More than 160 former students and staff will gather in Aberystwyth 29 June – 1 July 2018 to celebrate the centenary of the University’s Department of Geography and Earth Sciences.

From keynote speakers to field trips and old films, a special weekend of events and activities has been organised to mark the department’s 100^thbirthday.

The event will be an opportunity to look back on the Department’s achievements as well as its plans for the future.

Some alumni are travelling from as far away as New Zealand and British Columbia in Canada to attend the celebrations.

It was in the summer of 1918, as the First World War was drawing to a close, that the first students arrived in Aberystwyth to study Geography.

The Old College on the seafront was the original teaching location, with the Department moving to its current home in the Llandinam building on Penglais campus in 1965.

In 1988, Geography merged with the University’s equally distinguished Department of Geology (established in 1910), and introduced new degrees in Environmental Science and Environmental Earth Science.

To date, more than 8,000 students have gained a degree from the Department, with today’s graduates working as lecturers and professors in universities from California to China, and New South Wales to South Africa.

Notable staff through the decades include the first Head of Department Professor Fleure, acknowledged as one of the giants of early twentieth century Geography, and Professor E G Bowen who travelled around Wales in his distinctive yellow Mini giving public lectures on the cultural and historical geography of Wales.

The Department has won many accolades along the way and is ranked among the top 150 Geography Departments in the world (QS World Rankings 2017).

Staff in the Department’s internationally recognised Centre for Glaciology have been awarded the prestigious Polar Medal three times.

Emeritus Professor Michael Hambrey has won the Polar Medal twice, and was also the recipient of the 2018 Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). In 2017, Professor Bryn Hubbard received the Polar Medal and in 2016, Professor Neil Glasser had a glacier named after him.

Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Vice-Chancellor at Aberystwyth University, said: “I would like to congratulate the department – its staff, students and supporters, both past and present – on reaching this landmark birthday. Over the last century, this Department has made an immense contribution to the global understanding of both physical and human geography. Its researchers and graduates will continue to make an impact through its teaching and research, and further build our understanding of climate change and other major issues facing our planet.”

The centenary celebrations are being organised by Professor Michael Woods, who said: “With the QS University Rankings placing Aberystwyth in the Top 150 geography departments in the world, we have plenty to celebrate in 2018. As a Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, we continue to balance arts and science, as well as the local and global, and we remain committed to integrating research and teaching.

“Nowhere is this more evident than on our famous fieldtrips. Generations of graduates from the 1970s and 1980s will still reflect nostalgically on the first year fieldtrip to Tenby, or overseas trips to Paris or Spain. Later, Aberystwyth was one of the first British geography departments to run a fieldtrip to New York, and our New Zealand fieldtrips are still as popular as ever and the envy of students and staff elsewhere.”

Professor Paul Brewer, Head of the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, said: “We look forward to welcoming back former students and staff as we reflect on a hundred years of geography at Aberystwyth. When we started teaching the subject back in 1918, we were the first department of its kind in Wales and one of only three in the UK offering a degree in Geography. Our reputation stems from the breadth of our international research and the quality of our teaching that blends the best traditions with the latest innovations. Our recently refurbished lecture theatres are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, and we look forward now to taking the teaching of Geography in the 21^stcentury to the next level.”

The current President of the Old Students’’ Association, John Frampton, came to study Geology at Aberystwyth in 1958 and will be at the centenary celebrations: “I congratulate the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences on reaching its centenary and wish it well as it moves into the next 100 years. For all who will be returning for the weekend’s celebrations may the weather be fine, the camaraderie enjoyable and may you enjoy Aber and all that it means, and has meant to you, in its wonderful unique way.”

The programme for the Centenary Weekend 29 June – 1 July includes:

Friday 29 June 2018

A reception hosted by Vice-Chancellor Professor Elizabeth Treasure for the Department’s alumni and members of the Old Students’ Association in the University’s newly-refurbished Hugh Owen Library followed by a GeoSoc quiz in the Arts Centre.

