We celebrated our 70th Anniversary at the Seiont Manor Hotel with SIGBI President Elect Sue Williams, Regional President Hilary Laidler and members and guests from across North Wales. The sun shone, we had a special anniversary cake, made by our own President Elect Eirwen and members went home with a lot of memories and anniversary mugs and coasters!

Sian Hughes Jones, Head of Nursing Planned Care and Delyth Thomas, Specialist Nurse Dementia Care were welcomed to a recent meeting providing information on the work of the Dementia Service and the serious, but often treatable condition of delirium. Members were pleased to have a variety of questions answered on Dementia and were very supportive of developments taking place. Dementia Care at Ysbyty Gwynedd is one of this year’s nominated President’s Charities

Members enjoyed a visit with guests to the wonderful Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens in Menai Bridge. We had an excellent guided walk with Anthony Tavernor and enjoyed a cream tea!

RS Thomas – for a new generation was presented by Susan Fogerty on 15.5.18 who spoke of the fascinating lives of RS Thomas and his wife artist ME Eldridge. She read  beautiful pieces of his poetry such as A Marriage and The Other whilst outlining their life journeys. Details of a free ticket event at Bangor Cathedral to be held on 1st July were also shared with members – free registration enquiries can be made via susanafogarty@gmail.com .   

Jewels in the Rain 1.5.18 Tim Lever, who has travelled the world searching for specialist alpine plants, gave a fascinating talk on his journey walking in the mountains of the Arunachal Pradesh in the monsoon season.  The beautiful presentation included photos of the lush verdant forests and leech infested undergrowth that was journeyed through, high above the cloud base on occassions, to discover a plethora of different plants. Stunning magnoloas, lillies, primulas, saxifrages and ferns were shown along with some the local wildlife including yaks!

The  AGM was held at The Cricket Pavillion, Bangor. President Gwen Ellis Jones highlighted the Club’s work throughout the year, including monies raised for her nominated President’s charities,  Samaritans and local youth homeless charity, GISDA. Programme Action Officer Sian Kent led the members through a presentation of the fundraising and service projects that had been accomplished throughout the year for local, national and international causes. https://sigbi.org/bangor-and-district/2018/03/27/2017-18-programme-action/ Following the Secretary and Treasurer’s reports, which provided further detail of the beneficiaries, Andy Hawkins was installed as President for the Club’s 70th Anniversary year.  

Gwen Ellis Jones, in celebration of her last meeting as club president, invited Mr Ian Huw, a cheese specialist, to talk about a vast array of cheeses including their history, how they are made and their sources. An interesting variety of cheeses were sampled by members along with accompaniments. In addition, members brought along various delicious home made puddings that included gypsy tart, summer fruit baked cheesecake, chocolate brownies, baked apple flan, banoffee pie, fresh strawberry and cream roulade, Anglesey tarts and chocolate and raspberry cakes to name but a few ….and all were truly scrumptious! To raise funds for Ty Gobaith members purchased pudding recipes and also supported a raffle.

A well attended friendship evening took place at Storiel in Bangor on the evening of 6th March.  Members from Anglesey, South Caernarfon and Llandudno joined Bangor club members as they discovered the treasures within this local art gallery museum. Site manager Megan Corcoran and Museum Assistant Carrina Zarach opened our eyes to this evolving free to enter facility in the heart of the city. Members provided Welsh cakes and bara brith to raise funds, along with a very well supportd raffle.