THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

St David’s Church, Bath Street

MORNING Service at 10.30am with Rev Jenny Garrard; no evening service.

Ramblers

IN its last few miles the Afon Rheidol meanders through an everwidening valley before reaching the sea at Aberystwyth.

Upstream at Cwm Rheidol the valley sides are fairly steep and this is the destination for Michael and Val’s (01970 832937) moderatelystrenuous six-mile ramble on Saturday, 28 September.

The route includes both sides of the valley and crosses the river by a footbridge near Aberffrwd and another near the Rheidol Falls.

The Vale of Rheidol railway is also crossed twice.

There should be good views of the valley from the higher ground gained by ascents through the woodlands of Cnwch yr Arian and Coed Dol-Fawr.

The starting point is the picnic area next to Cwm Rheidol Reservoir (Grid ref: SN 695796) at 10.30am with an option to meet earlier at 9.45am at Plascrug Leisure Centre.

Trained assistance dogs only please.

Gwerin Aber Folk

ON 18 September at Ceredigion Coliseum Museum, they welcomed several new performers and audience members to the inspiring location of Ceredigion Coliseum Museum.

They were entertained by seven performers, and also has an artist in attendance.

Daniel Laws, the evening’s MC started with The Bargee, followed by The Fox, inspired by an encounter when working on late night shifts around the university.

He ended with Moving on about how we all evolve and cope after large changes in our lives.

Ben Maxted followed with a song about broken relationships, backed by Daniel on guitar. Ben then did a vocal solo and ended with the song Changingman (by Paul Weller) interspersed by blues harp.

David Hilliard, a first-time visitor who had travelled 40 miles from Llanwrthwl, started with a Tir Na Nog song. He then told them about a Shakespearian group called Willow Globe and performed The Willow Song which had been created for an Othello performance.

David finished with the Simon and Garfunkel song America.

Jon Bell, was next up playing Anglo Concertina, and sang and played The Reed Cutter’s Daughter before moving to sing one of his own sea shanty compositions, Blodwyn waits, about the end of sailing ships from Porthmadog. John finished with Hunting the Squirrel.

Welcome returner, Keith from Ffostrasol was next. He started on mandolin and did an excellent performance of a tune that neither he nor we knew the name! He moved to an autoharp, originally an Oscar Schmidt instrument, this had been heavily modified by Keith to offer more chords than normal whilst also providing more strumming space. The well-known Summertime was followed by a song about the death of ale houses and them being replaced by posh pubs with wide screen TVs and restaurants (I wonder where we can name that has done that in recent years!).

Ruth Owen gave an unaccompanied rendition of On a Monday morning and an amusing folk alphabet song poking fun at typical incidents in folk songs. She finished with a Frankie Armstrong song.

After a short break, Ava started the second half by reciting some of her excellent poetry. Walk Man’s Walk was followed by another poem about a chance encounter with an Amazonian women in an airport.

A second performance at folk club was given by Copper singing The Magpie.

Daniel Laws performed our second song of the evening to be inspired by a squirrel! Ben and Daniel then performed the Elmore James song Can’t hold out.

David Hilliard retook the stage to perform Norman and Norma about a couple who got married in Cromer and then showed his multi-lingual skills performing Bamboléo in Spanish, a song made famous by the Gypsy Kings.

Jon Bell performed a song about the fishing trade, Keith did his final item and Ava recited a poem inspired by Glastonbury Tor before the evening was brought to a close by Ruth Owen singing a Farewell song.

Visiting artist Ruth Koffer produced several line drawings over the period of the evening. Her work is currently on display in exhibitions at Aberystwyth Arts Centre and MOMA in Machynlleth and she is offering expressive portrait training some Fridays at the museum. Do you enjoy most styles of folk and roots music or great folk poetry? Would you like to perform?

Do you just want to experience great entertainment in a very friendly atmosphere? If so, why not join the next night on Wednesday, 2 October, Ceredigion Coliseum Museum starting at 7.30pm - entrance free (doors open 7pm). More details can be found at https://www.facebook. com/groups/GwerinAberFolk/

50+ Forum

AT the last meeting of the Aberystwyth 50+ Forum, Sam Denton, deputy director of the Community Health Council (CHC) for the Hywel Dda area, spoke about the organisation and its work.

He explained that the CHC is a national body that represents NHS patients throughout Wales, with a local organisation in each Health Board area. He stressed that the CHC is not part of the NHS but is an independent, statutory body, set up by an Act of Parliament in 1974 to represent patients and act as an official, NHS ‘watchdog’.

The CHCs locally are made up of a number of paid staff and a voluntary membership drawn from the local community.

As a body representing NHS patients, the CHC has several functions.

Because not everyone has a good experience of the NHS, it provides a complaints advocacy service to help patients make their complaints more effectively.

