THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

Parkinson’s UK

THE monthly meeting of the Aberystwyth Parkinson Group was held last month at the Morlan Centre. After welcoming everyone, the chairman reported that they had lost a member, Gwen Day, and the group stood to show their respect.

The day trip on 20 June will be to visit the Dyfed Shire horses at Eglwyswrn, after Marc Cole came to visit in March to talk about the horses. Leaving from the Starling Cloud at 10am.

Next month they are off to their weekend in Llandudno, with a trip on the train up Snowdon on Saturday and calling back in Bodnant Gardens on the way back on Monday.

The speaker for the afternoon was William Jones from Citizens advice in Cardigan, who has worked for them since 2014. Pat Davies thanked William for a very interesting and informative talk.

The next month they go on our annual trip and in July where they expect Hugh Parry to talk about old gramophones and records.

The meeting closed with the usual tea and biscuits.

Bridge club

17 May: 1, Martin Page and Magda Corser; 2, Ian Finlay and Mike Yeo; 3, Dai Hayes and Roger Boyle.

19 May: 1, Margaret James and Pat Roe; 2, Alan Stein and Mike Jones; 3, Elenid Thomas and Pamela Woodhouse.

24 May: 1, Mike Tedd and Yuan Shen; 2, Margaret Hathaway and Margaret James; 3, Sue Sherman and Pamela Woodhouse.

26 May: 1, Gabor Gelleri and John Holmes; 2, Margaret James and Betty Brookes; 3, Jeff Thomas and Pamela Woodhouse.

31 May: 1, Roger Boyle and Ian Finlay; 2, Mike Jones and Margaret James; 3, John Holmes and Alan Stein.

3 June: 1, Joyce Blair and Margaret Ellis; 2, Mike Jones and Alan Stein; 3, Margaret James and Pat Roe.

At the Celtic Congress held at Fishguard in May, club members Keith Bellamy and Dai Hayes narrowly missed winning the Swiss Pairs event.

If you would like to learn to play Bridge or would like to have refresher lessons, contact Jeff Thomas on 01970 828765.

Ramblers

ON Saturday, 15 June, Wyck (01545 560499) will be leading a moderately strenuous linear walk from Penbryn to Cwmtydu using the Cardi Bach Service. This stretch can be considered one of the most attractive parts of the Ceredigion coast path with especially good views of Ynys Lochtyn.

With a bit of luck some dolphins, porpoises or seals may be spotted on the way.

Meet at 10am at the Leisure Centre or 11.15am at Cwmtydu (SN355574) to park at the beach or in front of the café (parking fee £1). To board the Cardi Bach bus meet near the public toilets.

The Ramblers’ walk on 16 June is led by Moira (01970 612998).

Meet at 9am at Aberystwyth Leisure Centre on Llanbadarn Road to share cars and go to the old Ystumtuen Mines SN738789 to start at 9.45am.

They will walk over small roads, grassy fields, tracks and some rough ground to Llyn-yr-oerfa and on with wonderful views over the Rheidol Valley to the beautiful Wildlife Trust Reserve Coed Simdde Lwyd.

There is a steep descent through the Reserve to the Upper Rheidol Falls followed by an attractive walk through woodland following the river to reach a steep climb up to Ystumtuen where those wishing a shorter walk can return to the cars.

Next there is a pleasant stroll down to the Gorge at Parsons Bridge followed by a more strenuous climb past a small ancient stone circle to the top of the ridge overlooking the old mines and down to the cars.

Total distance: six miles.

No dogs please.

Holy Trinity Church

ON Thursday, 30 May, members of Holy Trinity Church, visited the Jubilee Storehouse Foodbank at St Anne’s Church, Penparcau (see photo above).

The visit included an interesting talk by Malcolm Dye, in which he explained how the volunteer-run system of distributing food parcels works, and a look inside storehouse itself.

On 18 June, Holy Trinity, St Michael’s, St Anne’s, Santes Fair and Llanerchaearn Churches will be inaugurated as a Local Ministry Area. The service, at 7pm in St Michael’s Church, will be led by the Bishop of St Davids, Rt Rev Joanna Penberthy.

Then, on 21 June, AberOpera will be staging a concert at Holy Trinity Church at 7pm, which will include a performance by Holy Trinity’s Children’s Choir.

Admission is free, but there will be an opportunity to give a donation towards the cost of the event, with any surplus proceeds going towards the work of the church.

All are welcome at these events. Pictured: Juliet Saunders with Malcolm Dye in the Jubilee Storehouse.

