Our 2025/6 season ended on a real high note with a fascinating talk by Beverley Harrison. It’s subject was the remarkable local lady, Mary Ashby Lewis, and it started off with an introduction in the persona…. and the costume … of the Mistress of Llanerchaeron herself. ‘ Beverley’s summary of her talk follows below. Mary Ashby Lewis, an outstanding woman, and resident of Llanerchaeron for over 76 years, is little talked about or recognised beyond the National Trust house itself. Born in Leicestershire in 1813, daughter of a Reverend, she was brought up to be a kind and caring girl, presumably absorbing much from her father’s pastoral care of his parishioners. It’s not known how she met and fell in love with the owner of Llanerchaeron, but at the age of 27 she married John Lewis and moved to West Wales to begin her married life on the Estate. Sadly, John died after only 14 years of marriage and as they had no children he left Mary as tenant in residence for as long as she lived, provided she didn’t remarry. It must have been a very daunting task to face the future of running the Llanerchaeron Farm and Estate and 94 holdings. A lesser woman may have gone home to the bosom of her family in England, but she stayed, and for the next 62 years John’s widow was very successfully at the helm. She transformed working practices and introduced an eight hour day, paid overtime, sick payments and reduced the working day. Unmarried mothers were given jobs, and staff were sent on outings at Mary’s expense. During elections the male staff were given holiday to go and vote and she even provided the transport. Unusually for a landowner she didn’t even try to force them to vote a particular way, which was the norm for the time. But Mary’s attention wasn’t entirely focussed on Llanerchaeron; she took a keen interest in Aberaeron and the wider community and regularly made donations to many local groups or societies, including the archery and carving clubs, believing that they were important for wellbeing. She donated books to the library, gave land for the intermediate school to be built, and she freely gave permission for the railway to cross her land from Aberaeron to Lampeter (and had a holt built on the Estate). She ensured that the poor or the sick were given food and any help they needed, and regularly sent gifts to the tradespeople of the town. Such was her quiet care and concern, she became deeply loved and respected by all members of society. There were no class barriers in her eyes, and no cause she wouldn’t champion, or underdog she wouldn’t support. In 1891 upon the 50 th anniversary of her living at Llanerchaeron she was given a jubilee; the likes of which had never been seen in Aberaeron, or has been since. She rode in a carriage around the town, which was ablaze with colour from flags and banners. There were processions and a performance of a song specially written for the occasion. Speeches were made and gifts presented, all with one aim; for the people to express their gratitude and love for the women who had bestowed so much upon the community. The newspaper report of the event ran to 14 pages! When questioned by visitors, “Why this stir and tumult in the town?" Councillor J. M. Howell said “It is difficult to answer the question in one word, but were the answer put in one word, that word would be ‘goodness’. They were doing all that they were doing in order to mark their appreciation of goodness. By goodness I mean the continuous exercise of the principle of goodness in both word and example for a term of fifty years. We cannot sum up the goodness in one or two conspicuous actions for it dies not consist in showy performances of that kind. It is rather an unbroken chain of good deeds continuing over a lifetime and up to the present day”. When Mary died in 1917, having reached the grand age of 104, Llanerchaeron passed to her great-nephew Thomas Powell Lewes and his wife Annie Ponsonby Lewes. In 2015 the Be Kind Movement was established by film producer Premila Puri and she speaks about how kindness has been proven to increase our happiness, reduce stress and improve emotional wellbeing. At the same time, spreading kindness offers us the opportunity to connect with others, building a stronger sense of community and unity with friends, family, neighbours and even strangers. Mary Ashby Lewis knew this, and was way ahead of her time. She was a strong and efficient business woman in a man’s world, but it’s her special ability to know what needed to be done to help transform lives or at least make them better, without fanfare or egoistic motive, that really deserves to be celebrated and recognised. Beverley Harrison Welcome Service Assistant Llanerchaeron Ceredigion

