THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

Wildlife Trust

The North Ceredigion Section of the Wild Life Trust South and West Wales’ programme of monthly evening meetings got under way on Monday, 2 October in Lecture Theatre C22 in the Huw Owen Building on the Penglais Campus, with chairman Fiona Corke welcoming a very big audience – including a good number of students – to the meeting.

After the section updates, she warmly introduced Sue Parker of First Nature who went on to deliver an illustrated talk, on the wild orchids of west Wales.

A highlight of her talk was her pointing out which of the Wildlife Trust Reserves and which National Nature reserves, many of the species she was talking about could be found at the right time of year.

The next meeting of the section is on Monday, 6 November and has a marine theme with Organisation Cetacea volunteer Elfyn Pugh speaking about being On the Trail of the Whale.

All are welcome to the meeting which gets underway at 7pm in Lecture Theatre C22 in the Huw Owen Building. More information is available on the section’s activities from the secretary, David Purdon on 01970 871012.

Plascrug Bridge Club

HERE are the recent winners.

19 September – 1. Jacqui Roberts and Mair Jenkins; 2. Mike Yeo and Ian Finlay; 3. Sue Sherman and Anne Edwards

26 September – 1. John Holmes and Alan Stein; 2. Jeff Thomas and Gwynant Edwards; 3. Ian Finlay and Mike Yeo

3 October – 1. John Holmes and Alan Stein; 2. Mair Jenkins and Jacqui Roberts; 3. Mike Yeo and Ian Finlay; 4. Margaret James and Pamela Woodhouse.

Beekeepers Association

With Autumn now arrived, practical beekeeping for 2017 has come to an end; but the Aberystwyth Beekeepers’ winter programme of meetings on the third Tuesday of every month in the Waunfawr Community Hall is now starting.

The meeting on Tuesday, 17 October is the Annual Honey Show which gets under way at 6pm.

The schedule was distributed to members in the association’s autumn newsletter and in addition to the usual honey classes, the show also has photo and honey cake making competitions.

All beekeepers are also invited to take along samples of their 2017 honey for everyone present to taste and finally decide at the show on the best tasting honey of the year.

The show is always a very entertaining evening with a lovely supper of varied items both savoury and sweet brought by members.

The Honey Show is also an ideal opportunity for anyone contemplating starting beekeeping in 2018, to go to and introduce themselves to the association and above all find out more about the wonderful craft of beekeeping.

Further information on the Honey Show, the association and its activities, is available from the secretary, Ann Ovens on 01970 832359.

RWFCA Aberystwyth Branch

FOLLOWING a number of late apologies the slightly depleted meeting got underway at 8pm at the RNA Club.

As they now have bi-monthly meetings and don’t hold a meeting in August, this was the first meeting since the end of June, which meant there was quite a number of items on the agenda to deal with.

For information a good report was given on the Passendaele Commemorative Trip at the end of July, beginning of August.

All who travelled from Aberystwyth had a long but enjoyable journey and the itinerary included the National Commemorative Service at Langemark in Belgium which was moving experience.

Feedback given on the annual reunion in Wrexham, a great time was had by all who attended and a special mention must go to the Band 3rd Battalion Royal Welsh (all reservists) who gave an outstanding musical extravaganza at the ‘Beating of the Retreat’ on Llwyn Isaf prior to the annual dinner.

Paul Hinge, the Hon Secretary, informed the meeting that the branch report for this last year together with photographs had been sent to RHQ Cardiff for publication in the 2018 Regimental Magazine and he’d had confirmation that they’d been received.

Although St David’s Day 2018 is over six months away to get a chief guest has always been a tortuous duty.

This time they’ve had confirmation from the new Regimental Adjutant that he’s accepting the invitation for 3 March 2018.

Venue to be confirmed.

A Commemorative Stone was laid in Llanbadarn Fawr for Brigadier Lewi, Pugh Evans’s 100th anniversary of the day he won his Victoria Cross Commanding 1st Lincolnshire Regiment in 1917, at 2pm on 4 October.

Next up will be the Annual RBL Festival of Remembrance (see local press for details).

Finally, and before the next meeting, Remembrance Sunday, 12 November, also a minutes silence observed in Owain Glyndwr Square on Saturday, 11 November at 11am.

The next branch meeting will be on 22 November RNA Club at 8pm.

Parkinson’s Support

ABERYSTWYTH Parkinson’s Support Group held a very successful taster day at Aberystwyth Football Club on Tuesday, 3 October.

About 40 people gathered, including many friends from Newcastle Emlyn’s own Parkinson’s Support Group, and refreshments for all started the day off.

They started with Boccia (chair Bowls), a new experience for many; followed by Fiona, who led all in a programme of Keep Fit which she carried out with music, and which she explained had evolved to enable older people to retain muscle strength when mobility was beginning to become a problem.

