THE latest community news from Aberystwyth.

CANTM

THE Ceredigion Association of National Trust Members commenced their programme for 2017 with a coffee morning in the Community Hall, Waunfawr, on Monday, 23 January, with a talk by Erwyd Howells entitled ‘The Life of a Shepherd’.The next meeting will be held at the University Club, Brynamlwg, Cefn Llan, on Tuesday, 21 February, at 11am. The speaker will be canon Hywel Jones on the subject of Llanbadarn and it’s church. Lunch of cawl and apple pie will follow. The spring trip to Buckinghamshire for five days from 24 to 28 April has proved very popular and anyone wishing to join can phone Gillian on 01970 627943.

Charity concert

THERE will be a concert of music by J S Bach in Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Place, at 7.30pm on Friday, 24 February.The programme consists of: Gigue from Suite no.3 in D; Movements of unaccompanied Bach for violin from Sonata no.3 and Partita no. 3; Cantata BWV51 for Solo So-prano, Trumpet, Violin and String Ensemble and Concerto in D minor for Two Violins.Admission is free. A collection will be taken in aid of Y Banwy Ward, Bronglais Hospital, in memory of A J S Williams who encouraged Chamber Music con-certs in Holy Trinity Church.The concert is organised by Horst Holstein. The performers all have strong connections with Aberystwyth.

Life Saving Club

ABERYSTWYTH Surf Life Saving Club celebrates yet another successful year at the awards night at Brynamlwg Club.The club has accomplished many great things in 2016, including welcoming new faces, attending numerous competitions and events held across Wales and training the next generation of life savers.Head trainer, Chris Ashman, trained 12 candidates to pass their National Vocational Beach Lifeguard Qualification (NVBLQ); the national standard for beach lifeguarding. Many of those who qualified went on to work for the RNLI, helping to keep Welsh beaches safe.In addition, 21 Nippers obtained their Nipper Surf Competency Award which aims to introduce and develop water based skills. Such skills ensure they keep themselves, as well as others, safe and help to lay the foundations for the pathway to becoming a fully qualified lifeguard.In July, 14 members represented Aberystwyth at the Welsh Championships competing against huge teams from the larger South Walian clubs. Every member performed brilliantly including Robert Glasser, 12, who placed third in the Super Nipper event; Dafydd Llyr Hywel, 9, third in the Beach Flags event; and Sophia Hollowood-Dafis, 10, who placed third in the 1km Run event.After a busy year, the club congregated for their Annual Awards Party where certificates were presented and the Club Shields were awarded (pictured above) as follows:• Most Improved Nipper Female: Cerianne Clarke• Most Improved Nipper Male: Joseph Lamb• Club Person Nipper Female: Sophia Mair Hollowood-Dafis• Club Person Nipper Male: Robert Glasser• Most Improved Junior Female: Lara Fox-Maderson• Most Improved Junior Male: James Cowan• Club Person Junior Female: Lisa Lloyd-Davies• Club Person Junior Male: Llyr Williams.During the evening, club chair, Andrew Davies, also presented honorary pin badges to all those who had represented the club in 2016.Andrew said: “2016 has been a fantastic year where the club has continued to grow and build upon our success. “We are looking forward to another outstanding summer, however, we outgrew our facilities [the old public toilets] about five years ago, and continue to search for opportunities to grow and develop the club. With bigger and better facilities, we could do so much more for local young people and the community.”Recently, the club was grateful to receive another grant from Sports Wales’ Community Chest fund which is run in partnership with Ceredigion County Council. The grant of £1,500 has been used towards purchasing four new soft racing boards to enable the younger juniors to start using full-size boards and prepare for competitions.Over the last five years, ASLSC has seen a significant increase in membership and, as a result, has a substantial waiting list. The club hopes to be able to accommodate more people in the future and anyone wishing to get involved can contact the club via e-mail ([email protected]/* */!function(t,e,r,n,c,a,p){try{t=document.currentScript||function(){for(t=document.getElementsByTagName('script'),e=t.length;e--;)if(t[e].getAttribute('data-cfhash'))return t[e]}();if(t&&(c=t.previousSibling)){p=t.parentNode;if(a=c.getAttribute('data-cfemail')){for(e=',r='0x'+a.substr(0,2)|0,n=2;a.length-n;n+=2)e+='%'+('0'+('0x'+a.substr(n,2)^r).toString(16)).slice(-2);p.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(decodeURIComponent(e)),c)}p.removeChild(t)}}catch(u){}}()/* */). Find out more about the club by visiting their website: www.aberystwythslsc.org

