Coffee never sounded like this!

The committee of the Aneurin Bevan Court Residents' Association were thinking of holding a coffee morning, but Mary thought that much more money could be raised by holding a choral concert at Garndiffaith.

This was undoubtedly so, as the hall was full with music enthusiasts all ready to be entertained.

The Gleemen set the tone with a spirited rendering of that old favourite, Men of Harlech, led by their musical director, Gethin Banfield and accompanied by the multi-talented John Jolly. They completed the first half with a variety of songs that were obviously well rehearsed and definitely well performed.

The Apollo Singers then took the stage under their musical director, Eileen Bosustow and accompanied at the piano by Hilary Jones, who is about to leave the group after the next concert to have a baby. I am told that the Singers have been very fortunate in obtaining a replacement in the person of Derek Parry, whom I know is an excellent pianist.

During the Tuesday lunch at the Millennium Hall Derek entertains the diners between his own courses with a variety of popular songs.

They were introduced with great humour by their chairman Gerald Warboys, and the Singers gave the audience a wide selection of popular songs, and there were two excellent guest artists, Sarah Morgan, soprano, and Andrew Jenkins, baritone, who thrilled the audience with his renditions of some well-known songs and ballads.

The audience was told that Sarah had just finished at the College of Music and Art and was starting to make her way in what promises to be a brilliant career in music.

Two of Sarah's renderings went down particularly well. The one was from the stage show Blood Brothers. The second was the wonderful Eva Cassidy arrangement of Over the Rainbow. As the compere said afterwards, we were all sat stock still throughout the song. Sarah had held us all in the palm of her hand.

After the concert the ladies of the Apollo Singers had laid out the most magnificent buffet, and Gil Barnett, the husband of Torfaen's ex-mayor, said that he thought that I should mention it. It was certainly one of the best buffets that I have ever come across, far removed from the sausage roll and piece of limp lettuce one normally associates with the word buffet.

A real night to remember, but what a shame the choirs did not stand on the stage where the audience could have had a much clearer view of all the performers.

I WONDER IF?: It is now some ten years or more since the road from Pontypool to Hafodyrynys was altered and drop-ped down off the mountainside into the valley where the railway line had been.

I notice that the old coal washery from Hafodyrynys colliery is still standing there looking a horrible eyesore.

At the time there were varying stories about the reason for keeping it. One was that it was about to be converted into a posh restaurant and another was that it was a scheduled building of rare historical value.

Since I can remember it being built back in the Seventies, when Tirpentwys and Hafodyrynys pits were joined up, I can hardly see that it is all that historical.

The new road was a godsend when it was first put into use, but the amount of traffic now using it is proving too much for it to cope with. This is particularly true of the part that goes through the village of Hafodyrynys with its very necessary speed limit of 30mph and the traffic lights in Crumlin.

When coming back from visiting my daughter Karen in Caerphilli, the vehicles are in a continuous stream from the Crumlin lights almost back to Pontypool. The worst that can happen is to get behind a funeral procession that is going to the crematorium. You know then that you are in for a five-mile crawl until you reach Pontypool.

It was always intended when the new road was completed that some day a by-pass would be built around Hafodyrynys. I am not too sure about the truth of it but rumours seemed to have surfaced again that the work is about to be undertaken.

To be honest, if something is not done shortly the road from the lights in Crumlin to Pontypool will become like one huge car park during the morning and evening rush hours. I just wonder if there is any truth in these rumours.

OPERA IN THE PARK SOME PERSONAL REFLECTIONS: Once again the Opera in the Park event came around. It always amazes me that local people have such drive and stamina to bring such a wonderful occasion to such a little town as ours.

From the beginning they ran into unexpected trouble when the Lottery people decided that they had more worthy causes to support, rather than a group trying to bring some classical music to the masses.

Then it was found that the artists could only attend on the Sunday. This meant that the marquee had to be up for longer, which increased the cost.

Last year the event was blessed with the most glorious sunshine. By holding it in June they should have been assur-ed of reasonably fine weather, but NO!

It seems that more rain has fallen in this month than ever before as long as records have been kept.

THE SATURDAY CONCERT: The idea of having a fund raising concert on the Saturday evening did not turn out to be much of a success. There were only about 80 of us in that huge marquee, and it brought back to my mind that old joke about the choir outnumbering the audience.

It seemed odd that for an event in Pontypool a choir from Risca should be engaged. Surely there are choirs in Pontypool, or at least in Torfaen, who could have been invited to perform. Again a combined choir of Pontnewydd, Pontypool, the Garndiffaith Gleemen and Blaenavon and perhaps others would have brought along all of their supporters, which would have helped to swell the number in the audience.