A lifelong love of literature. That is the gift that Kay Pascoe gave so many of us who passed through her classroom door in Ysgol Gyfyn Aberaeron. She left us with much more than that too, influencing both the career paths we went on to take and more broadly, our lifelong values and attitudes to life. ‘Mrs P’ is the teacher most spoken of by my school mates, she is remembered with respect and admiration by so many …. and with adoration by quite a few of the boys! Her graduation photo clearly shows why. Kay sadly passed away last month and the moving eulogy so beautifully read at her funeral by her beloved daughter, Lisa, follows below. I feel so privileged to have been taught by her and more recently to have been able to call her a friend. Rest in Peace, Kay. Our thoughts are with you, Lisa. EULOGY - PLEASE BEHAVE YOU ARE LIKE YEAR 10 GROUP “ill met by moonlight proud Titania” I start this eulogy with this line as there is a story behind it. During the last few months of my mother’s life, I asked her about her love of Shakespear and her favourite Shakespearian lines. She said that there were many she loved in all the plays, but this one was her favourite, the reason for which she did tell me. She would love it if this was set as a quiz question at the beginning of this eulogy, with answers submitted by us all at the end. She will very much enjoy reading those answers on her journey to her resting place. Today we are here to celebrate the life of my mother, Kay Pascoe. Mam was born in Carmarthen and brought up in Pwll by her parents Stan and Edwina. Her father died when she was nine years old then when her mother remarried, my mother was brought up by Huw Barney, a devoted stepfather to her. From an early age she developed the love of reading, language and learning that stayed with her all her life. She went to the local girls’ grammar school and later studied English at Aberystwyth University. It was there that two important things happened. First, she deepened her love of literature that would shape her career. And second, she met Dad. After university Mam became an English teacher, eventually becoming Head of Department at Aberaeron Comprehensive School. Teaching wasn’t just a job for her — it was something she genuinely believed in. Over the years she taught many pupils, and one of the most touching things recently has been receiving so many lovely memories of her from ex-students, colleagues and friends. They speak about her with enormous respect and affection. They remember her knowledge, her enthusiasm, and above all her passion for the work of William Shakespeare. Many of the comments also include their thanks to her for helping to shape their future studies and careers and in such a supportive way. Thank you to those who have sent me your thoughts about her to me. Mam would so touched by the wonderful comments she has received. I’m just going to read a couple to you. “Your Mum inspired me to do Eng Lit at uni - it was such a great balance with my sport and injuries! She was very funny, took no nonsense and was passionate about her teaching. I loved arguing a different viewpoint with her - she once gave me her most reluctant A grade ever as my essay argued that Heathcliff was persecuted - and she hated him.” “I hope the quality of mercy wasn't strained. Bloody good teacher Kay Pascoe. Even got lads (vaguely) interested in the Arts, which is some achievement.” “My favourite teacher by far was Mrs Pascoe. I was never her brightest student butI think she always had a soft spot for me. She used to send me to the canteen to get her a wispa chocolate bar at break and say to me “jump the queue and tell them Mrs Pascoe sent you” That was her instruction!” Shakespeare wasn’t just something mam taught — it was something she loved. Even in the last days of her life, that passion was still there. We were doing Shakespeare questions together and she was still getting the answers right, still quoting lines and speeches from memory. She knew them off by heart. Mam believed that literature should be experienced as well as studied. She organised trips for pupils to see plays performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, giving her pupils the opportunity to see theatre brought to life. She also brought theatre into Aberaeron Comprehensive School, putting on Shakespeare productions so that pupils could experience acting. Mam loved that part of her job. Although rehearsals didn’t always go entirely smoothly — particularly when some of the boys performing in the play turned up late because they’d been playing rugby at breaktime. Mam never quite understood how rugby could possibly compete with the Bard. Her love of words and performance also extended beyond the classroom and theatre visits. She frequently took part in “poems and pints” evenings in Aberaeron, where she would perform poetry from a variety of poets, includingUnder Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas. She was a wonderfully entertaining reader and clearly loved sharing those words with others. She was a good performer and actress. That enthusiasm for literature was also incorporated into family life too. When I was six years old, Mam took me to see my first Shakespeare play, The Taming of the Shrew. But she didn’t just take me along — she made sure I knew the story beforehand so I could follow it and enjoy it fully. Which I did. I also have a vague memory of her setting a quiz for me to do on the play, just to make sure I had understood it. Of course, while mam’s knowledge of English literature was formidable, her geography wasn’t always quite as strong. At one point she asked one of her classes whether Spain was an island — something I suspect her pupils never let her forget. As a mother to me, Mam was loving and supportive. As far as she was concerned, I could do and be whatever I wanted despite my condition. She was always encouraging me — encouraging me to learn, to laugh, to be curious, and to enjoy life. And to go regularly to the theatre of course and to always try to put a literary slant on life experiences. I remember once, when I was stranded at Bristol Parkway Station for two hours as my train had been cancelled and I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do, mam told me to write a poem about it. She was however never happy with my hair, always wanted me to cut it short and at one point to dye it pink. She had elements of Eddi from Absolutely Fabulous in her, and my role was to play the down-to-earth daughter. We could have done the Welsh version of Absolutely Fabulous for Sianel Pedwar Cymru. I am sure that she will also be remembered for her organisational skills. She gave her instructions for her funeral leaflet and checked it thoroughly on many occasions before I finally sent it to the printer, while my mother was still alive. When I emailed the printer with the leaflet plans and asked him if he could prepare it for my mother, he of course sent his condolences for my loss, to which I replied “oh no she’s not dead, she just wants to make sure everything is ready for when she is. The organisation queen. But perhaps the greatest example of Mam’s love and commitment was the care she showed for Dad when he developed dementia. Mum stood by him every step of the way. When Dad eventually needed full-time care in a home, Mum went to visit him every week. She would sit with him, reading limericks and poetry, and singing some of their favourite songs together — songs like It’s a Long Way to Tipperary and Que Sera, Sera. Their love remained strong through everything, through the good times and the difficult ones. One of her many requests given to me for her funeral arrangements was to thank family, friends and colleagues for their friendship and love over the years. She always said her life was made richer through these relationships. And in recent years, her time at Plas y Dderwen Car home provided a wonderful opportunity to form new relationships and friendships which included the day and night staff, carers, catering, cleaning and admin staff who were so kind and caring towards her and who made her latter years happy in her new environment, Thank you. Mam formed strong relationships with the staff at the home, giving advice – and her opinions of course – on how to be a good father, advice given to young male carer who had just had a daughter with his young wife. She gave some English lessons to another carer Dawn’s son, Harry, helping him with his English which she loved doing. She wrote poems for the staff, did poetry readings from her bed for the Plas y Dderwen Facebook page. When told the readings would be put on Facebook she was initially mortified. But when the activities manager there, Lisa, told her how much people were enjoying her readings with lots of positive comments added and “likes” my mother was secretly very pleased and then kept asking Lisa “how many likes have I got now?” My mother taking on board the social media of modern life. We will miss her enormously. But we are also incredibly grateful for the life she lived, the love she gave, and the memories she leaves behind. A poem she believed her father used to read to her when he put her to bed was one she frequently referred to and told me that she often said to herself before going to sleep. I am going to end this eulogy with a reading of it for her so that she will sleep really well from now on. Rho dy ben bach lawr I gysgu Rho dy ofal back I’r Iesu Os bydda marw cyn y bore Arglwydd Iesu, debyn tithe. Nos da mam. Caru ti.

