Clwb-y-Ddôl

At the beginning of the October meeting, Gaynor Breese, the chairman, welcomed members and asked them to stand to remember Gwen Evans, a long-standing member of the club and John Lewis, whose sisters are also long-standing members.

Tom Allday, the chairman for the afternoon, welcomed Alison Williamson who talked about the support Llanbrynmair is giving to a village in Uganda.

She described the underlying problems in Uganda. It has a population of about 35 million people and is a very poor country. It is landlocked so trade is difficult. Aid money does not always get through to the people who need help and the government is ineffective.

Things that most of us take for granted, such as electricity and a good water supply, don’t work properly and climate change has not helped. Instead of the two monsoon seasons which they used to get each year, they now frequently only get one which means there is a water shortage, and instead of the two crops they once expected every year, one of them may go to waste.

It is clear that smaller projects are more successful and in recent years it has been shown that Wales and the West Country are the areas of the UK which are best at initiating these and forming links with a specific community. In the community with which Llanbrynmair works, the emphasis is on education both for children and adults, with links to the Technical College.

Alison had some excellent pictures of the children learning, absolutely determined to make the most of the opportunities on offer to them. There is a shortage of paper but members were shown the examples of the drawing and writing the children do. With the young adults, the emphasis is on technical skills and Alison showed examples of furniture and other items they have produced, such as purses and baskets. She was thanked by Tom Allday.

Frances Fenwick, the secretary reported that the raffle the club organised at the community fair had raised £170 which would help towards the expenses of the community centre. She also drew attention to the Christmas luncheon which will be held at Maes Mawr on Friday, 11 December.

Members then enjoyed the afternoon tea, provided and served by Eldrydd Lewis, Heulwen Jones, Lynfa Williams and Anwen Hughes, who Tom thanked. The raffle was won by Jackie Evans.