THE latest community news from around Aberystwyth.

U3A

An appreciative audience enjoyed the U3A talk given by Dr Roger Boyle on 20 October. He entertained members with an account of his interesting investigation of the architecture of Montague Burton’s shops.

The speaker began with a brief biographical account of Burton, who emigrated to Leeds from Lithuania when he was less than 20 years old, and immediately acquired the premises which became his first shop.

By 1920 there were 60 of his shops in Britain, all selling ready-made clothing. His first shops were in rented premises, but he quickly began building to his own specification, so that by 1939 there were 595 shops throughout Britain, all looking the same and prominently displaying the architectural features which characterised a Montague Burton shop. Most were on a corner site, and were of two stories; only the ground floor was the retail section; the upper floor was a sports hall, deliberately designed to encourage young men away from licensed premises into an atmosphere of a gentlemen’s club; as obvious in the retail ground floor!

Burton’s phenomenal success can be seen as a result of his philanthropic approach; he is often credited with changing tailoring from its earlier reputation of sweat-shop labour. Indeed, his attitude to his workers bordered on the paternalistic: with many ‘social’ services like doctors always available on many of his sites.

It is remarkable that even today with many of his premises having been taken over by other companies, many of his original buildings are still standing, and proudly displaying the famous logo of Montague Burton.

The next meeting of U3A will be held in Morlan at 2.30pm on Thursday, 17 November, when Dr Brian Davies will be talking on ‘William Morris’s Chemical Adventure’. All are welcome to attend.

Floral Society

The second meeting of the year attracted nearly 30 enthusiastic members and visitors ready for a workshop at the hall in Llanfarian.

In charge of the workshop was Iona Davies from Tregaron, who used to run a flower shop in Aberaeron.

Her theme was autumn and Hallowe’en, and she showed us how to make an arrangement that would be suitable for both using a pumpkin.

Her easy-going approach allowed everyone to tailor their arrangement to their own tastes. Iona gave members various tips and then showed different ideas, again using pumpkins as the base, with all the arrangements having a different twist.

Many thanks were given to Iona for coming to share her ideas with the society.

Next month the society has its grand Christmas floral demonstration at Ysgol Penweddig on Thursday, 17 November, 6.45pm, to start at 7.30pm.

The demonstrator is Kathy Lee from Whitland, with her title being ‘Christmas is Coming’. This promises to be a fabulous evening with a chance in the raffle to win her arrangements.

The society’s normal meetings are usually held on the third Tuesday of every month at Llanfarian, but December’s meeting will be on 13 December with a seasonal demonstration by Donald Morgan, president.

Stroke Club

The October outing for the club was to the Bowling Club in Tregaron on 19 October, when 50 members travelled there by coach and car on a pleasant sunny but nippy day.

The chairman welcomed everyone present, along with two new members. He then said grace in Welsh and English before members sat down to a splendid meal catered by the Tregaron Rugby Club staff. Whilst tea and coffee were being served, the 650 club numbers were drawn and the many cheques written and dispersed amongst the happy crowd. The usual raffle was organised by Jean, with lots of prizes donated by the members, for they were thanked.

Audrey, social secretary, reported that the next venue for the November lunch on 16 November will be the town’s football club, not as stated on the membership cards.

All that remained was for the chairman to thank the staff at both the bowling and rugby clubs for the great day out and to get to the coach for the journey home.

Cymdeithas yr Aelwyd

Llywydd yr Aelwyd eleni yw Hefin Jones a’i westai arbennig nos Wener, 21 Hydref, oedd Steff Jenkins.

Bu Steff yn gysylltiedig â Gwersyll yr Urdd yn Llangrannog er 1965, fel gwersyllwr pan oedd yn fachgen ysgol (ac wedi casau’r lle!), fel swog, fel aelod o’r staff, ac yna fel pennaeth hyd at ei ymddeoliad llynedd.

Soniodd Steff am ei fagwraeth yn ardal Gymraeg Blaendulais a phwysigrwydd yr Urdd iddo yn ystod ei ieuenctid. Yna cawsom gipolwg ar sut y datblygodd Gwersyll Llangrannog ers ei sefydlu yn 1932.

Diflannodd y pebyll a’r cabannau pren ac fe gafwyd datblygiadau sylweddol sydd wedi galluogi’r Gwersyll i groesawu dros 20,000 o wersyllwyr y flwyddyn erbyn hyn. Cyflogir dros 100 o bobl yno, llawer ohonynt yn bobl ifanc lleol.

Fel y gellid disgwyl roedd gan Steff lond gwlad o hanesion am sefyllfaoedd doniol, hwyl ddiniwed a throeon trwstan i’n diddanu.

St Padarn’s Church, Llanbadarn Fawr

Bell-ringing practice continues each Thursday evening at 7.30pm, and this autumn has been quite surprising in that for the first time there have been no student ringers or prospective student ringers joining the ranks.

Ringers and prospective ringers are always welcome at Thursday evening practice nights, and now is a good time to start learning as there is only one beginner learning at the moment - a lady from Pontrhydygroes, who was inspired by the magnificent ringing she heard at a bell-ringer’s wedding on Saturday, 17 September. She is thoroughly enjoying learning and making very rapid progress.

This Friday, 28 October is the Feast of the Apostles Simon and Jude, and the Feast will be marked by a special bilingual celebration of Holy Communion in the Lady Chapel at 10am.

