THE latest community news from Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Services

HOLY Cross: Mass at 6pm on Saturday with Bishop Edwin. St Mary Magdalene: Mass at 11am with Bishop Edwin. St Michael’s: Morning service at 9.30am. St David’s: Morning service at 11am.

Manod Orthodox: Third and Sixth Canonical Hours at 10am followed by the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. Calfaria: United Churches service with Rhian Williams, morning. Bethel, Ffestiniog: Rev Anita Ephraim, morning. Trawsfynydd Penstryd: Rev Anita Ephraim, 5.30pm. Maentwrog: Sunday School at 11am followed by a service at 2pm with Rev Anita Ephraim.

Bro

PETER Sidebottom introduced the guest speaker Edmund Rees, from Pentrefoelas, at the English Section of Cymdeithas Bro Ffestiniog meeting. His topic was The History of Ysbyty Ifan which has a long history going back nearly 1,000 years.

The Order of St John’s of Jerusalem was formed around 1113 with the hospice being built there in 1190. In the 19th century Ysbyty Ifan and its surrounding area was a thriving place with some 900 inhabitants and with many drovers passing through. The area had two chapels, a church, shops, a mill, a blacksmith and many fairs but by now only around 200 residents remain and the church was closed this year.

Many of the prominent local estates are still in evidence and the speaker was thanked for a most interesting talk.

The last lecture will be on 13 April with its AGM at 7pm to be followed by ‘View of the Himalayas’ by guest speaker Sue Smith who is from Tanygrisiau.

Post Office

NEXT Thursday, 23 March, sees the closure of the main Post Office site on the High Street after so many years serving the community.

The present postmaster Gwynn Vaughan Jones started with the post some 39 years ago becoming its postmaster 10 years later. Both he, his wife Margaret and their staff, now and before, have really looked after and assisted where needed with any queries their customers had and they are thanked for that and wished the very best for the future.

As for the service itself it will open next Friday at 1pm in the Eurospar.

Planning

THE council has no objection to the following planning applications: 1, Structural refurbishment including installation of external cladding at 9, Tyn y Maes, Ffestiniog; 2, Retrospective application to revert an existing dwelling of 12, Glanypwll into its original form of two separate residential dwellings; 3, To demolish an existing shed at Pencae, Fuches Wen and erect an extension in its place; 4, Erect a first floor extension to the rear of 3 Mills Row; 5, Erect a garage at 15, Cwmbowydd Road; The following has been referred for pre-planning advice on the erection of dwellings on the former Gwylfa garage site at Manod.

RWF

DAVID Hatton chaired the Royal Welch Fusiliers Club’s annual general meeting recently where the following officials were re-elected: president; Lt Col Stephen Hughes; chairman - David Hatton; secretary - Michael Jennings; treasurer - Helen Jones; committee members - Alwen Jones, Glenys Jones, Mair Kavanagh, Michael Hughes and Melfyn Hughes.

Cymdeithas Archaeoleg Bro Ffestiniog

RHIAN Williams gave the society a talk on ‘Life on a Farm in the 19th Century’. The talk that was enjoyed by all present.

The first half of the lecture involved a statistical look at the farms of the area, starting with the Hearth Tax records of 1662 and 1674. In those days dwellings were taxed on the number of hearths each house had – the more fireplaces the higher the tax.

Rhian then moved on to look at certain individual farms in the Gellilydan and Maentwrog area via the Wills recorded through various years. For example in 1693/94 Jane Lloyd of Gellilydan left 20 shillings to her son Lloyd, a shilling each to two other sons and four daughters, sixpence to another son Hugh Lloyd and various items to grandchildren Jane Lloyd and Jane Hugh.

Further examples of 19th century wills were shown to compare the increase in possession value between smaller farms and their bigger neighbours. These were interspersed with photographs of the various implements used in farming during the 19th century – from cattle shoes to four wheeled ox-pulled wagons.

Berthddu farm, Trawsfynydd was chosen as an example to follow the census entries of the Roberts family from 1841 to 1871. The head of the family, William Roberts, was also a joiner and made a steady income offering his services to nearby farms and tradesmen.

Society member Bryn Jones thanked Ms Williams for her well researched and presented talk for which the audience showed their great appreciation.

The next talk will be on Thursday, 16 March. The speaker will be Clive Hudson and the subject will be ‘Ötzi – the 5000-year-old Alpine iceman’.

The talk will be in English and held at the Day Centre, Y Ganolfan, at 7pm for 7.30pm and sponsored by Magnox, Trawsfynydd.

Cymdeithas y Gorlan

CYNHALIWYD cyfarfod blynyddol y gymdeithas nos Lun, 6 Mawrth, ym Methesda. Diolchwyd i’r pwyllgor am drefnu nos-weithiau mor ddifyr ar ein cyfer a gwerthfawrogwyd y gwaith diflino gan y pwyllgor bychan. Ail-etholwyd y swyddogion presennol, sef Ceinwen Humphreys yn llywydd, Edwina Fletcher yn ysgrifenyddes a Janet Roberts yn drysoryddes. Penodwyd Annwen Jones a Dorothy Williams yn ohebwyr y wasg.

Yna cafwyd noson hynod ddifyr yng nghwmni’r Parch Anita Ephraim. Aeth â ni i Benrhyn Llyn, bro ei mebyd, drwy gyfrwng sleidiau arbennig o dda. Cyfeiriodd at Ben Llyn fel lle i “enaid gael llonydd” ond fod yr ardal honno wedi newid yn ddirfawr ers cyfnod ei magwraeth, mewn-fudo wedi newid yr hen ffordd Gymreig o fyw. Â chyfeiliant John ac Alun yn ysgafn yn y cefndir, cawsom ymweld â Botwnnog, Capel Nanhoron a Neuadd Mynytho a “adeiladwyd gan dlodi”. Clywsom hefyd am ochr wahanol i Ben Llyn, hanes y smyglwyr a’u cyffro.

Diolchwyd i’r wraig wadd, am noson amry-wiol iawn, gan Rhian Williams.

Charity

IT IS over 30 years since former town council clerk Elwyn Hughes has been the contact for the area’s The Freeman Evans St David’s Day Ffestiniog Charity which provides relief, assistance and care of elderly persons in need, the poor, and the chronically sick and disabled persons living within the districts of Blaenau and Llan Ffestiniog.

So if any resident who falls within any of the above categories they can apply for an application form from Mr Hughes at Penrhos, Wynne Road, Blaenau Ffestiniog LL41 3UH or phone 01766 831338 and applications to be received by the end of this month.

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