remainder. As always, a very good repast was enjoyed by all.

Whilst tea and coffee was served the numbers for the 750 draw took place.

A thank you to members who have returned the new batch of tickets and monies for the 2019-20 session.

The grand raffle followed with lots of good prizes given out.

The social secretary then told the company that the annual holiday is to be in Llandudno from 8 to 12 July at the Four Oaks; more information to follow.

The next luncheon is on 20 March, at the Llanina Arms.

Bibliographical group

THE Bibliographical Group held its annual Saturday morning meeting in St Paul’s Methodist Centre on 23 February.

After coffee, they moved upstairs to the Octagon for a lecture by Prof Jane Cartwright of the University of Wales Trinity St David, Lampeter on ‘Buchedd Gwenfrewy: the Life of St Winefride in NLW MSS Peniarth 27ii and Llanstephan 34’.

St Gwenfrewy (or Winefride as she is known in English) is effectively a Welsh super saint.

With the exception of St David, of all the saints whose Welsh prose Lives will appear on the AHRCfunded website “Saints in Wales” Gwenfrewy has the most substantial hagiographical dossier.

This includes two 12th-century Latin vitae, various Middle English Lives and a 15th-century Welsh buchedd, as well as numerous medieval Welsh poems.

Although her Latin Lives and English translations of these have been published, her Middle Life has hitherto attracted relatively little scholarly attention.

Prof Cartwright’s lecture focused on the Middle Welsh Life of Gwenfrewy, paying particular attention to two manuscripts kept at the National Library of Wales: Peniarth 27ii (compiled by an unknown scribe in the second half of the 15th century) and Llanstephan 34 (a recusant manuscript compiled by Roger Morris of Coed-y-talwrn in Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd at the end of the 16th century).

The lecture was followed by a lively discussion about the subject. The group then entertained the speaker to lunch at the Pier Brasserie.

The next meeting will be the AGM at St Paul’s on Tuesday, 26 March at 6.30pm, after which Dr Keith Manley will speak on ‘Bodies in the Library: The Family Book Collection of Agatha Christie’.

Merched y Wawr

Y CYRCHFAN ar nos Lun, 18 Chwefror, oedd Gwesty’r Marine i ddathlu G?yl ein Nawddsant.

Croesawyd yr aelodau gan Eluned Richards, y llywydd, a chyflwynwyd Steffan Rhys, swyddog datblygu Menter Iaith Cered.

Steffan yw hyfforddwr Cerddorfa Iwcs a Hwyl, sef cerddorfa iwcalili Aberystwyth a’r cylch, a ddaeth i’n diddori.

Roedd gwynebau cyfarwydd yn y gerddorfa gan gynnwys un o’n haelodau.

Dechreuodd y gerddorfa yn mis Hydref 2018 gyda 10 aelod, ac erbyn hyn mae yna 25 aelod, gan gynnwys dysgwyr.

Cawsom wledd yn gwrando ar ganeuon cyfarwydd sef: Ar Lan y Môr, Harbwr Corc, Cân y Medd, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Lleucu Llwyd a’r Brawd Hwdini, a cyfle i ymuno yn y canu.

Hyfryd oedd cael amser i ymlacio a sgwrsio dros bryd o fwyd blasus.

Llongyfarchodd Eluned, Tegwen Morris, cyfarwyddwr cenedlaethol Merched y Wawr, am fod yn y swydd ers 20 mlynedd ac yn ymfalch?o ei bod yn aelod gweithgar yn ein cangen.

Diolchodd Eluned i Cerddorfa Iwcs a Hwyl am noson fywiog, ac i staff y Marine am y bwyd ardderchog. Bydd y cyfarfod nesaf yn Festri Capel y Morfa ar nos Lun, 18 Mawrth, yng nghwmni Joan Howell.

