THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

Beekeepers Association

THE November meeting of the Aberystwyth Beekeepers Association was held last Tuesday evening, 21 November in the Waunfawr Community Hall.

Twenty seven beekeepers were in the hall to hear a very good talk from Shiobhan Madison.

She is a final year PhD student in Aberystwyth University and has been researching some of the recent changes in British Beekeeping practices that have come about.

The threat of climate Change and the real possibility of the Asian Hornet, becoming a serious pest in the near future, could become major issues for beekeepers to have to deal with.

To this end she brought along one of the Thorne’s Asian Hornet Traps which beekeepers across the country are being encouraged to buy and set out baited, in order to ascertain whether the Hornets have established in their localities.

Looking forward to Spring, the Association will be repeating a beginners taster weekend in May and anyone interested in taking up the craft should get in touch with the secretary, Anne Ovens.

Museum ball

FOLLOWING the summer success of dancing on Monday evenings in the Ceredigion Museum, Aberystwyth Welsh Folk Dance Group will once again be dancing and playing at the museum, this time for the Christmas Mistletoe Masquerade Ball.

The ball will begin after the close of the Aberystwyth Christmas Market, on the same day that the lights are switched on.

There will be the chance to dress up, dancing, hot mulled wine and food.

Choral Society

THE Aberystwyth Choral Society’s Christmas Concert is now only three weeks away and the society has been very active recently in raising funds to meet the considerable costs of staging a concert with professional conductor, soloists and orchestra.

The recent coffee morning held in the Waunfawr Community Hall raised some £420 and this was considerably enhanced by a very generous donation.

Last Saturday morning saw some 40 members of the Society on the balcony of the great Hall singing carols during the Arts Centre Food Fair.

The conductor was Gareth Kelly.

The concert will be in the Great Hall of the Arts Centre on Saturday, 16 December, at 7.30pm and the four soloists are: the soprano, Zita Syme; the mezzosoprano, Kathryn Turpin; the tenor, Stephen Anthony Brown; and the baritone, Charles Johnston.

The works being performed are the Mozart Requiem, the Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Handel’s Zadok the Priest.

The conductor will be David Russell Hulme.

Christian Aid

NEXT Sunday is Advent Sunday and the start of the new Christian year and the build up to Christmas; and what is for many a time of plenty with friends and families coming together.

However, there are many people, not only in this country but throughout the world, who face a bleak, lonely and hungry Christmas.

Christian Aid is a national charity which raises funds for such people throughout the world irrespective of race, creed or religion.

In the Aberystwyth area, many churches and chapels support the work of Christian Aid, and the monthly Bread and Cheese frugal lunches provide both an opportunity to meet together and raise funds for the work of Christian Aid throughout the year; during the last year raising over £2,300.

The next of these will be held at St Paul’s Methodist Centre on Monday, 4 December, from noon to 1.30pm and Christian Aid Christmas cards will be available to purchase.

Floral Society

IT was with great pleasure that the society welcomed their president Donald Morgan, owner of Blodau’r Bedol, Florists in Llanrhystud to an evening entitled Festive Flowers on Friday, 17 November.

Members and guests were treated to a fantastic evening in Llanfarian Hall with festive refreshments, raffles and sales table.

For Donald’s first striking design, he depicted a Christmas pudding using a large brown round pottery container and Sunflowers, palm leaves, berries and a few stems of beautiful pink/brown tinted orchids.

The second design was a board of very colourful Christmas parcels of purple, green, red, orange and yellow and on this he constructed a two placement design.

The third design was a beautiful silver stand with stars attached and again had two placements.

In the fourth design Donald depicted the Church Window at Christmas using a very large woven basket and made a linear design.

For the final design Don used a very large beautiful pot and stand. He added Phoenix palm leaves, Fatsia Japonica, Eucalyptus, Holly, Skimmia and Acuba Japonica.

He then added some very beautiful light blue Delphiniums called Harlequin to create impact, red Dianthus, Green Anthuriums, and Orange Lillies to create a fantastic finish.

Donald dedicated the evening to members who had recently passed away, Enid Broom, Megan Davies and Meryl Griffiths. Festive music was supplied by Glynis Somers.

