We are thinking of having a Work Day at the Aberystwyth Community Farm, Llanbadarn. The plan is, on the 10th October, from 2 until 4pm, to have a gardening session, make some terraces, dig, sow and harvest.

We'll also be using the farm's produce to make a special pumpkin soup. The farm is in Llanbadarn, on private land, so we will need you to register with me first please, by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , if you would like to come. If you'd like to see what's going on at the farm, join in, and lend a hand, here's your chance! There will also be an opportunity to find your very own garden, through the Garden Exchange Scheme. There'll be a warm welcome for everyone.

http://www.350.org/

This year has been an exceptional year for applications. Such is the demand that Aberystwyth University has experienced a 14 per cent increase in applications, and successful applicants are accepting Aberystwyth as their first choice in greater numbers than ever before.

In April of this year the University announced that it would not consider any new UK/EU applications received after the 15th April 2010 and that it would not be offering places in UCAS 'Extra', nor would it be participating in 2010 Clearing. Aberystwyth University is the only Welsh University to be in this position.

More recently the Director of Admissions wrote to all students holding an offer, to say that the University can only guarantee acceptance this year if the terms of the offer (the grades achieved) are met squarely.

Visitors were lucky enough to come face to face with that elusive night-time creature, the bat, on an evening walk around the lake at Bwlch Nant yr Arian. During the leisurely stroll led by Leigh Denyer, a Forestry Commission Wales education ranger, visitors saw a number of bats flittering around the lakeside, including Serotine, one of the UK's largest bats, and Pipistrelle, the UK's smallest.

Bwlch Nant yr Arian, which is managed by Forestry Commission Wales on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government, provides the perfect habitat for these flying mammals. The woodland edge offers ideal roosting conditions and there is plenty of food in the form of the insects that are attracted to the lake.

Bats communicate on a special wavelength, usually inaudible to humans, and each species of bat has its own wavelength. During the walk, Leigh was able to identify the different species of bat with the help of a bat detector, a device that translates bats' unique language of echo location.

Aberystwyth University is, for the sixth consecutive year, leading on student satisfaction. The 2010 results of the National Student Survey (NSS) awarded the University a score of 4.4 (on a scale of 1-5 for student satisfaction), the second highest score for any public residential University in the UK and just behind Oxford University. The survey also places Aberystwyth at 5th place of all Universities in the UK and top in Wales for the sixth year running for student satisfaction.

The results announced on 18th August, further support that of the recent University league tables which saw Aberystwyth University this year moving up 22 places in the Guardian University Guide, 6 places in the Times Higher Education Good University Guide and 7 places in the Independent's league table for student satisfaction. Earlier this year, Aberystwyth was also voted 'probably the best place in the world to be a student' in the International Student Barometer of 2009.

I'd like to offer limited places on a free course at Denmark Farm, near Lampeter, Ceredigion, on Wednesday the 25th August.

It's on "How to design and make a Wildlife-Friendly Garden, runs from 10am to 4pm and will teach you what you need to know to make your own space fantastic for bees, butterflies and moths.

If you'd like to get a place, please contact Angie Polkey on 01570 493 358 as soon as possible, before it fills up!

Aberystwyth has had a Twin-Town in Germany since 1997. Our Twin-Town is Kronberg im Taunus, or Kronberg, for short. Kronberg is a small town, similar in size to Aberystwyth, and nestles in the foothills of the Taunus Mountains in the central German state of Hessen.

It was originally a small independent town with its own castle when it was founded. Now, it is one of the dormitory towns around Frankfurt am Main, and many of its residents work in Frankfurt. There is an excellent rail link to Frankfurt, as well as Autobahn connections.

Apart from the castle and the old quarter of the town, Kronberg also has mineral springs and is a handy start point for walking or mountain biking in the Taunus Mountains.

