1–7 January

• 7 1892 (Thurs.) T. E. Ellis MP due to speak at Guildhall with Mr Bowen Rowlands MP but failed to visit because of snow. Stuck in Llandysul. Snow not always a bad thing say his opponents!
• 6 1897 (Mer.) A wedding gift was presented to Revd and Mrs Moelwyn Hughes, Tabernacle by church members following their recent wedding. The Chairman E. Ceredig Evans introduced 11 speakers. When Miss Susanna Jones sang “Ble’r aeth yr Amen?” [Where did the Amen go”?] several audience members were asking the same question!
• 6 1895 (Sun.) Severe frost. The Teifi is frozen solid. Time to put on the skates and head down to the bridge!
• 5 1867 (Sat.) Stormy weather. ‘John Stuart’ lifeboat went out to help the sloop ‘Oliver Lloyd’ of Cardigan and the ‘Turtle Dove’ of Aberystwyth. A total crew of 6 were rescued.
• 4 1985 (Fri.) Work starts on the new Swimming Pool.
• 4 1906 (Thurs.) Death of D G Davies, Castle Green, 70 years old.
• 4 1873 (Sat.) Town Council decides to appoint a Sanitary Inspector and a medical Officer of Health. The town was beginning to stink.
• 3 1682 (Tues.) Ffisher of Milford, master John Thompson, sailed from Cardigan to Dartmouth with a cargo of 60 brls of herring.
• 2 1917 (Tues.)  A meeting was held to bring the Mechanics Institute to an end. Began in 1847 in a house at the top of Bridge St., it later moved to the Guildhall. In 1873 it had 212 members and 215 visitors.

The Mechanics Institute was established in 1847 in a house on the top of Bridge St. It later moved to the Guildhall. By 1873 the MI had 212 members and 215 visitors. 1956 books were borrowed. The secretary in 1873 was Samuel Owen, the father of D. E. Owen, Lloyds Bank, Llandysul. By 1882 membership was a  steady 211. David Davies M.P. promised £100 in order to build suitable premises. In 1886 members had collected a further £100 and so they further asked the generous townsfolk to cough up some more in order to establish a splendid asset to the town. Unfortunately the townsfolk thought otherwise and no response was forthcoming!

1887 was the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria and in a public meeting the mayor, Levi James, suggested that premises should be built on land offered by Col. Miles. The mayor offered £50; W. O. Brigstocke offered £10. A committee was formed (of course) and Henry R. Daniel appointed secretary. They hoped to receive further help from the kind folk of Cardigan.

But D. G. Davies, Castle Green had other ideas: he  believed that the mayor was bound to receive a knighthood during the Jubilee year and should therefore build the premises himself rather than contribute a measley £50! There were too many Nonconformists on the committee for D. G. Davies’  liking. Things got worse then when it was suggested that the money collected should go towards improving the river Teifi. The result? not much.

By the 1890s membership was declining and other similar attractions like the Conservatives Club and the Liberal Club became more popular.

On this day in January 1917 the MI came to an end in Cardigan. The room was then used for the Glanteifi Lodge of Oddfellows.

• 1 1916 (Sat.) New Mayor D. Timothy James, Gwalia,begins the tradition of giving the town’s children a free cinema show as a New Year’s treat (Calennig).
• 1 1888 (Sun.) Club for gentlemen opened at 22 St Mary’s St.
• 1 1873 (Wed.)  Presentation to Revd Evan Thomas, Bethania on his departure to Carmarthen.
• 1 1631 (Wed.) Birth of Katherine Philips (Fowler) ‘Matchless Orinda’. She married James Philips in 1648 when he was 54 years of age and she was 16 years old; she came to live in Cardigan Priory. Poet and dramatist; she published several works including a translation of Corneille’s drama La mort de Pompee, and Poems by the incomparable Mrs K. P. (1664). Her letters to ‘Poliarchus’ (Cotterell) were published in 1705. She died on 22 Jan 1664.