Members and staff visit a variety of healthcare settings to talk to patients about their experiences - good and bad - in order to get a snapshot of what is happening in a particular service, at a particular time.

The CHC also acts as a scrutiny body working closely with the Health Boards to ensure that current and proposed changes to services meet the patients’ needs.

Through meetings, visits to local events, feedback from local organisations and individuals etc, staff and members try to ensure that a good cross section of community views are passed on to the Health Boards.

Sam then talked about some of the issues that the CHC is dealing with locally: the increasing demands on the NHS as life expectancy rises, the staffing crisis in hospitals and GP surgeries, and the need for radical change to deal with these issues.

He gave a number of examples where the local CHC has provided input to the Health Board: the proposed brand new hospital near to Carmarthen which aims to amalgamate services, increase efficiency and provide a centre of excellence to attract more staff to the area; the move from hospital settings to community based medicine in order to enable patients to be treated closer to home; the issue of transport for patients, etc.

His talk was followed by a lively question and answer session which included the proposed closure of Banwy ward, the complaints system, the methodology used when visiting healthcare settings, and the effectiveness of the Community Health Councils.

If you would like to contact the CHC locally, their telephone number is: 01646-697610

The next meeting of the Forum will be on Wednesday, 25 September, at 2pm in St Paul’s Methodist Centre, Queen’s Road, when Peter Skitt, NHS county director for Ceredigion, will be talking about his work and the issues he deals with which are relevant to older people in the area.

If you would like to join the forum, go along to the September meeting or contact the chairperson, Cllr Mair Benjamin on 01970615854.

Merched y Wawr

CYNHALIWYD cyfarfod cyntaf y tymor ar 16 Medi. Croesawyd yr aelodau gan Dana Edwards, llywydd y noson. Dymunwyd wellad buan i Ann Evans ac Elisabeth James sydd yn ysbyty Bronglais.

Cydymdeimlwyd â Beti Wyn Davies a Jenny Greaves a gollodd anwyliaid yn ddiweddar. Llongyfarchwyd Lynne Blanchfield am ddod yn ail yng nghystadleuaeth Barddoniaeth y Dysgwyr yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Llanrwst. Mynychwyd y Penwythnos Breswyl gan rhai aelodau, cafwyd adroddiad manwl gan Beryl Jenkins roedd yn amlwg bod pawb wedi mwynhau’n fawr iawn. Cyflwynwyd yr adroddiad ariannol gan Delyth Fletcher. Croesawodd Dana ein gwraig wadd sef Heiddwen Tomos o Bencarreg ger Llambed.

Mae’n wraig fferm, yn fam i 3 o blant ac yn Bennaeth Cyfadran y Celfyddydau Mynegiannol yn Ysgol Bro Teifi, Llandysul.

Mae’n llenor amryddawn sydd wedi ennill sawl gwobr cenedlaethol gan gynnwys stori fer Taliesin ar Radio Cymru yn 2015, y Fedal Ddrama yn Eisteddfod Sir Fôn yn 2017. Cyhoeddodd ei nofel gyntaf D?r yn yr Afon yn 2017, daeth ei nofel Esgyrn yn agos i’r brig yng nghystadleuaeth Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen yn 2018.

Cawsom ganddi ychydig o’i hanes a’i diddordebau. Disgrifiodd y ffordd mae’n mynd ati i ysgrifennu a llunio cymeriadau, darllenodd rhannau o’r ddwy nofel gan rhoi awydd arnom i’w darllen.

Diolchodd Dana am noson arbennig iawn i ddechrau’r tymor.

Cafwyd amser i ymlacio dros baned a baratôwyd gan aelodau Penygraig.

Y Clwb Darllen

BRAF oedd cael cwmni Beti Griffiths i drafod ei hunangofiant Rho I Mi Nerth yn y Clwb Darllen pnawn Llun, 16 Medi.

Stroke Club

ON A glorious sunny morning, 56 members of the club made their way to Pencarreg Caravan Park on September 18 for the monthly lunch outing.

The chairwoman greeted everyone and introduced two new members. Jean did the rounds with the raffle tickets, with lots of interesting prizes on view.

Lunch was then served and a most enjoyable meal was partaken followed by a sweet and tea or coffee.

The 750 draw then took place, John going round to pick out the numbers, Audrey reading out the names, Jen filling the form and Sylvia doing the cheques and handing them to the lucky winners in the room. A good joint effort.

Jean and Myfanwy then distributed the prizes from the raffle table.

Thanks to the staff for a lovely meal and making the day so good.

Audrey, the social secretary then spoke about the forthcoming Turkey/ Tinsel weekend in Llandudno on 13 – 16 December. People can let her know if you wish to join us. The next luncheon is to Ty-Glyn Aeron on 23 October.

Then it was time to leave in brilliant sunshine and battle home through the busy roads.

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