THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

Parkinson UK

THE monthly meeting of the Parkinson group was held as usual in the rugby club.

The subcommittee had met and discussed many plans. It was proposed that they change from a Parkinson Branch to Parkinson Support Group, owing to the fact that we are unable to have a secretary, members voted unanimously to accept the proposal.

The annual trip had been a success.

They visited Mr and Mrs Peter Newel’s home, which was a museum of old farm implements of churns, bottles, tins of all descriptions. These were displayed in three huge sheds.

They organise open days and collect money for charity.

After the visit they visited the local pub for a tasty dinner.

After dinner they visited New Quay to go on the boat to see the Dolphins, the weather was too rough.

They then went to Penlôn Brewery for tasting their beers.

On the way back home they called at the honey farm where they had the history of the place and how the bees work.

The coffee afternoon’s on the second Wednesday of the month is still going strongly.

The half-day trip has been arranged to visit Brecon Canal and a trip to the Barges on Thursday, 24 August, leaving the rugby club at 1.15pm and apart from the canal visit we will have afternoon tea and an evening meal on the way home, the price is £15.

A taster day has been organised in the Football Club on Tuesday, 17 October, where they hope to organise various activities.

The group is celebrating being in existence for 25 years when we hope to have a number of other groups to join us.

The dinner has been arranged for Llety Parc Hotel at 12.30pm for 1pm on Monday, 18 September.

The speaker for the occasion will be Dr John Hindle, a Parkinsons specialist at Bangor University.

Anyone who has been a member of the group in the past or any new members who would like to attend can phone Hefin Jones on 01970 615177.

The speaker for the afternoon was Diane Smith from New Quay who showed slides of her life in Saudi Arabia where she spent seven years as a nanny for the son of King Fayad.

She showed slides showing the good life the royal family lived and their extravagant life.

Pat Davies thanked Diane for coming.

The raffle was won by Liz Nicol.

The speaker at the next meeting will be president Dr Phil Jones and Parkinson nurse Bethan Lewis-Price.

The meeting closed as usual with a cup of tea.

Twinning Association

2017 is the 20th anniversary of the official twinning between Aberystwyth and Kronberg.

A group of people from Aberystwyth, including members of a brass band, were in Kronberg over the long weekend of 5-6 August.

The mayors of the two towns addressed guests at the official celebration on 4 August and signed the official Kronberg book of record.

The band played at several venues over the weekend including a fund-raising event for refugees.

On Saturday, 5 August, a roundabout in the town was formally named as the Aberystwyth Roundabout.

A Welsh dragon silhouette stands in the centre of the roundabout; and there is an explanatory sign plus a Welsh slate milestone at the side.

The milestone was donated by the Aberystwyth Kronberg Twinning association.

Rotary Club

THIS week members gave a warm welcome to Hannah Glasser who gave an excellent talk on her experiences in Madagascar earlier this year.

Hannah had made the trip with the support of the Club’s Lionel White Scholarship Fund, established in memory of a former club member and aimed at young people undertaking humanitarian or environmental projects across the world.

Hannah explained that Madagascar is a very poor country of 24 million people, 70 per cent of whom have an income of less than $1 per day, and has an adult literacy rate of only 60 per cent.

She spent several weeks teaching at a local school in the remote north west of the country.

Facilities there were very basic indeed but the children and adults she taught there were enthusiastic and eager to learn, despite the occasional knee-high water in the classroom after a major storm.

The community was extremely welcoming to the team of volunteers working there and largely self-sufficient in food, particularly so as the nearest village was a 40 minute walk away over rough tracks only passable at low tide.

The closest town as we would recognise it was several hours away by boat.

She spent part of her time there undertaking environmental surveys of amphibian and reptile species in the forests and comparative studies of lemur behaviour in protected areas and the wild.

The data collected was input each day as part of a major ongoing research project on the island.

In between times, she managed some wonderful trips to exotic and beautiful locations on the island and made some friends for life from many different countries.

Hannah thanked the club for its generous support to enable her to undertake this work.

Club president Martin Davies wished every success in her studies at York University which she was expecting to start next month.If you’re a member of a club, society or group, send your news to [email protected]