A raffle was drawn for the flowers and also for the Christmas raffle with the vote of thanks given by Christine Gilbert for a fantastic evening.

The next meeting will be a Christmas Workshop at Llanfarian Hall on 19 December at 7.30pm a C with seasonal buffet and lucky number draw.

Merched y Wawr

JOHN Price y gôf arian o Gorris oedd y siaradwr gwadd yng nghyfarfod mis Tachwedd o Ferched y Wawr Aberystwyth.

Dylanwadau a choronau oedd ei destun ac aeth â’r aelodau nôl i’w lencyndod ym Môn gan hel atgofion am gymeriadau gwreiddiol a ddaeth ar eu traws wrth helpu ei dad yn y becws yn Berffro.

Roedd yr arfer o roi llysenwau yn gyffredin iawn yn yr ardal yn ystod ei ieuenctid ac roedd yr atgofion yn llifo a’r dylanwadau yn bellgyrhaeddol.

Roedd cael y cyfle felly i ddefnyddio ei ddoniau fel crefftwr i gynllunio’r Goron yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Môn eleni yn anrhydedd arbennig.

Cynlluniodd hi ar gais Merched y Wawr ym mlwyddyn dathlu’r Aur, ac roedd ei adnabyddiaeth o’r sir yn gymorth wrth ysgythru ei syniadau ar y goron werthfawr.

Gwnaeth goronau a medalau lu ar hyd y blynyddoedd ar gyfer gwyliau ledled Cymru a saith Coron Genedlaethol.

Wrth roi’r diolchiadau roedd Tegwen Morris yn ymfalchio taw John Price oedd wedi cyflawni’r gamp enfawr o greu’r goron hardd ar ran y mudiad ac roedd ei arweiniad a’i gydweithrediad yn cael ei werthfawrogi’n fawr.

Yn y cyfarfod tynnodd y llywydd Megan Jones sylw’r aelodau at lansiad nofel newydd un o’r aelodau sef Dana Edwards, yn y Sioe Aeaf ar 27 Tachwedd.

Roedd yn ymfalchio hefyd yn llwyddiant tîm cwis y gangen yn y Cwis Cenedlaethol ar 10 Tachwedd.

Bydd y cinio Nadolig yng Ngwesty Antaron ar 11 Rhagfyr.

Rotary Club

MEMBERS gave a warm welcome to Steve Fearn, whose topic this week was the Aberystwyth Robotics Club, organised in the Physics Department of Aberystwyth University.

The club has been running for more than four years now and is aimed at youngsters aged 12 and above.

Currently some 30 children attend after school on Wednesdays, using the same lab facilities as undergraduate students.

The club enables youngsters to experience different types of robot technology and its uses in the real world, multiple means of motion on land and sea, and the various forms of control, including autonomous, semi-autonomous and telepresence.

Steve brought along a part of a steel claw which the club developed for its entry into the BBC’s ‘Robot Wars’ programme, which gave members a better idea of the size and strength of machine needed to compete successfully.

The club benefits enormously from the university’s involvement in the ExoMars 2020 project, major features of which have been designed and built here.

Steve showed a number of parts of the Mars Rover which had been developed to enhance the quality of pictures to taken on the next expedition, calibrate colours to assist in the identification of samples and help in navigation of the surface of the planet.

Bibliographical Group

THE Bibliographical Group met at St Paul’s Methodist Centre on Tuesday, 21 November, when the speaker was Dr David Stoker, a former lecturer in the Department of Information Studies at Aberystwyth and a member of the group’s committee.

The title of his lecture was The Cheap Repository Tracts in Britain, Ireland and America, 1795-1830.

The Cheap Repository Tracts scheme was instigated in 1795 by Hannah More to counteract the influence of popular street literature then circulating, and especially the growing influence of Thomas Paine.

The lecture was accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation showing images of many of the tracts and their striking woodcut illustrations.

Dr Stoker also brought a selection of the tracts from his own collection for the audience to look at afterwards. Members then entertained the speaker to dinner at the Marine Hotel.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 16 January, in the National Library, when Prof Matthew Jarvis will speak on English-Language Poetry and the London Welshman Magazine, 1959-1970.

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