A public consultation is underway to move our library from County Hall. John Morgan Howell (pictured below) would be turning in his grave! Usually referred to as J.M.H., he was  Portland House’s most famous resident. This local business man did so much for Aberaeron. He was a liberal politician, journalist and poet, precentor, deacon & choirmaster at Tabernacle chapel, magistrate, JP, school and college governor,  director of the railway, member of the board of governors for the poor, philanthropist, advocate for social reform and most important for us today a patron of the arts. In 1880 he founded a literary and debating society for Aberaeron and was able to secure a room for the meetings in the then Town Hall (now County Hall.) Meetings took the form of a musical item and then short debates in either English or Welsh. Three years later in 1883, J.M.H. was prominent in creating Aberaeron's first public library here too. Based in the same room, it initially had 220 books, most of which were donations. For a 1 shilling a year membership fee you could borrow one book a week. In 1885 the number of loans reached 1,142 and the stock was now 625 books. J.M.H. was Secretary of the library, debating society and the Assembly Room. He would have been delighted at how well the library is now used and that it is free for all. He most certainly would not have wanted the library moved from the centre of town where it is accessible to all and he would have wanted everyone to have their say on this issue. Please do not lose this opportunity and do respond to the consultation questionnaire. https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=uYWs-IYvNU2Fwnkevin1iPsH7veKBZxNpmrxsqf9EQVUOFVEVU80SEVaRTE0SDc1TU04MExOR0taRy4u If you do not wish to do this on-line, hard copies of the form are available in the library itself.

Here is our summer newsletter with details of all of our forthcoming events.

The sea was rough and we took as much sleep as we could as we knew there would be many sleepless nights later on. I was a Telegraphist on the HMS Kingsmill. As we approached the French coast we could see large clouds of smoke, shells from the big warships out at sea were passing over the ships. We were the Headquarters Landing ship responsible for lading the Green Howards on Gold Beach. As we neared the beach there was pandemonium, landing craft being blown up, machine guns and small arms fire, an awful din. Bodies, everywhere in the sea. The troops had been terribly seasick before going ashore. We could see lots of Germans running back over the sand dunes. Very luckily our ship was not hit but our Headquarters Ship on Sword Beach I heard was blown up. I heard the din as I was below deck working on the Radio, passing and taking messages from our boys who had been put ashore to set up a station. It could have been me, but again I was lucky as I didn’t go ashore until the second day. The messages we took were instructions from the Beach Master (R.N), reports on killed and wounded, reinforcements required etc. Boats of wounded were frantically coming off the beach seeking a bigger boat to take them back to the troop transports out at sea. We were off Arromanches, a major on our ship was sniped as soon as he put his foot ashore. They say there were women snipers on the church steeple. The first day was the worst. We were dive bombed several times but escaped. I believe we were attacked by e-boats in the night, as I heard a lot of shouting and guns. Some mines passed very close to our stern I was told. I did see a row of cottages containing Germans being blown sky high by what was called ‘L.C. (Landing craft) Rockets’ which could get very close. We had some sleep the second day when we were put back in seagoing watches – 4 hours off & on. After a fortnight the Navy had completed the landings and we returned to Plymouth, disbanding and returned to barracks. On the last day I did go into Arromanches village. No sign of anyone as I believe the population were in the cellars. Even in these circumstances some of our boys Made efforts to see if there were any girls about! The beach was covered in guns, machine gun bullets, broken down land craft, lorries etc. This briefly was my experience, We sailed back to Plymouth Barracks where we were sent on 14 days leave. We retuned and were immediately drafted out to the Pacific to take on the Japs. That’s another story. Gwilym Morgan March 1995 Elinor Gwilym (With thanks to Margaret Bevan Gwilym’s niece who gave me Gwilym’s story and photograph)

A General Election has been called! So let’s think about the secret ballot, something we take for granted today. Being able to vote in secret by placing an ‘X' on a ballot paper next to the name of our choice has not, however, always been our right. Though long campaigned for by groups such as the Chartists, the first general election using a secret ballot was not until 1874. The image above is of the ballot box used in the first ever secret ballot in Britain in 1872, a local election in Pontefract. Before the Ballot Act of 1872, those who were eligible to vote had to declare their choice in public, a system open to bribery and intimidation. Employers and landowners were able to influence the vote, putting pressure on their employees and tenants in advance and then checking on how they were casting their votes on election day. One of the people to fall foul of this system was Benjamin (Bensha) Evans then tenant farmer of Llety Shon, Aberarth, part of the Monachty estate, and later the first owner of Portland House. In his Aberaeron guide, W.J. Lewis states that: “An ardent Liberal, Bensha was forced to leave the farm of which he was tenant, Llety Shon, because he refused to accede to his landlord’s request to vote Tory. In Aberaeron he set up a slate and timber business which supplied the needs of builders and others as far afield as Llandeilo, Tregaron and even Crickhowell. Many of his goods were purchased in Bristol and brought to Aberaeron chiefly in small smacks which took 3 to 6 weeks to complete the voyage.” The Mynachty Estate, not only served notice on Bensha’s tenancy but apparently also subsequently boycotted his slate and timber business. In spite of this, the business must have thrived, as, by the early 1850s, he had the resources to build Portland House where he lived for the rest of his life. In her blog below, historical fiction writer, S.E. Morgan, writes of another local man who fell victim to an election eviction: the Reverend Gwilym Marles, grandfather of Dylan Thomas: https://semorganhistoricalfiction.wordpress.com/2020/10/28/gwilym-marles-poet-preacher-and-protester-the-eviction-scandal-76/

