lampeter grapevine issue 2 september 2012

16
G R A P E V I N E contact us: [email protected] september 2012 a m F R E E d d i m digwyddiadau, newyddion a barn llambed bob mis / lampeter’s events, news and views monthly wild wales tourists: obtain them and sustain them listings p2, letters p5, serial p6, he borrowed wales p10, slugs p4

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Page 1: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

G R A P E V I N E

contact us: [email protected] september 2012

a m

F R E E

d d i m

digwyddiadau, newyddion a barn llambed bob mis / lampeter’s events, news and views monthly

wild

wales

tourists: obtain them and sustain them listings p2, letters p5, serial p6, he borrowed wales p10, slugs p4

Page 2: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

2

G R A P E V I N E no. 2, September 2012

Victoria Hall, Bryn Road, Lampeter,

Ceredigion, SA48 7EE

email: [email protected]

Published by Transition Llambed

Development Trust, Victoria Hall,

Bryn Road, Lampeter, SA48 7EE

www.transitionllambed.co.uk

Printed by TSD reprographics,

Lampeter

editor: Andy Soutter

listings: Annie May

advertising: Tricia O’Kane

distribution: Gro-Mette Gulbrandsen

design & page makeup: Captain Cat

admin: Dr Vole

inspiratrix: Linda Winn

listings are free. To list your event send

details to Annie May at

[email protected]

advertising rates: 1/4 column £10; 1/2

col. or double 1/4 col. £20; 1/4 page

£25; 1/2 page £40; full page £70.

Personal ads: up to 3 lines £2; up to 6

lines £4.

copy date: October issue: 15 Septem-

ber. We prefer electronic files, and

email for communications.

circulation: 1,500 copies distributed

free in the Lampeter area

what’s going on listings are free. send details of your event to [email protected]

movies

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (12), Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock. Friday

24 Aug., Cellan Millennium Hall. Doors

open 7.15, programme 7.45. Admission

by donation, £2.00. Big screen & digital

theatre sound.

Mirror, Mirror (PG) Julia Roberts. Fri-

day 7 Sept., Cellan Millennium Hall.

Doors open 7.15, programme 7.45. Ad-

mission by donation, £2.00.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (12),

Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas.

21Sept., Cellan Millennium Hall. Doors

open 7.15, programme 7.45. Admission

by donation, £2.00.

music Cardifest: Goldie Lookin’ chain, the

Blims and Fountainhead headline this

new festival, which also features several

local outfits. Cardigan, 31 August–2 Sep-

tember. All the info:

www.cardifest.co.uk

The Castanet Club welcomes Smudger

& Friends featuring Jester Band. 1 Sep-

tember from 7pm, Victoria Hall, Lam-

peter. An extravaganza with jugglers,

comedian, and lots of musicians. £5.

Good food on sale. BYO bottle.

move your body Zumba keep fit session with Julie Lan-

caster. Tuesdays 7..30pm till 8.30pm,

Victoria Hall, Bryn Road, Lampeter. Info 01570 470542

Zumba keep fit session with Louise Ev-

ans. Wednesdays 7pm till 8pm. Victoria

Hall, Bryn Road, Lampeter. Info 07584

199372.

Lampeter Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with

Mike A. Banica. Thursdays 6pm till

8pm, and Sundays 7pm till 9pm. Victoria

Hall, Bryn Road, Lampeter. Info 07783

582081.

Boxersize. Body conditioning and toning

keep fit session with Andy Jacques. Sat-

urdays 2pm till 4pm. Victoria Hall, Bryn

Road, Lampeter. Info 07703 722344.

Line Dancing Mondays 7–10pm, Cellan

Millennium Hall. Info

www.cellanmillenniumhall.co.uk

Healing Yoga, Tuesdays 10–11.30am,

Cellan Millennium Hall. Info

www.cellanmillenniumhall.co.uk

Tai Chi , Tuesdays 6–8pm, Cellan Mil-

lennium Hall. Info

www.cellanmillenniumhall.co.uk

Yoga, 5.30–7pm Wednesdays, 10–

11.30am Thursdays, Cellan Millennium

Hall. Info

www.cellanmillenniumhall.co.uk

Five Rhythms Dance, 1st Thursday of

Month 7pm, Cellan Millennium Hall.

Info www.cellanmillenniumhall.co.uk

health Breathworks Mindfulness-Based

Stress Course, September 2012. At the

Millenium Hall, Cellan, Lampeter. Sun-

day September 2nd, 16th, 23rd (10am–

2), 30th (10am–4) Course Fee: £180,

includes handouts and 3 CDs. £140 low

income £100 benefits. Booking is essen-

tial. More info from Dr Colette Power.

Phone or text 07890 835 873.

email:[email protected]

www.mindfulnesscourse.co.uk

sport Clwb Rasio Harnais Llambed / Lam-

peter Harness Racing Club. The big

fixture: the last of this summer’s

Ceredrotian meetings. Children’s enter-

tainment, bar and catering facilities,

bookmakers. Admission: adults £7, chil-

dren under 16 free; group discounts.

2pm, Saturday 1 September, Pentre

Farm, Llanfair Clydogau, SA48 8LE .

More info: www.ceredrotian.com

TRANSITION LLAMBED’S BIG GATHERING VICTORIA HALL

3rd THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH ALL WELCOME

COME ALONG AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

WANTED journalists, writers, artists,

photographers, cartoonists

and contributors of all kinds

young or old,

aspiring or experienced

we need your stuff to make

this paper work !

we’re not hard to find:

see sidebar on page 2, or

turn up at victoria hall’s

big gathering

on the third thursday of eve-

ry month

Page 3: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

3

friday movies

Aug. 24 “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” (12) Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock

Sept. 7 “Mirror, Mirror” (PG) Julia Roberts

Sept. 21“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” (12), Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas

Oct. 12 “Moonrise Kingdom” (12) Bruce Willis

Oct. 26 “Dark Shadows” (12) Johnny Depp

Nov. 9 “Woman in a Dressing Gown” (12) Anthony Quinn

Nov. 30 “Men In Black 3” (PG) Will Smith

DOORS OPEN 7.15. PROGRAMME BEGINS 7.45. ADMISSION BY DONATION £2.00

BIG SCREEN & DIGITAL THEATRE SOUND

WWW.CELLANMILLENNIUMHALL.CO.UK

CELLAN MILLENNIUM HALL CLASSES AND GROUPS

Classes are subject to change: please see www.cellanmillenniumhall.co.uk for updates, contact details and the film page for up and coming movies

MONDAY Quilting (NEW VENUE: info 01570422066) RAY Ceredigion Play Sessions 4–6pm Line Dancing 7–10pm

TUESDAY Healing Yoga 10–11.30am Lampeter Home Education Group 12–5pm Qui Gong 6–7pm Tai Chi 7–8pm Beekeepers 2nd Tuesday of month 8pm

WEDNESDAY Table Tennis 10am–11.30 Craft Makers Collective (from 5 Sep-tember) 1–3pm Yoga 5.30–7pm

THURSDAY Yoga 10–11.30am Five Rhythms Dance 1st Thursday of Month 7pm Village Improvement Society 1st Thursday of month 7pm WI 2nd Thursday of month 7pm

FRIDAY Art Group 10–12.00am Film Night fortnightly 7.15pm

SATURDAY Seventh Day Adventists fortnightly 10.15am–3.15

Lampeter Farmers

Market

Market Street, Lampeter

9.00am – 2.00pm

alternateFridays

Women’s Workshop

St James’ Hall, Cwmann, Lampeter 10.30am–3pm Wednesdays

The hall has disabled access and toilet, and a free car park

11am Qi Gong-gentle exercise 12 noon lunch 1pm workshop

Autumn Workshops Wed. 5 September: craft Wed. 12 September: cookery Wed. 19 September: painting Wed. 26 September: craft Wed. 3 October: Celebrate National Poetry Day Wed. 10 October: quilting Wed. 17 October: craft

Only £2.50 a session, pay on the day, no membership fee or advance fee to pay, drop in when you please. Come and see if you like our group. New members always welcome. £2.50 includes vege-tarian lunch and all activities More de-tails: 01570 423167 / 01545 590391

religious services and

groups

Lampeter Parish

St Peter’s Church, Lampeter. Main

Sunday Service: 11.00am (bilingual).