Everyone enjoyed food by Ruth’s Kitchen.

After eating there were games to play, including Bottle-Top-Challenge, Jenga, and others including Dominoes, with much laughter and more chat.

During the whole day, Meg Taylor-Mills gave 10 minutes of massage therapy to many people, although regretfully, not everyone had the chance for this.

Hilary and Flic gave all a chance to do some artistic creativity, and finally to finish there was a sing-along, with a number of well-known songs, with Christine as a very able accompanist.

They finished with a rousing rendition of We do like to be beside the seaside.

Last, refreshments were enjoyed, while all the raffle prizes were drawn.

Again, friends from Newcastle Emlyn managed to win the top two prizes of a hamper, and a voucher for a meal for two with wine donated by the manager at the Starling Cloud.

Feedback gave a resounding vote of success for a really enjoyable taster day, with a vote of thanks to all who had worked hard in the organisation of all the activities.

The next Caffi Clonc will be at the Starling Cloud for coffee/tea at 2.45pm to 3.45pm on Wednesday, 11 October, and the next meeting will be at the Rugby Club as usual on Monday, 23 October, when they will have a visit from Medwyn Parry and his Blood Bikers Wales.

Rotary Club

THIS week’s speaker was Beverly Dimmock, visitor experience manager at the RSPB reserve at Ynys-Hir, who gave an excellent talk about the origins of the RSPB and the creation and ongoing development of the reserve at in the Dyfi Valley, just outside the small village of Eglwys Fach.

RSPB owes its creation to the campaigning work of Mrs R Williamson and the Duchess of Portland, who in 1889 formed a society to raise awareness of the damage done to exotic birds by the fashion at that time of wearing feathers in women’s hats.

By 1904, their society led to the creation the RSPB, now the largest environmental charity in Europe with over 1.2 million members.

Ynys-Hir was created as a bird reserve in 1969 through the efforts of three local bird enthusiasts, who recognised its potential as providing a range of bird habitats at the edge of the Snowdonia National Park.

Extending over 800 hectares, the reserve encompasses woodland, saltmarsh, wetland and meadowland and its visitor centre attracts tourists from the UK and around the world.

Its hosting of the BBC’s Springwatch programme over several seasons some five years ago increased its profile enormously and brought significant financial benefits to the area.

Spring and early summer are especially busy at the reserve as migratory birds arrive in large numbers from Africa to set up nests in the woodland, among them chiffchaffs, swallows and pied flycatchers.

The winter brings in migratory birds from the north, including barnacle and Greenland white-fronted geese, goldeneye, teal, shovelers and wigeon.

Much work has been done in recent years to improve ground conditions for lapwing, including re-profiling of ditches, controlled water management and keeping sheep and cattle of key areas in the breeding season.

This has brought considerable benefit not only to the lapwing and other birds but also to mammals such as brown hare and otters who frequently entertain visitors to the reserve.

Warm thanks were given to Beverly for her well illustrated and very interesting presentation.

Aberaid event

ABERAID will be holding a ‘Get Together’ event next weekend to thank its supporters and announce some more good news.

The Aberystwyth-based refugee support group is inviting people to attend the Aberaid Get Together event at The Morlan Centre, Queens Road, between 2pm and 4pm on Saturday, 14 October.

Ben Lake will also be in attendance as the group plan to thank their supporters, give an update on their recent work and officially announce their status as a registered charity.

The news comes after the group announced it had raised £20,000 to enable another Syrian refugee family to settle in the town through the Home Office’s Community Sponsorship Programme.

Free entry and refreshments provided.

Gwanwyn Club

THE Gwanwyn Club has invited people to a free exhibition on Thursday, 12 October, between 2pm and 4pm at The Round Studio, Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

Please join to celebrate the wealth of creativity by older people in Ceredigion as we celebrate the work of Wales’ first ever Gwanwyn club.

With an array of exhibitions and live readings from The Gwanwyn Club Writers Group.

The Gwanwyn Club is a full-day arts club for the over 50s that offers a programme of weekly events to create opportunities for people to meet new friends and try out a whole range of new creative activities and experiences.

Inspired by other clubs across the UK such as Meet Me at the Albany in London; described as “the kind of stereotype-smashing thing that sticks two knitting needles up at anyone who dares assume a day centre for older people is about flower arranging and endless cups of tea”.

Gwanwyn has offered this refreshing attitude to older people in and around Aberystwyth since May and ZEST is a culmination of their work created over the past six months.

The Gwanwyn Club is a partnership between Age Cymru, Age Cymru Ceredigion and The Creative Learning Department, Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

Funded by The Arts Council Wales.

If you are interested in finding out more please contact Gwanwyn on [email protected] www.gwanwyn.org.uk

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