THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

Holy Trinity Church

ON Sunday, 31 March, the fourth Sunday in Lent, Mothering Sunday, traditionally children would come to church with their mothers for the main service of the day, and receive some flowers to give to their mothers.

There was a good number of children along with parents and grandparents in the congregation for the service.

The service began with the vicar, Rev Mark Ansell, welcoming everyone before prayers and the opening hymn.

The Old Testament reading for the day then followed which told the story of the Prophet Jonah and the Whale.

Immediately afterwards the 11 youngsters in the children’s choir, directed by David Cooper and accompanied by Baylee Schute on the piano, made their very memorable contribution to the service, giving a performance of Michael Hurd’s Jonah Man Jazz. Two children from the Holy Trinity Sunday Club, and one of their leaders undertook the narration at the appropriate points.

Carys Hamilton then gave an address in which she very skilfully focussed on the children in the choir along with all the other children in the congregation.

The children’s choir also sang the hymns in the service which concluded with the augmented Trinity Adult Choir and the children’s choir singing Rutter’s Gaelic Blessing (Deep Peace).

Children from the Sunday Club also gave out daffodils to all the children present.

Rev Mark Ansell gave the final Blessing and Dismissal.

Last Friday afternoon saw the regular 4pm children’s choir practices continue and many in the Mothering Sunday congregation will have gone home looking forward to the next contribution of the choir to an 11am service, and they may not have too long to wait.

Horticultural Society

THE March meeting of the Cardiganshire Horticultural Society took place in the Waunfawr Community Hall on Tuesday, 12 March, and was the society’s Annual General Meeting, which saw a good number of members attending.

Vice-chairman Kay Edwards, was in the chair and quickly progressed through the usual business of an AGM.

2018 was the society’s 50th anniversary year and good reports were read out on what had been a very successful year for the society, with enjoyable evening lectures, an excellent programme of summer day outings to some fascinating gardens and a very enjoyable trip to Normandy.

President John Corfield stepped down at the meeting from the position of president and was thanked for the contribution that he had made to the society’s activities over a period of many, many years.

Kate Beech was appointed the new president. The usual election of officers saw several long-standing committee members stepping down and new replacements appointed.

The society is now entering its 51st year with another good programme of summer outings organised and an autumn tour to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight attracting a lot of interest.

The meeting concluded with a slide show of the 2018 trip to Normandy and the summer outings which was thoroughly enjoyed.

The next meeting of the society will be the annual plant sale in Llanfarian Village Hall on Saturday, 27 April, at 2pm, and will be quickly followed by the first of the summer outings on Tuesday, 7 May.

This is a day trip to Pembrokeshire visiting the renowned gardens at Picton and Upton Castles.

More information on the programme of summer outings is available from John and Sue Wildig on 01970 623713, and newcomers to the trips can be assured of a warm welcome.

April is always a month which sees gardeners becoming very active, dealing with the multitude of tasks needing to be done as the gardening year really gets under way.

CHS members are particularly busy in the month, dividing and splitting plants ready for the Society’s Annual Plant Sale in Llanfarian Village Hall on Saturday, 27 April at 2pm.

CHS plant sales are something particularly special as the membership has a wide, diverse interest in the plants they grow, and every year there is a wonderful selection of surplus plants and seedlings from members gardens, ready for the bargain hunters.

The plant sale also sees the arrival of the spring edition of the Societies Journal, Spadework. This contains much of interest to gardeners with reports on the Societies activities over the past autumn and winter months and most importantly full details of the six outings which the society has organised for this season and an autumn tour to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

The first of the summer outings will be on Tuesday, 7 May, and is a day trip to Pembrokeshire visiting the renowned gardens at Picton and Upton Castles, and a good number of members have already indicated their intention of going on the trip before Spadework and the booking sorm has even come out!

More information on the programme of summer outings is available from John and Sue Wildig on 01970 623713, and newcomers to the trips can be assured of a warm welcome.

Probus Club

FOR those under the age of 50, the events of the 1950s and ‘60s are just the subject of historical documentaries.

But for those who lived through them, like the members of Probus, they are real memories from our younger lives. And so the talk that John Andrews gave at the last meeting, on his experiences as a submariner in the Cold War, was a particularly interesting first-hand account of that piece of modern history.

John joined the submarine service as an engineer in 1962, just before the Cuban Missile Crisis. He first served on HMS Acheron, an A-class submarine built just after world war two.

Conditions on this boat were primitive, with crew members having to share bunks, no facilities for showering and the submariners wearing the same set of clothes throughout the whole voyage.

Little wonder that after spending twelve weeks monitoring Russian ship and submarine movements through the north Atlantic, the submarine returned to Gosport to find a mobile incinerator on the jetty, to burn the clothes and bedding of the entire crew.

Conditions improved when John moved on to HMS Warspite, one of the nuclear submarines then coming into service – much larger boats with unlimited energy supplies, so hot meals could be provided at regular times, and showers and laundry facilities were available.

The purpose of this submarine was to shadow Russian submarines to determine Warsaw Pact intentions. Warspite had been tracking a Russian submarine for twelve days without the Russians being aware of it, but after some unexpected manoeuvres by the Russians, the two submarines collided. Warspite limped back to Faslane for repairs, with press reports at the time saying that the sub had hit an iceberg!

Through all the many anecdotes that John included in this fascinating talk, it was clear that he loved being part of the camaraderie of the submarine world, a world requiring completely selfless team work by a group of brave men.

The club’s next meeting will be at 11am on Wednesday, 24 April in the Waunfawr Community Hall.

Local vet Phil Thomas will talk about the exciting new developments for veterinary science in Aberystwyth.

Everyone is welcome and further details can be obtained from the secretary on 01970 358095.

Ramblers’ Association

AFTER several days of heavy rain, Saturday, 6 April, was fine and sunny, although with a cold wind.

Eight members of Aberystwyth Ramblers gathered in Pontrhydfendigaid, together with visitors from Cardiff, Bala and Worcestershire.

The nine-and-a-half-mile route began along the road to Pontrhydygroes, then followed an old farm track before climbing to Pen y Bannau fort, where they enjoyed views of the Mid-Wales hills and Cors Caron nature reserve during the first break.

Heading eastwards, they walked through Coed Caemadog and then to Frongoch farm. From here they climbed to reach open moorland, where there were still patches of snow.

Despite the lack of clear paths they found their way to the Teifi Pools. They had a picnic lunch by the dam at Llyn Egnant, then visited Llyn Bach before beginning the descent of the Nant Egnant valley.

A mile’s walk along a quiet country lane brought us to the ruins of Strata Florida Abbey. After a short detour here, they followed the River Teifi back to Pontrhydfendigaid and tea at The Black Lion.

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