Aber Opera

ABER Opera’s concerts are always a delight and are now a well-established part of the Aberystwyth music scene, attracting a very good regular following of opera lovers who enjoy splendid renderings of a wide range of operatic choruses and solos.

Their next concert is on Friday, 21 June at 7pm in Holy Trinity Church to raise money for church funds.

A warm welcome is extended to all to what should be a concert with a slightly different slant, as a result of a very special addition to the programme.

Normally in Aber Opera’s concerts the two halves of the programme have an instrumental interlude whereby an up and coming young soloist is invited to bring an instrumental flavour to the concert.

However on this occasion in Holy Trinity, this will not be happening in the first of the two interludes, as the youngsters of the Church’s Children’s Choir will be singing.

The choir is thriving as it comes to the end of its first year and David Cooper, one of Aber Opera’s tenors, and the choir’s leader, has been asked to bring them to the concert to sing one or two items for the audiences enjoyment.

The youngsters will be singing a two part anthem by Humperdink and contrast this with an item from Swingin’ Samson.

They will be accompanied by Baylee Schutte, their regular accompanist.

A couple of the young choristers are unfortunately away on the concert day and several Aber Opera Ladies have stepped into the breech to support the others.

The concert should be a real treat for Aberystwyth music lovers in that some of the youngsters are both very talented instrumentalists and singers, several having had successes in the recent Urdd Eisteddfod in Cardiff.

Forum for elderly care

A PUBLIC meeting of the North Ceredigion Forum for Elderly Care was held on 23 May at the Aberystwyth Town Council Offices.

Chaired by Mark Williams, the main topic on the agenda was the decision to cancel a proposed public meeting due to a turn around by the county council, preventing the director of social services and the Cabinet member for adult services from attending.

Consequently an invitation was extended to the chief executive and leader of the council who declined due to ‘the nature of the meeting’.

An offer for a small delegation of forum members to meet with senior council members and officers at Canolfan Rheidol was unanimously rejected by a show of hands.

A saddened Mark Williams said: “We are extremely disappointed that first having agreed to attend the proposed meeting at Neuadd Goffa, they (the county council) then withdraw because of the “nature of the meeting”.

“We are unrepentant about that. It was to be a public meeting to enable the public to question the county council and Hywel Dda University Health Board about the direction of health and social care policy. The offer of a private meeting is unacceptable.”

The forum secretary, Patricia Bates is to formally ask what the county council means by “nature of the meeting” and the forum resolved to challenge the county council if it feels that it is not meeting its duties to transparent and inclusive local government.

Appreciation was shown towards Peter Skitt of Hywel Dda University Health Board (not present) for his continued willingness to attend the proposed meeting and in summation Mark Williams said: “We believe in transparency and openness even if the county council struggles with these concepts. We are grateful that the health board were prepared to attend. But in the spirit of joint working, collaboration and accountability, Ceredigion County Council should have been as well.”

Commenting at a later point, Mr Skitt stated: “I remain fully committed as does the health board to continued engagement with our service users.”

The next meeting is scheduled for 20 June, at 7pm at Aberystwyth Town Council Offices. Public meeting, all welcome.

U3A

THE speaker for May needed no introduction, Roger Boyle, a Professor of computer science at Leeds who was involved with a computer project at IBERS in recent years.

He has many hobbies and interests including organising various groups for the U3A.

Mr Boyle gave a fascinating talk into the reasons why a Victorian innovation failed.

On paper, the atmospheric railway was a sure winner but used in-service a failure. Examples were given at Dalkey Railway,that utilized pressure going uphill and gravity for downhill.

During an incident in 1844, the piston carriage was not coupled to the train, triggering a fast descent of eighty-four miles carrying one frightened but uninjured engineer, Frank Ebrington.

Roger demonstrated in-depth, the attempts of engineers in overcoming the limitations of various valve gears or pistons.

There was an enormous public interest in the ideas surrounding atmospheric railways. Attracting the attention of many eminent engineers of the day.

The next talk on 20 June at 2.30pm will be Dr Ania Skarzynska (senior archivist); Mapping Aberystwyth.

The U3A offers interest groups to members; German conversation, poetry appreciation, Welsh, cribbage, Literature, philosophy, classics, outings and a recorder group.

The meetings are held at the Morlan centre the annual subscription is currently £15 (due 1 January).

Anyone is welcome to attend a ‘taster’ of monthly meetings, for up to two visits for which there is a small charge of £2 per visit.

For new members joining between September and December there is a reduced rate subscription.

More information can be obtained on the U3A website.

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