Other services: 8am Holy Communion

(English). 9.30am Cymun Bendigaid

(trydydd Sul yn y mis yn unig, Cym-

raeg).

St Cybi’s Church, Llangybi. Main

Sunday Service: 9.00am (bilingual).

St Bledrws’ Church, Betws Bledrws.

Main Sunday Service: 10.45am (English

or bilingual).

St Sulien’s Church, Silian. Main Sun-

day Service: 2.00pm (blingual or Cym-

raeg).

St Mary’s Church, Maestir. Main Sun-

day Service: 2.30pm (second Sunday in

the month only, English).

Times apply to the first four Sundays in

each month. For the few fifth Sundays

there will be a single United Parish Ser-

vice at 10am: the location will be pub-

lished in the local newspapers. St Peter’s Church Hall in Lampeter

is available for hire at £8.50 per hour.

The hire charge includes use of the

kitchen facilities. For enquiries or book-

ings contact Beryl on 01570 422 324.

For more information visit:

www.lampeterparish.org/

Annual summer fete, St Peter’s Church

Lampeter, Saturday 1 September,

10.30am–12.00. Entry by donation for

which you will get a complimentary

drink and naughty but nice cake. Kids’

games & prizes, raffle, cakes & produce,

bric a brac, bookstall. A warm welcome

is extended to all.

Monthly Hunger Lunch in support of

Christian Aid Food Project, St Peter’s

Church Hall, Lampeter, Friday 7 Sep-

tember, 12.00–1.30pm. There is no fixed

fee for this two course lunch but all do-

nations received go to the Christian Aid

Food Project. A warm welcome to all.

Seventh Day Adventists meet fortnight-

ly on Saturdays at Cellan Millennium

Hall, 10.15–3.15. More details:

www.cellanmillenniumhall.co.uk

Lampeter Evangelical Church

meets every Sunday at Victoria Hall,

10am–7pm. Contact Gareth Jones at The

Mustard Seed. Tel. 01570 423344

An introduction to Buddhism group

with Steph Jacques. 2nd Thursday of the

month, 7–9pm, Victoria Hall, Bryn

Road, Lampeter. Info 01570 422273.

Page 4: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

4

victoria hall bryn road, lampeter

activities and classes

Monday: 2pm till 3pm Herbalife weight watching session with Hazel Pugh. Tel: 07854 743291 Tuesday: 730pm till 830pm Zumba keep fit session with Julie Lancaster. Tel: 01570 470542 Wednesday: Fortnightly. Young at Heart. Tea and sandwiches for the wiser folk of Lampeter. 130pm till

430pm Wednesday: 7pm till 8pm. Zumba keep fit session with Louise Evans. Tel: 07584 199372. Thursday: 6pm till 8pm Lampeter Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Mike A. Banica. Tel: 07783 582081 Thursday: Second of the month 7pm till 9pm An introduction to Buddhism Group with Steph Jacques. Tel:

01570 422273 Thursday: Third of the month 7pm till 9pm Transition Llambed ‘Big Gathering’. A chance for all those in-

terested and involved with Transition Llambed to plan and coordinate activities. Everyone welcome! Friday: 430pm till 630pm LYTSS: Lampeter Youth Theatre and Stage School with Annie May. Tel: 01570

423077 Saturday: 2pm till 4pm Boxersize. Body conditioning and toning keep fit session with Andy Jacques. Tel:

07703 722344 Saturday: 2nd and 4th of the month. 10am till 1pm. Lampeter People’s Market. Local food, produce and

crafts. Plus cafe and other various attractions. Sunday: Lampeter Evangelical Church 10am till 7pm Gareth Jones at the Mustard Seed. Tel: 01570

423344 Sunday: 7pm till 9pm Lampeter Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Mike A. Banica. Tel: 07783 582081

serious about slugs maj ikle

Perhaps the best pest in wet Wales today is our apparently infinite

selection of slugs. Born as tiny clear pinheads, they grow rapidly,

gorging on our favourite green vegetation, until some are as big as

sausages.

Slugs eat everything they can, including taking the odd chunk

out of one another. Given the choice however, they like the most

delicate of plant parts - enough rainfall, and they have the ability to

eat a whole garden crop in less than one night.

These soft-bodied garden community members have become

many a normally pleasant, patient vegetable gardener’s sole hate

figure – forcing them, frothy-lipped, to murder, evict, poison and

maim without apology. Our gardens have become a battleground

with one particular party taking the whole thing very personally.

But consider the cost, when we find ourselves so angry and defeat-

ed in our very own green zone? What herbivores don’t consider, as

they sprinkle the salt, is the damage they are doing to their own

soul.

Slugs are not out to get us, they are just grabbing a quick bite at

teatime, and so what, you don’t like the look or feel of them? Slugs

probably think we take more than our fair shares sometimes too.

However hope of reconciliation is here: salvation and soul dam-

age retrieval could be close at hand. There is something you can do.

Creating a slug sanctuary, in the form of a well-sealed, in-full-

sun compost container where these slow movers can be safely re-

housed, turns every sighting from a gnashing of teeth to a moment

of excitement. Assiduous after-dark collection, and relocating slugs

in with a pile of weedy overgrowth where they can eat away happi-

ly whilst creating pure soil in the process, is as easy as a walk in the

park.

Slugs have as much right to be on the planet as we do – without

their work we would be knee-high in rotting vegetation by now.

Simply going about their daily business of eating and excreting,

slugs could be seen as soil enhancers of the first order. They are

beneficial beings, whose ability to break down plant matter into soil

means that they can speed up the process of composting beyond

many a wildest dream.

Like any creature, they need boundaries to stop them over-

reproducing and running amok, but given a tight-lidded, half-full

composter, they can munch their whole body weight in less than

twenty minutes, and keep on munching for a very long, long time.

Think how much compost they will produce as they chow down

hard in your composter. Unfortunately for them, their eggs will not

survive the heat and it is also even rumoured that the Nematode will

flourish in such environs.

From their point of view, a compost bin is a damp, safe-from-

predatory-bird haven, filled with their favourite munch material. So

as you walk your little charge on a trowel towards its new home,

you can hold on to your heart, knowing that you are taking them to

a place they would call ‘heaven’.

Page 5: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

5

LETTERS

letters, grapevine, victoria hall, bryn

road, lampeter SA48 7EE

email: [email protected]

on the buses

Read the Grapevine re buses to Swansea

and Cardiff. You can get to Swansea

daily on the Big Blue Bus (701) from

Lampeter. See Ceredigion bus times for

timetable. Granted it takes a little longer

and you have less time if you are just

going for a day. It does follow the Arriva

route which it has always done. Plus side

if you have a bus pass it is free! You are

recommended to let the company know

that you are travelling as it often gets

full, especially as the people of Port Tal-

bot use it as the quickest way to Cardiff.

S. Davies

switching to hitching 2

Dear Editor,

In response to Philip Rhodes’ letter in

the first edition of GrapeVine, regarding

switching to hitching ...