CAS were delighted to host an update regarding the Aberaeron Coastal Defence Scheme from BAM's local representative, Gwen Clements, after last night's AGM. As expected, there was plenty of lively audience Q&A interaction throughout the update, particularly in light of the recent storms, high tides and the excellent support from the BAM contractors and local businesses for Quay Parade residents. Many thanks to Gwen for fielding the broad range of questions and for confirming the scope of work within the BAM contract. The scale of the 250m North Pier extension and central walkway along the spine certainly became apparent based on the simulated image (from BAM) below. Not sure if it's a par 3 or par 4 hole ... perhaps it will vary with the tide! A collage of historical photos of the harbour from the CAS archive was also displayed by Gwen. This will be passed on to Elizabeth Evans of Aberaeron Town Council to decide a suitable location for display in the town. Bilingual versions of the BAM newsletters were also made available (Q1 & Q2 versions are attached for reference). This includes FAQs, upcoming works, traffic management, articles and photos. Thanks again to Gwen and to all who attended and participated.

Dyma ddetholiad o ffotograffau o orymdaith Gŵyl Dewi Ysgol Gynradd Aberaeron ers yr wythdegau cynnar. Mae’r digwyddiad yn un pwysig yng nghalendr blynyddol Aberaeron, ac sy’n dal i ddenu tyrfa luosog i’r dre bob mis Mawrth. Erbyn hyn mae nifer o drefi ar draws Cymru yn cynnal parêd, ond credir mai Aberaeron oedd y cyntaf! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Ty8qGmJFkAfEqScT/?mibextid=KsPBc6

Here is a selection of photographs from Ysgol Gynradd Aberaeron’s annual St. David’s Day Parade since the early 80s. This is a popular event in Aberaeron’s calendar which draws a large crowd to the town every March. Although St. David’s Day parades have become popular lately, it is believed that Aberaeron’s was the first! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Ty8qGmJFkAfEqScT/?mibextid=KsPBc6

Cranogwen has long been an unsung Welsh heroine. The author and historian Jane Aaron is doing much to address this in her book of that name published in 2023. We were privileged to have her come to give a presentation in Welsh at our February meeting. The striking cover image of Cranogwen, in her home village of Llangrannog, is by local artist Meinir Mathias. Below is an article by Jane, summarising the remarkable life of Cranogwen, or Sarah Jane Rees, to give her birth name.

What stories these walls could tell. Portland House has witnessed political intrigue, lives lost at sea, commerce and public service, temperance and drunkenness, feisty women, an elopement, abandoned wives and much more. At our March 2024 meeting I told the story of some of the first residents of Portland House: Bensha and his daughters. Well two of them anyway. You can read more about them and other remarkable residents of Portland House in articles on the Heritage page of this website : Portland People Portland House Captains The barque Glenara and the newly added The Aberaeron Post Office Scandal of 1874

26th February marks the beginning of eating disorders awareness week. We tend to think of anorexia and other eating disorders as a fairly modern phenomenon. In the 19th century, however, numerous young women, inspired by medieval saints, alleged they were forgoing food and surviving on faith alone. In reality some of them may have had anorexia, others like Dyfed’s own Sarah Jacobs had a more sinister story. Sarah Jacobs became known far and wide as 'The Welsh Fasting Girl'. She was born at Llethr-neuadd farm, Llanfihangel-ar-arth, Carmarthenshire in 1857. After taking to her bed following an illness she appeared to have not eaten or drunk for nearly two years. Visitors travelled miles to see her, eminent physicians debated her case and she was the subject of extensive press coverage. Queen Victoria was interested in the case and there were even rumours of a royal visit. Sarah and the potential visit were certainly the subject of discussion here in Aberaeron and is recorded in Ann Howell’s letter of July 1869, written from Portland House to her son, J M Howell: “They say that the Queen is coming here next week to see Sarah Jacob. Ha, Ha!“ Sarah’s tragic death later in 1869 led to a man-slaughter case, the preliminary investigation for which took place in the Wilkes Head, Llandysul. Sarah’s life and death have been featured in works of Welsh fiction, including Sarah Arall  by Aled Islwyn and Gwenlyn Parry’s play Sal. She was also clearly a major inspiration for Emma Donogue’s novel, The Wonder and the subsequent film based on the book. You can read her story in the blog below by historical fiction writer S E Morgan: https://semorganhistoricalfiction.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/the-tragic-tale-of-the-welsh-fasting-girl-sarah-jacobs-1869/

Excavations have recently been completed in Pendinas iron age fort. We were fortunate to hear all about this from Ken Murphy of Dyfed Archaeological Trust in our first talk of 2024. Unbelievably this is one of 700 Iron Age forts in Ceredigion alone. Here are articles in English and Welsh from Ken about both the excavations and the Pendinas festival held in September 2024.

25th January: Dydd Santes Dwynwen is nearly upon us. Some of us will of course be celebrating this in preference to Valentine’s Day the following month. But who was Dwynwen? Why has she become known as ‘Wales’ St Valentine?’ Who, infact was St Valentine and why do people send their loved-ones cards on these day? The blogs below, by historical fiction writer S E Morgan, give us the answers and also introduce her novel, "The King over the Sea" which features Dwynwen: The legend of St Dwynwen; the Welsh patron saint of lovers, and Shakespeare’s inspiration? https://semorganhistoricalfiction.wordpress.com/2024/01/22/25th-january-its-the-welsh-valentines-day-st-dwynwens-day-dydd-santes-dwynwen/