On Sunday, 30 October, the 10am Welsh Service is being brought forward to start at 9.30am in order to facilitate the serving of tea and coffee in the church hall between the two services, and creating the opportunity for both congregations to meet informally.

The bells will be rung from approximately 10.30am to 11.10am, giving the English congregation an opportunity to hear them.

Services will thus be:- 8am Holy Communion using the 1984 red book setting; 9.30am Cymun Bendigaid and 11.15am Choral Eucharist.

Cambrian Floral Society

ON Wednesday, 5 October, the chairman, John James, welcomed Lynne Breeze on her first visit to the society as the evening’s demonstrator.

She began her demonstration using a container made entirely of twigs and created her striking design with foliage, bullrushes and proteas. To follow, she made a ball-like arrangement placed in a tall, glass vase lined with leaves of the Japanese Aralia plant. For this she used large blooms of hydrangea with a new variety ‘yellow atoni’ gerberas woven through the design.

For her third arrangement she chose a long green trough for her container and created a design with six white ericas, sunflowers, green mist chrysanthemums, big daisies, feverfew, Kermit chrysanthemums and fern. To complete the arrangement, the trough was placed within a picture frame with a rabbit as an accessory.

As bonfire night is fast approaching, her next design depicted the fiery colours. All the material was grouped within a gold urn container. Marie Clare roses, orange calla lilies, large bronze chrysanthemums, orange twigs and eucalyptus leaves were used for this meticulous design. At this point refreshments were served by Eirlys and Eluned Evans.

For the finale, an alternative Christmas tree was arranged within three boxes. Red roses hand-tied with glitter thread, cones and acorns were used and the finishing design was lit up with battery lights, which gave everybody some new ideas for the forthcoming festive season.

Marian Weston gave the vote of thanks for a truly inspirational evening.

The November meeting will be held on Wednesday, 2 November, at Bethel Chapel Vestry, Baker Street, at 7pm. This will be a workshop by Nicola, who will be instructing members on how to create an alternative to the traditional Christmas tree. A list of requirements/details can be obtained from the secretary by phoning 07580 776302. All are welcome.

Rotary Club

The club gave a warm welcome this week to Gemma Freedman, volunteer co-ordinator of Radio Bronglais. The station has been operating for 49 years and is one of the oldest in continuous operation in the UK, a remarkable achievement in such a small town. This is a great credit to its dedicated team of volunteers who provide such a valued service to the hospital and its wider community.

It broadcasts 24/7, with a mixture of recorded music and around 70 hours a week of live programmes, working in collaboration with hospital managers and heads of wards to ensure that it fits into their day-to-day working. Its ward visits are highly regarded by patients and its own volunteers as a means of changing perspectives on a typical stay in hospital.

The broadcasts on FM 87.8 have a normal range of 12 miles over land, further over sea, so its listeners are not restricted to the hospital building itself.

Radio Bronglais is totally reliant on its own fund-raising activities and has operating costs of £3,000 to £4,000 a year, including its broadcast licence. It benefits from a team of enthusiastic and multi-skilled volunteers but is always looking for new pools of talent to tap into and help it develop in a manner consistent with current needs.

Gemma extended a warm invitation to the club to visit the Radio Bronglais building, built with Lottery support in 2000.

Rotarian Hywel Davies thanked Gemma for her stimulating talk and acknowledged the breadth of experience in broadcasting that she brought to her current role.

Merched y Wawr

Cynhaliwyd ein cyfarfod mis Hydref yn Festri Morlan ar drydydd dydd Llun yn y mis yn ôl yr arfer.

Roedd amryw o faterion busnes i’w trafod cyn i’n llywydd Delyth Evans gyflwyno ein siaradwr gwadd sef John Hughes, gwr ifanc o Wyddelwern, ger Corwen yn wreiddiol a aeth ymlaen i astudio a graddio mewn cyfrifiadureg ac a fu’n byw a gweithio am rai blynyddoedd yn Rwsia. Priododd ferch o’r wlad honno a dysgodd dipyn go lew o’r iaith.

Mae ei ferch sydd nawr yn naw oed yn dair ieithog ac yn rhugl mewn Rwsieg, Cymraeg a Saesneg. Tiwtor yng Ngholeg Ceredigion yw John Hughes erbyn hyn, a’i wraig wedi dysgu Cymraeg, a’i ferch yn ddisgybl yn Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth.

Pwnc y sgwrs oedd Rwsia a thrwy gyfrwng lluniau diddorol cawsom gipolwg ar ymateb y siaradwr i’r wlad.

Fe ddysgon ni lawer iawn drwy’r sgwrs fywiog a gafwyd am sut mae’r Rwsiaid yn byw.

Canolbwyntiodd ar eu hadeiladau lliwgar, hen a diddorol, a’u bwyd a diod syml ond gwahanol. Dyna ddifyr gweld sut roedd y Rwsiaid yn lapio babanod mewn siol!

Diweddwyd y noson gyda phaned wedi ei pharatoi gan griw Penparcau.

Plascrug Bridge Club

RESULTS on 4 October were: 1 Doreen Anthony and Dylan Raw-Rees, 2 Jo Davies and Elenid Thomas, 3 Margaret Ellis and Sue Sherman.

And the results on 11 October were: 1 Mair Jenkins and Jacqui Roberts, 2 Pamela Woodhouse and Margaret James, 3 Alun Richards and Mike Yeo, 4 Betty Brookes and Gill Joel.