Perhaps the charge of £6 was thought to be rather high. Mind you, the Risca Choir, under their musical director, Martin Hodson and their accompanist, Julie Bevan, along with the St Alban's Chamber Orchestra, provided a wonderful few hours of music.

TWO FREE CONCERTS: The idea of holding two events in the open air worked wonderfully last year, but of course this current weather of ours destroyed any hope of a repeat this year The fact that the event was going to be brought indoors on the Sunday afternoon was announced at the Saturday evening concert, but, as I said, there were only a small number of people there.

Could there have been a need for the old-fashioned loudspeaker van to tour the area on the Sunday morning an-nouncing the change in plans? Again I am not too sure that loudspeaker vans still exist. Remember when they used to come around regularly to announce that our water supply was about to be cut off?

There was quite a good crowd in the marquee for the Three Other Tenors' and later the Welsh Brass Consort. Both provided us with lovely popular music that everyone knew and enjoyed.

Perhaps it would best in the future to forget about staging the two free concerts out of doors and bow to the inevitability of the British weather being unpredictable but probably wet.

THE MAIN CONCERT: The Sunday evening concert was played to a near capacity audience. It was nice to have numbered seats. The elements co-operated with the organisers. It was a fine evening and some people were slow to take their seats. Stewards were asking them to move inside, but then the heavens opened and everyone scurried indoors. Job done!

The orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, under the baton of Gareth Jones, their musical director, had to play a little louder, I thought, to counteract the thumping of the rain on the roof of the marquee.

The entertainment was introduced by Donald Maxwell, a most engaging character. As well as the Three Other Tenors, whose names are Michael Clifton-Thompson, Phillip Lloyd Holtam and Howard Kirk, the lovely soprano, Ros Evans, had been engaged. They performed a variety of well-known songs, such as Summertime, by George Gershwin, the Bold Gendarmes, a medley of popular Lehar airs, With a Song in My Heart and finishing with the ever-popular Nessun Dorma.

What a great evening and what a great weekend. A dollop of culture brought right into our own park. Here's to next year, in the hope that the weather is not quite so nasty.

THE WOMEN'S MEETING CLUB: For the last three years I have been invited by Hilda Court, the minutes/general/ speaker secretary of this organisation to give a talk to one of their summer meetings.

This group of ladies was formed not long after the last war and were then known as the Young Wives' Club. Some of their present members have been with them since the beginning.

Over the years they realised that their original title had become a little incorrect so, without any major meetings or resolutions they gradually allowed their title to be changed.

They now have about 20 ladies on the books and their chairman is Betty King and the third officer is their treasurer, Marie Hall. They meet fortnightly at the Viaduct Road Church, in Abersy-chan, with a break from July to Septem-ber, and Hilda's job is to get guest speakers for each meeting. Betty Miles is responsible for some day trips and holidays that they have together.

The first year I talked to them about my father's experiences in the First World War in France, last year it was the Lions' Tour to New Zealand, keeping well away from the rugby side of it, which might not have been too interesting for a group of ladies, but talked about the social side of the tour and the people we met.

On this occasion my talk told about my weekly writing for Grassroots. I had taken copies of various items of mine, which had been printed, but it turned out that most of those present were regular readers of Grassroots.

A number of questions followed the main one (as always) being on what day is Grassroots supposed to be published.

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable hour spent in nice company.

ACTIVITIES IN WIDDERSHINS: Recently Widdershins, which is a branch of Age Concern, held a Men's Health Morning, in support of Men's Health Week.

Included in the morning was a wide variety of events, both for the men to take part in and topics about which they could receive information.

These included Nordic walking, free health advice, blood pressure checks, interviews with the stroke association, diabetes information, and alternative therapies.

Getting away from the health side of things, there was free access to the internet, genealogy, travelling adventure talk, business opportunities and chances for volunteering and much more.

AUTUMN COURSES: Widdershins have just released details of the courses, which they will be putting on at their headquarters in East Avenue, off Greenhill road in Sebastopol, in the coming autumn.

Starting on Wednesday, September 5, there will be six-week course in Flower Arranging, which will take place from 1pm to 3pm.

Then on Wednesday, October 17 another six-week course will start, this time on Conversational Spanish from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

Painting with Water Colours will be staring on Tuesday, October 23, again for a period of six weeks and will take place from 1pm to 3pm.

The last of these six-week autumn courses is on Digital Photography and starts on Thursday, October 4. It will be held in the morning from 10 to noon.

If you would like any more information about these courses or their content, please contact Kim, on 01495 769264. Again, if you have any ideas that you would like to share, please ring that number. It should be noted that you are asked to pay £3 prior to the start of the course.