People are being asked to identify the issues they would most like the Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Panel to focus on over the coming year.

The Panel, made up of representatives from across Dyfed-Powys, aims to give local people a greater voice in how the police serve our communities.

Members support the work of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Dafydd Llywelyn, but also hold him to account.

Now, in preparing their schedule for 2019-20, they want people to have a say on the areas they should focus on.

A survey has been launched asking for people’s views. The brief online questionnaire also asks what people know about the panel and its work.

It can be undertaken online in just a few minutes.

Chair of the Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Panel, Cllr Alun Lloyd Jones, said: “We want greater public awareness of, and involvement in, the work of the Panel so that we are focusing our efforts on the issues that really matter. Please let us have your comments and suggestions.”

The survey can be found, along with the Panel’s 2018 Annual Report, at www.dppoliceandcrimepanel.wales

 Related Links

• Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Panel

The popular South Wales-based Jenkins Bakery has launched a special range of products to mark Halloween.

“We always like to do something special to mark different occasions throughout the year,” said Russell Jenkins, operations director at the Jenkins Bakery.

“Our customers have come to expect us to do something special and this year we have seven different products for people to enjoy as they party over Halloween.

“We hope our customers enjoy them.”

The products are –

Pumpkin Biscuits

Our top quality shortbread biscuit with a hand decorated pumpkin in sugar paste & chocolate.

Price: £1.00

Halloween Mallow Cones

Our popular marshmallow cones specially decorated with orange & black sprinkles for Halloween.

Price: £0.85

Frankenstein Biscuit

Our top quality shortbread biscuit covered with a sugar paste Frankenstein plaque.

Price: £0.85

Skeleton Biscuit

Our top quality shortbread biscuit covered with a sugar paste skeleton plaque. 

Price: £0.85

Halloween Krispies

Chocolate Krispie Cake decorated with an edible sugar figure.

Price: £1.20

Halloween Cup Cake

Our top quality blood-red velvet sponge, covered with white frosting, decorated with a Halloween sugar paste plaque and bat sprinkles.

Price: £1.10

Spooky Spider Cup Cake

Our hand decorated Spider Cupcake coated with orange fondant and chocolate sprinkles with a spooky spider made from chocolate mini-eggs

Price: £1.10

A procession along the promenade to kick the bar will be held on Friday 12 October 2018 to mark the day Aberystwyth University first opened its doors back in 1872. 

Staff, students, alumni and members of the local community will take part in the Founders’ Day walk from Old College to the foot of Constitution Hill.

The procession will be led by the University’s Chancellor Lord Thomas of Cwmgïedd and Vice-Chancellor Professor Elizabeth Treasure.

Special guest at this year’s Founders’ Day will be Sioned Wiliam – an Honorary Fellow and Aberystwyth drama graduate who is now Commissioning Editor for Comedy at BBC Radio 4. 

Sioned Wiliam is also a novelist, who in May 2018 published her third novel Cicio’r Bar– a light-hearted tale of the trials and tribulations of three students at Aberystwyth University in the 1980s.

Speaking ahead of Founders’ Day, Sioned said: “I’m really looking forward to returning to Aberystwyth. My time at the University was very happy. I was fortunate to have been taught by geniuses in the Drama Department, Professor Elan Closs Stephens and the late Emily Davies. I’m also looking forward to a reunion with some of the close friends I made during those happy years. And of course, I cannot think of a better way to celebrate than a walk along the Prom to kick the Bar!”

Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Vice-Chancellor at Aberystwyth University, said: “There was huge excitement on 16 October 1872 when Old College welcomed its very first students. Founders’ Day is our way of remembering the ambition, vision and passion of those involved in establishing the first University College in Wales here in Aberystwyth. We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude.”

The procession to kick the bar will start at 8:00am from the Old College, where breakfast will later be served just as it was in 1872.

Aberystwyth University opened its doors for the first time at 9.00am on Wednesday 16 October 1872, having celebrated a founders’ breakfast in Old College the previous day.

Assisted by two professors and a Registrar-Librarian, Thomas Charles Edwards welcomed twenty-six students to the converted hotel which become ‘the people’s University.’

A report of the day published at the time said: “The town of Aberystwyth observes a general holiday – there were many eloquent speeches, much music and happy singing; all was joy and marvellous triumph.”

With its opening, Aberystwyth became the first University institution in Wales to offer courses in Chemistry, Comparative Philology, English Language and Literature, French Language and Literature, Geography, German, Greek, Hebrew (also Arabic, Syrian, Sanskrit, Turkish and Persian), History, Italian, Latin, Logic and Philosophy, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Astronomy.

Louise Jagger, Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Aberystwyth University said: “Our Founders’ Day celebration with our community in Aberystwyth launches a busy programme of autumn events with alumni and friends – in Wales, the UK and further afield. It’s an opportunity to thank our supporters who share the same passion for this University as our Founders and to update them on latest developments, including our ambitious proposals to transform our iconic Old College building on the seafront.”

