THE latest community news from Aberystwyth

Mind

MIND Aberystwyth is currently running an ecotherapy group.

The service takes place at a local woodland and can accommodate around 12 participants per session.

The service runs from 12pm to 4pm every Thursday and incorporates a variety of activities, such as woodland management, bushcraft, walking, nature identification and craftwork.

The aim of the service is to improve people’s mental and social wellbeing through outdoor activities in nature.

It costs £1 per session and all you need to do to take part is register as a member with Mind Aberystwyth.

Mind Aberystwyth is also seeking volunteers to help run the service. This is a great opportunity that will teach a variety of useful skills and greatly enhance any CV.

If you are interested in attending the service or volunteering, please email Mind Aberystwyth at: [email protected] or call 01970 626225.

Cylch Cinio

DAETH nifer dda o aelodau ynghyd ar nos Wener, 12 Ionawr, i gyfarfod cyntaf y flwyddyn gan fwynhau noson gymdeithasol yn Clwb Rygbi Aberystwyth.

Lle delfrydol i rhai aelodau fedru dathlu buddugoliaeth y Scarlets!

Dymunodd y cadeirydd Flwyddyn Newydd Dda i bawb wrth groesawi y siaradwr gwadd Rheinallt Llwyd.

Roedd yr aelodau yn ddiolchgar iawn iddo fedru dod ar fyr rhybudd.

Mae Rheinallt yn frodor o Faengwynedd, ond treuliodd y rhan fwyaf o’i blentyndod yn Nolwyddelan a Thaicynhaeaf (ger Dolgellau).

Addysgwyd yng Ngholeg Prifysgol Cymru Aberystwyth a Choleg Llyfrgellwyr Cymru.

Bu ar staff Llyfrgell Ceredigion cyn dychwelyd fel aelod o staff Coleg Llyfrgellwyr Cymru (Adran Astudiaethau Gwybodaeth, Prifysgol Aberystwyth, yn ddiweddarach) tan ei ymddeoliad yn 2006.

Mae wedi cyhoeddi nifer fawr o lyfrau.

Mae’n amlwg fod ardal Llangwyryfon, Trefenter a’r Mynydd Bach yn bwysig iawn i Rheinallt a thestun y sgwrs oedd Cymeriadau y Fro.

Fel un oedd wedi byw yn yr ardal am flynyddoedd, roedd gwybodaeth Rheinallt am gymeriadau y fro yn enfawr.

Cafwyd sgwrs ddifyr iawn a oedd yn dangos pwysigrwydd cofnodi hanes cefn gwlad.

Mae nifer o lyfrau wedi eu cyhoeddi am yr ardal gan awduron fel Wil Griffiths, Jez Danks a Peter Lord.

Rydym wedi mwynhau cwmni y tri yma yn y gorffenol yn y Cylch Cinio.

Mae yn dda gweld hanes o’r fath ar gof a chadw.

Diolch yn fawr iawn i Glwb Rygbi Aberystwyth am ei croeso a swper blasus.

Talwyd y diolchiadau gan Geoff Davies ac enillydd y raffl ar y noson oedd Dai Rudge.

Byddwn yn cwrdd mis nesaf ar nos Wener, 9 Chwefror, yng Ngwesty’r Richmond ac edrychwn ymlaen at noson ddifyr arall.

Y siaradwr gwadd y noson honno fydd Dyfrig Davies o gwmni Telesgop a chadeirydd Urdd Gobaith Cymru. Croeso cynnes i aelodau hen a newydd.

Cymdeithas yr Aelwyd

NOS Wener, 12 Ionawr, croesawyd yr Athro Rhys Jones o Adran Daearyddiaeth a Gwyddorau Daear, Prifysgol Aberystwyth, gan ein llywydd anrhydeddus Hefin Jones.

Soniodd Rhys sut y sefydlwyd yr Adran 100 mlynedd yn ôl gyda nawdd sylweddol gan deulu Davies Llandinam.

