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Sunday March 11th Rhwng Birthday Concert 7.30pm £3/£2
To celebrate the first year of Rhwng, two pieces of music have been especially composed for the internationally renowned musicians and improvisers Rhodri Davies and Angharad Davies. These are Mantratsiacra (meditation for musicians) by Catrin Jones, and Rhwng y pegynau mae’n llonydd: the point between the poles is still (installation for a harpist) by Gorwel Owen. The first performance of these works will also include Pauline Oliveros’s influential Four Meditations for Orchestra. Performers include: Rhodri Davies (Harp and Electronics), Angharad Davies (Violin), Catrin Jones (Oboe), Pwyll  ap Siôn (Piano), Gorwel Owen (Guitar) and Fiona Owen (Hammered Dulcimer).

Friday March 2nd 2007   Universal Kinship: a perspective offered by Quaker Concern for Animals
Marian Hussenbux with poetry by Fiona Owen and others

Marian Hussenbux is a semi-retired teacher of Modern Languages, examiner and translator. Since 2004, she has been clerk of Quaker Concern for Animals and is currently assistant clerk of Birkenhead Meeting. She is secretary of the Green Party Animal Rights group.QCA is developing a strong interfaith policy and is a founder member of the newly launched Interreligious Fellowship for Animals. In her talk, Every being is an End, Marian will be outlining the history of QCA, its links with other faiths and the concept of Universal Kinship.


Friday February 2nd 2007  An Introduction to Eckhart Tolle
Cynthia Morgan with poetry by Joan Poulson

Friday January  5th 2007    Wonder: one way to dwell on the greeny earth
Fiona Owen with songs by John Wright

Friday December 1st 2006   7.45pm for 8pm prompt start        £3/£2

Whispers From The Past

Llio Rhydderch and the Triple Harp Performance and talk.

Llio Rhydderch and her work embody the idea of 'rhwng' in many ways: from deep roots in Ynys Môn her work extends globally; from the base of the raw materials of her tradition she improvises with great freedom; and as a teacher, she forms a bridge between the performers of the past, such as Nansi Richards, and the future. Andrew Cronshaw recently wrote in fRroots magazine that 'It is impossible to overstate the importance of this triple harpist from the island of Ynys Môn in Welsh, indeed in British music'. Llio will be performing some of her work on the triple harp as well as talking and discussing the inspiration behind her work.

Friday November 3rd 2006   7.45pm for 8pm prompt start        £3/£2

Steve Reich at 70

Pwyll ap Siôn including performances of Four Organs and other works.

New York's Village Voice magazine recently descibed Steve Reich as 'America's greatest living composer'. Whilst his work includes some of the most innovative music of the late twentieth-century, Reich's music is also accessible and has influenced many artists within popular music. This event celebrates Reich, who is 70 this year, and his work. His music may be seen to lie between high art and popular culture, is influenced by both eastern and western cultures and explores the boundaries between freedom and control. Lecturers at Bangor University Pwyll ap Siôn and Tristian Evans will briefly outline a context for an understanding of Reich’s music and there will be a rare opportunity to hear some of his works performed in North Wales, including Four Organs (a work for four organs), in the splendid acoustics of the Ucheldre Centre's theatre. There will also be time for some discussion following the performances.

Friday October 6th 2006   7.45pm for 8pm prompt start        £3/£2

MUJO

Aled Jones Williams with poems by Gwyn Parry

In this talk, which marks the first anniversary of 'Rhwng: the Point Between', the prize-winning poet-playwright Aled Jones Williams will explore 'MUJO', which is the Japanese character for 'sense of nothing'.

 

Friday September 1st 2006   7.45pm for 8pm prompt start        £3/£2

Living in Godless Times

With Alison Leonard. Songs by Lleuwen Steffan.

 

Friday August 4th 2006       7.45pm for 8pm prompt start  

Holy Lammas

In this meeting, we will explore the harvest festival of Lammas and share bread together. You are invited - though this is not obligatory! - to bring something to read, sing, play, say, that chimes with the festival. Your 'offering' can be something of your own making or a 'ready-made' something (poem? prayer? song? musical piece?). The idea is that whatever we contribute will be a bonus to the occasion, with the aim of cultivating an enriched sense of being together, with everyone playing a part in the event's orchestration.

 

Friday July 7th 2006    The 'Rhwng' Moment Led by Annee Griffiths. Songs by Fiona and Gorwel Owen.

Mindfulness is being aware of the present moment - the rhwng moment - between the future and the past. The only moment we have to live. Yet it's easy to miss. Annee Griffiths will be sharing and exploring mindfulness practice. Annee began training in mindfulness in India and Japan thirty years ago and more recently trained to be a teacher with the Centre of Mindfulness Research and Practice, University of Wales, Bangor. She currently teaches eight week courses of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction, both in the university and to distance learners on the phone. Next year she will teach on the MA in Mindfulness-based Approaches (in Health) at Bangor.

 

Friday June 2nd 2006   7pm        £3

Sometimes this, sometimes that

'Sometimes pus,/sometimes poetry/...But through the wound in my chest/ God peers into the universe.' Poet David Hart will be exploring these lines from a poem by Yehuda Amichai.

