THE latest community news from Aberystwyth.

NHS Retirement Fellowship

FOR their monthly meetings in November and December, they were pleased to welcome two interesting speakers. In November, the speaker was Jan Young, from the Ceredigion branch of Home-Start, the UK’s leading family support charity and, in December, Pat Sani spoke on her trek to Everest Base Camp.Jan explained that Home-Start was set up by Margaret Harrison in Leicester in 1973 and it has developed into a nationwide organization also covering British Forces in Germany and Cyprus. Its aim is to support families who are finding it difficult to cope for various reasons such as illness, disability, multiple births, bereavement, post-natal depression or mental health problems and volunteers offer practical support and friendship. Referrals are mainly from health visitors but also GPs and social workers or can be self referral.

Jan concluded her excellent presentation by showing a short film which illustrated well how families appreciate and benefit from the support of Home-Start.Pat Sani gave an excellent slide presentation on her trek to Everest Base Camp. She said that her love of Nepal began on her visit in 2000. Since then she has been back six times and her talk covered her trek in 2015. She joined an organized group in Katmandu and flew to Lukla Airport from which the trek was 36 miles. Before the building of the airport, climbers ascending Everest had to trek 150 miles just to reach base camp. Her excellent slides showed the beauty of the scenery and the villages through which they walked. They included the monuments erected to Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tensing. Her commentary on her slides brought the area very much to life and it was fascinating to hear the first-hand experiences of someone who had visited such a famous area.

Members will meet on 9 January for their an-nual dinner in the Richmond Hotel.

Parkinson UK

THE last meeting for 2016 was held in the rugby club.Final arrangements were made for the Christmas dinner trip to Ffostrasol Arms Hotel, bus to leave rugby club at noon.The names were finalised for the visit to the pantomime at 3pm on Saturday, 21 January to see Jack and the Beanstalk.

When Susan Davies couldn’t come to talk about recycling, police constable Adam Foale agreed to attend at the last minute to speak about his police work. He talked about neighbouring police, the Dyfed Powys area is the lowest crime area in Britain.

The audience asked many questions. Pat Davies thanked Adam Foale for a very interesting and valuable afternoon. Raymond Parry won the raffle.The Christmas dinner was on 15 December. The meeting closed with the usual tea and cake.

Bridge Club

FRIDAY, 9 December: 1, Kim Marsh and Jeff Thomas; 2, Gwynant Edwards and Margaret Hathaway; 3, Keith Bellamy and Pat Roe.Sunday, 11 December: 1, Mike Jones and Kim Marsh; 2, Margaret James and Pat Roe; 3, Doreen Anthony and Betty Brookes.Friday, 16 December: 1, Mike Tedd and Yuan Shen; 2, Keith Bellamy and Mike Jones; 3, Dai Hayes and John Valentine.Sunday, 18 December: 1, Mike Jones and Kim Marsh/Margaret James and Betty Brookes; 3, Elenid Thomas and Pam Woodhouse.

50+ Forum

HEALTHY Ageing was the main topic at the November meeting of the 50+ Forum when Dr Marco Arkesteijn from the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural sciences came to speak to the group.People are living longer but this brings the problems of deteriorating health and loss of independence. Research is aimed at slowing down this process: “not only adding years to your life but adding life to your years”.The conclusion drawn by Dr Arkesteijn from his research, and that of others, is that keeping active and eating a healthy diet are the two most important factors in the process.Keeping active does not necessarily mean formal exercise but trying to do a little more today than you did yesterday. The target is to be active for at least 150 minutes a week, preferably spread across the week. Even if you are chair or bed bound, anything is better than lying or sitting still. But be aware of the risks, especially of falling, so find your limiting factors and work within them. The aim is to maintain muscle strength and co-ordination for as long as possible.As you exercise, the right diet is important or you can cause damage. Dr Arkesteijn recommended eating more protein as we get older.In addition to Dr Arkesteijn’s very interesting and informative presentation, a representative from Age Cymru Ceredigion told the group about the services they provide in the county. The main ones are financial advice and advocacy, particularly help with claiming benefits, and their cleaning service, which can include a bit of local shopping, laundry and ironing as well. Finally, William Troughton, author of Aberystwyth Through Time, gave a short taster of his work, showing ‘then and now’ pictures of Aberystwyth from the early 20th century to the present time. Unfortunately, time caught up with us and his talk had to be curtailed. The forum is hoping he will be able to come back at a later date to show us more.Early December brought two Christmas lunches for the forum: one in Gannets and one in the Canolfan Rheidol. Both provided a very enjoyable start to the festive season.The next meeting of the 50+ Forum will be at 2pm on Wednesday, 25 January, in St Paul’s Methodist Centre. Meetings are open to all over 50. If you would like more information, please get in touch with the chairperson, Mair Benjamin, on 01970 615854.

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