Saturday 30 June 2018

A series of talks, displays, demonstrations and activities in the Llandinam building, with tours of the department’s facilities including the new Centenary Laboratory and the cutting-edge technology used in Earth Observation and GIS teaching and research. The Centenary Lecture will be given by Professor John Lewin, Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography and former Pro Vice-Chancellor – ‘Geography and Earth Sciences: Past, Present and Future’. A Centenary Dinner will be held in the evening.

Sunday 1 July 2018

A chance to revisit fieldwork sites and find out how the department’s research is helping us to understand the environment and society in Wales, with trips to the Rheidol Valley, Cors Fochno and Ynyslas as well as a walking tour of the town.

Photo: The iconic Llandinam tower, home to Geography since the 1960s.

Links:
Department of Geography and Earth Sciences
www.aber.ac.uk/en/dges

Centenary Celebrations
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/dges/about/centenary

Comedian Phil Evans is from Ammanford. He is known as the man who puts the ‘cwtsh’ into comedy. Website – www.philevans.co.uk

………………………….

As I’ve pointed out many times (and you didn’t take a blind bit of notice!), the world is getting crazier every day.

Long-held attitudes, thoughts and opinions that shaped who we are and kept our lives in some semblance of common sense order for decades are now regularly questioned by individuals we’ve never heard of before.

Having scoured their back gardens looking for bees, they stick one in their bonnets and can’t wait to complain about it.

At the same time, they tell the rest of us we’re all wrong for being out of step with their opinions.

Somehow, they’re allowed a spot on the TV news or current affairs programme to announce that they’re ‘offended’ by something that no-one has ever been offended by before in the history of the worldand demand that “Something must be done about it!”

Of course, the rest of us aren’t allowed to demand ‘Something must be done about them’, like, they shouldn’t be allowed within two miles of a TV or radio studio or a newspaper reporter who’s looking for a ‘controversial’ opinion piece, eagerly licking his pencil ready to jot down their idiotic ideas in his beer-stained notebook.

Just the other day, an extremely articulate woman was given 10 minutes of TV airtime to complain that MEN AT WORK road signs are sexistand out of place in a modern society where men and women should be accepted as equals.

I’ve always accepted that women are equal to men.

Indeed. in many aspects they’re superior.

But, on the rare occasion I’ve seen evidence of men actually at workon the motorway behind MEN AT WORK signs, there was even less evidence that women were digging up the tarmac alongside them.

I’m hoping to be on the telly soon . . .

If I can find something that offends me by then . . .

——————

Up, up and away:

I’m writing this week’s column at 38000 feet, travelling at 550 miles per hour, heading to Los Angeles in California, America’s second biggest city.

We even have an internet connection on board.

How times have changed.

Sitting besides me is my room-mate, Phil Meeks, from Derby, who has organised the itinerary for my entire stay, in military fashion, I might add.

There is going to be very little time for relaxation on this trip.

Yes, it’s a work related trip, with an element of tension built in.

Far from glamorous, but someone has to do it.

Phil’s East Midlands accent and my South Wales accent appear to be an endless source of amusement to neighbouring passengers on the flight.

As many loyal readers and followers already know, people watching is something that I really enjoy and can be considered one of my favourite past-times; I consider myself to be quite good at it.

I’ve never been good at many things.

When I was a schoolboy, I swam for Ireland three times.

Unfortunately, I never got further than the end of the North Pier in Blackpool.

But, on this plane trip, the tables have turned and more than a few of the international passengers are discretely watching and eaves-dropping our conversations – probably not understanding a word and trying to figure out our accents.

I’m reminded that travel broadens the mind.

But, in my case, also the waistline.

Best wishes from this side of the ‘Pond’.

If I see Donald, I’ll give him everyone’s regards . . .

——————-

You can follow Phil Evans on Twitter @philevanswales and www.philevans.co.uk

A Senior A&E Consultant at Withybush General Hospital has thrown her support behind ambitious proposals by Hywel Dda to develop a new major hospital with state of the art facilities between Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.

With just two weeks to go until Hywel Dda’s Big NHS Change consultation ends, Dr Nicola Drake said she was “very positive” about the proposals, which would mark a “sea-change” shift in the way Emergency Care could be provided in the future and prevent patients with urgent care needs from having to wait to be seen at busy A&E departments.

