GAVIN LLOYD WILSON: The Cardigan Cardigan

Hi Jon

On the local news last Wednesday there was an item about how the people of the town of Cardigan in Ceredigion had got together to knit a giant cardigan in honour of the town's 900th Anniversary. As I was in Cardigan the next day I popped into the Guild Hall to have a look for myself.

The the whole town and outlying countryside is depicted on the body of the garment as you can see on my attached photos.

What I was interested in, however, was the four-legged creature picked out in black wool on the left arm. It could have been a cow, but I thought it would be more than likely that someone would illustrate a cow as being black and white. I asked one of the women who had been involved in the making of the cardigan and she told me it was supposed to be a big cat. "A leopard?" I asked, and she replied "Yes."

Such is the fame of our local ABCs that one made its way onto the Cardigan cardigan.

I was quite impressed that this phenomenon had caught the local imagination and was considered important enough to be included.

As well as there having been panther sightings in these parts, I personally have spoken to someone who told me of a creature he had seen that fitted the description of a lynx, and he also showed me where he'd seen it just outside the town of Crymych. A similar creature was described in the recent sightings in Pembrokeshire at the end of last year. I'm going to try to keep abreast of the local big cat news as and when I hear of it.

Gavin