Ramblers

DAVE (01970 828815) will be leading a moderate grade walk of six miles for Aberystwyth Ramblers on Saturday, 9 March, from Machynlleth Station (grid ref SH 744014) at 8.40am.

They will board the 8.53am train to Llwyngwril (free travel if you have bus pass). From Llwyngwril they follow the Wales Coast path ascending NE from the village to pass the standing stones. From here there are wonderful views of Snowdonia and the Ll?n. They then descend towards Arthog and Morfa Mawddach to cross the wooden Barmouth bridge with some of the best views in Wales, reaching Barmouth before boarding the 2.53pm train to Machynlleth.

On Sunday, 10 March, they will be going on the Castell Carreg Cennen Walk, starting at 9am at the leisure centre in Aberystwyth or 10.30am from the Castell Carreg Cennen car park, grid reference SN 667193.

Led by Sue (07443 392651) it is a six-mile moderate grade walk with a welcoming tea room at the end. The route taken encircles the spectacular cliff top setting of the castle, and passes through oak woodland to reach wild moorland with far reaching views.

The geology of the area may be of interest being sandstone and limestone with sinkholes and caves. Overall a great taste of what Carmarthenshire has to offer the Rambler.

Conference

A CONFERENCE is being staged in Aberystwyth to discuss to discuss ‘Future of Christianity: Starting Anew’.

As chapels and churches decline, with large numbers facing closure, organisers say it is time to reconsider fundamentally the contribution of Christianity to the society.

The Starting Anew Conference, to be held in Welsh on 29 and 30 March, is being sponsored by Christianity 21, the University of Wales Guild of Graduates, and Coleg Cenedlaethol Cymraeg.

The speakers include former MP Cynog Dafis, Arwel Jones, deacon of the Presbyterian Church of Wales, and Catrin Williams, New Testament specialist.

The conference will be chaired by the Canon Enid Morgan, chair of Cristnogaeth 21. The conference will be held at the Merched y Wawr Centre in Vulcan Street and on Friday evening, 29 March, there will be a performance of Bregus in the vestry of Seion Chapel in Baker Street.

Aberystwyth and District Floral Society

GLENYS, the chair, welcomed everyone to the evening and explained that Kevin Davies was unable to attend.

She gave Donald a special welcome and thanked him for stepping in at short notice.

Donald’s first arrangement was a spring-themed design which began with a treble clef shaped metal stand. He placed a block of oasis at the top and base of the stand and began with an arrangement of greenery, a mixture of leather leaf fern and pittosporum to give the design contrast and rhythm.

He then added beautiful tulips in a variety of colours, some of which were double tulips. The design was completed by adding daffodils and red dianthus. The arrangements at the top and base of the stand were similarly designed.

His next design was ‘romance’ where he had a tall metal stand to which he had added clusters of contorted hazel with common ivy going up the back and draping down from the front of the stand.

He then added variegated greenery and fatsia japonica. The design was completed by adding beautiful sexy kiss variety red roses and red dianthus. He added eucalyptus to soften and create form to the design.

His third design was ‘dancing on ice’ which began with a tall stand with curved shapes at the top that had been created from chicken wire covered with leaves. He had a block of oasis at the top and base of the stand and used cocoa leaves, tree ivy, griselinia leaves in a triangular shape and eucalyptus. He had a small test tube attached near the top of the design that contained leaves and a single flower that created a rhythmic flow to the tip of the design.

He added pink, Donna variety dianthus, pink vivaldi lilies and sea lavender in a lilac colour. To this he added a golden yellow sun city variety rose and yellow euonymus flowers and to finish off he added a little parvi eucalyptus and a skimmia japonica to both designs.

His fourth design was a ‘Church window design’ using a low oblong metal stand. He covered the oasis with a mixture of greenery including fatsia, arum italicum marmoratum, phormium leaves and some ivy with berries. He placed green dogwood at varying lengths both in a vertical and horizontal position. He added irises at varying heights and red spray carnations for a continental design effect. He added a yellow, Yvonne variety dianthus and a peruvian lily alstroemeria and skimmia japonica to finish. To finish he placed a triple arched church window frame behind the arrangement to complement the design.

