contact the grapevine: lampetergrapevine@gmail.com
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july/august 2012
GRAPEVINE digwyddiadau, newyddion a barn misol llambed / lampeter’s events, news and views monthly
the trouble with transport
listings, p. 2 • the transition position, p. 9 • serial, p. 7 • food festival, p. 12
GRAPEVINE no. 1, July–August 2012 Victoria Hall, Bryn Road, Lampeter, Ceredigion, SA48 7EE email: lampetergrapevine@gmail.com Published by Transition Llambed Development Trust, Victoria Hall, Bryn Road, Lampeter, SA48 7EE www.transitionllambed.co.uk Printed by TSD reprographics, Lampeter listings: Annie May advertising: Tricia O’Kane coordinating editor: Andy Soutter distribution: Gro-Mette Gulbrandsen design & makeup: Captain Cat listings are free. To list your event, contact Annie May at lampetergrapevine@gmail.com 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: September issue: 15 August We prefer electronic files, and email for communications.
what’s going on listings are free. send details of your event to lampetergrapevine@gmail.com
movies The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (15), Judi Dench, Maggie Smith. Friday 13 July, Cellan Millennium Hall. Doors open 7.15, programme 7.45. Admission by donation, £2.00. Big screen & digital theatre sound. The Muppets (2012) (U), Jason Segel. Friday 3 Aug., Cellan Millennium Hall. Doors open 7.15, programme 7.45. Admission by donation, £2.00. Big screen & digital theatre sound. 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.
music The Castanet Club presents Lynne Denman and Friends with their traditional Welsh folk music, at Victoria Hall, Bryn Road, Lampeter, on 28 July at 8.00pm. Doors open 7.00pm. Tickets £12. Price includes sit down 3-course feast and concert. Tickets available at the Mulberry Bush, or they can be reserved by e-mailing lynne@ffynnon.com
move your body Zumba keep fit session with Julie Lancaster. Tuesdays 7..30pm till 8.30pm, Victoria Hall, Bryn Road, Lampeter. Info 01570 470542 Zumba keep fit session with Louise Evans. 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. Saturdays 2pm till 4pm. Victoria Hall, Bryn Road, Lampeter. Info 07703 722344 .
the food festival is coming! see back pages
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 Millennium Hall. Info www.cellanmillenniumhall.co.uk 2
Yoga, 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
shows Longwood Players present Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ at Longwood Community Woodlands, Sunday 15 July at 3pm. Tickets from Red Books, Bridge St Lampeter or Siop Brefi. Tel. 01570 420957 to reserve tickets. Lampeter Youth Theatre is touring its new show ‘Alice’, based on Lewis Carroll’s two Alice books, around and about the district – and largely in the open air – this summer. See their ad in this issue or telephone Annie May Spawnton on 01570 423077.
religious services and groups Seventh Day Adventists meet fortnightly on Saturdays at Cellan Millennium Hall, 10.15–3.15. More details: www.cellanmillenniumhall.co.uk Saint Peter’s Church, Lampeter Services every Sunday. 8am and 10.30am, Communion in English. 5pm, Communion in Welsh. All welcome. 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.
TRANSITION LLAMBED’s BIG GATHERING MEETS AT VICTORIA HALL ON THE THIRD THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH ALL WELCOME COME ALONG AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE
FROM THE EDITORS
LONGWOOD PLAYERS
wilkommen, bienvenu, croeso SHWMAE, and welcome to the first issue of the Grapevine, your free local listings paper that aims to be more than just a calendar of events in the Lampeter area. The Grapevine would like to become a forum for all the issues affecting our community, in areas such as transport, health, food, energy, business, agriculture, environment, education, shopping, tourism, the internet, arts & entertainment... the lot. Clearly, all communities – and especially rural ones – are having to become more resilient in order to deal with a raft of problems that the 21st century is presenting them with: threats to local businesses from big supermarkets and online shopping; the price of fuel oil; the consequences of climate change; the shrinking of public services – these are just four that come to mind immediately. One way of finding ways to meet these challenges is through discussion and debate. You may not even agree that all of them are genuine problems – if so, tell us why not, because we want all views to be heard. (Gary Thorogood eloquently outlines the ‘transition position’ on page 9.) So we’d like to encourage everyone, young or old, of whatever affiliation or cultural background, to contribute their news, views and ideas, on any subject of local and/or wider interest. We welcome letters, articles, stories, verse, artwork – anything that’s fit to print, as the saying goes. And of course, any event you want to publicise: listings are free. And if you’d like to join our team of volunteers to lend or learn skills, you’d be more than welcome. We would particularly encourage younger folks: you people are the future. We also welcome considered reviews of events, of TV, theatre, books, music, movies, the internet... the lot. Write in Welsh or English (or Romani, Esperanto, or Polish for that matter) – whatever language you feel is appropriate.