Hywel Dda’s Medical Director, Dr Phil Kloer, also said that around 40 per cent of patients who were currently occupying beds in the health board’s four hospitals wouldn’t need to be there if community and primary care services were also radically overhauled under the consultation proposals.

Dr Drake added: “As an A&E consultant I’m quite biased towards whatever system is in place that best helps us to see and treat patients with emergency care needs, which is why I’m very supportive of the proposals that the health board is putting forward.

“We’ve got to change, it’s as simple as that.  Under the current system, within Accident and Emergency, we are doing everything humanly possible to see and treat patients who come to us with life-threatening emergencies, but far too often they’re turning up in an ambulance and there just isn’t a space for them.

So we can treat them and stabilise them and then they have to wait, basically, somewhere in the A&E department or in the back of an ambulance until an inpatient bed becomes available elsewhere in the hospital.  The problem is that those hospital beds have often already been taken up by people who have been admitted, and in many cases are actually well enough to be discharged, but who don’t have a nursing home place or care plan in place to help them when they’re discharged because of the way the existing health and social care system works.

“I know the plans [for a new hospital] are causing a lot of concern locally and l completely understand why some residents would feel worried or angry about their local A&E department moving further away from them, but I can’t emphasise enough that what we’re talking about here is a whole-system change – a complete transformation not just of emergency care, but also the way that people access it. It’s not just about Hywel Dda changing – the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust (WAST) and the Wales Air Ambulance, as well as neighbouring health boards, would also have a big part to play.

“So that’s the challenge we all face – we’ve got to change and I think the plans that the health board have put forward represent the best, safest and most accessible way of doing that.”

As well as the benefit to patients of having more senior clinical decision-makers at the front door of a single A&E department in west Wales, the health board’s ambition is to be able to provide more specialist services in a new major hospital – these currently have to be commissioned elsewhere – which, together with a cutting edge research and learning environment, would significantly help in attracting more doctors, nurses and support service staff to come and work in the area.

Hywel Dda’s Executive Medical Director & Director of Clinical Strategy, Dr Phil Kloer, added: “In terms of new roles it’s not just the doctors we’re trying to attract to Hywel Dda; this is about our whole multi- agency workforce too, so we would expect new roles for nurses, therapists, physician associates and others, including paramedics, to take on leadership roles – leading care where the doctor isn’t really needed there on a daily basis.”

Top tips to cope with the heatwave from Carmarthenshire Council . .

Take care of yourself, and others around you…

Look out for others

• Keep an eye out for people who are more vulnerable to the heat – older people in particular can suffer.
• Call round to family, friends and neighbours to make sure they are okay. Offer to help – maybe even just popping to the shops on their behalf. Ask them if they need extra support

Keep cool

• Take regular cool showers or baths
• Drink regularly, but avoid drinks containing caffeine, sugary drinks such as cola, and alcohol – water or fruit juice is best
• Eat more cold foods, such as salads, which contain water
• Reduce levels of physical exertion
• Wear loose-fitting cotton clothing
• Always wear a high-protection sunscreen, sunglasses, and a sunhat when outdoors

At home

• Keep out the heat by keeping curtains and blinds closed throughout the day
• Once the temperature has cooled outside, open windows to let in fresh air, but close them at night
• Spray the ground outside windows with water to cool the air, but take care not to create a slip hazard

Symptoms of heatstroke and heat exhaustion include:

• Drowsiness, faintness, or changes in behaviour
• Increased body temperature
• Difficulty breathing and increased heart rate
• Dehydration, nausea or vomiting
• Worsening health problems, especially of heart or respiratory system

If you suspect someone has heatstroke or heat exhaustion, get help and then:

• Take their temperature
• If possible, move them somewhere cooler
• Cool them down quickly by sprinkling them with water, or wrapping them in a damp sheet; use a fan
• Encourage them to drink fluids

Côr Meibion Llanelli will remember their former accompanist, Gethin Hughes, at annual concert ‘with a difference’ at Ffwrnes Theatre, Llanelli this Saturday (June 30, 7pm).

Gethin was affectionately known as Llanelli’s ‘Mr Music’ prior to his death in 2011.

Following his death, a special Gethin Hughes Memorial Bursary Scholarship was established.

The first winner of the cash bursary was Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama student Megan Thomas, from Trimsaran.

