The university hosted the Bangor History Festival on 17-18 October. Funded by Bangor City Council as part of the 1500th anniversary celebrations, the two-day event, organised by the university and City Council in partnership with local organisations, offered a packed programme of talks, tours, workshops, and exhibitions exploring the city’s rich past and its role in Welsh history. Broadcaster and public historian Greg Jenner gave presentations on Roman Wales/Britain to primary and secondary school pupils on Friday 17th October, and took part in the ‘Ask a Historian’ session with the public in Pontio in the evening.
Saturday 18th October saw the festival reach full stride, with around 900 people attending 21 sessions held across Pontio, Bangor Cathedral and the university’s Main Arts Building, with workshops held in Storiel. Walking tours of the city and the Main Arts Building were also held, with exhibition stalls in Pontio. The festival concluded on Saturday evening with historian and broadcaster Professor Kate Williams delivering her ‘Queens, Castles and Welsh Heroines’ session in Pontio, with around 250 people attending.
The university’s Community Fund continues, with a new call for proposals from university staff to be launched in the New Year. The latest meeting of the Community Board took place on 6th October. Presentations included the Porthi Dre Youth Community Project (a beneficiary of the university’s Community Fund) and the university’s archives and special collections, and museum and arts collections.
The university’s Community Engagement team has launched a new interactive map. The map includes examples of how the university works with partnerships, organisations and communities across north Wales.
The university continues to work closely with Bangor City Council. In addition to the History Festival, the Student Bursary Scheme continues, with another call for proposals from students expected in the New Year. The scheme is a partnership between Bangor University, Bangor City Council, the Students Union and M-SParc. On 27th November, the Bangor Heritage College was launched. Based on the project undertaken by the Holy Island Landscape Partnership, the Heritage College invites children and young people to learn more about the history of their area by completing learning modules. The launch event was attended by primary and secondary school pupils in the Bangor area, and is led by the university’s School of Education with financial support from Bangor City Council as part of the 1500th anniversary celebrations.
Undeb Bangor, Bangor Students’ Union, continues to work with the Council on the Hot Meals Volunteering Project. The student-led project, held every Saturday afternoon in Penrhyn Hall (Bangor City Council), began on 27th September, and has been going very well. Our societies and groups from various sports backgrounds have been actively supporting the project, helping us continue to provide free hot meals in the hall. This year, our Tea Party Project for the older community is also running alongside the Hot Meals Project, creating an even more welcoming and supportive environment for everyone involved.
Undeb Bangor Students’ Union ‘Healing Gardens’ Project is enjoying partnering with ‘Dyma Ni’ Befriending to organise sessions for asylum seekers at the gardens, where volunteers have carried out incredible work growing vegetables, building compost beds, and clearing vegetation. The gardens have provided a great space to meet socially and enjoy the local area. We’d love to hear from any members of the community, groups or organisations who’d be interested in volunteering or running their own sessions at the garden. Please contact healinggarden@undebbangor.com to express interest.
As the university’s Waste Awareness Week (13th – 19th October) took place, the Students’ Union successfully engaged student groups and community partners to enhance our collective impact and make activities student-led and collaborative. Highlights included a Big Beach Clean on the 13th with Residential Life, a Reusable Fair on the 15th (Clothes, Pan & Pot Swap), and Community Waste Visits on the 17th with University Housing. A variety of partners supported events throughout the week, including Cyngor Gwynedd Council, Trash Free Trails, Surfers Against Sewage, Repair Café Wales, North Wales River Trust, and Beics Antur.
Undeb Bangor hosted the Cultural Fair on 20th November, attracting over 300 attendees and making it one of the most successful events of the year. The Wales Union stall showcased the richness of Welsh culture, accompanied by engaging Welsh performances. These events demonstrate our ongoing commitment to promoting diversity and multiculturalism. Looking ahead, Undeb Bangor will celebrate International Mother Language Day on 21st February, including a Welsh Language stall to continue promoting the language.
Autumn has been a busy season for corporate and special events across various departments:
The university’s Brambell Natural History Museum was proud to take part in this year’s Welsh Museums Festival. The Museum opened its doors to the public for a free, family friendly event on 25th October, showcasing the specimens on display. The Brambell Natural History Museum will have another open day on Saturday 14th February.
Since the first lecture in 2011 by Professor Owen Dudley Edwards, the Annual Archives and Special Collections Lecture series has offered a diverse programme of talks for both university members and the wider public. This year, on 12th November, the university welcomed Alex Ioannou, a Bangor PhD student, to present “Challenging time(s): Exploring how we shape the past and future of Eryri through the exchange of material culture.” His research examines historical evidence and community collaboration to reframe perceptions of Welsh landscapes and explore democratic approaches to future change.
The university recently welcomed BAFTA-winning actor Joanna Scanlan for a special screening of Joy which premiered on Netflix in 2024. The event, held at Pontio on 12th November, opened with an engaging Q&A, chaired by Dr Nia Jones, Dean of Medicine at the North Wales Medical School.
This screening and subjects resonated deeply with the university’s history, as Sir Robert Edwards, one of the pioneers of IVF who is portrayed in the film, graduated in Bangor in 1951 with a degree in Zoology. The film Joy is a British biographical film starring Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie, James Norton and Joanna Scanlan, who has strong ties to northwest Wales.
On 18th November, the Annual Edward Lhuyd Lecture was delivered by Professor Jane Aaron. The talk was on ‘Loss of Greenness: Ecocriticism and the work of some nineteenth century Welsh poets’.
