THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

Slimmers

SLIMMERS across Aberystwyth have donated the clothes they’ve successfully slimmed out of to Cancer Research UK.

The Slimming World group that meets on Wednesday’s at Llanbadarn Church Hall collected 42 bags of clothes, shoes, homeware and accessories as part of the Big Golden Slimming World Clothes Throw.

The bags, worth an average of £25 each, will be donated to Cancer Research UK as part of Slimming World’s national fundraising campaign which last year raised an incredible £3m in just two weeks.

Since 2012 the partnership has generated more than £12m worth of stock in support of this very important charity. Barbara Salerno, who runs the Aberystwyth Slimming World group, is delighted to have raised so much money for charity. She says: “I can’t quite believe how many bags we managed to collect - I knew my members were amazing but I didn’t expect such an incredible level of effort.

Seeing members donate their too-big clothes is so wonderful for me to see as a consultant. What I find so special is seeing members transform before my eyes as they lose weight.

So many people don’t know how much of a difference losing weight can make to health – including reducing the risk of developing a range of problems including some types of cancer.

Hopefully this campaign and our efforts for charity will help inspire more people in Aberystwyth to improve their health and change their lives by losing weight too. “I’m so proud of my members and their efforts. They really do put their heart into everything they do. Whether it’s their weight loss, supporting each other or raising money for charity... they continually blow me away!”

Ramblers

THERE is a Strata Florida walk on Saturday, 6 April, led by Haydn Foulkes and Timothy Cutts (01970 828889 or 01970 632924).

Start and end at the Black Lion Hotel, Pontrhydfendigaid (grid reference SN 732667). Meet at Plascrug Leisure Centre, Aberystwyth at 9am or meet outside the Black Lion in Pontrhydfendigaid ready for start of walk at 10.15am.

The distance of the walk is around 9 miles, grade B+, with estimated time to complete the walk being six hours. The type of walk is hill and river, through the route of Pontrhydfendigaid, Pen y Bannau, Frongoch, Teifi Pools, Nant Egnant Valley, Strata Florida, Pontrhydfendigaid.

The terrain will be grassy field and hill paths with some stiles and gates, and a section of upland walking on rough terrain. This western part of Mid Wales is mostly upland moor that extends for miles over the Cambrian Mountains, an environment described by 19th century travel writers as the Desert of Wales.

Though beginning in farmland, you’ll quickly see the transformation in the landscape as you head uphill, moving into untamed heather-filled moorland.

Hidden at the highest and halfway point of this route is the cluster of deep lakes known as the Teifi Pools, the source of the River Teifi. The route joins up with the Teifi on the way back.

Two sites of historical interest along the way are the ancient hillfort of Pen y Bannau, with its panoramic views of the Mid Wales hills, and Strata Florida – a former Cistercian monastery that, thanks to Henry VIII, has little but its striking archway and foundations intact.

Then on Sunday, 7 April, Rob and Mary (01974 251282) will lead a gently-paced walk to the top of Garn Gron in the Cambrian Mountains. They climb from Strata Florida Abbey grounds through ancient woodland (probably managed by the Abbey) and modern forestry.

Garn Gron is a hill with stone burial mounds south of the Abbey and in fine weather affords panoramic views all around; from Drygarn Fawr to the Brecon Beacons, the Preseli’s and the Ceredigion coastline.

The walk is around seven miles long with a gentle ascent of 300 metres. Meet at Plascrug Leisure Centre at 9am or Strata Florida car park at 10am.

Bibliographical group

THE bibliographical group held its AGM in St Paul’s Methodist Centre on Tuesday, 26 March. The speaker afterwards was Dr Keith Manley, formerly assistant librarian of the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London.

In retirement Dr Manley has catalogued the libraries in several National Trust houses in England and Wales, including Agatha Christie’s summer house, Greenway in Devon, and the title of his talk was ‘Bodies in the Library: The Family Book Collection of Agatha Christie’. Agatha Christie’s detective novels have been amongst the most popular of that genre for decades. But Agatha never went to school; her education came from the books in her parents’ library.

Books and reading were vital in the lives of Agatha and her family, and they collected far more than just detective stories. Many of their books survive at Greenway, and usefully illuminate her life and work. Although most of the books of her husband, Sir Max Mallowan, the archaeologist, were sold off, enough remain to illuminate his life and work and relationship with Agatha.

