Speaker

Pam and Cledwyn Lewis are well known in Llantwit Major for the illustrated talks they give about their frequent holidays abroad.  Last week they spoke to the Rotary Club of Llantwit Major at the West House Hotel about a holiday they had which, because of recent events, could sadly  never be repeated.  Pam Lewis described a holiday she and Cledwyn had in the middle east in 2010 when they visited Jordan and Syria.  This, of course, was before the devastating war in that part of the world which has since laid waste to so much particularly of Syria.

Over the years Pam Lewis’s skills with photography have helped to document many parts of Llantwit Major including especially St Illtud’s Church, giving a wonderful record of that ancient place.  Thankfully for a number of years Pam and husband Cledwyn have taken holidays in many parts of the world during which Pam has maintained a skilled photographic record.  She explained to club members that as soon as they return from one of their trips abroad she sits down and writes a detailed record of where they have been  and what they had seen.  In an extraordinary account of the holiday she and Cledwyn had seven years ago Pam described their progress through Jordan and then into Syria.  The photographs of Jordan, which has largely escaped the current problems in that part of the world, could still be taken today.  The towns visited in Syria, however, including such places as Allepo have since been devastated by the recent war with huge numbers killed and many more made homeless.  Pam and Cledwyn showed photographs of ancient remains some of which had been standing for literally thousands of years which now, alas, are no more.  Not only have so many ancient sites been damaged because of the fighting but some of the most famous places have been deliberately reduced to rubble.  Pam’s photographs also showed the people of the area who have  since sadly suffered hugely because of the war and in which many have now been killed or displaced.  They later answered many questions put by their appreciative audience.

On behalf of the club Gareth Rees, who because of his work with the International Baccalaureate examination board had visited the area, particularly Lebanon, thanked Pam and Cledwyn for their talk and for the literally amazing photographic record they have of what has now vanished.  They later joined Rotary Club President, Charles Anderson and wife Mary for a photograph of what had been a very special occasion.