On a few occasions recently, I have

stopped to pick up hitch-hikers heading

from Llandeilo on my journeys back to

Lampeter. On all occasions I've been

engaged in pleasant chat, on a variety of

subject including politics & alternative

world view. The hitchers have been ever

so grateful of the helping hand a stranger

has stopped to offer, & I had no ulterior

motive, such as taking a few quid for a

couple of litres of fuel, in mind. All too

often a favour for a stranger is what we

all need to do, just for the warm fuzzy

feeling we ought to be getting inside

knowing that we have come to the aid of

a fellow carbon-based being.

Things we ought to remember, espe-

cially regarding the issue of insurance, is

that those of us in control of a car are not

‘driving’ in law, we are in fact travelling

in our own private vehicle. There should

be no question of insurance cover, as we

have paid our insurance in order to travel

for social, domestic & pleasure purposes

on the whole. ‘Driving’ is a practice of

commerce, i.e. taking something some-

where for the purpose of engaging in a

business transaction, & I suspect this

definition of the word is something

which has been forgotten. As far as safe-

ty checks for those intending to hitch a

ride, or indeed for those with noble in-

tentions, this would be consenting to

even more scrutinisation or control from

some bureaucratic department, or might

lead to the creation of the Ministry of

Hitchers. Aren’t we subject to enough

licensing or registrations for our every-

day existence? Why a safety check?

Hitchers & travellers in control of a ve-

hicle, whether you call them a driver or

otherwise, should always err on the side

of caution, of course, but we should nev-

er fear or be kept in a culture of fear.

Bogey-men aren't around every corner,

or in every life scenario.

Jim Hussell

Lampeter

much thanks

Dear editorial team,

I am writing to congratulate you on the

contents, format and layout of the first

issue of ‘Grapevine’. Your ‘news and

views monthly’ is very useful to us as

we are two of the many people in the

area who do not have access to broad-

band and we are unable to afford the

high monthly charges for the satellite

options.

I found the Grapevine easy to read

through and very informative. I did not

realize that there was so much going on

at Cellan millennium and Victoria halls.

It was only through picking up a copy of

your Grapevine at the dentist that I

found out about Lynne Denman and

friends at the Castanet Club, resulting in

me buying three tickets for that evening

and very enjoyable it was too. I was not

aware of Transition Llambed until I read

your circular which I hope to follow

with interest. I also enjoyed reading the

serial by Annie May. Some of the places

I recognized and walk them in my mind

as I read the article. This serial has en-

couraged me to seek out the next issue in

hope that the serial will lead me to other

interesting places close to my home.

If I was asked for my views on future

developments I would suggest two

things:

1. That there was a column listing

local useful phone numbers etc. for po-

lice, doctors surgeries, dentists, hospi-

tals, pharmacies, councils etc. This

would be useful to newcomers, students

and tourists.

2. Wherever possible give a contact

phone number for those who do not have

access to the internet. When you find

something that you are really interested

in or there is a close closing deadline,

having just an e-mail address or a web

site path can be almost as frustrating as

using dial-up.

I wish all the team the best of luck

with the Grapevine project.

Dinah Clark MBE

Cellan

Thanks Dinah. We’ll take up your first

suggestion; and we will encourage all

advertisers to supply a phone number.

co-op car park controversy continues

Dear Grapevine

I totally agree with the letters about

parking at the Co-op – why are we sup-

plying a remote company in the south of

England with an income from so-called

fines obtained by bully boy tactics and

empty threats of court proceedings?

What happened to the feeling of collec-

tive solidarity which the Co-op purports

to engender? Parking Eye? Slice of pie

more like! Occupy the Co-op car park I

say and see what they do when no-one

pays up!

Lynne Denman

Lampeter

As a matter of balance, the Grapevine

invites the Co-op to reply in these pages

to the barrage of criticism it has re-

ceived on this matter. (see GV #1)

sing out!

Dear Editor

What ever happened to singing in Lam-

peter? Lampeter has no choir, but lots of

people who like to sing. I have recently

been to the Annual Street Choir festival

with my Aberystwyth based choir, Cor

Gobaith (Choir of Hope). We met in

Bury by Manchester this year, and there

were 32 choirs and about 700 singers

enjoying a weekend of sharing songs,

workshops and concerts.

Next year’s Street Choir Festival, the

30th, is going to be held in Aberystwyth!

It is so exciting, but it will also require

masses of work and planning from the

relatively few members of the choir. We

are always looking for recruits and

would welcome new members, but de-

spite the fact that a similar choir in Lam-

peter would reduce the the numbers of

possible recruits for Cor Gobaith, I

would rather see a Lampeter-based

choir. We could always join up for spe-

cial occasions.

As a street choir we sing in the street

once a month in Aberystwyth. We sing

for causes we believe in and support

charity events. So what about a Cor

Llambed for active people who like to

sing and spread the word of the im-

portant things in life like PEACE, SO-

CIAL JUSTICE AND ENVIRONMEN-

TAL ISSUES? We could be based in

Victoria Hall, support Transition

Llambed and create another reason to be

proud of being Lampeterians.

Personally I am immensely proud of

being member of a Transition town and

can’t wait for the whole area to show

signs of thinking and working locally

with local produce, local efforts and

maybe even a local choir!

Gro-Mette Gulbrandsen

Cellan

Page 6: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

6

‘Hey Auntie Annie, Got a rope, about fifty

feet – Gessamuch!’ Said the Ani ben d’od

man proudly. Small intensely blue eyes

looked up at me. They were young eyes in a

small, nut brown face.

‘Pound!’ he said throwing out his chest

proudly and waving his hands. He had enor-

mous hands. Like a fiddler crab. He was the

Ani ben d’od man. Together with his associ-

ate and friend, they collected quantities of

metal items and turned them into cash.

Farms recount their history in their col-

lections of old bits of scrap iron: rusty

barbed wire, perforated aluminium tanks,

picturesque and ancient iron wheels from

long defunct farm implements, broken down

hurdles and old caravans. This pile of rusting

and tangled leftovers from a more leisurely

time would be taken to the Ani ben d’od

man’s yard where it would wait until it could

be sold.

These days farms are required to be anti-

septic with no hint of Ani ben d’od. inspec-

tors come to see if you are complying with

the rules so that the various grants that farm-

ers get can be paid. Grants that enable the

rest of the populace to buy cheap food and a

countryside to play in. Some of the rules are

absurd, some aren’t; you take the daft with

the sane to get the money and get on with the

job. We’re supposed to be an unprincipled

bunch on the whole and farmers have been

subsidised since after the war according to

Geoff, who is my authority on things agri-

cultural, and we’ve got used to factoring that

into our cash flow calculations. We have

been subsidised to produce certain types of

food in certain of quantities. During the war

they could take away your farm if you didn’t

do what you were told. Today they refuse to

pay your subsidy if you do not fulfil your

obligations.. The nation pays us farmers to

produce food. In New Zealand they do not. It

was a cold turkey affair. Perhaps it encour-

aged entrepreneurial thinking; or the destitu-

tion of small farmers. It’s an old story.

Mind you I am not sure what some farm-

ers might do with the countryside if left to

themselves. Emotions run high when it

comes to environmental matters and private

freedoms. There is no-one more private than

the farmer. He has to work alone and take

the responsibility of many lives. His deci-

sions are life and death ones and any farmer

worth his or her salt will tell you that his

animals’ lives mean more than their mone-

tary value.

