Sing For Water.

A windy day but the showers held off apart from one teeny one at the end of our afternoon concert.

Another day of getting up promptly but it was worth it. Peter dropped me off by the bandstand in Aber nice and early for a day of singing to raise funds for WaterAid to provide clean water and toilets in places that need them.

Our venue was the modern bandstand built in 2016 to replace the original Edwardian bandstand that had undergone numerous alterations over the years. Many bands have played there including Led Zeppelin and now it was little old us. We opened up the wall of doors and arranged chairs outside in a semicircle  while we stood under the canopy facing out. That gave us the option of moving back into the bandstand should the weather turn wet which thankfully it didn't.

The original bandstand -1935.

(Standing with my back to the bandstand.) The same houses remain looking out over North Beach. Until we moved here three years ago my last trip to Aber had been on a university field trip fifty five years ago when we stayed in one of these guesthouses.

Looking south to the pier and the castle beyond.

The day began with a run through of the songs. This we did inside the bandstand which has great acoustics. This made singing with a hundred others good fun. That was followed by a move outside and our first concert which went well.

We had a couple of hours to spare before the afternoon performance so off I went to do some shopping and have a general look around before heading up to the castle. There was a small street market selling crafts and street food which caught my eye. Although I had a flask of coffee and a sandwich with me I couldn't resist buying a warm bombetta, a small roll with a filling of mozzarella and ham baked inside  from this lady selling Sicilian street food. It was a bit sparse on the filling but interesting.

I also bought a small baklava from the ladies selling home made Syrian food. Small but delicious.

This was my view as I ate my lunch sitting on a bench inside the castle. The centre of Aberystwyth looks mainly scruffy and rundown but two minutes later you come to somewhere stunning like this. (I took lots of photos, might show them later in the week.) 

Looking northwards through the ruins Borth is out of sight behind the second headland. I was too intent on the distant view to notice the flag in the centre. There are flagpoles all along the seafront lower down but what a coincidence to see the Lithuanian flag in my photo.

The afternoon performance went well. Peter missed the beginning because he had mixed up the times, completely sure that I told him 2.30 not 2.00. At least he heard some of the songs and I had my lift back home.

At home I moved more of the soil from the bag though it wasn't so easy now that the rain has made the compost all claggy and heavy. Before I did that I dug up some snowdrop bulbs from the old raised bed and spread out all the individual bulbs to give them a chance to spread. That's if they were the snowdrops.