This year we held our St David’s Day Dinner on 27th February as the rest of the weekend was already booked. We chose Gerrards Cross Golf Club again, as the food was so good and it has good acoustics.
We all met for a pre-meal glass of fizz (or orange juice) at 6:30 and caught up with old friends. It was very encouraging to see so many new members there too, including our local MP, Sarah Green. Sarah was our speaker last year, and we were delighted that she agreed to come again this year along with her partner Daniel Paterson .
One of our newest members, Rhiannon Bruce, discovered that she had been to the same school as Sarah, though not at the same time.
David Hancox made it in time, which was a surprise as he had to drop his children off, then get changed and rush all the way from Kingston Bagpuize, which is the other side of Abingdon, and a good hour away.
Gwyndaf had prepared a table plan so that we knew where we were sitting. We had 62 in total spread across 7 tables, so it was a good turn-out.
Ann Evans had arranged for the golf club to be decorated with lots of Welsh flags and, with the help of the ladies and wives of the committee, there were bouquets of daffodils on each table.
At just after 7 we all took our places in the dining room and were welcomed by Gwyndaf John, as chairman and Ann Evans, as President, said grace.
Our dinners were lovely. Kay Day had chosen a delicious selection of food, with starters of prawn cocktail, cawl or chicken liver pate, followed by lamb shank, confit duck or trout for mains and lemon tart, chocolate fondant, fruit cocktail or Welsh cheeses for dessert.
After the dinner, Gwyndaf introduced two of our members, Gwion Thomas and his wife, Chloe Willson-Thomas who would sing for us, accompanied by John Breese on the piano.
Gwion Thomas met Chloe whilst studying at Music College, and their duet has continued ever since.
A baritone, Gwion was born in Gorseinon, South Wales. He gave up a career in banking to study singing at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, where he graduated with Distinction, winning many prizes. He has been a wide-ranging opera and concert soloist, taking leading solo operatic roles with the Welsh National Opera, the Scottish Opera, and many other companies.
Chloe is a Soprano, and has been the Rector of Farnham Royal with Hedgerley since March 2020. She too was a freelance professional singer and singing teacher after a first degree in Music and a post-graduate diploma in advanced musical performance from the Royal Northern College of Music. After ordination in 2009 she went on to complete a theology degree at Oxford University.
Gwion and Chloe sang a variety of solos and duets starting with a piece from Handel and covering Mozart, Welsh songs and pieces by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
A Victorian song – ‘The Spider and the Fly’ was very funny as Chloe tried to lure an innocent fly (Gwion) into her parlour.
John Breese was excellent as accompanist, especially considering the wide range of music and how little time he had to prepare.
We are truly very lucky to have three such excellent musicians within our membership.
Gwyndaf thanked our entertainers and we then concluded with the National anthem, followed by communal singing of some old favourites.
A big thank you to Mike Owen for the photographs – there are even more on this page
We were told of tragic stories in which magicians had met their end on stage through various accidents, including that of Chung Ling Soo, who died when a member of the audience tried to see whether the magician could catch a real bullet between his teeth.
Sooty is the only non-human member of the circle, and demonstrated his skills by cutting a lady (Barbie) in half live on TV.
The Society’s Golf Day on Friday September 12th dawned dry and bright. ‘Twas ever thus’ – as they don’t often say in the Valleys.
We all met at Milton’s Cottage at 10am on Friday 10th October. Most of us arrived early and, as the weather was good gathered in the garden.
Milton took refuge from the plague in London by escaping to this cottage in 1665, and, although he lived here for less than two years, wrote his most famous work Paradise Lost and began Paradise Regained, whilst living here with his third wife.
We then walked down the hill to the parish church of Chalfont St Giles. Here we met our guide Tony Ferguson, who is not only an author and speaker, but also a member of the St Giles watch, which helps to ensure that the church remains open to visitors.
One of the most striking features of the church is a set of 14th century wall paintings depicting scenes from the bible. These were discovered and revealed by the Victorians, but about 20 years ago suffered damage as a result of thieves taking lead from the roof.
The advance party arrived at 9:30am to put up the gazebos in Ann Evans’ lovely garden, and as there were only 4 of us and we were dealing with a new gazebo, it took a bit longer than expected.
It was lovely to meet with old friends again. In total there were 33 of us, and, after mingling and greeting everyone, we chose which of the four tables to sit at.
provided us with a choice of chicken or salmon salads (or a combination of the two), and a wide array of desserts.
After the meal Kay Day thanked Ann Tennant for the lovely food and Ann Evans for coming to the rescue at the last moment with the offer to host the event.
We had a great turnout for our AGM on Friday 9th May. There must have been 55 people attending.
Chairman Gwyndaf John opened proceedings by welcoming everyone and saying that we had apologies from another 17. He said that as this was a special occasion, marking the 25th anniversary of the Society the celebration would be free and we would look back over the first 25 years since the Society’s creation. As he spoke, there was a slide show on the screen behind him showing photographs of our events over the 25 years – approximately 1,000 photographs!
Sue Jones then proposed a vote of thanks to past and present committee members.
Bob Ford then spoke about his time as chairman, and the 2004 trip to visit the Norwegian Welsh Society.
the organisers who had arranged outings, golf days and trips and all our committee members (giving special thanks to Jonathan Pegler and Maldwyn Pugh).
We all met at The Queen’s Head in Little Marlow at 10:00 for a 10:30 start. There were about 18 of us in all. We ordered our lunches before setting off.
We started off by heading off to the parish church of St John the Baptist.
Norman times, was constructed from materials from the convent, one of the oldest parts is the font.
We were able to spot swans, great crested grebes, tufted ducks, and various geese (greylag, bean or was it pink footed?).
As we went, Gwyndaf pointed out features of the flood plain, including the alder trees that grew along the river. Alders love moist or boggy ground, and Gwyndaf showed us the unusual female catkins, which look just like very small pine cones. It is the only deciduous tree which produces a cone.