Published 23/11/2018
| Last Updated 16/12/2024
From 3 – 7 December 2018, the National Assembly for Wales will be bringing a week full of its regular activities, special exhibitions and public engagement events to Aberystwyth as part of our Senedd@ campaign.
We’re been asking you to share your #loveaber stories, memories and insights to form part of our exhibition, “Aberystwyth: Past, Present, Future”.
Award-winning author Jenny Sullivan was born and raised in Cardiff, but like so many others across the length and breadth of Wales (and indeed the World!), Aberystwyth holds a unique place in her heart.
Having lived in Brittany since 2004 she shares her favourite #loveaber memories and poem entitled “Aberystwyth”.
What is your favourite Aberystwyth memory?
Many damp days haunting the bookshops with the children when they were small. Aberystwyth was our "go-to" place when it was too wet for the beach! (My worst memory is the sea-front hotel with a shower that had no water!)
What makes Aberystwyth unique?
The comfort and ease with which "Town and Gown" fit together. And there's something restful about Aberystwyth. When I've been visiting local libraries and schools I used to try to stay on the sea-front. I loved waking up in the morning to the sound of the waves.
How has Aberystwyth changed over the years?
Different shops: some new buildings - but on the whole, not a lot!
Mind, I haven't visited for a couple of years - I need some schools and libraries to invite me, please!
ABERYSTWYTH
Sea rattles pebbles
claws at shale
worries the filigree pier
Front lines are the expendables:
Window-boxed brecwast-a-gwelies,
Three-flights-down for a bath;
Student halls, window-sills full
of bare feet and beer cans;
and "Llys y Brenin"
balconied apartments
(Expensive) for the crachach.
Sea makes sorties
chewing at the roots of
Constitution Hill.
Hippie shops and cafes creep
backwards, towards respectability.
Charity shops flare and die, and
The mighty rearguard Banks
(Barclays, Lloyds) oppress the odd posh shop and Woolworths, where
anoraked and steaming tourists flee the unrelenting rain.
The sea attacks
retreats, attacks,
hurls pebbles
Only Waunfawr observes
the town, sneaking out
the back way, regrouping
somewhere in the
mountains, while offshore,
Momentarily confused by groyns
the sea fires missile dolphins,
Gulps the crimson sun
and waits for booming night.
Jenny Sullivan
Credit: Pont, “Say That Again”
Visit
www.assembly.wales/seneddaber to register and take part in our exhibitions and events. You can also send us your own #loveAber stories on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