coasting along in neutral Few would deny that the issue of transport – the skyrocketing cost of private transport and the shrinking availability of public transport – is one of the biggest problems facing us in West Wales. So what to do? We are becoming rather good at adapting our buildings to meet the energy challenges of the 21st century, at making them more efficient and more cost effective; but somehow, when it comes to moving between these buildings – which is what transportation boils down to – all this wonderful creativity and adaptability, all our capacity for invention and enterprise – seems to come to a grinding halt. While our homes and workplaces bear almost no resemblance to those of a half-century ago in terms of energy efficiency, and make the buildings of the 1960s look like crude hovels by comparison, as far as transport is concerned we are still behaving as we did fifty years ago. But as we roll along on a wing and a prayer, there is perhaps a growing sense that this prayer is not going to be answered: that the price of fuel oil is not going to magically descend; and that coasting along in neutral – literally and figuratively – in machines designed in and for the distant past won’t make a jot of difference in the long run, and could have unpleasant consequences sooner rather than later. That’s why in these pages you’ll find several views on our transport troubles. Philip Rhodes writes with suggestions for an interesting ride-sharing system he calls ‘switching’; another correspondent underlines the larger role that cycling could play; and Alex Tanner has done a CSI on our bus services. Transition Llambed is also looking at a number of schemes that we will be highlighting in future issues.
friday movies July 13 “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (15), Judi Dench, Maggie Smith Aug. 3 “The Muppets(2012)” (U) Jason Segel 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 Autumn blockbusters will include: “Men In Black 3” (PG) Will Smith; “Dark Shadows” (12) Johnny Depp;“Moonrise Kingdom” (12) Bruce Willis DOORS OPEN 7 .15 .
PROGRAMME BEGINS 7.4 5.
ADMISSION BY DONATION £2.00
BIG SCREEN & DIGITAL THEATRE SOUND WWW.CELLANMILLENNIUMHALL.CO.UK 3
THE TEMPEST Longwood Community Woodlands Sunday 15th July 3pm Tickets £5 Adult £1 Child (under 16) available from Red Books Bridge St Lampeter & Siop Brefi Tel. 01570 420957 to reserve tickets www.LongwoodPlayers.co.uk supported by the Welsh Government and Communities First catch up with us on facebook
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 11am–4pm RAY Ceredigion Play Sessions 4–6pm Line Dancing 7–10pm TUESDAY Healing Yoga 10–11.30am Lampeter Home Education Group 12– 5pm Tai Chi 6–8pm Beekeepers 2nd Tuesday of month 8pm WEDNESDAY Table Tennis 10am–1.30 Craft Makers Collective 1–3pm Yoga 5–7pm 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
arrivaderci, buses
They also renamed the 550 service to 50 (which causes confusion as it covers part of the 550 route served by their rival, Richards Brothers). All this renumbering has made it sound like Arriva is providing more services, but this is not the case as many existing routes have been cut; brought in old buses from North Wales and repainted them with a ‘Cymru Express’ logo to make them look like new vehicles; made some parts of their timetables impossible; in particular, they say it takes only 7 minutes from Llanybydder to Lampeter when it takes at least 12 minutes in real life. Hence, they always fail to connect with the Richards Brothers X50 at Aberaeron, despite Arriva’s timetable claiming to arrive 3 minutes before. Several ‘consultations’ and ‘bus user surgeries’ have been organised by the WA, Bus Users UK and other organisations, but these are sham events. The ‘consultations’ are used to advertise services like Bwcabus, which is used to spread privatisation over Wales with the pretence of serving rurally isolated passengers. The ‘bus user surgeries’ are just talking shops where any potential passengers who attend get to hear from representatives of privatised bus companies how they run their services for commercial gain. Unfortunately, there is not much we can do to get a more passenger-focused bus service once again in the Lampeter area. With transport now devolved from Westminster, the WAG is responsible for sorting out the situation and re-nationalising services. All we can do is identify sympathetic AMs and lobby them. The Welsh government has used excuses like ‘insufficient funds’ or ‘it’s not a priority’ to avoid the nationalisation issue. I have nothing against the private sector providing subsidies or sponsorship when required. I just don’t think that it can be trusted in the driving seat of our transport services.