On 19th November, the university hosted Kyffin in Bangor, a captivating evening dedicated to one of Wales’s most celebrated artists, Sir Kyffin Williams. The event, which was fully booked, featured renowned cultural historian and broadcaster Andrew Green, who explored the emotional depth and recurring themes in Kyffin’s work using the university’s collection of eleven paintings as a starting point. Guests also enjoyed a rare, guided tour of these iconic works, offering an intimate look at the artist’s legacy.
On 24th November, the Bangor University Symphony Orchestra held the ‘Classical in Class’ concert. On 7th December, the Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with the University Chamber Choir held their annual Christmas concert in the Main Arts Building. On 10th December, the university hosted its annual Christmas Carol Service in the Prichard Jones Hall. The service was a celebration of the birth of Christ, featuring traditional carols, readings, and music performed by the University Chamber Choir and Concert Bands. Guests joined together in worship and reflection, embracing the true meaning of Christmas. Also on 10th December, the university’s Jazz Band performed in Storiel.
Looking ahead, a service to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 will be held at Powis Hall, Main Arts Building, on 27th January, from 10:30am to 11:30am. The service is free and open to the public. The university’s School of History will hold a ‘Menai Suspension Bridge bicentenary history day’ in partnership with the Menai Heritage Trust in the Main Arts Building on 31st January. International Women’s Day will be celebrated at the university on 4th March. Further details will be shared soon.
Pontio continues to be a busy hub for the community this Autumn/Winter. ‘BLAS’, the Pontio Arts community programme, continues with monthly Caffi Babis sessions and weekly dance sessions for individuals living with Parkinson’s. Christmas Caffi Babis took place on 5th December, with another scheduled for 19th December.
This year, as part of the university’s ‘Pride and Power’ events to mark Black History Month 2025, the university focused on the power of words, building on our existing Y Llechan work and the role poetry plays at Bangor. Award winning poet and playwright Inua Ellams performed his interactive ‘Search Party’ show at Pontio on 29th October and delivered a creative writing workshop with our students.
Also on 29th October, Pontio hosted the ‘Cosi & Scratch’ event. The event encouraged artists to test their ideas and new material with a live audience, and was organised in partnership with Craidd, a collaboration to improve the representation of disabled people in Wales’ theatre sector.
On 30th October, Cymru men national team manager Craig Bellamy featured in a live Q&A session with Ian Gwyn Hughes from the Football Association of Wales. In front of a large audience, Craig provided his thoughts and ideas on Welsh football and developing the next generation in north Wales.
Pontio hosted the Welsh National Theatre: ‘Playing Burton’ production on 23rd November, featuring Emmy Award winner Matthew Rhys. On 21-22 November, a live performance of ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ took place, whilst on 28th November, Pontio hosted Ballet Cymru’s ‘Daughters of the Sea’ production. Cwmni Mega’s ‘Brenin March’ production for children took place on 8-12 December.
This autumn has been an especially busy and vibrant season at Treborth Botanic Garden, with the woodlands alive with colour and the community coming together for a wide range of events and workshops.
In October, Treborth Botanic Garden held its much-loved annual Fungus Foray. Expert mycologists and enthusiastic nature lovers spent the day exploring the woodland in search of fungi. A complete species list will be published on the garden’s website soon. Also celebrating the season, Nature Keen ran an autumn foraging workshop led by founder Charlotte Keen, where participants learned to safely identify and harvest native plants while exploring Treborth’s lawns and woodlands.
Visitors to the garden this October were also treated to the sight of Highland cattle, brought in by Kehoe Countryside to help manage the woodland as part of the Woodland Investment Grant (TWIG).
The Garden’s artist-in-residence, Doreen Weaver, hosted fortnightly botanical art classes, with the group producing designs that have been used to create Christmas cards raising funds for the Friends of Treborth Botanic Garden. A variety of ecological workshops and courses also took place, including Local Fieldcraft sessions and a visit from the British Bryological Society, who explored the garden’s rich diversity of lower plants.
The Garden’s events calendar wrapped up with a wonderful run of Christmas wreath-making workshops, where attendees used freshly gathered materials from across the site to craft festive decorations for their front doors. Finally, local florist Anna Egerton of Herbariwm rounded off the season with a Christmas bauble-making workshop, guiding participants in creating beautiful handmade decorations using pressed and dried flowers.
M-SParc also continues to be a hive of exciting developments, activities and events. On 28th October, M-SParc hosted the Innovation Conference for Health and Social Care, bringing together healthcare professionals, researchers, innovators and public sector leaders. On 4th November, M-SParc hosted the Egni 2025 event, which featured talks, exhibitions, panel sessions and networking opportunities to discuss north Wales as a low carbon region. The Bangor ‘On Tour’ site continues to provide sessions, workshops and hotdesking opportunities for the community, including a ‘Studio SParc’ session on 25th and 27th November.
On 27th November, M-SParc hosted the ‘Den y Dreigiau’ event, which offered food entrepreneurs an opportunity to pitch to some hungry Dragons on the panel! Clwb Sparci continues to provide opportunities for children and young people, with a ‘Create Christmas produce’ workshop taking place on 15th December.
On 3rd December, the Bangor University Legal Advice Clinic (BULAC) won the ‘Best Pro Bono Contribution in Wales’ category at the LawWorks Pro Bono Awards 2025. BULAC, based in Tŷ Cyfle on Bangor High Street, provides free legal advice to members of the public, as well as university staff and students.
A busy and exciting period between everything, and we will continue to update you regularly on relevant university developments for the community. On behalf of the university, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!
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