Up here in the hills of Carmarthen and

Ceredigion farming is still an occupation on

the edge. Perhaps it doesn’t pose the most

crucial question – where is the next meal

coming from? – but many hill farmers are

considerably poorer than their lowland coun-

terparts. It is frugal hereabouts, although less

so than it was. During the Great Depression

it was said that no coin came into the hill

farm houses for over a year. Everything was

done by barter. ‘Never ask a neighbour for

money’, the saying goes; he will do anything

for you, give you unlimited time and re-

sources, but never money. Things have

hanged a lot; we think in money terms now

and not in community terms. However, that

is still largely the rule among farmers up

here in the hills to this day. Admittedly down

in the valley they’ve got used to soft ways.

People go shopping in Carmarthen or

Swansea on a Saturday or better still Cardiff

where you can get a little black Karen Millen

dress or designer shoes if you want.

We hadn’t any money to speak of when

we came to Panteg. But we ate and were

warm and gradually we got back on our feet.

What more could you ask for? But we’ve

never lost that carefulness. You see once

you’ve lost everything you become cautious.

That’s if you’ve any sense. It’s not that bad

being a bit threadbare. We managed pretty

well. Once he recovered his health, Geoff

went to work at a timber yard with such non-

existent safety measures that they almost

sawed him in half. I cleaned houses and

taught media studies and drama to boys with

educational and behavioural problems. It

was well paid and I was able to continue my

studies while I worked. Or do I mean I was

able to work while I continue my studies?

There is something different about this

part of Wales. It was a good place to return

to when we needed to lick our wounds and

get back on our feet. We knew we’d find

friends here. Of course, predictably we were

dropped by the fickle ones. It scarcely mat-

ters now.

It’s almost a life out of life here. Those

of us who have managed to stay are people

who fell in love with Wales. For the huge

majority of us it has been worth it. For many

of us it has been a hard journey. The phrase

Failed in Wales is not an empty one.

Geoff and I failed and then, we re-

grouped.

They all thought we were mad to want to

farm for a living. We were, at the time, liv-

ing in a caravan having lost everything in the

recession of 1989. Well, not quite every-

thing. Everything except some furniture and

an old Renault 4 with grass growing in the

back and a sheepdog called Jet.

P.Y. Betts, along with everyone else,

said we were mad; Betts said it because she

didn’t mince her words, especially if they

ruffled your feathers. And the rest because

we asked them and they told us. When we

decided on highland cattle as the mainstay of

the farm even Betts was speechless with

disbelief. At the time highland cattle were a

decoration, a rich man’s hobby, not the basis

of a farming career for a couple of middle

aged bankrupts.

However, it was Betts who discovered

Panteg for us. As a hermit woman with the

most extensive information network in

Ceredigion; she had the resources. MI5

would have envied her in the matter of inter-

rogation. She was over 60 when I first met

her and 96 and largely paralysed when she

died; her mind still razor sharp and her wit

still malicious. Visits to Betts resulted in an

uneasy feeling that she had found out too

many secrets and, like any writer worth her

salt, might use them if she thought it enter-

taining. One day Geoff was on the way back

through her fields after gathering cattle for

Arwyn Llanfair Fawr when she met him on

the path by a convenient stone. She carried a

bottle of wine. She invited him to sit and

drink and he, the foolish fellow, accepted.

He said afterwards that the conversation

seemed quite ordinary; it was only after-

wards that he remembered that she only had

one glass with her when she greeted him and

that she had extracted news and information

with ruthless efficiency. He didn’t like her

and she thought he was a bumptious, opin-

ionated ruffian, but she wasn’t about to let

mere dislike get in the way of gathering in-

formation with such efficient ruthlessness.

On the whole I enjoyed her company;

she made me laugh with her wonderfully

absurd and clever childish humour; and she

also made me very cross, but she never

bored me. We would lunch on home cured

ham, boiled new potatoes and a home grown

salad with some olives in the vinaigrette.

During our long lunches, softened up with

strong, dry cider, I had an occasional uneasy

feeling that I might have told her almost

everything about myself except my hat size.

Then the conversation would take another

turn and I forgot. If she liked me it was be-

cause she was a snob and thought I was

posh; my foreignness seemed to intrigue her.

P.Y. hated people to be in pain so it both-

ered her when we became destitute. With

refreshing directness she said it was because

it made her uncomfortable and so to ease

herself she was compelled to help them. She

liked to have a hand in people’s lives when

she could. One of her protégés, currently

decorating her house, was about to leave

Wales to go and live in Yorkshire. The little

smallholding that he and his family had rent-

ed for eleven years was up for rent. We ar-

ranged go and have a look at it.

From a window

From my bedroom window at Gilfachwen

you can see the story of hill farming. It’s

November and the trees are black; the fields

are already tired and the ruined dry stone

from the bottom

continuing annie may’s vivid tale of coming to farm in west wales

PART 2: TOWN AND COUNTRY

Page 7: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

7

walls of the ancient handling pens look like

rotting teeth. It is a cheerless month; stock

need checking more often as the grass stops

growing and the damp creeps under the

skin; the ewes are come home from summer

grazing in early October, fat and ready for

tupping. Their rumps now glowing with

red, blue, green and yellow raddle from the

ram’s attentions. There’s the usual routine

maintenance to be carried out on the farm;

mending fences, servicing the tractor, cop-

picing and hedging. Working outside you

get soaked to the skin more often than not.

This is West Wales, after all.

Up here in the hills the dogs and I walk

to the drovers’ village shrouded in mist. It

used to be hidden amongst the pine forest,

but now the trees have been cut down and it

has a bare, slightly self-conscious look as if

it feels vulnerable without its clothing of

pine trees. The ruins attest to a life of com-

munity and toil with narrow lanes, little

gardens and gegin hearths. And yet we have

been told that the village itself was only

inhabited when the drovers came through.

The women used to keep it going but it was

home to no-one; just those who passed with

their cattle on the long trek east. They

would maybe stay for a week, maybe a day

getting ready for the long haul over the

Brecon Beacons; drinking in the Half Way

pub, and when they left with their beasts

strung out on the skyline, they could look

down to their right at the Panteg valley and

see the three little farmsteads joined by the

old road that ran all the way down to Cellan

and the great, lush Teifi valley. In those

days, when the drovers took the cattle all

the way to Smithfield, the Drovers’ village

was busy with fires in the gegins; vegeta-

bles for the pot grew in the gardens and the

Half Way pub was just down the lane. Half

Way was a thriving pub until just after the

Second World War. On market day the

farmer who farmed Panteg, docile and

drunk, would be led by a little child, sent to

fetch him down the hill to the farm in the

valley that gave it its name. I’ve never

found out why the pub was called Half

Way. Half way to where? Llandovery?

Brecon? The next pub? Today it’s a pile of

stones.