To know more about the history of Aberystwyth University, visit the University’s online history section.

Photos: 

The Old College as it looked at the time of the opening of the University in 1872.

The graduation procession of 1960, where academic staff processed from the Old College to the Kings Hall.  

Link:

New Life for Old Collegehttps://www.aber.ac.uk/en/oldcollege/  

Aberystwyth University is launching a single-honours’ degree in Sociology, with students being recruited for 2019-20 entry.

The degree will be ‘housed’ within the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences and will make the most of the strong connections that exist between the disciplines of Sociology and Human Geography. 

A number of teaching and research staff based in the Department actively research themes that are of key interest to sociologists, e.g. on mobility, nationalism, rural society, and publish extensively in Sociology journals.

One of the key attributes of the new degree is the emphasis that it places on a field-based approach to Sociology. Field exercises will be integrated into lecture and practical-based modules, and there will be a stand-alone Field-Based Sociology module at year 2.

“This represents a new and exciting venture for us”, said Professor Rhys Jones, the convenor of the new scheme. “At the same time, we are in many ways re-connecting with our past. A Sociology degree was taught here at Aberystwyth between the late 1960s and late 1980s. Also, some of the pioneering work in Community Studies was conducted at Aberystwyth by Alwyn D Rees, work that acted as a template for similar studies elsewhere.”

Students studying on the scheme will also benefit from Aberystwyth University’s commitment to a high-quality student experience. 

The University is a TEF Gold institution and was also awarded the University of the Year for Teaching Quality for the second year running in The Times / The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019.

For more information on the scheme, please contact the course convenor, Professor Rhys Jones, on raj@aber.ac.uk. 

Comedian Phil Evans is from Ammanford. He is known as the man who puts the ‘cwtsh’ into comedy. This column appears in the South Wales Evening Post, Carmarthen Journal and Llanelli Star. Website – www.philevans.co.uk

Carry On and Keep Calm, Jason!

I recently got into my car to drive to a meeting on a gloriously sunny Autumn morning.

The birds were singing (an Abba medley, since you asked) and I was in a good mood.

And then I switched on the Jason Mohammadprogramme on BBC Radio Wales . . . 

Jason seems personable enough, but so obsessed with sport, any subject under discussion (Brexit, Trump, Kim Kardashian’s behind) invariably includes his opinion of ‘last’s night game’, forgetting that not all his listeners share his interest and that there are many sport-free radio stations they can turn to.

Like the last letter in this sentence, that’sbeside the point.

His phone-in that morning was about ‘60 Years Of The Carry On Films’.

Some of the later ‘Carry On’ films were pretty weak. In fact, the final one ,’Carry On Columbus’, made in 1992, is now unwatchable.

But, from 1958 and for two decades, cinema audiences flocked to see them.

From the off, it was obvious Jason had a bee in his bonnet about the films and was annoying his guest, ‘Carry On’ expert and writer Robert Ross by constantly repeating “Those films were just smut”.

Intrigued, I pulled over to the side of the road to listen.

Mr Ross vainly tried to explain that, as well as enjoying the performances of Sid, Kenny, Babs and the gang, the public loved the innuendo and double entendres and it’s impossible and pointless to criticise any art form of the past from today’s “We know better now!” Politically Correct viewpoint.

As Jason persisted with his ‘smut’ line, the patient Mr Ross said something I didn’t catch and Jason suddenly cut him off, surprised that a guest should get so annoyed with his uninformed accusations. 

I’m convinced Jason never saw a ‘Carry On’ film in a cinema filled with an audience howling with laughter. I’m willing to guess he has only seen brief excerpts on TV . . . between sporting events.

Tastes in comedy have changed, yet those old ‘Carry Ons’ are still enjoyed by TV viewers born long after they stopped making them. 

For more than 60 years, the films inspired many writers and comedians of modern comedy, including a series far more crudely explicit than any ‘Carry On’ . . . the smut-filled ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’.

I wonder if Mr Mohammad is a fan?

………………….

I am very excited to be hosting and performing at an event happening this Friday in the heart of Swansea city centre.

The line-up for ‘Phil Evans and Friends Comedy Night’ at The Hyst in High Street features some of the greatest comedy talent in Wales today, all on the same night, all at the same venue . . . you can thank me later.  I do spoil you, you know.

This comedy night promises something for everyone, featuring yours truly, along with my good friends Gary Slaymaker, Aled Richards, Karen Sherrard and Steffan Evans – all performing their unmissable comedy in one of Swansea’s top venues. This really is a line-up not to be missed.

Let’s face it, there is naff all on the TV, the entry fee is less than a take away pizza and you really look like you could do with cheering up a bit now that the darker nights are drawing in.

In fact, this show should be available on NHS prescription for the effect it can have on lifting your mood!

There is something magical about performing live and this is definitely going to be a night to remember. We’d love to see you there.  

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