Once upon a time, people could get off or on the bus where they wanted to between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen. Cribyn and Pencarreg residents benefitted from an hourly service. This is not ancient history; I am describing the X40 bus service, which was brutally murdered by the Welsh Assembly government and Arriva on 26 February 2012. Privatisation was the weapon used. After the decision to privatise all services run by Arriva between Aberystwyth and Cardiff from February (with the full backing of the WA government, despite a failure to warn passengers in advance), there was trouble when Arriva: made massive and unjustifiable fare increases (when public transport fares in the UK were already more than twice the EU average); withdrew return tickets (meaning people now have to choose between two single tickets or a £6.50 ‘day ticket’ for all return journeys); retimed routes that hadn’t changed in years to run earlier (unfairly forcing connecting operator Richards Brothers to change the times of its own services); cut off Cribyn, Pencarreg and surrounding areas from the X40 route (denying these villages an hourly service and forcing them to use the unreliable Bwcabus service); cut off Swansea from the X40 route and now only serves Swansea by bus on Fridays and Sundays when Swansea University is open; renamed X40 to 40, after making the cuts described above. The 40 now terminates in Carmarthen. They introduced the 10 and 20 services, which follow the 40 route but terminate in Swansea and Cardiff respectively (with the latter not serving Swansea).
alex tanner
dear
Victoria Hall bryn road, lampeter
activities and classes
lunatics, lovers and poets...
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 interested 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 Spawnton 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. + 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
...writers, artists, designers, journalists, photographers, advertisers... ...budding or experienced... we need your stuff to make this rag work we’re not hard to find yours, the grapevine 4
LETTERS letters, grapevine, victoria hall, bryn road, lampeter SA48 7EE email: lampetergrapevine@gmail.com switching to hitching Dear Editors, I write reflecting on hitching, with an idea for new potential. Maybe hitching is not seen so much these days because of personal fear and uncertainty; perhaps if there was a ‘safety check’ and register for both drivers and hitchers that people would use and respect this could change. Locally we have a network of roads with people making lots of journeys, often with space in their cars – ideal for journey sharing. With the high price of fuel, contributions could be made by those accepting lifts – I coined the phrase ‘switching’ for this idea. I have tried this myself and it certainly intrigued the drivers who took me. I realise that there may be a big implication here legally and with insurance, but the idea has such huge potential – to the extent that in thisarea with little public transport some people could even give up their own cars. Maybe charitable donations to some widely accepted altruistic cause could get round this? I invite and welcome thoughts and suggestions. Philip Rhodes, Ffaldybrenin
THE XMAS FACTOR SUMMER IS HERE (‘Bah! – Humbug!’ I hear you cry) but the Yuletide season will be upon us before you can say lastminute gift. So in the spirit of timely preparation, Lampeter Youth Theatre is holding its first round of auditions for
on yer bike Dear Grapevine, Cycling has to play a big part in the future of personal transport. The Dutch have been showing us the way for years, and finally the Brits are starting to wake up to this – look at what’s happening in London, for example. One way forward would be to exploit more all the disused railway lines in Ceredigion. They could be more than just leisure routes like the one through the Cors Caron – imagine a continuous route connecting Lampeter to Aberaeron along the old line. Of course there are hurdles to overcome, to do with land ownership, etc., but if we can bring our canals back to life we can do the same with our old railway lines. T.G. Evans, Llanddewi Brefi a load of bollards recent goings-on in the co-op’s car park have stirred up something of a hornet’s nest. here is a selection of some of the comments we have received: Dear Eds, What’s going on at Lampeter Co-Op? Until recently it was a great community resource allowing people all the time needed to shop there and leave their car while doing other business in the town. But the new parking restrictions have
suddenly ended this. It makes no sense to me. I can’t recall the car park ever being too overcrowded. ... I have supported the Co-op through thick and thin for more than 50 years, but now feel rather insulted. Co-op customers are supposed to be stakeholders: were they ever consulted about the move to limit the parking time? ... we used to be able to park there and have all the time we needed to take the bus to Carmarthen and back. Now, for no good reason, we can’t. Whose idea was it? It’s crazy. ... they’ve wasted lots of money on ugly signs, a pair of bollards that have already been crushed, and hundreds of leaflets that nobody wants to read. ... we don’t need offensive signs and cameras. It makes you feel like a criminal. ... if the Co-0p is trying to lose business they are going the right way about it. ... so where is the breast screening truck going to park now? ... we should all boycott the Co-Op until they see sense and remove the cameras.
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at Victoria Hall on 3 August from 2.30 to 5.30. Candidates are requested to perform a short speech (2–3 minutes maximum) from a chosen character. For more information call LYT on 01570 423 080 or email the director, annie@themay.co.uk.