From my bathroom window at Panteg

the view was of the mountain that curled

stout arms round the house. In the winter

and spring there would be our cattle not five

feet from me as I sat in the bath. Pant-teg,

as it should be spelt, is a fair valley. It is

one of the most peaceful and protected plac-

es I know. There’s a valley on the other side

of the mountain From up there, just past

Half Way on the mountain road, you can

look down on a delightful place where you

can pick elderberries and brambles and

whinberries in summer. more next month

Canolfan Gadwraeth Fferm

Denmark

Denmark Farm Conservation

Centre

Courses Autumn 2012

Make Your Own Pole Lathe Sat 15–Sun 16 Sept: 2 places left. An intensive, practical, hands-on, weekend course taking you through the basics of constructing a pole lathe. Tony Eames will guide you using the sensitive re-sponse of hand tools and rule of eye. You will be learning a variety of carpentry skills to produce a valued piece of equip-ment that has been in use for over 3000 years. During the weekend you will be using age old tools such as brace and bits, draw knives, spoke shaves, and hand saws. Patchwork Quilts – 3 part course

Wed 26 Sept & 31 Oct & 28 Nov 10am–2pm: A three part workshop covering all aspects of patchwork quilting and provid-ing the support to complete a beautiful and unique quilt by the end of the course. 3 monthly 4 hours sessions allowing par-ticipants time to complete tasks in be-tween sessions. Come along and make the ultimate personal Christmas present for someone who you care for. Feel Like Felt? – Learn the basics in a day Sat 13 Oct: First you will make a flat sheet of felt using just soap, water and fleece, mixing lovely wool colours and creating beautiful patterns. Next you will learn how to use the same technique with a resist to create a purse, mobile phone cover, passport holder or glasses case – no sewing required. Soft Shoe Shuffle – Felt to Fit Slip-pers Sun 14 Oct: We will consider the British

wool breeds most suitable for the wear & tear of footwear. You will learn how to cut a resist to the correct size and adjust the shape to achieve a variety of slipper styles from bootie to mule or maybe a curly toed pixie shoe. You will also learn how to make a matching – or complementary – pair. Up-Cycled Textiles Sat 20 Oct: Recycled clothes are all the rage and can cost a lot to buy... but there is another way to get your hands on the latest fashions: you can make your own instead. Simply by picking up a needle and thread you can turn out fabulous clothing which fits your size, shape and personal style perfectly, any way you want. Carys Hedd’s mission is to provide you with the inspiration and know how to make your very own ravishing recycled creations.

Betws Bledrws, Lampeter SA48 8PB

01570 493358

www.denmarkfarm.org.uk

Hanes Llambed programme september–november 2012

Meetings start at 7.30pm in the Old Hall of the Uni-

versity. (See article on Hanes llambed on page 14)

Tuesday 18 September Steve Dubé: ‘My Failings & Imperfections’ (the 1860–62 diary of Rees Thomas, Dôl-llan, Llan-

dysul)

Tuesday 16 October Gwyn Griffiths: Henry Richard of Tregaron,

Apostle of Peace

Tuesday 20 November

Selwyn Walters: From Lampeter to Salonika: Nurse Ella Richards VAD (1887–1918)

LAMPETER YOUTH

THEATRE and

STAGE SCHOOL

Forthcoming events

Stage School registration. 7 September, 4.30–5.30,

Victoria Hall. Children who wish to enrol with the

LYTss stage school are invited to come and register

with us.

Auditions for the Christmas production of ‘A

Christmas Carol’. 13 September, 3.30–5.30, Victoria

Hall small meeting room. Candidates are invited to au-

dition for singing and dancing roles.

Stage School term begins. 14 September, 4.30–5.30,

Victoria Hall.

Page 8: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

8

MUSIC

unchained minibar five star soundproofing in the tropics

Spring 2010: Downtown Colombo is a couple of hours drive

from the airport along the Negombo Road, through a shanty-

scape of feverish commerce, feverish transportation and feverish

poverty, constantly punctuated by a rapid succession of vast and

lavishly enshrined roadside idols, mostly Buddhas and Catholic

Saints exuding other-worldly calm and wealth amongst all the

dirt and desire and ambition. My ten-year-old daughter was

fresh out of Europe and gazed rigidly out of the minibus win-

dow, appalled at the intensity of it all. Then the evening mon-

soon hit, potholes turned to splashpools and the traffic grew

even thicker and wilder. Night had come by the time we reached

Colombo. My kid was in a mild state of shock until someone

told her we were at the Cinnamon Lake, and she looked up and

felt safe again.

I didn’t quite feel one hundred per cent safe. Perhaps be-

cause there was a machine gunner squatting on the roof of the

Cinnamon Lake: it was election time in Sri Lanka, and there

were big cheeses passing through and rooming here. The current

ruling party looked set to do well. The war with the Tamil Ti-

gers had been over for a year. There were messages of unity and

renewal on the billboards but it was a guarded peace: a state of

emergency still held, and military checkpoints and roadblocks

abounded.

Yet whatever might be squatting on our roof, inside we were

insulated and becalmed. The hotel was like a temple. People

carry themselves differently in these kinds

of places. They’re designed to be other-

worldly. There’s a trance-like quality to the

movements of guests and staff.

I don’t generally do luxury hotels. Now I

had a string of them lined up. It was a senti-

mental journey organized by others of the

family on behalf of an ageing uncle. A sight-

seeing trip with minibus and tour guide and

of course elephants, and jewelry, and sam-

bol. Bring it on.

I was bored. I had watched Crazy Heart

back-to-back three times on the plane and

wanted fresher diversions. In the lobby a

guy with a Lionel Ritchie mullet was key-

boarding backing tracks while a soberly

dressed girl brought a song to a close. At

first I felt a kindred sympathy when the

handful of guests slumped in big armchairs

let this go without even polite applause, but

this sympathy soon dissolved when Spanish

Eyes entered somewhat mechanically, fol-

lowed by a lumbering Strangers In The

Night, an unconvincing Sealed With A Kiss,

and Country Roads in need of some repair. So this was five star

entertainment. Back in my room, I discovered, dungareed, five

guys not named Mo (I checked) busy changing a lightbulb.

Whatever little thing you need in this country – a lightbulb, a

packet of tea, a box of matches, a door opened – five guys not

named Mo will fix it for you. How many guys does it take to

change a lightbulb? – How many would you like, sir, they all

speak fluent Cricket.

Two evenings later music – in the form of plaintive flute

riffs delivered by a becloaked, hobbit-like character who sat

atop a high timber platform beneath a little straw hut that resem-

bled a dog kennel – greeted us as we checked into an expansive

hill country hotel near Dambullah. Here a sylvan landscape dot-

ted with ‘eco-lodges’ led down to a lake backgrounded by steep

mountain peaks. Playing the dining room that evening was a

little combo of tablas, harmonium, sitar and vocalist. All was

vernacular until about halfway though dinner, when after an

interestingly pentatonic version of Happy Birthday To You for

the benefit of a guest, the band launched into My Way and never

looked back. Suddenly we were at a old folks’ dinner dance in

the Catskills with every standard in the book coming at us, so it

was only a matter of time before we witnessed a brave but ulti-

mately kamikaze version of Neil Diamond’s I Am, I Said. This

was quite unsustainable so I retired to our ‘eco’ chalet, with its

suspect heating, lighting and airconditioning systems. ‘Eco’ in

this case seems to mean ‘has thatched roof’.

I began to suspect that I might be in for a couple more weeks

of badly organized sound, in this case the western MOR canon.

It didn’t look good. We moved on shortly to kultural Kandy. By

this time the dinner music had become more interesting than the

dinner menu. The first evening an elderly woman in a sari sat

down at the old barroom piano and delivered a nice run of jazz

and western classical stuff that mingled with one or two Asian

modalities until you could hear new stuff begin to happen. But

after she’d taken a break the bubble burst, and in trooped the

shades of Neil, Frank, Jim, Tom, Deano and Englebert. Jazz

police! Nobody leaves the room!

The next night a trio of young dudes wearing green ponchos

embroidered in gold with the name ‘Los Kandyos’, shuffled on

with their guitars and congas and once more the canon was

rolled out. Nothing about their act was South American. If

they’d had a lama on bass it still wouldn’t have worked. As for

the obligatory mountain-high climax to Unchained Melody, this

always sorts the men from the boys and these boys never got in

sight of the summit. When we later descended to the bar we saw

with horror that the ponchos had followed us down and were

now performing table-to-table torture. Their persistence brought

to mind the tag line (seen on bumper stickers and t-shirts) of the

country’s armed forces: ‘Motivated, Dedicated, Lethal’.