Dan arweiniad pobl fel H J Fleure, Emrys Bowen, Alwyn D Rees a Harold Carter cafodd yr adran enw o fod yn un o’r goreuon drwy wledydd Prydain.

Mae’r adran wedi arbenigo ar ddehongli Cymru a’r Cymraeg a dangosodd Rhys gyfres o fapiau seiliwyd ar waith ymchwil arloesol yr adran.

Un o’r mapiau diweddaraf yw’r un sy’n ceisio darogan sut y byddai miliwn o siaradwyr Cymraeg, sef nod y llywodraeth, yn cael eu dosbarthu ledled y wlad.

Day of prayer

ST ANNE’S, Penparcau, is the host church this year for the local English Women’s World Day of Prayer service which will be held on Friday, 2 March, in the Salvation Army Citadel in Alexandra Road at 7pm.

This year’s service has been organised by Christian Women of Suriname, and has the theme ‘All God’s Creation is Very Good’.

Suriname is a sovereign state on the north-eastern Atlantic coast of South America.

It is the smallest country in South America and is bordered by French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west and Brazil to the south.

The service itself involves women from many of the congregations of churches and chapels across Aberystwyth and is a friendly and welcoming evening, with a lovely opportunity for socialising in a warm, friendly environment over a cup of tea afterwards.

All are invited to this special occasion.

Christian Aid

CHRISTIAN Aid is a national charity which raises funds for people in need 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 to raise funds for the work of Christian Aid throughout the year.

Monday, 8 January, saw the first of the year’s frugal lunches in St David’s Church, Bath Street and it was well supported.

Later in the week the local area committee under the chairmanship of Dr Arnold Smith, met to continue planning activities in the Aberystwyth area.

During the meeting the committee decided on its next big project to support, and has chosen a community partnership scheme to create jobs for young people in Ghana.

This is a country where almost half of the young people are unemployed and the scheme is meant to help young people aged 15 to 35 to set up businesses to support themselves and their communities.

Aberystwyth Christian Aid has committed itself to raising £5,000 by the end of 2019 for the Ghana Project, and for every £1 collected, the EU will add as match funding, a further £3.

As this might be the last EU match funded project to which Aberystwyth Christian Aid will be able to subscribe to before the UK leaves the EU, the committee is now writing to the Department for International Development to urge the Secretary of State to provide equivalent match funding from the Foreign Aid Budget post Britain’s departure from the EU.

In recent years, with the support of people in the Aberystwyth area, the committee has successfully raised £5,000 for each of the eight projects it has supported in different countries of the world.

Adding the EU match-funding, £160,000 has been raised.

Further information on the work of Aberystwyth Christian Aid is available from the Rev Adrian Williams, the Local Christian Aid secretary on 01970 12500.

U3A

ON Thursday, 16 November, at the Morlan Centre, Mary-Ann Constantine gave a talk to the members and guests on the subject of ‘Curious Travellers Adventures in 18th century Wales’.

Her current work is focused on travel writing, the Welsh tour and the writings of Thomas Pennant (1726-98).

On Thursday, 21 December, at the Christmas festival held at the Morlan Centre, two of the special interest groups made presentations.

The poetry group had asked in advance for people to nominate poems to read, under the skilful leadership of tutor Hugh Parry.

The literature group read excerpts from ten plays and were able to vote for those we wished to hear a longer excerpt from.

A lovely tea was provided for members and guests at the end of the festival.

Thanks go to all for their hard work in organising a very successful afternoon..

On Thursday, 18 January, from 2.30pm - 4pm at the Morlan Centre, Mike Lewis will give a talk on the subject of ‘The Lone Welshman at Custer’s Last Stand’.

Rotary Club

AT the first meeting of the New Year, the club extended a warm welcome to Prof Elizabeth Treasure, who had been appointed vice chancellor of Aberystwyth University last April.

