RSA Wales & Western Region
Recent Events

Mon 29th Jun 2009
The Upturn: your part in its rise

Venue: Village Hotel & Leisure Club, Cardiff

Speaker: Andy Green, Writer and Lecturer

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

Sat 20th Jun 2009
Are Gardens Art?

Venue: Veddw House Garden Devauden Monmouthshire

Speaker: Stephen Anderton, Garden Correspondent of The Times;

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

Tue 26th May 2009
Re-launch of Regional Library Project

Venue: The Exchange, Brick Row, Stroud Gloucestershire GL51DF.

Speaker: Marc Lee, Treasurer RSAWAW

Sat 16th May 2009
WNO Tour, talks and performance Queen of Spades

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Wed 6th May 2009
Open Forum for RSAWAW Fellows

Venue: Holland House Hotel, Cardiff (24-26 Newport Road, CF24 0DD)

Speaker: Dr Eric Albone, Chairman RSAWAW

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

Tue 21st Apr 2009
Bristol City Network - Arnolfini, Interaction, Education.

Venue: Bordeaux Quay, BS1 5UH

Speaker: Chris Luffingham, Networks Manager - Online, South West, Wales and West

Wed 8th Apr 2009
Public Forum on Severn Estuary

Venue: Holland House Hotel, Newport Road, Cardiff

Speaker: Rudi Plaut FRSA CBE Panel Chair

Report as second PDF below.

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

Fri 3rd Apr 2009
Charles Darwin - an inspiration for the 21st Century

Venue: Clynderwen Pembrokeshire & Darwin Centre Pembrokeshire

Speaker: Prof Anthony Campbell FRSA, Professor in Medical Biochemistry at Cardiff University

Tony Campbell addresses a spellbound audience

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Tue 17th Mar 2009
Bristol City Network Speakers Corner

Venue: Bordeaux Quay, BS1 5UH

Speaker: Chris Luffingham, Outreach Co-ordinator

Tue 17th Mar 2009
Bristol City Network Speakers Corner

Venue: Bordeaux Quay, BS1 5UH

Speaker: Chris Luffingham, Outreach Co-ordinator

Thu 12th Mar 2009
Social Evening for Fellows in Wales

Venue: Taliesin Centre Swansea University

Speaker: Rudi Plaut CBE FRSA Sybil Crouch FRSA, Former Wales & west Committee Members

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Sat 7th Mar 2009
Public Forum on Severn Estuary

Venue: Bristol - UWE, Frenchay Campus (Q block, room 2Q49),

Speaker: Prof Jim Longhurst - Panel Chair, UWE Co-Director, Institute for Sustainability, Health and Environment

Some atmospheric images of the event


A report has been compiled by Dr Eric Albone appended Item 3 below.

The Bristol Severn Estuary Public Forum is now also on line on the UWE website and includes the PowerPoint presentation http://www.uwe.ac.uk/ishe/events/renewable_energy_severn.shtml

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

Mon 23rd Feb 2009
Tour and Dinner at the House of Commons

Venue: House of Commons Westminster

Speaker: WAITING LIST FOR PLACES, MP for Carmarthenshire W & Pembrokeshire S

Picture shows Guests of Honour being presented with a gift of Welsh wine at the end of the evening. L-R Rod Ashley (Committee Member), Rt Hon Peter Hain MP, Celia Kirkby (website co-ordinator and co-organiser), Nick Ainger MP who was our official host for the evening, Rt Hon Alun Michael JP, MP, FRSA, Dr Eric Albone (Chairman RSAWAW).

Over fifty RSA Wales and Western Fellows and their guests enjoyed a splendid evening in the House of Commons at the invitation of Nick Ainger, MP, Member for Carmarthenshire West and South Pembrokeshire, and were delighted to welcome as Guests of Honour the Rt Hon Peter Hain, MP, Member for Neath and the Rt Hon Alun Michael, JP MP FRSA, Member for Cardiff South and Penarth, himself a Fellow of the Society.

Over drinks on the Terrace, it was as always amazing to encounter the wealth of expertise and experience represented within the Fellowship, to get to know each other and to talk about opportunities which that Fellowship offers to work together to the common good. The Dinner which followed was excellent and ample, at the end of which all three Members of Parliament in turn addressed the gathering with wit and frankness.

Nick Ainger, our host, spoke of his experience on the Commons Treasury Select Committee which had turned out to be far more engaging and significant than he could have expected when he joined it in 2007, and related how he had been amazed by the lack of understanding of some of the senior bankers he had encountered both of the complex financial products they were trading and of the wider community in which they operated, and what this implied for the nation's predicament.

Both Peter Hain and Alun Michael welcomed the RSA Wales and Western Region's focus on the potential of using tidal energy from the Severn Estuary to provide a source of renewable energy which would both be secure and make a substantial contribution to meeting the nation's carbon targets. Peter Hain stressed urgency of the situation and the huge contribution a Severn Barrage would make to this end.

After saying something about his work with the Internet Governance Forum and on the Welsh Affairs and Justice Select Committees, Alun Michael went on to say how important he felt the public forums RSAWAW would shortly be mounting in Bristol and later in Cardiff on the options for generating energy from the Severn's huge tidal range, whether from a barrage or in other ways, were. It was essential in his view that decisions should be evidence based and that members of the public should be involved in sifting that evidence and forming their own opinions as part of the democratic process. Nothing could be more important.

The evening ended with heartfelt expressions of appreciation to Ron and Celia Kirkby for all they had done to make it such a success.

Eric Albone