The choir’s annual concert on Saturday will feature the contest to decide the next winner of the £750 bursary scholarship.

The competition will form the centrepiece of the concert by Côr Meibion Llanelli Male Voice Choir, with the choir performing a wide-ranging repertoire dovetailing the competition.

The Gethin Hughes prize is the brainchild of Côr Meibion Llanelli musical director Mr D Eifion Thomas, a close friend of the late Mr Hughes.

“Gethin was a great friend and a long-serving accompanist for Cor Meibion Llanelli,” said Mr Thomas.

“We travelled the world to concerts and festivals and Gethin was famous the world over for being a real character and a wonderful ambassador for Llanelli.

“Gethin made an outstanding contribution to music in Llanelli and in Wales. It is wonderfully fitting that we should honour his memory and celebrate his life with a musical bursary prize.

“Gethin cared very much about supporting and promoting youngsters on their musical careers. Hopefully, this award will go a long way to encouraging, supporting and developing musical talent in Carmarthenshire.”

The bursary organisers also include Cor Meibion Llanelli chorister Richard Christopher, Gethin’s second cousin.

Mr Christopher explained: “The aim is to perpetuate Gethin’s memory by making this a regular competition for young Carmarthenshire musicians. The prize is a £750 cash bursary to the winner to help them in their studies.”

Gethin died just a few days short of his 76th birthday.

He was closely linked with the famous Triniti Chapel in Llanelli and was a much-respected music teacher at Ysgol y Strade, Llanelli.

He founded the Llanelli Young Music Lovers and spent a substantial amount of his free time taking his concert party on the road to support various charitable events.

For many years, Gethin contributed a regular column in the Llanelli Star newspaper.

The ‘Solo Note’ columns later formed the basis of a book called ‘Always be natural’.

It was a title given to him by the late great entertainer Roy Castle, who told Gethin – ‘Never be sharp, Never be flat, Always be natural’.

Gethin’s stories were always liberally sprinked with stardust. The list of stars and celebrities he met and accompanied was endless. He was lucky enough to call many of them his friends.

From Sir Malcolm Sargent to Gracie Fields, from Betty Driver and Bill Roache of Coronation Street, from Jack Warner to Elsie and Doris Waters . . . Gethin had stories to tell about them all.

Gethin was also known for his sense of adventure.

From scuba-diving off The Great Barrier Reef in Australia to riding a mechanical bucking bronco at a Wild West centre in Denver, Colorado, to playing out his inimitable party pieces at post-concert Cor Meibion concerts, nothing was too much of a challenge for Gethin.

Gethin spent 65 years as an accompanist at his beloved Triniti Chapel in Llanelli.

His work as an accompanist and fund-raiser for various charities earned him an MBE – but it also earned him much more. It earned him the affection and respect of the people of Llanelli and beyond.

The six contestants bidding for the Gethin Hughes bursary prize are all members of Loud Applause Rising Stars, the group set up by Llanelli concert promoter Cerith Owens to help mentor and encourage young talent in Wales.

The talented six are Joseph Cavalli-Price, Osian Clarke, Lauren Fisher, Daisy Owens, Jack Owens and Neve Summers.

Loud Applause Rising Stars (a body directed by Llanelli concert promoter Cerith Owens) is an exciting

The judges will be – Allan Fewster MBE, Eilir Owen Griffiths and Meinir Richards.

The contestants will be accompanied by Jeffrey Howard.

The joint comperes will be Gethin’s second cousin Richard Christopher and Robert Lloyd.

Tickets are available from the Ffwrnes Theatre box office or through the Theatrau Sir Gar website.

Saturday night (June 30) also sees a big night in the Gwendraeth Valley.

Côr Merched Glannau’r Gwendraeth with be joined by some very special guests for their concert starting at 7pm at Pontyates Welfare Hall.

The special guests are Côr Lleisiau Llannerch ladies choir from North Wales and the folk group Tawerin.

The concert will also feature soloist Luke Rees from Pontantwn.

The compere will be the accomplished actor and great West Wales crowd favourite Ioan Hefin.

Tickets are £7, with children admitted free. Tickets from 01269 861922.