BROCK SHOCK WE WERE INTENDING to highlight the contentious business of the proposed badger cull in West Wales in this issue, but fortunately for the furry creatures, and unfortunately for our sensationseeking sensibilities, events have overtaken us. In Wales at least, the cull is off. In its place, the Welsh Assembly Government has decided to institute a programme of vaccination. Concerned parties may remain concerned, however, because the same situation does not hold for other parts of the United Kingdom. One useful source of information on this, as well as DEFRA, is badger watch uk, which can be found at www.badgers.org.uk. 5
having a dump has the time come for a proper salvage centre in our area? ‘something for nothing is everybody’s plan’ – bob dylan
MY FAVOURITE DUMP is on the island of Muck. It’s a small island of the inner Hebrides. Muck doen’t mean muck, unfortunately. It’s just a name for a mucky creature. You may spot the Welsh word for a pig lurking in there, but there’s one more step: it’s a sea pig, according to my informant on Muck, which translates to porpoise. Katie Morag fans would recognize the island immediately. Except that Muck is even smaller. It’s just a farm with a sprinkling of thirty or so tin roofed cottages clustered around the harbour, a spread of grassy pasture, and even a few trees. It’s a funky little place, and Muck has the funkiest of dumps, situated in a dreamy spot on its north coast where low cliff and sea have combined to construct a scape of tiny fjords, narrow rocky inlets smelling of kelp, foam and seabirds below, and beyond on the horizon the low outlines of Canna and Rhum. Nearby there’s a very small neolithic stone circle. The outline of the tops of the standing stones appears to have been fashioned to mimic the shapes of those two distant islands. And with a nice touch of resourcefulness, some of the stones have been inscribed and double up as tombstones for the more recently departed of this island. You couldn’t watch the porpoises at play from a better spot. And close by, one of the little fjords has been stuffed chock-a-bloc with chuckaways all the way up to the top. Old farm equipment, clapped out microwaves, bits of ancient bicycles, rusty bow saws, bottles, bricks, bric-a-brac, furniture, timber, all the usual suspects and more, some recently departed, some positively neolithic - the full treasure trove.The people bringeth the stuff and the people taketh it away. And the dump blends in nicely with the landscape: the top of the tip is at ground level thus it’s hard to spot from a distance, and no fences surround it, no big track leads to it.
All our dumps should be pleasant enough to picnic at, even if they can’t be set in surroundings as picturesque as my favourite one, and people should go away feeling better for the experience, instead of groaning to themselves about the attitude of the management or the possiblity of yet another puncture from taking one’s vehicle into a yard strewn with nails and broken glass. And although all dumps can’t be on a pretty stretch of seashore, as users we seek the kind of hunter-gatherer satisfaction that comes with beachcombing. No such benign atmosphere currently surrounds Lampeter’s town dump, in fact all I hear is discontent and complaint. Things haven’t been the same since the chill wind of neoliberalism blew through its stockpiles of oncegratis delights. I hear questions like: Why can we no longer take away what we please from it? Why are we now asked to pay for that old shovel / baby buggy / toolbox / whatever? Maybe we need a different kind of dump? Maybe we need more, smaller, villagesized dumps? What would a communityrun dump look like? And so forth. Now, ‘dump’ being a catch-all term, we should draw a distinction in terms of the materials any one dump deals with: in this case, between material headed for recycling, and material headed for reuse. LAS in Lampeter is clearly geared toward recycling and landfill, and appears to have scant interest in re-use. This is fine: recycling is, for the moment, necessary, so fair play and good luck to them. A non-profit salvage centre, on the other hand, would deal only with reusables and repairables; and thus one would deliver one’s stuff either to the former or the latter. The questions pile up like discards on a dump: Would such a salvage dump have an online noticeboard? Would it have a cafe? Waged personnel and/or volunteers? Would it have a repair shop? Fabrication shop? Sculpture studio? Would it be open all hours? Whose leg do you have to hump to get planning permission, etc. etc. around here? Do we need to re-educate ourselves regarding what is and isn’t reusable? And so forth... Any answers?
