Ospreys Rugby are delighted to confirm Rory Thornton as the latest player to sign a new contract.

The 23-year old second row has put pen to paper on a two-year deal with his home region, becoming the 12th player to recommit during 2018.

Approaching full fitness after a nightmare season that has seen him suffer two lengthy spells on the sidelines with shoulder injuries, the former Wales U20 captain is delighted to have signed a new deal and is targeting increased game time next season.

“I’ve got two more years with my home region, which I’m really happy about” said Thornton.

“I’ve had a frustrating year with the shoulders and I’ve missed a lot of rugby but I’m getting close to full fitness and really looking forward to having a full pre-season, making up for lost time. I’m chomping at the bit to get going again, next season is an important one for me.

 “It’s an exciting time for me and I’m looking forward to being fully fit again, spending time working more closely with Allen Clarke and, hopefully, doing enough to get more game time. I can’t wait for the new season to come around.”

Having come through the development pathway at the Ospreys via Bonymaen and Swansea, Thornton was crowned the Youth Development Player of the Year at the Region in 2013, and captained the Welsh U20 team during the 2015 Six Nations and Junior World Cup.

By that time he had already started to make his mark in an Ospreys shirt, his debut coming in an Anglo Welsh Cup tie against Saracens at the Gnoll in November 2014, his PRO12 debut just a fortnight later versus Ulster at Kingspan Stadium. He made his European bow the following year in the memorable 34-29 loss to Clermont Auvergne at Stade Marcel Michelin.

To date, he has played 59 times for the Ospreys, and he made his senior international debut last summer, against Samoa.

Dan Griffiths, Rugby General Manager, Ospreys Rugby, welcomed the news, saying:

“Rory is someone who has already played a lot of rugby at a young age, showing he has the potential to establish himself at a regional and national level, so this is good news.

“The challenge for him now is to take his game to the next level, to become a key member of the pack, stepping out of the shadows and challenging the world class players we have in the second row by performing to a consistently high standard day in, day out.”

As the season draws to a close the Scarlets have added another two new recruits to their ranks for the forthcoming 2018-19 season in the Guinness PRO14 and European Rugby Champions Cup.

With six newcomers in Uzair Casseim, Clayton Blommetjies, Kieron Fonotia, Blade Thomson, Kieran Hardy and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne already announced the Scarlets are pleased to confirm that two more names have been added to the in-coming contingent of Scarlets.

Fly half Angus O’Brien and loose forward Ed Kennedy, both 23, will join the Scarlets from Dragons and Australian side Randwick respectively.

O’Brien was part of the Dragons U18s set-up and went on to earn 7 caps for Wales U20s. He was Dragons’ top points scorer in 2016-17 and had previously played for Principality Premiership side Cross Keys, he made his debut for the Newport Gwent Dragons on 12th September 2014, aged just 19 years old. O’Brien was also part of the Dragons 7s team that were crowned champions of the Premiership Sevens in 2015.

Light-footed with good acceleration Welsh qualified Kennedy is a dynamic loose forward who will benefit from Scarlets’ open, exciting and expansive style of play. Standing at 195cm Kennedy strikes an imposing figure with the ability to play on the blindside as well as at lock.

Commenting on the news head coach Wayne Pivac said; “As this season has showed it is vitally important to have strength in depth across the squad as international call-ups have an effect on player availability during autumn and Six Nations windows.

“Both Angus and Ed are two young guys looking to continue their development and make a mark on the professional stage. Having young players pushing the seniors and starting team is what drives the whole squad and helps us to be competitive. We look forward to welcoming both to the region and to see them continue to flourish over the coming months and years.”

Jon Daniels, Scarlets General Manager of Rugby, added; “We’re particularly excited to welcome two new faces in the shape of Angus O’Brien and Ed Kennedy to the region for the new season.

“Angus is an exciting young fly half who will look to continue his development here with us after showing great promise with the Dragons and Wales Under 20s.

“Ed, despite being potentially an unknown name to the rugby audience here in Wales, is a very exciting young loose forward prospect. At just 23 years of age he has plenty of development still to do and will benefit from both on and off-field environment here at Parc y Scarlets.

“Our recruitment policy and planning is as much about succession planning as it is the immediate future and we’re very excited to see how both continue to grow as young men both on and off the field.”

The latest podcast from Phil Evans and Robert Lloyd has just been released.

The Jenkins Bakery is once again delighted to be supporting National Doughnut Week and The Children’s Trust Charity.

For every doughnut sold, the firm will be donating 5p to the Children’s Trust Charity.

In 2016, the Jenkins Bakery shops throughout South Wales raised more than £850 for the charity.

The doughnut week runs until Saturday (May 19).

Jenkins Bakery operations director Russell Jenkins said that Doughnut Week was a great opportunity to celebrate the doughnut and raise money for a very worthwhile charity.

He added: “Our staff enjoy getting into the spirit of doughnut week and we are always grateful for the support of our customers, who enter into the spirit of the event and help the Children’s Trust Charity.”

Gowerton staff looking forward to celebrating National Doughnut Week – Ella, Shannon and Sara.

Sospan shop staff are ready with their doughnuts – Pam, Manageress Kate and Leah.

Websites –

http://www.nationaldoughnutweek.org/

https://www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk

The Jenkins Bakery doughnut range –

Caramel Doughnut £1.08

Our top quality doughnut coated with Caramel Crembel with crème patisserie filling.

Chocolate Ring Doughnut 80p

Our top quality ring doughnut hand decorated with Chocolate Crembel & scattered with white fondant.