David Hart, born in Aberystwyth, has worked in Birmingham as a university chaplain, theatre critic and arts administrator. Working now as a poet, with part-time posts at Warwick (Writing Programme) and Birmingham (Lifelong Learning) universities, he has held residencies at poetry festivals and in psychiatric and general hospitals and at Worcester Cathedral, was Birmingham Poet Laureate 1997-98, and has won First and Second in the National Poetry Competition.

 

May 13t 10am-4pm Finding Space A day with Jim Pym.
We all lead such busy lives, in which we have to constantly respond (re-act) to the world around us, and it is often hard to find space to just be ourselves. Using the approaches of meditation and other practices, found within the Buddhist, Christian and Vedantic traditions, we will explore ways in which we can find that space, even for a few moments, and even in the midst of our busiest and most frantic times, as well as providing a base from which we can find our own ways.
Jim Pym has been interested in exploring these topics for over 40 years. He is a Quaker, an ordained Buddhist priest of the Seimeizan tradition, and a healer member of the National Federation of Spiritual Healers and Quaker Spiritual Healers. He has been teaching meditation in its various forms for many years, and is the author of Listening to the Light, The Pure Principle and You Don’t Have to Sit on the Floor. Some of the themes of the weekend can be found in his booklet, What Kind of God, What Kind of Healing, published by the Friends Fellowship of Healing.

 

Friday May 5th 200       7pm   £3

Theism and Atheism A talk given by Tim Miles.

He agrees that 'theism' and 'atheism' are not easy opposites to reconcile, and he will not in his talk be trying to persuade anyone to change their religious beliefs or commitments. He will, however, warn against over-reaction to 'scare' labels (of which for some people 'atheism' is one). He will also encourage a policy of sympathetic listening to religious and anti-religious views of all kinds.

Tim Miles was Professor of Psychology at University of Wales, Bangor, from 1963 to 1987 and is now Professor Emeritus. His main research interest has been in dyslexia, and in 2003 he was awarded the OBE for 'services to those with dyslexia'. He has also published books on behaviourism and on the philosophy of religion. He has been a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) since the early 1960s. He served in the army from 1942 to 1945 but in 1945 resigned his commission to become a conscientious objector.

 

Friday April 7th 2006 7pm £3

To whom it may concern Gorwel Owen with Pwyll ap Siôn (Piano), and readers Fiona Owen and Graham Thomas.

Sam Richards claims that 'If John Cage had not existed, the twentieth century would have had to invent him'. Cage’s music and writings certainly raise many questions about the relationship between sound and silence, between freedom and control, between seriousness and playfulness... We shall be celebrating the first six months of Rhwng: the Point Between with simultaneous performances of Cage’s Lecture on Nothing and T.V. Köln. The performances will be preceded by an introduction to Cage, and will be followed by a discussion.

 

Friday 3rd March 2006   7pm               £3

The Healing Nature of the Arts: the cauldron of transformation at the centre of creative play.

A participatory exploration led by Pauline Down into how active engagement in the arts can be a significant aspect of living healthily and the spark in the middle when two or more people meet in a shared arts activity. Pauline Down has been working in the arts for 25 years as a teacher, workshop facilitator, trainer, performer and songwriter. She has been particularly inspired by her work experience in the community with people of all ages and abilities. She is currently course director of Dryw, which provides a local Arts in Health training, and artistic director of Bangor Community Choir.

 

Friday 3rd February 2006 7pm   £3

Rubbing the Elephant: Tao, Zen & the Word

Poet Graham Hartill leads a discussion on the place of poetry and the word in eastern and western spirituality, with reference to classic texts from the Taoist, Buddhist and Christian traditions. How do we describe the indescribable? Why do mystical traditions stress the importance of the written word? Should the Bible be buried for one hundred years, as Alan Watts suggested? In a time of religious fundamentalism in both east and west, these questions are of burning importance, for writers and everyone else.

Songs by Pulco (Ashley Cooke).

 

Friday 6th January 2006 7pm £3

Beginner’s Mind and the poetics of engagement

Fiona Owen, with poetry by Marianne Jones

At the start of the New Year, we will explore together, through a variety of texts and activities, ‘beginner’s mind’ and consider how the cultivation of this ‘open state’ is fundamental to creativity and engagement.

 

Saturday 17th December 2005 12 noon

Christmas/Solstice Gathering celebrating the turning year and sharing food in the Ucheldre café together. All those attending will be invited to participate by sharing a song, music, a reading, a prayer, a poem or dance that chimes with the season.

 

Friday 2nd December 2005 7pm £3

Betwixt and between - a Quaker Perspective by Gerald Hewitson. Music by Gwilym Morus.

 

Friday 4th November 2005 7pm £3

'In your face.' Am I bovvered? An explorative talk by Revd Randolph Ellis, Minor Canon at Bangor Cathedral. Music by Cass Meurig.

 

Friday 7th October 2005 7pm

This launch event will include an introduction to the Society by Fiona Owen, a talk by poet-playwright Aled Jones Williams, whose work helped to inspire the idea of 'rhwng', a reading by Mandy Simone and songs from Alun Tan Lan, whose album Y Distawrydd was recently selected by Observer Music Magazine as one of Wales' ten finest albums.

 

‘Ond aros yn y lle rhwng y ddau’ - Aled Jones Williams