Then they were towering over us as we lay in our low-slung,

inescapable chairs like helpless dental patients. First they hit us

hard with a sawn-off I Am, I Said. Now that we were softened

up, they demanded that we request a song. They knew nothing

of a selection of alt. country hits that I ran past them, or Wheels

on the Bus, but they’d sloshed their way through Bridge Over

jazz police: an unfortunate sax player is searched for illicit blue notes at a down-

town colombo checkpoint

Page 9: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

9

Troubled Water earlier so maybe they’d have a go at The Box-

er? They were happy to give it an airbrushing. I waited and wait-

ed for those Seventh Avenue girls but they never showed.

We did get to mingle with some street life before leaving

Kandy, when we slipped our guide and went around the market

stalls and got to buy ordinary stuff like umbrellas and saris and

BOP tea. Was a change from the usual expensive emporia we

were used to being shepherded to and from. ‘The trouble is they

think we’re rich’, said one of the family outside one of these

upmarket places, as a truck bearing the family name flashed past

a billboard advertising one of the family businesses.

The Tamil northeast wasn’t quite open for business just yet.

After a sojourn in the hill country and a string of ruined citadels,

bands of macaques on the make, ancient temples, elephant rides

and skyscraping buddhas (I recall a huge one gracing the court-

yard of an infantry barracks), we headed southwest for a final

few days R&R at a big, low-rise five star beachside number with

a meandering pool and a palm tre’ed lawns. It oozed piped mu-

sic from every pore and was peopled with punters who walked

and talked and lounged and ate and swam in that now-familiar

trance, with its hint of the convent and the monastery. As each

afternoon drew to a close I would pass by the dining area and

witness, like a prisoner being shown the tools of torture, the

instruments laid out for that evening – the stark, threatening

shapes of amps, keyboards, mike stands and cables.

Bad turned to worse. The Icelandic ash cloud grounded all

flights to Europe and left us stranded for the forseeable future. It

was decided to ‘tough it out’ at the hotel, and hope the funds

held out. Days of uncertainty, of Stranger On The Shore, Green

Green Grass Of Home, and Please Release Me followed with

ever-mesmerising intensity. At dinner I was a rabbit trapped by

headlamps until the regular late-on rendition of Unchained Mel-

ody sent me reeling roomwards to unchain the minibar and

check out the ash cloud updates. A week stuck in a transit

lounge began to seem attractive by comparison.

Suddenly one evening, a band with no backing tracks, that of

Sam the Man, whose combo rattled out the canon as usual, but

Sax player Sam with his dapper suit and his Bengali style beard

is a bit of a jazzer, and they give things a twist here and there.

He sniffed me out during the break. ‘I know, I know,’ he said,

‘but you have to tailor your product to your audience.’ He went

on to confess that the greatest moment of his life had been at an

international music fest in Berlin where he had once shared a

dining table with Louis Armstrong, Leonard Bernstein and Her-

bert von Karajan. ‘Where can you go after that?’ he asked me. I

didn’t know, but his second half was a definite improvement.

Eventually the Colomboside branch of the family lent us a

flat in the capital. And, ever-generous, most evenings they sent

two big black chauffeured SUVs to run us out to one high-tone

spot or another, which invariably meant running the gauntlet of

the Playlist From Hell while 20/20 cricket showed on TV

screens and my ten-year-old and her cousin frolicked in a pool

overlooked by steel-helmeted soldiers behind sandbags.

Famously, upmarket hotels and tours often work hard to in-

sulate their guests from the country at large, and music is part of

the soundproofing process. Preferred is a music instantly recog-

nized by international visitors: something global. Of the number

of world musics available today, the western canon of twentieth-

century pop standards is the obvious tool of choice. Processed as

elevator, ambient or lounge band music it’s familiar, becalming

and doesn’t excite, engage or elevate, unless you’re like most of

the many Russians on this circuit and wet yourself every even-

ing when Midnight In Moscow makes its usual midnight creep.

Beyond music, equally unengaging is the wide variety of

muzak’d – lets say ‘ambient’ – western dishes always available

in the five star dining room. And you could go on to describe the

entirety of these hotels – their build design, shops, staff, clien-

tele and activities – as exercises in socio-architectural easy lis-

tening, where everything and everyone aspires to the condition

of muzak™, and where the aim and effect is to de-emphasise the

local to a point where it’s almost accidental, and becomes cute

or niche in some cases, or plain embarassing in others (as when

a tour guide feels bound to shoo off those unkempt and inde-

pendent souvenir sellers who crowd around the bus wherever it

stops).

This logic also brings to mind the retail spaces and the oper-

ations of big western supermarkets, not least their famous effect

on local ways of life. It probably applies to other elite circuits of

the global economy. The locality of the Olympic Games, for

example, has become just an accident, a whim, an inoffensive

backdrop, while the sporting events themselves happen in an

insulated, ringfenced world of big global brands and rooftop

security, and are merely a small episode in a year-in, year-out

endless cycle of big deal negotiations held in five star hotels all

over the planet to the sound of busy cash registers and mediocre

music. As this wealthy travelling circus moves on it hasn’t been

noted for leaving localities any better than when it found them.

So long and thanks for all the backdrop.

It was another week before we were released. Meanwhile the

president’s party won the election, his socialist republic sailed

on, and talk turned to using the peace dividend to upgrade the

country’s infrastructure and tourism facilities. These facilities

will doubtless include many more five star experiences. As for

me, once aboard the plane I assumed a trance-like state and

watched Crazy Heart back-to-back all the way home. don van fleet

cardifest 31 august – 2 september

Goldie Lookin’ Chain, The Blims and Foun-

tainhead are headlining at what looks to be a

fun new music festival in Cardigan featuring

several other esteemed beat combos as well as

providing opportunities for local performers to

strut their stuff and attempt to jam their snake-

skin boots in the door of the hospitable and

caring world of the music industry. It all starts

on the Saturday at ten in the morning. Yes

that’s ten in the morning. Count me out for the

opening ceremony.

All the info: www.cardifest.co.uk

black and white lookin’ picture

Page 10: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

10

BOOKS

borrowing wales

wild wales

by george borrow

first published 1862

A people sensitive to their language, and

wary of incoming English buying up

property and sending prices beyond the

reach of locals; a land of chapels and

boozers; and newsflashes from a contro-

versial war being pursued by Britain in

the Near East – that’s what George Bor-

row found when in 1854 he visited the

more remote parts of Wales, and if he

had come along today he would have

found things, eerily, much the same. He’s

best known for his reports of his wander-

ings amongst Gypsies, but Wild Wales is

his only book to have remained in print

to this day. It’s informed and it’s funny

too, much of the humour being at the

author’s expense, for Borrow was a Nor-

folk man, and as the reader will soon

realise, something of a cross between

Alan Partridge and Stephen Fry.

Borrow was a walker above all else.

He tramped all over Europe, from Spain

to Russia, as well as the length and

breadth of Britain and Ireland. His other

books – The Bible in Spain, Romany Rye,

Lavengro – are rather tedious. There’s

some clever work in them, but barely a

page goes by without some Ian-Paisley

style anti-papal diatribe, or some etymo-

logical fantasy fetched from further than

Borrow ever walked. He knew a million

languages and walked a million miles,

and translated the Bible into Manchu

Chinese, but he doesn’t seem to have

ever got sufficient perspective on himself

that might relax his stance somewhat and

help him cook with gas.

But Borrow decided to take a walking

trip through north and west Wales in the

summer and autumn of the year 1854,

when he was fifty-one. He’d never been

in Wales before. But he did know Welsh,

and he wasn’t afraid to use it. He learned

it from books when he was a young solic-

itor’s clerk in Norwich, and fell in love

with the works of the medieval bard Da-

fydd ab Gwilym. He also learned some

Welsh conversation from his boss’s

groom, a Welshman who was suffering

the usual anti-Taffy barbs from the locals

until Borrow intervened.