Welch Fusiliers

ABERYSTWYTH’S Branch of the Royal Welch Fusiliers Comrades Association held its Annual General Meeting on 25 January.The end of January each year is the time of the year when they reflect on the activities of the branch and national association.Last year was again a busy year with the first big event being the traditional annual St David’s Day celebrations, which saw Major Derek Adams and his wife Pippa join them alongside Aberystwyth mayor Cllr Endaf Edwards at the celebratory dinner.Major Adams gave an update on all matters concerning the Regi-ment and presented the certificates and leek pin badges to the ‘leek eaters’.The next event was a trip out to France in mid-July to the National Commemorations of the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Mametz Wood.Over 250 comrades from all over Wales made that trip to commemorate the sacrifices made by our regiment and others in this battle.Branch secretary, Paul Hinge, in his role as Ceredigion County Council’s armed forces champion, laid a wreath with the official party in recognition of the ultimate sacrifice made by men of Ceredigion at the Battle for Mametz Wood.Early September saw the Annual Regimental Reunion in Wrexham, with this year a new format for the event which really worked well and was enjoyed by all attending.This year’s AGM saw the following elected: Branch president, Mike Binks; branch chairman, Duncan Sykes; hon secretary, Paul Hinge; honorary treasurer, Peter Lansley; welfare officer, R M Evans; and branch standard bearer, Tony Meylor. Saturday, 4 March, is the date for this year’s St David’s Day celebrations at the Marine Hotel at 7.30pm. Contact hon secretary by 25 February, if you wish to attend. Wives, partners and any like-minded ex-forces personnel or supporters are encouraged to attend.

Public lectures

DR Owen Bennett-Jones, the renowned print and broadcast journalist and BBC foreign correspondent, will give two free public lectures at Aberystwyth University on Monday, 20 February. The two talks are hosted by the Centre for Intelligence and International Security Studies and the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies. In the first lecture Dr Bennett-Jones will reflect on his long career as a BBC correspondent and journalist. In his distinguished career.In the second lecture, Dr Bennett-Jones will speak about two of the most notorious groups in the world today, Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Students, university staff, and members of the public are invited at 3pm in A12 Lecture Theatre in the Hugh Owen Building and at 5.15pm in the Main Hall of the Department of International Politics.Floral societyCOMPETITION shields were presented at the Aberystwyth and District Floral Society’s meeting on Tuesday, 17 January, to the winners of the annual flower-arranging competitions that took place throughout 2016 running concurrently with the members’ evenings.The advanced winner was Lynne Garrett who is not present in the picture (right).The society meets every third Tuesday of the month at Llanfarian Village Hall at 7.30pm. All are welcome. Probus ClubAT the meeting on 25 January, members enjoyed an interesting and thought-provoking talk by Dr John Gee, entitled What are we doing to our rivers? We normally think of a river just as a body of moving water, flowing between defined banks, towards the sea. However, Dr Gee explained that there is more to a river system than just the river and its tributaries. Using the Teifi as an example, he showed how large the catchment area can be, where water falling on the ground ends up going down the river. Less obvious is the contribution from below the soil surface, from the water table and groundwater flow, so what happens on the land is vitally important to the quality of water in the river, and its associated wildlife.Studies of the different types of pollution that can affect our rivers can be complicated, but Dr Gee kept technical complexity to a minimum in explaining various case studies of river pollution, from Victorian London to Tregaron in 2016. He also talked about the spread of alien species in our rivers and their ecological consequences.The EU Water Framework Directive has required member states to assess the ecological status of rivers and lakes regularly, and to put measures in place to improve it.While parts of the river Teifi are now rated green, much of it is yellow, and some of the tributaries are still orange. These issues are mainly due to the effects of poor agricultural management, and the historical problem of spoil from lead and silver mines. Although the health of rivers has been improving over the last decade, Dr Gee echoed the fears of many that, by leaving the EU, these environmental improvements may be lost in the future.A convivial coffee morning was held on 8 February, with the proceeds going to the president’s chosen charity, Dementia Research. The next meeting will be on 22 February when the speaker will be Dafydd Llywelyn, Police and Crime Commissioner for Dyfed-Powys. Further details are available from the club secretary, John Andrews, on 01970 358095.Wildlife TrustTHE February evening meeting of the North Ceredigion section of the Wildlife Trust South and West Wales took place on Monday, 6 February, at 7pm in C22 of the Hugh Owen building on Aberystwyth University’s Penglais campus.Chairman Fiona Corke welcomed over 120 people to a packed lecture theatre. The meeting started with a report from Em Foot, the trust’s wildlife officer for Ceredigion, on her work in the trust’s reserves. Chloe Griffiths then outlined forthcoming meetings and activities in Penparcau and Aberystwyth before some recent sightings of wildlife in the area were enjoyed.Fiona then went on to welcome Adam Thorogood of the Wood-land Trust who gave a fascinating illustrated talk on the Woodland Trust’s work on restoring ancient woodland in mid Wales.With such a large audience, a very wide-ranging and interesting discussion ensued.The March meeting will be held on Monday, 6 March, at 7pm in C22, when Sinead Lynch of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust will be talking about ‘The Plight of the Bumblebee’.More information is available from the secretary, David Purdon, on 01970 871012.Art societyCYMDEITHAS Celf Ceredigion Art Society is pleased to welcome art historian and sculptor Peter Lord. Peter a sculptor and art historian who is regarded as a leading authority on the history of Welsh art and is best known for his books and television programmes. One of his most notable sculptural works is the Hywel Dda Memorial at Whitland. Local to Aberystwyth, he designed The Chapel of St Padarn at St Padarn’s Church. The society is looking forward to his presentation entitled Welsh Faces: Portrait painting in Wales at St Anne’s Church Hall, Penparcau, at 7.30pm on Friday, 24 February.