Check out those attics and the papers at the back of your drawers. Cymdeithas’ link with Llanerchaeron continues to grow. Here you can read a fascinating article from Hannah Mitchell, Llanerchaeron’s Collections and House Officer on Llanerchaeron’s contents. Within it, she sets us a challenge. Can anyone find a copy of that critical sales catalogue, such an important piece in the jigsaw of the house’s history? : Llanerchaeron Contents By Hannah Mitchell Llanerchaeron was inhabited by 10 generations of the same family until the last owner died in 1989 and bequeathed the estate to the National Trust. The house had started out as a modest farmhouse but was remodelled by John Nash in 1795 and now resembles a neat box, perfectly placed in its picturesque setting. The new house, or villa as it is now called, had been commissioned by William Lewis and his wife Corbetta. Corbetta’s maiden name was Powell, she was one of the Powells of Nanteos, and it was the money from her dowry that enabled the couple to build their new home. Corbetta and William Lewis had two children, John Lewis born in 1793 and Eliza Williama born in 1788. Eliza married William Lewes of Llysnewydd, on paper he was a very good match, and the couple had three children. But It wasn’t long before the cracks began to show, and after 7 years of marriage, Eliza left her errant husband and returned to Llanerchaeron with her children. The three Lewes children, William, Joan and John grew up at Llanerchaeron, cared for by their mother, grandparents and their uncle. John Lewis acted as guardian for his niece and nephews, and although when he died in 1855, he gave his wife Mary Ashby life tenancy, and she ran the estate singlehandedly for 62 years before she passed away in 1917. John had entailed Llanerchaeron to his sister and then to his niece Joan and her descendants, he also left the contents of the house to his niece’s children. As his niece and her children passed away before Mary Ashby the estate went to his eldest nephew William Lewes who became heir at law to the estate. It is thought that John Lewis did this as his nephew William had inherited the Llysnewydd estate from his father, so he wanted to make sure that his niece was also provided for as her father hadn’t left her anything. William Lewes took a similar approach when he inherited Llanerchaeron and he gave Llysnewydd to his eldest son and Llanerchaeron to his youngest son Captain Thomas Powell Lewes. Mary Ashby outlived many people that were set to benefit from the will of her husband John Lewis, so when she died, Captain T.P had a lot of loose ends to tidy up. Firstly there were death duties to pay off, the mortgage was still outstanding and the estate had fallen into debt since the turn of the century. Secondly, the man who thought he was going to inherit the contents of the estate, Joan’s son John Edward Boultbee had used his future inheritance as capital for his debts, which totalled over £9,000, about £600,000 in today’s money. He died in 1885 but his creditors still wanted their money back. Captain T.P went to court to try and get the house and contents brought back together, but the judge sided with the creditors and the contents were to be sold to pay off Boultbee’s debts. The sale was set to begin on Thursday 10th of October 1918, it was advertised in the newspapers and special trains were put on so potential buyers could get to Llanerchaeron. Catalogues were for sale in Aberaeron, to be purchased from Mr W. J. Phillips and from Messrs. Gurr. Jones in London, which detailed everything that was to be sold. The newspapers listed some of the contents for sale, there were two large 18th century mahogany bookcases, and about 1000 volumes of books, Sheraton side tables and wardrobes, a Chippendale bureau and chest of drawers, a rosewood grand piano by Broadwood, Turkey carpets, card tables, settees, sofas and chairs. They mention a rare 18th century tortoiseshell bracket clock and two grandfather clocks, as well as paintings, watercolours and engravings, they even sold all the beds, mattresses, bed linens and kitchen utensils. Generations of carefully collected belongings gone in 3 days. But we still don’t know exactly what was sold from Llanerchaeron. To date we have only managed to buy one family portrait back, a pastel portrait of William Lewis which came up for auction in Sotherby’s in 2003, but we can only speculate at what treasures might be out there. Pastel portrait of William Lewis, purchased at auction in 2003. If you know of the whereabouts of one of the sale catalogues, or if you know anyone that might have purchased something at the Llanerchaeron sale and passed it down through the family, we would love to hear from you. The contents are our missing link with the previous inhabitants of Llanerchaeron and finding out more about them could connect more people with the history of not only Llanerchaeron, but Aberaeron too as we know Mary Ashby received gifts from her residents and from local notable people, such as Munro Hughes the bank manager and Mr John. M. Howell, Portland House.