andy soutter
rubble like this littering our countryside could be reused as building material — and once was
6
THE WANT ADS PLACE YOUR PERSONAL AD HERE Up to 3 lines £2. Up to 6 lines £4. lampetergrapevine@gmail.com WANTED. Sheep and goat separator. Call 01974 999 998. FOR SALE. Fire extinguisher. Never used. Also, antique tree/wood distinguisher, always needs attention. 444 5555. SWAP Wet weekend in Wales for sunny Greek island with beautiful beaches. 433 9999. WANTED. Moment’s peace. Will give anything. 01971 650592. SWAP Lorry back for stuff that’s fallen off one. Call 01974 999 999. FOR SALE: Irritating, embarrassing but valuable unwanted gift. Mint condition. £10. Don’t tell anyone. 566322. FOR SALE. Spear. Mint condition. Shakes well. Call 1564–1616. I’LL TELL YOUR FORTUNE. You will give me yours. Charlie Tan, 422 00. FOR SALE Cat and pigeon separator. Works perfectly and leaves no mess. 01971 650592. FOR SALE. Time machine. Call last week. 01974 999 999. SWAP My talent for your success. 444 3333. FOR SALE: Powdered water. Concentrated. Light. Ideal for travellers – Just add water. 566 322. FOR SALE: Attractive postcode. Surroundings need some attention. 566 322. SWAP My grass for your side of the hill. 433 9999. No cliches, please. SWAP Englishman, Welshman and Scotsman on an aeroplane for Man walks into a pub and several What’s the difference betweens. 666 999. LIVE FISH for sale. Call 12345. DISH seeks spoon, preferably silver, for long journey. Call 54321. CAT seeks fiddle. Answers in strict confidence. Tel. 696969. FOR SALE. Riding hood. Red. Never used. etc etc. WANTED. Sheep and goat separator. Call 01974 999 998. FOR SALE. Fire extinguisher. Never used. Also, antique tree/wood distinguisher, always needs attention. 444 5555. SWAP Wet weekend in Wales for sunny Greek island with beautiful beaches. 433 9999. WANTED. Moment’s peace. Will give anything. 01971 650592. SWAP Lorry back for stuff that’s fallen off one. Call 01974 999 999. FOR SALE: Irritating, embarrassing but valuable unwanted gift. Mint condition. £10. Don’t tell anyone. 566322.
from the bottom our serialization of annie may’s vivid tale of coming to farm in west wales begins this month PART 1: THE VALLEY The valley is lush with beech oak, ash, birch and hazel. It’s not really a valley, it’s a big basin with three little farms snuggled into steep slopes to the north and east. To the south there’s a gap that leads down to Lampeter. Beyond that you can see the lines of hills in shades of mauve, slate and lavender folding upon fold to the sea at Aberaeron.
old school agriculture in wales, circa 1960
16,000 years ago the valley was a lake. The glacier that formed it had scoured the land of any vegetation and had dumped great twenty-ton blue stones from North Wales onto the clay of the lake bottom. There’s one by the big pond at Gilfachwen. The hills were scrubbed down to naked rock by the ever moving ice. The waters of the Iceage lake must have covered the places where the three little farms now stand and it had an outflow at the southern edge where the water gradually drained away into what is now the Teifi. It’s a harsh place even now and the hills are pretty bare. That’s because the sheep from Esgair Corn graze them and because at that height trees grow slowly. There’s a line of indigenous beech, gnarled and twisted, that borders what was once a stone-walled field. These days the hill is open grazing. A road runs over the top past the great stone of Careg y Bwchi and on down to Llanfair Clydogau. At the bottom of the hill there’s Llanfair Clydoau church on one side of
the road and Llanfair Fawr on the other. Behind Llanfair Fawr are the silver mines, now defunct but still with Office Fawr and the cottages of the workers. Samuel Lewis wrote in 1883 in his Topological Dictionary of Wales that there was ‘A valuable mine of lead-ore, containing a considerable proportion of
silver, and in which also are found quartz, spar, and a small quantity of copper-ore, has been worked for the last twenty years with considerable success, though in dry seasons during that period the works have been frequently suspended from want of water sufficient to give motion to the machinery employed.’ They got an average of 75–80 oz. of pure silver a year from the mine in those days but you shouldn’t grow and eat vegetables in the gardens of the office and cottages; the soil has a high lead content and you’ll end up twp. In spite of the shortage of water power, the Clywedog rushes by the mine like the sacred river Alph through ‘caverns measureless to man’, as Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote in Kublai Khan. Well, not quite, but certainly under the caverns made by overhanging trees. Nevertheless, it is said that Coleridge’s fellow poet Shelley took his inspiration for Ozymandias from the Clywedog at Llanfair. He had stayed, as had Coleridge, at the Hafod mansion with the Johnes Family in its heyday when writers and artists flocked 7
