THE latest community news from Llanilar

WI

THE group had a very interesting evening with two guest speakers, Roger and Mercedes Mills.

They were introduced by Judy Lile and had come to talk about Argentina and Patagonia.

Mercedes Mills herself was originally from Argentina but had met her husband, Roger, while he was studying in Buenos Aires.

They married and eventually made their home in Aberystwyth. She said that Argentina was made up of five regions, one of which is Patagonia where the Welsh settled in 1865. A deal had been negotiated with the Government in Buenos Aires that Welsh settlers were welcome to settle in Patagonia.

The Welsh people originally settled in the Gaiman where the main towns in the area are called Rawson, Trelew, Gaiman and Dolafon.

After some years they found that they needed more land and they had heard from the local Indians that there was fertile land available at the foot of the Andes. They called this Cwm Hyfryd and today the two main towns here are called Esquel and Trefelin.

Aberystwyth has been twinned with Esquel and they both work hard to keep this going. They visit Argentina regularly and in particular Patagonia.

They were thanked by Althea Tyndale and the competition of a Green Heart was won by Pam Jennings, 2nd Judy Lile 3rd Jayne Askie. The raffle was won by Barbara Auty.

On 26 February an enjoyable evening was spent in the company of Mary Turner Lewis. She had also brought along her husband and Gwenno Watkins who work hard to preserve the Samplers at the Museum in Aberystwyth. One of the members, Althea Tyndale has also done work on samplers. They take them out of their frames and stitch them onto a padding board. They are very old samplers made mainly between 1827 and 1886, but they do have one dated 1612 and they are made by girls aged nine to 13 years old. They are mainly made in English and will usually have symbols such as animals or flowers. Strawberries are popular – a perfect colour. They can have the alphabet, a religious theme or a memorial sampler.

A very interesting evening.

Members had brought along Fair Trade items which were raffled and the winners were Janet Parry, Judy Lile and Maureen Edwards.

The WI is organising a trip from Llanilar to Liverpool on 12 May. There are still seats available on the bus should anybody wish to join them.

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