The Southwest and Central Wales Local Section covers a wide area from Presteigne in the east, to Fishguard in the west, and Caersws in the north. Its administrative centre is based in the Chemistry Department of the University of Wales Swansea.
The Section was founded in November 1918 as the South Wales Branch of the Institute of Chemistry and held its early meetings at the Mackworth Hotel in Swansea. The branch's membership covered the whole of South Wales and the annual subscription for a Fellow at the time was the princely sum of £2 2s 0d.
With the amalgamation of the RIC and the CS in 1971, the Branch became the South Wales West Local Section. In 2024 the the South Wales West Local Section was renamed as Southwest and Central Wales Local Section to reflect its expanded geographical area.
Our Section is particularly active in liaison with schools in the area and with the University Student Chemical Society. It runs a very successful Chemical Olympiad competition for teams from secondary schools and provides hands-on demonstration talks for primary schools. A further function is as a meeting place for its many retired members in the South Wales "Riviera" and a provider of social meetings and events for its members.
The committee members listed are responsible for designing programmes that will advance chemistry in the Local Section area helping the RSC to meet its aims, engaging with and supporting our members.
We are always keen to welcome new members to the committee. When vacancies arise, we circulate a 'Call for committee', where an email is sent to all members of the group to make them aware of new opportunities to join the committee.
It is important to have diverse representation on committees to consider the needs of our membership. All RSC members are welcome to stand for committee positions when vacancies are advertised.
For any queries about the local section, please contact the Committee Secretary using the contact form, accessible via the button below.
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