THE latest community news from Barmouth

WI

THE meeting began with Jacqui the President welcoming the members and the guest speaker Dianna Tregenza.

Some of the Barmouth WI members have taken part in the project that is underway at Bangor Cathedral to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice and to remember the 40,000 men and women from Wales who died in World War I.

The aim is to knit 40,000 poppies which will be displayed in the Cathedral from the beginning of September until Remembrance Sunday.

Their contribution so far is 375 poppies and they are still knitting.

Janet read the County Newsletter and items of interest were noted along with dates of forthcoming events beginning with a Vintage Tea afternoon at Llanelltyd Village Hall, the centenary garden party on 17 July, treasure hunt in Barmouth on 18 July, and the Netta Cup in August.

Mari reported on the recent visit to Plas Newydd, Anglesey, giving a brief history and description of the elegant house and stunning scenery and the time spent at the Toll House.

Mari also reminded us about the Meirionnydd County Show exhibition of member’s work, celebrating 150 years; the theme being past and present.

Janet then read the report from Jan Coles on the two-day visit to Cardiff for the NFWI AGM.

The speaker, Dianna Tregenza gave an extremely interesting and enlightening talk about the efforts made by the Cambrian Beach Guardians to clean up the coastline of Wales and their commitment to recycling marine litter and promoting the use of biodegradable materials rather than plastics.

The presentation was powerful and thought provoking in showing us the damage that we are doing to our environment and the legacy that we are leaving for future generations.

As a community we should all be working together to improve the sea and beaches.

The winner of the raffle was Pat Bunce, Rose won the flowers and the winner of the competition ‘Message in a bottle’ was Mary Smallwood.

BATALA Bermo

BATALA Bermo turned up the heat performing their Brazilian rhythms at the Barmouth Paddlesport Festival on Saturday.

Later in the evening they played for a Hand Fasting Ceremony in Ynysymaengwyn, Tywyn.

On Wednesday seven members of the band are off to Rome to join more than 100 Batala drummers from around the world to perform on the streets of Italy.

If you feel up to the challenge workshops are 7pm to 9.30pm every Wednesday at The Venue.

Batala Bermo will give you a warm welcome and you will make many new friends.

Paddlefest

GLORIOUS weather welcomed the Mawddach Paddlefest to Barmouth last weekend attracting both competent paddlers and novices alike to the harbour.

Run on both Saturday and Sunday by the Merioneth Yacht Club, the event was to raise funds for Hope House/Ty Gobiath Childrens charity.

Guided Paddle, Canoe Marathon. Celtic Rowing Challenge and the ever popular Raft Race took place over the two days.

‘Taster’ days have always been important to the Paddlefest encouraging all age groups to come and try the multitude of sports available on ‘the water’. This year was no exception.

Saturdays raft race, the ‘Beryl Clark Trophy’ attracted sixteen entries which was won by HMS Hank.

The ‘Fastest Ladies Team’ was the ‘Shropshire Ladies’.

The ‘Blue Light Trophy’ for the emergency services team went to Team Phil McCracken.

On Sunday, Y Teirw, sponsored by Eleanor Davies Opticians, Dolgellau won the raft race.

It was crewed by players past and present from Dolgellau Rugby Club.

The clubs second team were a minute behind.

The fancy Dress award went to Seas The Day, an outstanding attired group of Oompa Loompa characters from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The 20km Marathon Winner were David Hatton in the K1 Class and

Ben Edom in the Veteran Ski Class.

Bowls

ONCE again the weather provided the perfect setting, and on 9 June, the green, resplendent, after much TLC from the never tiring members’ attention, could not have been improved for the Local Derby match, Fairbourne versus Barmouth.

On this occasion, Fairboure team proved to be better by far, and beat Barmouth 9 to 3, Barmouth need to up our game if we are to retain the much coveted shield.

The return match is fixed for the 21 July at Fairbourne. We hope Barmouth team is in better form then.

On the 16 June, unfortunately, one of the very few poor weather days, rain stopped play for the ladies v gentlemen game.

However, after a short while the sun shone again, and several members played on the slightly damp green, so the day was not entirely lost.

The 23 June the ladies doubles match took place.

Always a popular game, which this year was won by Margaret Williams and Pam Payton, playing Pauline Owen and Sue Curme. Margaret is the club’s vice chair, and Pam Treasurer.

However, Pauline and Sue gave the winners a very good game, as runners up, since both are relatively new members, and should be pleased with the result, as it was no push-over for the winners.

On 28 June, Anne Vaughan Jones, brought her local Barmouth Guides group to sample he joys of bowling.

The club encourages these young people to continue with this excellent game, which is not onlyan enjoyable event but provides healthy exercise and is definitely good fun for all ages,

The 30 June, one of the hottest days of the summer so far, was almost too much for players taking part in the Wales v England game, so hot in fact that the normal playing time was curtailed to avoid player fatigue.

However, Wales beat England once again.

Sailors’ Institute

THE annual coffee morning, the event many of the loyal supporters look forward to each year, is to be held in the Arts Room of the Dragon Theatre on Thursday, 12 July at 10am until noon.

As usual there will a raffle, table top sale together with a cake stall where our own artisan bread will be available.

This year, in addition to the above, we are lucky to have the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales in attendance.

When the team visited the Sailors’ Institute in March, they were so pleased with their reception, they asked if they could visit again and it was suggested the coffee morning would be appropriate.

They have a project commemorating the Forgotten U-boat War around the Welsh coast 1914-18.

A short presentation will be continually shown during the morning and representatives will be on hand to answer questions about the project.

They are particularly keen to have participation from the public and ask if anyone has any Great War stories to tell or items of memorabilia (letters home, photographs, stories, etc) which can be scanned and then feature on the Peoples Collection Wales website: www.peoplescollection.wales

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