The religious slant to Wild Wales is

interesting because of its context: Bor-

row’s Welsh trip takes place at the time

of a great religious and educational reviv-

al, these two tending to go hand-in-hand.

Calvinstic Methodism had become the

dominant belief system of the north and

west, and so Borrow’s religious repinings

and seige mentality are more to do with

his hostility to Welsh Nonconformity

rather than the pope (who was conspicu-

ous by his absence). And his sense of joy

and relief is palpable on his rare encoun-

ters with a customer of the church rather

than of the chapel.

And then there is the equally palpable

frisson our George constantly creates as a

Welsh-speaking Englishman. For all his

knocking about the open road Borrow

never lost his class-consciousness and

often comes across as a terrible stuffed

shirt, but this adds to the charm. This is

how he goes into a boozer near Llando-

very:

My entrance seemed at once to bring

everything to a dead stop; the smokers

ceased to smoke, the hand that was con-

veying the glass or the mug to the mouth

was arrested in air, the hurly-burly

ceased and every eye was turned upon

me with a strange inquiring stare. With-

out allowing myself to be disconcerted I

advanced to the fire, spread out my

hands before it for a minute, gave two or

three deep ‘ahs’ of comfort, and then

turning round said: ‘Rather a damp

night, gentlemen – fire cheering to one

who has come the whole way from Lland-

overy – Taking a bit of a walk in Wales,

to see the scenery and to observe the

manners and customs of the inhabitants –

Fine country, gentlemen, noble pro-

spects, hill and dale – Fine people too –

open-hearted and generous; no wonder!

descendants of the Ancient Britons –

Hope I don't intrude – other room rather

cold and smoking – If I do, will retire at

once – don't wish to interrupt any gentle-

man in their avocations or deliberations

– scorn to do anything ungenteel or cal-

culated to give offence – hope I know

how to behave myself – ought to do so –

learnt grammar at the High School at

Edinburgh.’

After this priceless comic monologue

and some small talk in English with the

locals, he is asked if can speak Welsh.

For a while he is evasive and toys with

his hosts’ suspicions, but eventually con-

fesses to it. Whereupon one old man tells

him plainly: ‘we don’t like to have

strangers among us who understand our

discourse, more especially if they be gen-

tlefolks.’

‘Especially if they be gentlefolks’:

this old man was as class conscious as

Borrow. But perhaps he really meant

‘Especially if they be acting like a total

prat.’

In memory of encounters like these –

and of many others where he doesn’t play

the fool – and to profit from them and

from this extraordinary and quirky book

and all the social history it conveys, per-

haps a George Borrow Trail needs to be

established. In west Wales it’s easy to

trace: from the Rheidol to Pontre-

fendighaid to Tregaron, Llanddewi Brefi,

Lampeter, Pumpsaint, Llanwrda and

Llandovery. Something for visiting walk-

ers to tramp along, from hostelry to hos-

telry, plenty of which still exist and are

easy to identify (there seem to have been

several all in a row up where Tafarn Jem

now stands). It might be the first tourist

trail to be dedicated to a tourist.

andy soutter

Mae’r Clwb Castenet a reolir gan y gymuned, yn cynnal digwyddiadau misol yn Neuadd Fictoria, gydag amrywiaeth

eang o gerddoriaeth, gan gynnwys jazz, gwerin, y felan a cherddoriaeth fyd. Mae rhaglen y clwb yn cynnwys bandiau ac

unigolion lleol a chenedlaethol. Y dyddiad nesaf yw 1 Medi, rydym yn

croesawi SMUDGER A’I FFRINDIAU.

The community run Castanet Club holds monthly events at Victoria Hall, featuring music from many genres, including Jazz, Folk, World and Blues. The programme will feature both local and national acts, the next date for your diary being 1 Sep-tember, when we welcome SMUDGER

AND FRIENDS.

does that shirt look stuffed?

Page 11: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

11

THEATRE the tempest by william shakespeare

longwood players

long wood community woodlands, july 15

Outdoors happens a lot in Shakespeare, and if you’re going to

invoke the open air it it’s useful to have the real thing around. I

imagine playhouses of the Bard’s time like the Globe and the

Swan could have had all-covering roofs put on, but this would

have produced the Wimbledon centre court effect, which there

has killed for good the image of flannel whites, little brown

racquets, barley water and a small thatched pavilion in the

Home Counties, deep in an endless, oak-leaved Edwardian

summer, an image whose faint traces had lingered on that west

London lawn, sustained only by the genuine sky above in all its

genuine dazzle and propensity to produce passing showers.

Down on the Elizabethan riverside their patch of breeze and

sky could lend a fair bit of cred to all those spectacular exteri-

ors Willy the Shake and the rest were apt to come up with.

They were quite right to leave it that way, and besides with a

roof on it might have have turned somewhat pestilent in there if

all those stories about Bankside’s personal and environmental

hygiene are true. It wasn’t fully open air, but there was enough

of this available to drench the groundlings if it chose – the

stage and the circle were roofed – and enough to lend some

realistically putrid odour to a battle scene via the grubby

Thames or despatch a romantic zephyr to tousle Juliet’s tresses.

But if you’re really right outdoors, then you’ve got a prob-

lem with sound. Not the distant whine of an approaching agri-

cultural machine like some conjuration of Sycorax sent to mess

with Prospero’s plans, which we heard that Sunday afternoon

from the bleachers in the Long Wood, but with a team of rela-

tively low-horsepower thespian vocal chords.

Two years ago when the LW players were last here the

sound-deadening qualities of the venue – a forest floor thick

with loose soil and rotting leaves, a canopy of beech tops too

thin to trap noise from below, and a steep rake of front-on seat-

ing made of earth and logs guaranteed to swallow up most of

your lines like a sponge – were unchecked. This year that prob-

lem was solved twice over, first by a simple p.a., and second by

a series of awnings, overlapping from the stage area all the way

up to the back seats, whose sail-like shapes resembled the kind

of acoustic ceiling found in concert halls, and which functioned

in the same way to bounce the Shake’s words all the way up to

the back row. This was made evident whenever the actors

spoke off-mike by accident or design; in fact they could have

done without the p.a.

The blessed clarity of the sound matched the picture book

quality of the production, with performers and props in strong

colours framed by and restricted to the tight confines of the

little stage. It worked perfectly and we enjoyed it all. The awn-

ings I guess were probably to keep the rain off but I kind of

wish it had rained, though: first for a bit of real atmospherics

for the magician’s storm, and second because at one point two

of them didn’t overlap properly, which meant that in the event

of a downpour an entire row of spectators would have been

drenched. I think they would have appreciated this eventually.

a. p. laws

At her regular stall at the People’s Market Lea

Wakeman sells a variety of hand-made crafts using a

mixture of media including fleece, feathers and wool.

She makes and sells pictures and jewellery as well as

producing her own guided meditation CDs.

Kate Wilkinson, who lives in Ffarmers, has been in-

terested in making things with wool or on paper

from an early age. ‘All my creations are one off, indi-

vidual, mostly random designs,’ says Kate, ‘from hats

to rugs and shawls all using 100 per cent natural fi-

bres. I am also willing to share my knowledge of peg

loom weaving, using whole fleece to make your own

rug/mat. Or if you wish I can make one for you.’ For

further information you should contact

[email protected]

people’s market people

there’s more than just good

looking fruit and veg for sale at

victoria hall’s twice-a-month

saturday morning market...

here’s proof from just two of the

many stallholders offering

wonderful examples of fine craft

work

Page 12: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

12

Page 13: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

13

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM something’s rotting in the state of denmark

The folk down at Denmark Farm are holding an open day

on Sunday 23 September to showcase the latest develop-

ments at the Conservation Centre close to Lampeter. Jewel

in the crown is the new ‘eco-accomodation’ building for self

-catering guests, currently under construction. Anyone in-

volved with tourism and hospitality would be wise to go see

what they’re up to with respect to canny installations such as

such as biomass heating, rainwater-supplied toilet facilities,

solar-generated electricty, responsibly sourced timber,

sheeps’ wool insulation and other cost-efficient and environ-

mentally friendly approaches.