The removal of the cap on student numbers in England has led to major expansion in some universities (20 per cent in Cardiff, for example), which, coupled with the introduction of full cost fees of £9000, has caused significant problems for those which had failed to maintain their numbers.

Aberystwyth was in this latter group as the undergraduate intake has fallen from a historic high in 2010 to around 2000 or so in recent years.

This has resulted in a loss of more than £20m fee income each year, necessitating a review of current staffing levels and activities.

There are opportunities for Aberystwyth in all this. Where numbers have increased there is evidence in some universities of a decline in standards, outcomes and the student experience.

The university has engaged marketing experts to advise on how it can take advantage of these trends and reposition itself, building upon its improved league table ratings, bringing it back to its pre-2010 position, and its more recent award of Times University of the Year in Teaching Quality.

This will focus on the unique features of the university, its surrounding environment and the high quality student support which has continued to improve, despite recent challenges.

It will also work to achieve as major increase in overseas student numbers, where the university has been underperforming in recent years.

Prof Treasure was delighted to have won £5m of Welsh Government funding towards the redevelopment of Pantycelyn, due to re-open in 2019, and is working with internal and external partners and UMCA, the Welsh Students’ Union, to ensure that we have a vibrant Welsh student community by reversing the decline in numbers from Wales by then.

Of the two other major projects in hand, Old College is due to revamped, with significant support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, bringing potential financial and cultural benefits for the town and university alike.

She mentioned that the Gogerddan Campus redevelopment may be delayed slightly as costings are carefully reviewed.

Other issues she has been dealing with include the fall out of the Mauritius Campus enterprise, where further recruitment will be stopped. The university continues to focus on research opportunities across the university to maximise impact and funding wherever feasible.

Prof Treasure is looking forward to the 150th anniversary of the university on 2022 and will work with staff, students and the community to ensure its continued success.

In response, past president Dr John Harries, former pro vice chancellor of the university, thanked Prof Treasure most warmly on behalf and members and their guests, for such a wide ranging and enjoyable presentation and wished her and the university every success, particularly given its importance to the town and the keen interest with which its future is followed by local people.

CANTM

THE Ceredigion Association of National Trust members has a full programme of events for 2018 starting on 22 January with a coffee, cake and talk by Michael Freeman on a History of the Summit of Snowdon to be held at Waunfawr Community Hall at 10.30am.

On 21 February, they meet at Brynamlwg at 10.30am for a talk by Cyril Baker of Jewellery House, Aberystwyth on the History and Importance of Welsh Gold.

Deposits are now required for the five-day trip to Dorset on 16 to 20 April so get in touch with Gillian.

Parkinson UK

THE Parkinson group had a very festive time before Christmas.

On Tuesday, 12 December, a number visited the church in Penrhyncoch, which had been decorated with Christmas trees, which very many clubs and members had decorated.

As a number of members live in Penrhyncoch and had been involved in decorating some of the trees, they had a warm welcome and the decorated trees were well worth seeing.

To crown the afternoon they had tea and mince pies.

The villagers of Penrhyncoch are to be congratulated for their hard work.

On Thursday, 14 December, members made their way to Plas Antaron, Penparcau for their Christmas lunch, which John and Gloria made sure the food was up to the usual standard.

Christine Reynolds said grace.

After the second course, 35 children form the local school, Llwyn yr Eos, entered and it was decided they would wait for their sweets and let the food settle and listen to the children entertain with the rendering of a number of carols with their teacher Catherine Medi Jones, conducting assisted by Jamie James.

Hefin Jones thanked the children and their teachers for giving up their time and coming over to entertain.

Before leaving, the children had juice and mince pies.

After eating the sweets, the raffle was held of a Christmas hamper and various other prizes.

Barbara Couling won the hamper, which was the second hamper that she had won that week.

All members went home with their stomachs stretched after the chairman thanked the Plas Antaron for a lovely meal and wishing everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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