to the West Welsh manor houses in their lush settings. But I have it on good authority – an ancient denizen, now dead, of Llanfair – that the literary junketings went on just behind the farm of Llanfair Fawr. Whether near Pumpsaint or in Llanfair I do wonder where the ‘sunless sea’ is. The Teifi is very placid and sunny just there and can hardly be called a ‘sea’ as it is only about a foot or two deep. But mining was an old game even then because humans had already come to Wales to mine for minerals by 10,000 BC. Whether they came to the Llanfair area as early as that is difficult to say. By Victorian times the water problem had been solved by the building of Lyn y Gwaith. In the summer we go up there to swim in its cold brown waters. Years ago my children used to camp, eat biscuits and swim from the rocks, returning bronzed and bitten and hungry the next day. The dogs and I used to go up to lie in the heather; I to read or write and swim with the dogs on hot summer days. These days we sit by our own teeming pond and I flump bravely into the water with Charlie or Pansy puffing beside me. Geoff says he’ll build me a small landing stage because the clay squeezes in a ghastly way between your toes when you get out. But I won’t hold my breath. I like the tale that behind Llanfair Fawr, was once the residence of the lord -lieutenant of the county until his marriage when he left the house and it fell into ruin; but am inclined to believe Elizabeth Inglis Jones (author of Peacocks in Paradise) on the subject. Whatever the truth is, it had been an ancient building; some parts of it went back to 1080. Lewis records that in some places the walls were five yards thick. He quaintly observes with regard to Llanfair Clydogau that ‘The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor [in Llanfair village] is £99.2s.’ he does not say for how long or for how many. A week, a month, a year? For ten, a hundred, one? In earlier times Llanfair Clydogau was called Llan-vair y Clywedogau. In Wales there are proper descriptive names for places. Welsh is phonetic and once you know the rules easy to pronounce. So Llanfair is pronounced ‘Llanvair’ and Ffarmers, the village below us in the valley next door is pronounced ‘Farmers’. The spelling of Llanfair with a V in earlier times shows how quickly and easily the rules of both spelling and pronunciation can be ditched in favour of others. Those were the days when the wealthy discovered West Wales and the Aeron Valley. When ugly, artistic Nash, fleeing after his divorce came to Car-
-marthen and built the lovely town hall and many other heavenly houses: Aberglasney and Llanerchaeron have both been restored, but there are still many others that have now fallen into decay with no hope of resuscitation because of cost, regulations or lethargy. The Teifi valley is lined with the gorgeous mansions and the more sober but well appointed houses of the merchant classes. Towns sprang up to prosper in the new age of commercialism and travel. Aberaeron still retains its sedate Georgian aspect. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Alban Jones Lewis Gwynn, squire of Ty Glyn, had a dream of exporting the butter and cheeses of the lush
Aeron Valley and importing wine from France, hams from Spain, timber from the Baltic and household items form Bristol. The roads were too rough and narrow to allow for good trade and so Aberaeron came into being. Those pretty pastel houses are largely the creation of Alban Jones Lewis Gwynne and it succeeded wonderfully. It is, as he designed it, a dignified little town on the coast. Part of the success of the town is that Gwynne paid good wages which attracted excellent workers: shipwrights from Aberystwyth and Aberarth, the blacksmith with the wonderful name of Thomas ‘y go’, who worked beside the river which was eventually diverted to flow directly into
the sea. At its mouth the picturesque quays built by the stone mason William Green from Aberystwtyh soon took shape. Today they are lined with rather nice eating places. Whatever has happened to Wales, there are still parts that have retained their agricultural history. But rural Wales is not wealthy enough to have local museums everywhere, so what is left are stone field boundaries and old lines of relationship. That is to say people still know who is related to whom, unto the tenth generation sometimes. Don’t bad mouth a Welshman, you’ll be taking to his relative, sure as eggs! continues next month
my observations of this culture reinforce my belief that people everywhere share certain basic characteristics in that they are base, vulgar, crude, stupid and totally without redeeming merit...
MUSIC
are these the right chords for house of the rising sun?
From Captain Beefheart's Ten Commandments For Guitarists: 1. LISTEN TO THE BIRDS... That’s where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren’t going anywhere. 2. YOUR GUITAR IS NOT REALLY A GUITAR... Your guitar is a divining rod.
Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you’re good, you'll land a big one. 3. PRACTICE IN FRONT OF A BUSH... Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush doesn’t shake, eat another piece of bread. 5. IF YOU'RE GUILTY OF THINKING, YOU'RE OUT... If your brain is part of the process, you’re missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing. 9. KEEP YOUR GUITAR IN A DARK PLACE...When you’re not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don’t play your guitar for more than a day, be sure to put a saucer of water in with it. 10. YOU GOTTA HAVE A HOOD FOR YOUR ENGINE... Wear a hat when you play and keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house the hot air can’t escape ... 8
don van fleet
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 28 Gorffennaf, rydym yn croesawi LYNNE DENMAN A 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 28 July when the guest performers will be LYNNE DENMAN AND FRIENDS with their traditional Welsh folk music.