The Denmark farmers are particularly excited about their

new sewage treatment system, aptly titled WET.

‘The capacity of natural processes to renew and clean

water is amazing’, says the Centre’s Tamara Morris. ‘Soil

filters water on its way to wells and springs. Plants and mi-

croorganisms act as a biological purifier. At Denmark Farm

we are harnessing these natural attributes to create a Wet-

land Ecosystem Treatment (WET) system, in anticipation of

increased sewerage loads when our new guest accommoda-

tion is completed.

‘A WET system has specially designed and constructed

ponds and earth banks, densely planted with wetland trees

and marginal plants. As wastewater flows through, it is both

purified by microbiological action and transpired by grow-

ing plants. In the process a beautiful, species-rich wildlife

habitat is created, including a willow resource that can be

used for basketry, hurdles, garden features or fuel, depend-

ing on the coppice cycle.

‘Furthermore, WET requires minimal imports of re-

sources – the site’s soil (rather than quarried gravel) filters

the wastewater, fossil fuels are only consumed during con-

struction and there is no ongoing electricity use. In fact, the

whole process increases in efficiency over time, as new soil

builds up and root systems extend – both of which also in-

crease carbon dioxide storage as biomass, whereas conven-

tional treatment systems need regular maintenance and ener-

gy inputs.’

Tamara points out that this ecosystem approach fits Den-

mark Farm’s philosophy of working with, rather than

against nature. And the beauty of it is that they have fewer

costs and many benefits. So why aren’t these systems more

common? One hurdle may be lack of familiarity, which is

where the Conservation Centre comes in. Their WET system

is the first in Ceredigion and so far one of only a few in

Wales. As a demonstration site, statutory bodies, trainees

and visitors can be shown the potential for farms and other

industries that have liquid organic waste. With biodiversity

benefiting too, the future looks bright for wetland wildlife.

Check it all out on September 23.

Canolfan Gadwraeth Fferm Denmark

Denmark Farm Conservation Centre

Betws Bledrws

Lampeter

SA48 8PB

01570 493358

www.denmarkfarm.org.uk

Wildlife Where You Live: https://www.facebook.com/pages/

Wildlife-Where-You-Live/154223344670641

ecosy accomodation in progress – but what will

happen to the waste?

the wet system before planting...

... and afterwards: beautiful sewage plants!

Page 14: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

14

HANES LLAMBED penny david, hanes llambed programme secretary,

writes: Hanes Llambed, Lampeter’s History Society, has been running for

the best part of ten years. Between September and May we meet at

7.30pm on the third Tuesday of the month in the Old Hall of the

University to hear a talk on some subject of local interest, often by

a local speaker. Each season one of the talks is given in Welsh with

simultaneous English translation.

Individual members pursue various strands of research, includ-

ing the lives of local characters, the history of Lampeter’s High

Street and the evolution of the Falcondale estate. We have also

launched a project to record local field names, and welcome contri-

butions on this subject.

There’s a day’s outing sometime in the summer months. In June

2012 our bus trip took us to the National Wool Museum at Drefach

-Felindre, following a fascinating talk by Keith Rees of the Muse-

um in May. En route we visited the Italian Prisoner-of-War Church

at Henllan (see picture), where Jon Meirion Jones and Jim Thom-

son were our informative guides. Their tales of the PoWs, both in

their original confinement and in more recent encounters, were

both illuminating and deeply moving.

The first event of the 2012–13 programme is on Tuesday 18

September when Steve Dubé’s talk (entitled ‘My Failings and Im-

perfections’) features the somewhat racy 19th-century diary of

Rees Thomas of Dôl-llan, Llandysul, which he has recently edited

and published.

Do come along! Membership is a mere £5 annually, and occa-

sional visitors pay just a pound to attend a single meeting. To find

out more about this thriving and sociable Lampeter society, contact

secretary Cecilia Barton on 01570 422347.

hanes llambed at the italian p.o.w. church, henllan, June 2012

photo: Ray Williams

harness racing:

llanfair to host big

event

Harness racing is a long standing tradition

in Ceredigion and throughout the summer

we have enjoyed meetings across the coun-

ty. Now we are building up to September

1st and the turn of Lampeter Harness Rac-

ing Club.

Lampeter HRC is the youngest of the

Ceredrotian clubs and was only established

in 2009, but has already experienced plenty

of action and great success. Now in its

fourth year, this race fixture is shaping up to

be better than ever, especially with the

move to its new location at Pentre Farm,

Llanfair Clydogau.

This is the last of the Ceredrotian fix-

tures so there will be many close finishes at

this meeting with owners, trainers and driv-

ers all wanting to ensure that they get a few

more wins under their belt before the end of

the season, especially with the introduction

of the Ceredrotian championships this year.

Owners, trainers, drivers and horses have

been accumulating points at Ceredigion

meetings throughout the season and it will

be a battle to the line to see who comes out

on top.

Whilst all grades of racing are catered

for at Lampeter Races, the highlights of the

meeting are the Lloyd’s Chip Shop Lam-

peter Final and the Clwb Cardigan Bay

Members’ Race. Lampeter Races is the last

opportunity of the season for Clwb Cardi-

gan Bay members to do battle in their own

members’ race. Plenty of Ceredigion con-

nections will be bidding for glory in this.

The day all builds up to the grand finale.

Heats are held at the start of the day to try

and secure the horses’ place in the final.

These horses will then compete against

each other for the esteemed prize. The pace

is fast, the competition fierce and the at-

mosphere electric.

Admission for adults is £7, with chil-

dren under 16 free. There is also children’s

entertainment, bar and catering facilities,

and bookmakers in attendance. Fancy a trip

to the races? You can get together with

friends to take advantage of the group dis-

counts and make it a day out to remember.

Get down to Llanfair Clydogau at 2pm on

Saturday 1st September for Lampeter Har-

ness Racing club’s fabulous fixture.

more info: www.ceredrotian.com

Page 15: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

15

01570 422595

North Road, Lampeter [email protected] www.pontsteffandentists.co.uk

Now accepting new patients

Fluent welsh speaking dentist,

Dr Eleri Marks BDS Hons (Cardiff)

is joining the practice in August.

Contact us to receive your new patient information pack.

Modern, up-to-date practice

Preventative approach to dentistry

Low cost monthly dental plans from £4.50 – £15.50,

depending on dental status

Dental Hygienist and Dental Therapist

Free children's check-ups *

Open Saturday and evenings

*Subject to terms and conditions

Page 16: Lampeter Grapevine Issue 2 September 2012

16

T H E

People’s Market at Victoria Hall, Lampeter

every 2nd & 4th Saturday of the month, 10.00am – 1.00pm

cacennau cartref, cyffaith a

bwyddyd sawrus

ffrwythau tymhorol cartref

llysiau a phlanhigion

cig a gynhyrchir yn lleol a

dewisiad o waith llaw crefft

te a choffi

homemade cakes, preserves

and savouries

home grown seasonal fruit,

vegetables and plants

locally produced meat

and a selection of handmade

craft

teas and coffees