Another noteworthy feature of the town is its annual Christmas Market. Christmas markets are common throughout Germany, but the Kronberg Market is unique; the stalls are all run by a wide variety of enthusiastic amateurs, rather than the professional stall-holders seen in other Christmas markets.

Twinning activities with Kronberg started over 30 years ago when Penglais School started having regular exchange visits with the Altkönigschule in Kronberg. In the early 1990s, a Friendship Association was formed to foster twinning links. By 1997, this had become a formal Town Twinning Association: the Aberystwyth Kronberg People in Partnership Association – AKPA for short. Originally, AKPA was a formal committee within the structure of Aberystwyth Town Council. It is now an independent Association, although there is still a strong link with Aberystwyth Town Council. The Mayor is the titular president of the Association, and the Council provides a grant to AKPA every year to help fund the twinning activities.

For more information about twinning with Kronberg, contact the AKPA Secretary, Chris Simpson at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone: 01970 636670

A new application for the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod touch, which helps people to learn Welsh, was launched on the Welsh Learner's stall, Maes D, at the National Eisteddfod on Wednesday 4th of August.

Professor Chris Price and Neil Taylor, both Welsh learners from Aberystwyth University's Computer Science Department, have been working with the WJEC (previously the Welsh Joint Education Committee) to develop the new app for Welsh learners. The new program supports adults who attend Welsh lessons by providing a mobile application for the Cwrs Mynediad book.

Professor Price commented: "At last year's Eisteddfod I launched Welsh Lessons, a Welsh phrasebook for the iPhone which included simple phrases and lessons for Welsh learners. I didn't expect many people to be interested in it, and thought it would sell a few hundred copies. In fact, the enthusiasm with which people learning Welsh use new technology surprised me, and Welsh Lessons has sold over 8000 copies since last summer."

Do you remember sitting in front of the television to watch the Queen's Coronation in 1953, the harrowing images of the Aberfan disaster, the ground-breaking launch of the Welsh fourth channel S4C, or the mounting tension as the results of the 1997 referendum on devolution were announced? Such memories will provide the basis for 'Media and Memory in Wales 1950 – 2000', a major new study into the influence of television on family life in Wales during the second half of the 20th century, "the age of television".

'Media and Memory in Wales 1950 – 2000' was launched at the Aberystwyth University stand at the National Eisteddfod on Tuesday 3rd August. Led by Dr Iwan Morus and Dr Jamie Medhurst at Aberystwyth University, researchers will record interviews with people in Wrexham, Caernarfon, the Rhondda and Carmarthen about their memories of watching historic events on television and how these reflect their sense of belonging and identity.

The events are: The Coronation of Elizabeth II (1953), the drowning of the Tryweryn valley (1950s), the Aberfan disaster (1966), the investiture of Charles as Prince of Wales (1969), the Golden Age of Welsh Rugby (1970s), the First Referendum on Devolution (1979), the Launch of a Welsh Language Television Channel (1982), the Miners' Strike (1984-5) / Pit Closures, and the Second Referendum on Devolution (1997).

Working with project partners Culturenet Cymru, the interviews will form a bilingual online digital archive to which members of the public will be able to add their own memories in the form of images, audio or video.

In addition to seasonal farming and gardening activities, and family fun days throughout the year there will now be a farmers' market every Friday until 3rd September from 11am to 3pm in Llanerchaeron Car Park (no entry fee or car park fee). Caffi open for refreshments.

Llanerchaeron House is a rare example of a self-sufficient 18th century Welsh minor-gentry estate which has survived virtually unaltered. The villa, designed in the 1790s, is the most complete example of the early work of John Nash. It has its own service courtyard with dairy, laundry, brewery and salting house, and walled kitchen gardens (with all its produce for sale when in season). The pleasure grounds and ornamental lake and parkland provide peaceful walks. The Home Farm complex has an impressive range of traditional, atmospheric outbuildings and is a working organic farm with Welsh Black cattle, Llanwenog sheep and rare Welsh pigs. For more information and opening times please see www.nationaltrust.org.uk