Canolfan UCHELDRE Centre

It is a fortnightly forum for the appreciation of classical music in all its forms. In particular, we want to exploit the full range of the Centre’s superb sound reproduction equipment and the fantastic acoustics of the main hall. Each meeting focuses on a particular musical theme or composer. We commemorate composers’ anniversaries. We preview major forthcoming local musical events. And from time to time we mount Holy Island Discs, where local personalities make their choice of recordings with which to be marooned, and explain what the pieces mean to them.

We have a core group of some twenty members, whose numbers are frequently swelled by friends and guests. I present the majority of the programmes, but other members often take over to share their musical passions. Someone always provides the musical and historical context of what we are listening to. We have two ‘resident pianists’ — Jill Withinshaw and myself — who support the programmes with live illustrations, and sometimes give full solo and duet performances. Our aim is simple: to create a friendly and intimate atmosphere within which we can listen to the world’s most wonderful music — recorded or live — without interruption or distraction.

Over the years a nucleus of perhaps ten to fifteen of us have grown to be familiar with each other’s work, be it poetry or prose. Meeting fortnightly, either on a Friday lunchtime for two hours or on a Saturday for longer, a recognized writer is booked to give a reading and/or a workshop in creative writing. Discussion continues in the excellent restaurant, which has the feeling of a college refectory. The programme’s continuity and the ambience of the former chapel have been attractive, and have allowed members to grow in stature as writers.

Anything up to about twenty of us meet once a month in the restaurant, and sometimes in the main hall — comfortable setting, plenty of coffee, nice atmosphere, good acoustics. We have a small group which plays each time, and visiting players are always welcome. After a few numbers, someone plays a disc or two, or gives a talk on some jazz topic. We have a broad range of musical tastes, mainly modern, but we welcome anyone who has an interest, and we’re particularly keen to foster an enthusiasm for jazz in young people. It’s a great social as well as a musical occasion, and it well suits the informal ambience of the Centre.

Although I enjoy folk sessions, rock and roll, and listening to a range of mechanical noises, I felt that there was room to create, locally, a quiet performance environment, where the focus was on attentive listening. I was keen that the club should be open to all musical ‘abilities’ and styles of music. The only ‘rule’ is that nothing gets connected to mains electricity, primarily to keep things quiet and to encourage close listening. From fragile beginnings with a handful of performers, Clybod has developed and expanded to encompass many styles of music. We meet at two o’clock on the first Sunday of each month. Reviewing things here provides an opportunity to thank the Centre for providing a home for the session, and also the performers for sustained support with their voices, instruments, and ears.

The name (‘between’ in Welsh) refers to what is shared ‘between us’ as people and also to that often elusive ‘between’ place, between opposites/ polarities, which the various wisdom traditions see as the most subtle, profoundly alive, and richly meaningful place within us. The exploration of ‘rhwng’ encompasses an ongoing, interdisciplinary programme of talks, workshops, discussion groups, and performances. The spirit of the Society is one of open-minded enquiry, aiming to explore what it means to be sentient, creative beings embedded in mysterious life. Rhwng has a resonance that defies easy definition and yet seems potent. It came to me via the Welsh-language poet-playwright Aled Jones Williams, in his book Oerfel Gaeaf Duw (God’s Cold Winter). A second influence is Satish Kumar, the editor of Resurgence magazine, who encourages his readers to think in terms of ‘soil, soul and society’. Rhwng is a forum for the kind of ‘relational philosophy’ espoused by Kumar, where we develop response — ability through conversation (‘to turn with’), because we are interested (inter ‘between’, esse ‘to be’). We exist as a community of relationships, and through these we learn about ourselves and the world.