So reads the plaque on the gallery in Tabernacle Chapel. And our President, Elinor, has helped us do just that through her fascinating article in the 2026 Aberaeron Town guide. It tells us more about the inscription too. PHOTO : Thanks to Dai Jones Aberaeron’s rich maritime heritage is often unsung. In Cymdeithas we are trying to help address this: You can see photographs of the ships built in Aberaeron and of many of our local captains and their crew in the photo gallery on this website Our heritage section on the site includes a number of articles about our seafaring folk We regularly include talks about our maritime history in our programme . The most recent was about the barque Friedeburg, lost at sea in 1887 with 6 Aberaeron men on board including the Master, Evan Lloyd. Our new exhibition cabinet in Llanerchaeron also has a maritime theme. Do take the opportunity to see what we have and please share with us any historic information about the experiences of your own ancestors at sea. It is so important that we remember our sailors. ( Cover photo owned by Elinor Gwilym and family.)

Members will remember Jane Aaron’s fascinating talk back in February 2024 about her book Cranogwen. Later that year, the book went on to win the Wales Book of the Year Award for creative non-fiction. It has now been translated and was published last month in English. Copies are available in our wonderful town bookshop, Gwisgo Bookworm. Cranogwen had a number of links with Aberaeron: She won the Chair in the town Eisteddfod of 1873 for her poem “Drylliad Y North Fleet” ( The Wreck of the North Fleet), She gave talks at Tabernacle Chapel and other local chapels as part of her lecture tours and temperance campaign, She was a great friend of Margaret Davies (nee Evans) of Portland House, who was herself a published poet, writing under the name Aeronwen, And finally, perhaps a connection she would have preferred to forget! In 1899 she was fined 1 shilling by the Court in County Hall for driving a carriage without lights on it in Synod Inn. Master mariner, teacher, poet, lecturer, campaigner, agony aunt and editor, Cranogwen is certainly a Welsh heroine long overdue having a book dedicated to her achievements.

