Lions Club

ONCE again Aberystwyth Lions Club is appealing to the generosity of the Cambrian News readers. As part of the International Lions Clubs Reading Action Programme the club is hoping to send more new and used children’s books to parts of the world where there is a need to help extend the reading skills of disadvantaged children.In August, they sent eight very large boxes of children’s games and books, that had been kindly donated by the people of Aberystwyth and County Hall, to the Philippines. As you can see from the picture (right), these have been very much appreciated by the teachers and children.The gift of literacy is a positive way to help future generations out of poverty.As Christmas is approaching, now is the time to clear out any unwanted children’s books and help in the fight against ignorance and poverty.If you can help, contact Lions Marnie and Mike Taylor on 07968 489616. The club will collect if needs be.

U3A

AT THEIR last meeting on 18 November, members of U3A Aberystwyth were privileged to hear a masterly talk on five little-known countries in central Asia. The speaker, Thomas Brian Morgan, gave a comprehensive account of their culture, agriculture, politics, economics, environment and religion. Their small populations, 13.5mil-lion in the smallest country, are largely Muslim, and exist in their mountainous terrain by a nomadic herding of horses, sheep and goats, which in the very hot summers they move from the valleys to the cooler mountainous areas.Although these countries are now officially independent democracies, the influence of their long domina-tion by Russia, from 1920 to 1970 is still apparent. For 50 years they were under com-munist rule, and experienced brutal and terrorist conditions. Their national languages were dis-couraged, but standards of health and education improved markedly. After independence in 1990-1991 the west became involved and standards of welfare declined, and free health and education no longer exists. Child labour is widespread, together with low pensions and no equality for women, while there is no real regard for the environment. The chief influence on this region now is the rivalry between USA and Russia, caused by the plentiful supplies of coal and oil available throughout the region. Many interesting questions from the floor concluded this exceptionally stimulating session.The next session to which all are welcome will be the Christmas meeting on Thursday, 17 December. This is an opportunity for our special interest groups to give a presentation, followed by carols and mince pies. The group meets as usual at 2.30pm in the Morlan.

Oriel Flodau

ORIEL Flodau/Blossoms Gallery is a new community initiative in Aberystwyth offering a wide range of arts and creative events for locals to get involved with.Brighten your Wednesday night with the return of the popular ‘Stories by Gaslight’ this month, featur-ing Phil Okwedy and Mikey Price in Will and The Welsh Black Cattle – a collection of drover themed folk tales – on 25 November at 7.30pm.Due to popular demand please book in advance for all events.If you are interested in running an event at Blossoms, 7 Park Avenue, contact the gallery by e-mail at [email protected] or visit www.blossomsgallery.co.uk

CANTM

THE ANNUAL lunch was held at The Talbot in Tregaron on 18 November and was well attended.Author and photographer Anthony Griffiths was the speaker and he gave an excellent presentation of photos showing the wonderful scenery in Ceredigion, including standing stones and ancient hill forts.The next event will be the Christ-mas Carol Service on 13 December at 3pm at Llanrhystud Church. Members, friends and family are most welcome.

Probus

KEITH Morris, the well-known Aberystwyth photographer, was the speaker at the meeting in November. Introducing him, the president, Michael Hayward, referred to the tradition in the town of having outstanding photographers, with several based in Pier Street. Keith was in this tradition, with some of his productions appearing on the front page of national newspapers.Keith explained that his introduction to photogra-phy began some 30 years ago when the old Barn Centre became the lo-cation for around 75 artists of one kind or another. At about the same time he became involved, through the Machynlleth Eisteddfod, in theatre. These two events turned him from economist to photographer.The rest of his talk was illustrated by some of his own photographs. These covered a series of themes: a personal project, relating to people in Wales called Keith Morris, most of them self-employed, a fact which he associated with the name Keith; a project on women’s clothes, in which the women were dressed in material identical with the back-ground); and a project on bodies, in which for instance a skeleton was superimposed on a body.But the main project was report-age. Most of this consisted of photo-graphs around Aberystwyth itself, and his interest was in the story behind them – the storms of course, but also the closure of Woolworths and many others. Although he had had two large photographs on the front page of The Guardian, the payment was less than members of the audience expected.

Questions were asked about such aspects as the benefit of using an agent. Finally, the vote of thanks was proposed by David Lloyd – previously employed in television programming – who referred to the importance of Keith’s work for future generations.

Anyone interested in joining Probus should contact the secretary, John Andrews, on 01970 358095. Membership is open to both men and women. Further details are available on the website at www.aberprobus.org.uk.