His final design was created to portray the 60-year diamond celebration of NAFAS which began with a diamond shape frame on a stand with oasis secured to the top and bottom. To the frame he cable tied hazel to enhance the design and added glycerine leaves in a lime green colour and some flowering wild plum twigs. To finish the design, he added white liberty dianthus, honeymoon tulips, avalanche roses, Mary Ann chrysanthemums and some eucalyptus leaves. It was a very enjoyable evening and a pleasure to witness Donald create his designs.

Cymdeithas yr Aelwyd

NOS Wener, 1 Mawrth, aeth y gr?p ar ymweliad â Gwlad yr Iâ a thân yng nghwmni Menna Evans a’i chamera. Cadeirydd y noson oedd Terry Edwards.

Mae Gwlad yr Iâ yn gyrchfan boblogaidd i bobl sydd â diddordeb mewn daearyddiaeth a thirwedd lle mae d?r a thân yn elfennau amlwg. Wrth deithio o gwmpas yr ynys cafodd Menna, gyda chymorth Meryl, Gethin a Harri, gyfle i dynnu lluniau rhaeadrau, llynnoedd, ffynhonnau poethion (geiserau), ceudyllau llosgfynyddoedd a llif lafa oedd wedi creu patrymau wrth oeri. Ac wrth gwrs ni ellid osgoi yr iâ gyda’i siapiau a’i liwiau trawiadol.

Yn y brifddinas Reykjavik roedd golygfeydd gwahanol eto, gyda cherfluniau niferus, toeau lliwgar ac eglwys anghyffredin. Oherwydd prinder coed ar yr ynys roedd y defnydd helaeth o sinc yn amlwg.

Beekeepers Association

THE association’s AGM was held on Tuesday, 19 February and was very well attended.

The usual reports were received from the officers on what had been a successful year and, despite the dry hot summer, a very good year for the honey bee.

Chairman Rob Davies thanked all those who had helped make the year a successful one. The election of the committee for the coming year was then undertaken with the current chairman, secretary, treasurer and membership secretary all re-elected.

Most of the meeting was then devoted to finalising the programme for the year.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 19 March at 7pm in the Waunfawr Community Hall and will be a talk on Comb Management led by Ian Mitchell.

A good number of members will be attending the Welsh Beekeepers Convention at the Royal Welsh Showground on Saturday, 30 March.

Looking forward to spring, the association will be holding a beginners taster weekend in May and anyone interested in taking up the craft should get in touch with Ann Ovens, the secretary, on 01970 832359.

Women’s Day

THE Ceredigion Museum in Aberystwyth will be screening the internationally acclaimed Best of WOFFF, the Women over 50 Film Festival in March to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Ceredigion Museum is working in partnership with financial support from Film Hub Wales. It is a historic cinema locations with a tradition of film shows dating back to the early 1900s. Special screenings will be on Friday 8 March at Ceredigion Museum.

Joining the museum for the events will be three of the Welsh film-makers whose short films will feature – Annie Grove White from Cardiff, Gini Wade from Powys and Jean Napier from Gwynedd as well as the Festival Director Nuala O’Sullivan. Women over 50 Film Festival champions and showcases the work of older women on screen and behind the camera.

It is a stylish and robust response to the ageism and sexism that many women say they face in the film industry. The selected films come from as far afield as Taiwan, Canada and Lebanon and range from documentaries and dramas to experimental films and animations.

Sarah Morton from Ceredigion Museum said: “The Best of WOFFF is a wonderful selection of 13 short films that will in turn amuse, astound and agitate.”

The doors will open at 7pm at Ceredigion Museum where a Q&A will be held with the festival director, Nuala O’Sullivan and film-maker Gini Wade will take place.

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