In other news, Côr Meibion Dyffryn Tywi have put together an exciting line-up for their annual concert on Saturday, July 21, at the Princess Gwenllian Centre in Kidwelly.

The evening will feature the popular North Wales act Piantel.

Piantel are pianist Annette Bryn Parry and harpist Dylan Cernyw. They are described as ‘a magical musical experience not to be missed!’

The concert will also feature the much-acclaimed Tywi Valley musical duo, the husband and wife team of Aled Edwards and Eleri Owen Edwards.

The compere for the Côr Meibion Dyffryn Tywi concert will be Ioan Hefin

On the same night (July 21), Burry Port Town Band are scheduled to stage their annual summer concert.

The band’s special guests will be Tenovus Cancer Care Swansea Sing With Us Choir and Burry Port Junior Band.

Curtain up is at 7pm on July 21, with tickets £10, under 16s free.

The Burry Port Town Band will be looking to perform an entertaining programme featuring popular classics and music from the stage and screen.

They will also feature their Eisteddfod programme ahead of the Royal National Eisteddfod at the Wales Millennium Centre on Saturday, August 4.

It has been a successful year for Burry Port Town Band, reaching the semi-finals of S4C Band Cymru and again qualifying to represent Wales at the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain taking place on September.

The compere for the Burry Port concert will be Robert Lloyd.

Looking to the autumn, Côr Meibion Caerfyrddin Carmarthen Male Choir’s 60th anniversary concert will be held at the Lyric Theatre, Carmarthen, on Saturday, October 13.

The choir will be joined on stage by four other choirs – Mynydd Mawr, Burry Port, Dyffryn Tywi and Dyffryn Aman.

This will create a combined choir of around 150 voices under the baton of Wyn Maskell, musical director of Côr Meibion Caerfyrddin.

Also taking part will be well known soloists: Jessica Robinson, soprano, and Trystan Llŷr Griffiths, tenor.

The MC for the evening will be television and radio personality Garry Owen.

Finally, here’s another date for your diary for later in the year. The Annual Royal British Legion Charity Gala Concert will be held at the Lyric Theatre, Carmarthen, on October 27 (7pm).

This year, 2018, marks a significant year for our Armed Forces. It is the centenary of the end of The Great War (First World War) and also commemorates 100 years of the Royal Air Force.

The prestigious annual Royal British Legion Concert has become one of the landmark events in the calendar of South West Wales, providing a platform for the Royal British Legion to pay tribute to the fallen of current and past conflicts.

It also helps the British Legion launch the Poppy Appeal in South West Wales.

The concert features leading soprano and TV and radio personality Shân Cothi, one of Wales’s premier choirs in the form of Dunvant Male Choir, the highly popular Carmarthen-based mixed youth choir Côr Seingar, Swansea-based Dancerama performing arts group youth choir, the stirring sounds of the City of Swansea Pipe Band and the unforgettable Corps of Drums of the 215 City of Swansea Squadron.

The compére will be Brian Sullivan and the guest accompanist Jeffrey Howard.

The evening ends with the poignant Tribute to the Fallen and a Service of Remembrance.

The Royal British Legion is being supported with this event by Loud Applause Productions, the production company run by Llanelli’s Cerith Owens.

Robert Lloyd works as a media consultant – www.rlloydpr.co.uk

If you have any news about the choral scene in Llanelli, the please contact him on 07777 683637 or email rlloydpr@btinternet.com

A free tool to find out all the available community facilities on offer in the county is being launched by Carmarthenshire County Council.

The council’s Property Division is currently contacting the county’s public sector, town and community councils, third sector and local businesses, in order to create a ‘one-stop-shop’ of all the locations in Carmarthenshire which provide venues for meetings, events and more.

The project is being supported by One Voice Wales.

All the information will be available to view on the council’s website in coming months.

Cllr David Jenkins, executive board member responsible for resources, said: “This will be a great free service to promote many venues in the county, which will hopefully increase business and provide additional income to them. “It will also make it easier for those who are searching for meeting or venue locations in the county to find them all with one click of a button.”

For more information on how to provide your details please contact the Property Records Team on 01267 246222 or email envpropertyassets@carmarthenshire.gov.uk