ARROW VALLEY PROJECT -- An audience of more than 80 packed the village hall on April 25 to hear an illustrated talk by Professor Mark Macklin of Aberystwyth University about the Arrow Valley Project. His subject was an analysis of the dynamic geographical changes that have occurred in the Arrow Valley over the past 12,000 years and the significance for historians, archaeologists and all of us who live in the area, including future generations. He explained that the idea of the project is to learn more about the historical development of the Arrow Valley, with special reference to the river, its tributaries and the environment around them. This means seeking to analyse changes from about the time of the last ice age, when people are thought to have first began to live here. In addition the hope is to show how the environment we have to day has been directly influenced by major geographical events of the past, especially climatic changes. Professor Macklin explained how he had been able to make use of computer models to examine how and why the landscape had changed historically. It was his strong contention that we could only understand how the future might be affected, by learning about past events. He illustrated the points made with slides of the Arrow Valley area, which showed the powerful value of aerial photography for the archaeologist. Barrows, ring works, parch marks and significant soil discolourations could all be seen close to rivers and their tributaries. What was also fascinating, was to see how, in the area under investigation, parish boundaries are frequently defined by the rivers, suggesting that neither has changed since they were established over 1000 years ago. On the other hand, some boundaries deviate from the nearby river lines; which may be evidence that the river had changed its flow. In his final comments, Professor Macklin said that in addition to the ancient historical data, it was also important to gather more recent memories of local people. These recollections about floods, droughts, changing fish stocks, and land use were all of vital importance. In his comments, thanking Professor Macklin, Paul White, in charge of the project, said that the aim of the project which lasts until October, was 'to make a start', since a complete study would take many years. He hoped that talks such as this (and those in the future months) would raise awareness of the richness of the heritage and that they would improve understanding of how fragile and vulnerable it was. He also wanted to encourage local people to see what is distinctive, historically in the environment and how the landscape of today has come about. He said that the range of actions possible to safe guard the heritage are comparatively simple and not too costly. He encouraged anyone interested, to become involved by helping with surveys, identifying historical monuments, allowing an archaeologist to walk over their land to examine areas of interest, attending work-shops on looking after the historic landscape and monuments and attending future talks and walks. After a series of lively and detailed questions, tea and coffee was served by members of the Oral History Group and the evening ended as a very enjoyable social occasion. Members of the Oral History Group would be pleased to interview and record the comments of anyone locally who has recollections of changes in the fish stocks, the flow of the river or other relevant information. This would then be passed on to Professor Macklin for his database.