Annual Report 2008

The Society’s programme for the year began on 28 April with the Annual General Meeting, followed by a lecture in English by Professor Emeritus R. Geraint Gruffydd entitled ‘Dafydd ap Gwilym and his Patrons in Ceredigion’. Professor Hywel Teifi Edwards’s lecture, entitled ‘The Ceredigion of the Poets’, was delivered in Welsh on 24 May, and offered an engaging discussion of the poets and poetry that had influenced him throughout his life. 

The annual excursion took members and friends to the newly restored Newton House. At Dinefwr Park an archaeologist showed the possible location of two deserted medieval towns and recently discovered Roman fort. The group were also fortunate to benefit greatly from Professor Emeritus Prys Morgan’s knowledge and eloquence as he led them around the castle ruins.

Since the Royal Commission was celebrating its centenary during the year, Dr Peter Wakelin, the Secretary of the Commission in Wales, was invited to give a presentation on ‘Records, Research and Relevance: The Royal Commission 100 Years On’ in the Drwm at the National Library of Wales on 4 October. The venue for the next lecture on 8 November was Tabernacle Chapel, Aberaeron, where Dr J. Geraint Jenkins gave an autobiographical talk in Welsh, ‘From Llangrannog to Leicester: An Hour with J. Geraint Jenkins’. Professor Ralph A. Griffiths gave the last lecture of the year, on 6 December, on ‘Town and Countryside in Cardiganshire towards the end of the Middle Ages’.

Besides the General Meeting in April, The Executive Committee met twice during the year.