buy local !
vibrant, resilient community. Lampeter is not a rich area, so it is even more important to keep the wealth that we have circulating within our community. Where do you choose to buy your food? Do you buy meat from Jones the Butcher, who displays the names of the local farms from which his produce comes, or a supermarket where the meat could come almost anywhere on the planet via a warehouse in Yorkshire? Do you choose to spend your money on produce that has come 10 miles or 10,000 miles? Local markets supplying local food, or...? If we can start creating a demand for more local food we can create more jobs and wealth in satisfying that demand. The decisions we make when we consume are really important. Transition Llambed meets on the third Thursday of every month for a ‘Big Gathering’ in the Victoria Hall – the acquisition of which is a Transition Llambed project via its Development Trust. Various groups have formed or are forming that contribute to Lampeter becoming more self-reliant and selfsustaining. Some groups have been formed – Health and Wellbeing, Events, Newsletter (the Grapevine), Victoria Hall – and welcome new members. The following are in the process of forming and are key to us having an impact: Transport, Food, Energy. There is room for more if you are inspired to start one. A local ‘Energy Descent Plan’ has been produced with the help of a Regional Development Plan grant, and is available free to those interested. Call 07891632614 or ontact transitionllambed@gmail.com if you need more information or have any questions. The next Big Gathering is on Thursday 19 July – see you there. Come along and make a difference!
assume the transition position Transition Llambed has been around for more than 5 years now. It has a database of 450 interested people from in and around the town. It is part of a national and international network of Transition Towns (see www.transitionnetwork.org). To some, Transition Llambed has become part of the fabric of Lampeter. Others have come and gone for different reasons. Some remain unsure and even sceptical of what it is all about. In its simplest terms, Transition Llambed is about preparing for a future that is uncertain. We cannot do much about the changes taking place globally, but we can anticipate likely future scenarios and work collectively to make the best of changes linked to climate change (for example higher food prices) and the increasing cost of fossil fuels as population increases create increased demands for this limited resource. Some think this farfetched – but an increasing number recognise that the information available all points towards uncertain times ahead. The debate is only about when, not about if. Transition Llambed is a positive response to dealing with these changes. Simply put, it is about us relying on each other and our local assets – from food production to supplying our energy needs locally; from reducing, re-using and re-cycling to re-skilling. It is about helping create a community that is resilient to the changes that are coming – and having a good time in the process. Lampeter is a market town. This is a great place to start when we consider the future. A respected author and ethicist, Anna Lappe, has said ‘Every time you spend money, you are casting a vote for the type of world you want.’ Transition Llambed says spend your money LOCALLY and support your local businesses, because we want our part of the world to be a
gary thorogood with thanks to linda winn
John Elwyn paintings 1970–1995
ORIEL LLAREGYB GALLERY August 2–November 30
High St Llaregyb, Ceredigion
HEALTH NOTES AMAZING LYFE, a not-for-profit company operating in the Wirral and West Wales, specialises in holistic tools for recovery and wellbeing, with particular interest in supporting people who are in recovery from loss, trauma, abuse, neglect, addiction or mental health issues, or who may be suffering from stress, anxiety or overwork. They offer private sessions, workshops and day retreats, and also run weekend retreats on their organic farm in Wales, providing ‘art and mindfulness-based’ therapeutic retreats with an intensive three days of ‘sharing tools for health and well being’. AL describes its mission as one of working therapeutically using psychological tools within the context of nature, art and spirituality to bring about healing, growth and transformation. Its ‘Be the Change Day’ events happen in various venues in Wales and Cheshire, including Cellan’s Millenium Hall. A support group is planned for Lampeter. Amazing Lyfe is also involved with Transition Town Kirby. Learn more at www.amazinglyfe.com
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Young at Heart Tea, sandwiches and social for Lampeter’ s wiser folk Victoria Hall ,Bryn Road 1.30pm till 4.30pm Wednesday 25 July Sponsored by Teifi Terrace & Kingsmead
OBTAINABLE SUSTAINABLES wood pellet heating WOOD IS A RENEWABLE SOURCE OF ENERGY because the carbon dioxide emitted when the wood is burned has been taken out of the atmosphere by the growing plant. Being a source of renewable energy, wood pellets are exempt from the Climate Change Levy. Even allowing for emissions of fossil carbon dioxide in planting, harvesting, processing and transporting the fuel, replacing fossil fuel with wood fuel will typically reduce net CO2 emissions by over 90%. This applies to all forms of wood fuel, including wood pellets, which are usually made of highly compressed waste sawdust. The use of wood pellets for heating is well established in countries such as North America, Sweden, Austria and Denmark. Work on the development of a UK market started in 1999 with the assistance of an EU funded project ‘Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to the UK’. The project helped to establish a number of sources of UK manufactured wood pellets and saw the installation of the first wood pellet-fired appliances. There is now an emerging pellet industry in the UK with pockets of activity in a number of regions. Pellets are now produced in the UK by Welsh Biofuels in South Wales, Premier Waste in Durham and on a smaller scale, by Renewable Heat and Power Ltd in Devon. A number of European and North American manufacturers are also willing to export pellets in bulk to the UK. Brands of Swedish, Danish and Austrian pellet fired boilers and several makes of pellet stove from Europe and North America are now available in the UK. There are currently two UK manufacturers of wood pellet boilers based in Suffolk and Staffordshire respectively.