Welsh costume, daffodils and leeks. The signal that March 1st; St David’s Day is upon us. And Aberaeron ladies do love to dress up, as this photo from 1948 shows. But is the dress we describe as traditional Welsh costume based on fact or fiction? Read more about this in the blog below from historical fiction writer S E Morgan: https://wordpress.com/post/semorganhistoricalfiction.wordpress.com/1624

As the sun set around the world on 2025 and the year passed into history my friend and fellow photographer Andrew Chittock passed away too. Andrew had become well known around town, almost always with a camera around his neck, or sometimes piloting his drone, photographing events or maybe just the everyday activity on the street and of course having his morning coffee in one or another of the hostelries near the harbour. He was a gentleman, unassuming and generous, not just to family and friends. If you didn’t know him personally but follow Aberaeron Memories on Facebook you will have seen his fantastic photographs which he happily shared. Although Andy was not a member of Cymdeithas he was a good friend and generously shared his work with us too. Andrew’s quiet and gentle nature belied the fact that he was a career soldier from a military family. Both his parents had been high ranking officers in the Army Catering corps which his brother Anthony also joined. Andrew broke ranks and joined the Welsh Guards to which Anthony after a while transferred. Andrew achieved the rank of Sgt Major and Anthony that of Colour Sergeant. Before retirement form the army, Andrew retrained as a photographer in preparation for civilian life. On leaving the military he joined a photo agency specialising in war/military photography generally photographing military life and of course the conflict areas where the British Army served. It was in one of these conflict zones that Dil Banejree a young photographer not long out of college met him becoming his firm friend. He told me that Andy knowing how things worked instinctively knew what was likely to happen next and where to be, of course in relative safety, to capture the best pictures. He did not keep this information to himself he was always willing to share especially with those new to the game. He said, “One of the most important things he taught me though was, “where to go and who to see to get fed”. Andrew eventually settled for the quieter life of home turf and used his great skill and imagination as a photographer to photograph weddings and local events along with portraits and fashion shoots for his Instagram site. He was also a qualified scuba diver, a keen gardener and following in the family tradition a superb cook, making great use of the produce from his kitchen garden at Ivy Dene in Llwyncelyn. Andrew died on the 31st of December 2025 aged just 69. His funeral was in St David’s Church Llanarth on the 16th Jan 26. His comrades from the Welsh Guards Association bore his coffin with others forming the colour party and a bugler from the 2nd Battalion of the Welsh Guards played the last post. Andy then had a tour of the harbour area, his favourite part of his beloved Aberaeron, prior to his cremation. Phill Davies.

Some members of Cymdeithas Aberaeron might be interested in the following event. Rome, the Eternal City: Open day at UWTSD Special Collections We will display a variety of books associated with Rome, the eternal city and the city of visible history. They will include Giambattista Piranesi’s magnificent Le antichità romane , as well as a sample of other volumes aimed at the Grand Tourists of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. We will also display the nonsense poet Edward Lear’s travel book, Views in Rome and its environs. The event will take place twice on Wednesday 18 February at 10 am and 2 pm, in UWTSD Special Collections in Lampeter. It will begin with a short talk, followed by a chance to examine the volumes on show. If you would like to know more or to book a place, please contact Ruth Gooding (r.gooding@uwtsd.ac.uk)

Christmas is coming so its newsletter time. Its a time to remind yourself of our new year activities and to put them on your new calendars. And, if you get fed up with the Xmas tv, look no further - here are some suggestions to help research your ancestors or even the history of your house.

Being a sailor was a dangerous occupation in the 18th Century. We were reminded of this in a fascinating talk by Huw Alban Davies earlier this season. He told us of the barque Friedeburg, lost in 1887 with 6 Aberaeron men on board including the Master, his great grandfather Evan Lloyd. He went on to tell us about Samuel Plimsoll and the introduction of the Plimsoll line to prevent overloading, the main cause of maritime disasters at that time. Huw has kindly provided an article summarising his talk which you can now read in the heritage section of this site.

In a special ceremony at The Waterfront Museum in Swansea Ysgol Gynradd Aberaeron received a trophy and a financial award of £600 for their 2024 Christmas Show ‘Y Wal’ which followed the history of the harbour in Aberaeron from its building in 1807 to the recent work being undertaken by BAM. The prize was awarded by the ‘Welsh Heritage Schools Initiative’ who praised the ability of the pupils to highlight the history of the harbour as well as the process of creating a performance that included every pupil in the school. Another highlight for Hari and Moc who represented the school at the ceremony was to see the famous ‘Morthwyl Mawr’ from Aberaeron, which can now be seen at the museum. Mair Jones

Both a feast to the eyes and a most interesting conversation was had at the November meeting in the company of Meirion Jones, the Cardigan based artist. Through exhibiting over 60 of his paintings he took us from Aberaeron’s Pwll Cam to the wide plains of Patagonia revealing secrets as well as interesting stories regarding the characters who play such an important role in his work. It was great to see a number of local people amongst them. Meirion explained the process of rough drawing on location before returning to the studio to complete the finished picture. Through his wonderful presentation he brought the characters and the countryside of Ceredigion and North Pembrokeshire to life for us - many thanks for ensuring that they will prevail through his work. We had a memorable evening that will long remain in our memories Mair Jones