After the meeting, the group entertained the speaker to dinner at Medina in Market Street.

The next event will be a summer outing to Hay-on-Wye. Plans are also being made for our forthcoming 50th anniversary.

Aberystwyth and District Floral Society

IN the meeting on 19 March, Glenys welcomed the demonstrator for the evening, Linda Garratt, on the theme of ‘What you see is what you get’.

She began with an oblong woven basket and added a mix of senecio greenery, alder and variegated box to create different shapes and texture.

She added a mixture of twigs for mechanics and placed the white tulips amongst the twigs which provided support for the stems. She added tiny white chrysanthemums amongst the greenery, and added yellow mini gerberas that were cut low.

These were to resemble daisies and dandelions; the design portrayed a meadow. Her second design began with a tall stand, with oasis attached at the top. This arrangement would create a Blue cascade design, similar to a waterfall. She placed Rubus tricolour, hedera helix, clotted cream Ivy, fatshedera leaves at the top and then added a bluey grey soft pine, gold crest conifer, rosemary, pussy willow for a spring bubbling waterfall effect.

She then added purple hyacinth, pittosporum, blue lisianthus, blue fressias, grass, Ivy with large berry heads and three avalanche roses to add colour to the display. The next design began with a large round gold coloured bowl.

The design would depict the crown jewels. It began with a ring of oasis placed in the bowl and then she added fatshedera leaves around the edge, she then placed gold crest conifer, pittosporum, lisianthus, holly and dark pittosporum around the ring for colour and to give the display a crown shape.

She then placed large headed yellow roses, red and orange gerberas, red, orange and dark red carnations all-round the base which resembled the jewels in the crown!

The fourth design was a tall twisted stand decorated with pearls and oasis placed at the top. She added various lengths of green dog wood horizontally to each side and added white roses at various lengths along the wood. She added large Ivy leaves to cover the oasis and then she placed large lilies at the centre. She added white variegated greenery to pick up the white of the lilies and roses. She finished by adding some pink gerberas to complete the design.

For presentation she repeated the design at the base of the stand.

Her final design was Mothering Sunday which began with a large green square container. She added Muscelenia green leaves to create a triangular design and then added a variety of greenery including fatsia leaves. She then added large pink lilies, rubus and pale pink blossom. She added a number of large purple gerberas, multi headed white and pink roses, mini purple gerberas and cerise carnations to complete the display.

The next meeting will be on 16 April with Susan Bradley on a theme of ‘Geometry and gerberas’.

NHS Retirement Fellowship

ON 11 March, David Lloyd, a native of Aberystwyth, entertained the group with his talk entitled ‘How do they do that?’ for the monthly meeting at Waunfawr Community Hall.

His life in the world of television was most engaging. Margaret Evans gave the vote of thanks.

The next meeting will be the AGM on 8 April.

Rotary Club

PROFESSOR Rhys Jones, guest speaker at the club’s last lunchtime meeting, gave an engaging account of some of the highlights of Geography studies at Aberystwyth University, over the past century.

A major figure was H J Fleure, who became the first holder of the endowed Gregynog Professorship of Geography and who had conducted anthropological studies, which involved measuring and recording personal physical characteristics, to try to discover ‘who were the Welsh’.

Although a native of Guernsey, Fleure had taken to Aberystwyth and had written his impressions of his adopted ‘little town’. H J Fleure was succeeded as Professor of Geography by one of his students, Emrys G Bowen, a popular lecturer who had conducted studies to explore the ‘essence of Wales’.

Other former Geography students had made major contributions to the study and interpretation of Wales and its society; they included Iorwerth C Peate, first Curator of the Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans, and Alwyn D Rees, Director of Aberystwyth’s Extra Mural Studies Department who had undertaken a study of life in a Welsh countryside, focussing on the community of Llanfihangel yng Ngwynfa in rural Montgomeryshire.

Recent studies conducted by the Department had looked at issues concerning language and culture. Prof Rhys Jones, as a current staff member and former head of geography, said that the department sought to continue its proud tradition of interpreting Wales, which had commenced under H J Fleure’s inspiration over 100 years ago.

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