the details
Wood pellets can be used to produce heat in a specially designed stove or boiler. In addition, some existing solid fuel and oil boilers can be converted to make use of wood pellets. Pellets are mostly manufactured from waste products from sawmills and other wood processing industries. The materials used, include ground woodchips, sawdust and bark. No chemical additives are needed, the natural lignin of the wood itself serving as a binder, although sometimes small quantities of maize starch are added. Premium grade wood pellets are UK manufactured pellets produced from pure wood with no contaminants like plywood or chipboard glues. They are produced in the UK under a voluntary code of practice. Other countries have their own standards for the production of wood pellets, some of them compulsory. It is anticipated that there will be a Europe-wide standard for the production of wood pellets by 2005. Due to their low moisture content (about 6–10%) pellets have a high energy content, similar to high quality coal. Only minor energy losses are experienced due to the need to burn off the moisture content. Being manufactured to a consistent size (usually about 2cm long with a diameter of 6–8mm for domestic heating), low moisture content and high density means that wood pellets can be used in automatic clean-burn heating appliances. It also means that the boiler response time is fast and the technology is controllable without increasing the load on the environment. This and the fact that they are clean and easy to handle make them particularly suitable for domestic use. Being compressed also means that they take up less space than other forms of wood fuel. Pellets have the following advantages over other types of wood fuel: less volume to transport and store (due to higher energy density); fewer deliveries; consistent size and moisture content; versatility–can be used in stoves and boilers; less ash and emissions; they are dry and can be stored without degrading; they flow like liquid and can be used in automatic machinery; they are easier to handle and easier to ignite. Further info from: British BioGen Code of Good Practice for Biofuel Pellets and Pellet Burning Roomheaters <15kW: www.britishbiogen.co.uk/bioenergy/pellets/ cogp.htm
a pellet boiler 10
Pellet Stoves from wood energy ltd
they’re hot stuff info@woodenergyltd.co.uk
Cornwell Heat wood pellet stoves and boilers Bells Lane, Hawstead, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP29 5NW. 01284 386447 cornwellheatltd@btopenworld.com
wood pellet storage silos MAFA I ÄNGELHOLM AB Fratidsgatan 3, S.262 73 ÄNGLEHOLM, Sweden Tel: 0046 431 881 40 e-mail: mafa@mafa.se website: www.mafa.se
Lampeter Farmers Market Market Street, Lampeter 9.00am â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2.00pm Fridays July 13th & 27th August 10th & 24th
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FOOD & DRINK lampeter food festival 2012 Renowned TV chef Dudley Newbery will be cooking at and participating in this year’s Lampeter Food Festival (Saturday 28 July on the Trinity St David’s campus) as part of the S4C series Dudley ar Daith (‘Dudley on Tour’) , meeting local producers, following their preparations and highlighting their appetising results. ‘We need to keep reminding people what is available on their doorstep,’ says Dudley. ‘It’s not always the quickest and easiest option, but buying from local producers is something we all need to try and do, and something I am very passionate about promoting,’ – as
are Transition Llambed, who are holding a market and craft fair alongside the festival. The number and variety of stalls at the festival is truly mouthwatering. Ura’s street food stall will be worth a visit for their kati rolls and samosas. And on the drinks side, more than one stall will have perry on offer – a bevvy which is having a bit of a revival. Beyond food and drink there are craft stalls, kid’s activities, music from the Hittites, and Lampeter Youth Theatre will be giving a performance of their new adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’ stories: jam tarts, anyone? Food festivals have come to the fore in recent years, none more so than Lampeter’s own, and the range and quality of local produce available promises to be better than ever, so make a date for July twenty-eight. TV presnter Sara Edwards opens proceeedings at 11 genuine dud – dudley newbury a.m. visits this year’s food fest
cooking...
serving...
playing...
mouthwatering... 12