Yum Yums 68p or two for £1.20

Our top quality doughnut cut into oblong shapes twisted by hand and coated with lemon water icing.

Iced Vanilla Ring Doughnuts 72p

Ring doughnut covered in vanilla flavoured crembel and with various toppings.

Sugar Ring Doughnut 50p

Top quality ring doughnut coated with sugar.

Blueberry Doughnut 90p

Top quality doughnut filled with a premium Blueberry filling, topped with violet/blue icing and hand decorated with chocolate lines.

Caramel Ring Doughnut 80p

Our top quality ring doughnut hand decorated with Caramel Crumble and finished with Caramel-flavoured chocolate curls.

Love letters of an Aberystwyth University student and her soldier boyfriend are set to form part of a major study into the impact of The Great War on the people and communities of Aberystwyth.

The privately-owned letters tell of the friendship and growing love of ‘Billy and Dot’, as they share their thoughts on books, art, films and ideas, banter and argue, and describe their wartime experiences to each other.

The letters are set to be dramatised as part of the ‘Aberystwyth at War: Experience, Impact, Legacy, 1914-1919’ project which has secured financial backing from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Dot, a student at the then University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, abandoned her studies to work as a Voluntary Aid Attachment nurse.

Billy trained in Aberystwyth before being deployed to the Western Front and died in action 1917. Dot remained single for the rest of her life.

The 18 month project is led by Dr Sian Nicholas from the Department of History and Welsh History at Aberystwyth University.

Dr Nicholas has researched extensively on war-time Britain, and particularly on the history of the British media during conflicts.

This study will explore the effects of the conflict through the eyes of student volunteers, local community history societies and performance groups, schools and local residents.

Using wartime records, letters, newspapers, photographs, refugee art and music, war memorials and recorded memories in local archives the project hopes to piece together the stories of those who were affected in the form of an interactive map.

Sources will include the National Library of Wales, Ceredigion Archives, Ceredigion Museum, Aberystwyth University’s own archives, and public places.

Project leader  said: “We are delighted to have been awarded funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund for this project. While some stories have been told, many others are incomplete or unexplored. We hope to go some way to addressing this and to introduce a whole new generation of people to the losses and hardship experienced by those who went to war as well as those left behind during WW1.”

The project will also offer opportunities for local groups to interpret the influences of WW1 through art and performance, and develop archival, digital and creative skills as they identify and follow the wartime histories of Aberystwyth.

It will span the stories of the soldiers and their loved ones, refugees, university students and staff, political activists and conscientious objectors.

Plans for the project include staging performances, creating an open access interactive digital map featuring biographies and video material, and the establishment of community legacy for future discovery and interpretation.

Project partners are the Department of History and Welsh History and Aberystwyth Arts Centre, both part of Aberystwyth University, Ceredigion Museum, Ceredigion Archives, People’s Collection Wales based at the National Library of Wales, community theatre groups and local heritage groups.

Ceredigion Museum will be screening Battle of the Somme (1916) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)on 18 May 2018.

Battle of the Somme (1916), doors open 5.15pm PG £6 / £5
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), doors open 7pm PG £6 / £5

The screenings form part of Ceredigion Museum’s Hope in the Great Warexhibition which opens on 5 May 2018.

Photo: Dr Sian Nicholas from the Department of History and Welsh History

Links:
Department of History and Welsh History
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/history/

Heritage Lottery Fund
https://www.hlf.org.uk/

Dr Sian Nicholas
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/history/staff-profiles/listing/profile/shn

Esteemed author Hayley Long, who graduated from Aberystywth University with a degree in English Literature in 1992, is the winner of the 2018 English language Tir na n-Og literature prize for young adults.

Organised by the Welsh Books Council, the award celebrates the best English-language title with an authentic Welsh background.

Hayley’s novel,The Nearest Faraway Place,is a young adult novel about two boys, Dylan and Griff, and their attempts to overcome a tragic accident that changes their lives forever.

The story is set in both New York and Aberystwyth, with flashbacks to a range of exotic locations around the world, and follows the boys as they try to rebuild their lives.

Hayley lives in Norwich but it was her student days in Aberystwyth that inspired her prize winning novel.

Hayley has fond memories of residing at Pantycelyn, despite not being a Welsh speaker and of the hall’s warden, Dr John Davies.

Hayley said: “Aberystwyth made a fundamental and lasting impression on me. The journey from Felixstowe used to take at least 9 hours by train and I can still remember that sensation of relief and happiness and excitement each time the train pulled into Aber and I saw the National Library all lit up on the hillside.

“I don’t think I was aware of it then, but the town and the university left an indelible mark on me and I will always love them both and that’s precisely why the second half of The Nearest Far Away Place’could only ever be set in Aberystwyth.

“In the first chapter, I do a terrible thing to my young characters and they must pick their lives up after a total catastrophe.  The story is a sad one but I knew from the beginning that it was going to have a hopeful message, and so I help the boys recover by introducing them to lots of things that I love and I relocate them from New York to a place where they can feel better – Aberystwyth.”

Hayley was presented the award at Y Drwm, National Library of Wales on the 9 May 2018, as part of the CILIP Wales Conference, the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals.

Hayley added: “Winning the Tir Na n-Og award is a massive vote of confidence and makes me feel so very, very encouraged to keep on writing the (sometimes quirky) things I want to write. I feel like I owe a debt of gratitude to Aberystwyth all over again. Diolch yn fawr.”

Photo: Hayley Long

Links:
Study English and Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/english/

Hayley Long
www.hayleylong.org

Welsh Books Council
http://www.cllc.org.uk/