We held our annual St David’s Day Dinner on Saturday 1st March at Gerrards Cross Golf Course, as this has been so successful in the past. This year was no different.
We gathered at 6:30 to be greeted with a glass of fizz or a soft drink, and this gave us the chance to catch up with old friends and to talk of anything except rugby.
This year we were particularly pleased to be joined by Bob Ford (who was chairman when I first joined in 2010) and Jayne Pegler as well as Peter & Pat Chapman, who had travelled from their home in Brecon to be with us. It was also good to see Ernest Morris back with us after his accident.
Peter and Pat’s journey was not the longest though, as Glenys Newton’s son , Gareth, was visiting from Canada and came along for the occasion.
Gwyndaf also had a guest, Gareth Morgan, Chairman of the Slough Welsh Society, with his wife Janet.
There were over 60 of us in total and we all wandered over to look at the table plan to see which table Gwyndaf had assigned us .
Before we sat down for dinner, Ann Evans said grace.
As usual with Gerrards Cross Golf Club, the food was very good, with the most popular choices being Beetroot and Orange Gravadlax and Lamb Tagine followed by Merlot poached Pears with Blackcurrant Sorbet.
After the meal, Gwyndaf introduced our speaker for the evening, Sarah Green, the MP for Chesham and Amersham.
Sarah was born and grew up in Corwen, Clwyd and speaks Welsh fluently.
She greeted us in Welsh, before talking about her early life going to school in Bala and then on to Aberystwyth University, where she was chair of the Welsh Young Liberals (IR Cymru).
Her early work was in market research, before she started her own marketing and communications company, working as a freelance and consultant.
Sarah stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate in general elections in Wales, before the death of Dame Cheryl Gillan triggered the 2021 by-election in Chesham and Amersham.
She said that she was lucky to be able to stand for the by-election, as she had a job where she could put things on hold at comparatively short notice while she canvassed.
She then described going to parliament for the first time as being like being a new pupil at school, getting used to the atmosphere in the House.
At the last general election the borders of the Chesham and Amersham constituency changed to include Gerrards Cross, but Sarah won again and returned to Parliament.
This time there were lots of new MPs, and she could understand their sense of wonder and confusion over the first few days.
Sarah, while explaining that much of the work in parliament in unseen, added that it is not the Punch and Judy like exchanges seen on television, but in the work of the various committees, where politicians work together that matter.
Finally Sarah ended by saying that she felt proud to have worked on the Public Accounts Committee and to have worked on NHS finance questions.
Gwyndaf John thanked Sarah for her talk and Ann Evans presented her with a bouquet of flowers.
John Breese then took to the piano and played the National Anthem, followed by a number of old favourites and everyone joined in using the song sheets provided.
The evening finished about 10:30pm, another successful St David’s Day celebration.
There are more photographs of the evening here.
Colin Picton had created the quiz and was acting as question-master, assisted by his glamourous assistant Kate, though she introduced herself as ‘Samantha’ (after the fictional assistant on Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I haven’t a Clue).
Colin and Diane’s house was all ready for Christmas, with festive decorations in every direction and a large Welsh flag in the front window.
Diane and Colin greeted everyone as they started arriving from about 12:30 onwards, and people migrated first to the kitchen, where drinks were being served.
To our left, Ann Tenant was already there, preparing all the different canapes.
People drifted between the living room, where the canapes were served and the kitchen, where the drinks were laid out on the table. This year there was a good supply of Prosecco, as there had been comments that this was overlooked last year.
Towards four o’ clock, John Breese started playing a selection of Christmas carols, with everyone joining in.
Each team included a member of Oakland Golf Club, who would be familiar with the course. Rob Britton led the first team to tee off, accompanied by Rob Brett and Ray Brown. The latter was a last minute replacement for the injured Brian Evans, but was an eminently well-qualified substitute as his wife is Welsh. Despite sharing the same initials this team did not always share the same opinion when trying to choose their “best” shot. Perhaps a consequence of putting two retired legal eagles in the same team.
Whitworth, and the third saw Colin Thomas partnered by Pat Whitworth and Alun McCarthy.
The end result was very close indeed. Though there were no birdies recorded, there were plenty of pars recorded on all the scorecards. In the end Pam, John and Gwyndaf scraped home as the winners. They took 81 strokes, just one stroke less than the two Robs’ and Ray. Another three behind were Colin, Pat and Alun.
After the golf the players were joined by other members of the Society for a splendid two course lunch. Among those attending were Elan and Robin Preston-Whyte who had travelled over from Egham. A later than usual start to the golf meant a late sitting for the meal, so thanks are due to all the non-playing guests for their patience.
Prizes were awarded to the winning team, and Gwyndaf and Rob were thanked for arranging the event.
On Thursday 19th September, a group of 15 members met at10:00am on Windsor Bridge for a walk around Windsor and Eton.
David & Gwyndaf had done their homework and planned a walk that was to take in sights of Windsor that many of us had not seen before. The walk was loosely based on The Queen’s Walkway and a series of 63 of the town’s attractions, but we were to cover only the sights in the centre of the town.
There were many unusual attractions: the death warrant for Charles I, a game of hopscotch based on monarchs connected with Windsor and the parish church of St John the Baptist which held an 18th century picture of the last supper, a wonderful carved altar rail by Grinling Gibbons and the royal pew with two grand wooden thrones.
And so to the Sunday of the Lunch. At noon the elements decided to make their contribution – another downpour. Come one o’clock some 40 determined guests had arrived – looking dressed for a January walk in the Chilterns – vests included – so I was told by many of the ladies . However, then – the sun decided to shine on proceedings.
UK staff used to use Walther PPK pistols, but changed to bulkier Smith & Wesson revolvers after an incident when the automatic pistol jammed. Lloyd described the care and maintenance of the weapons and the firing practise that they undertook.
First we visited the new church which was built in Victorian times (1867), to house the growing population of the village. Unusually for a Victorian church, it was built in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ style rather than gothic. The church bell was taken from the old church and is said to date from about 1290.
Trish then took us on a path leading behind the new church to a much smaller building. This dated back to about 1220, built by the Cistercian monks at Missenden Abbey on a site of an older wooden church. One of the first things that we noticed were the old sun dials on the exterior wall. These were Mass Clocks, for telling the time for mass.
Inside there were traces of the medieval wall Doom painting showing the weighing of souls and another depicting St
Christopher.
figures of St Mary and St John. Below that, the main window depicts three puritans including John Hampden in the centre and Oliver Cromwell to his left. This window was originally meant to be for the church in Little Hampden, but was rejected as it contained the figure of Cromwell.
We then walked through the woods, which were carpeted with wild garlic and their aroma filled the air. Some of our walkers took the opportunity to gather leaves as they can make a very good pesto. Luckily, it had not been raining recently so the path was not very muddy.
As The Lee is quite high up, there are no streams and the village used to rely on a pond for its water. In 1897, in the year of Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, a well was dug to provide clean water. This was quite a task, as the well is 365 feet deep, 4 foot six inches wide, and the workers had to rely on candles for their light and a blacksmith’s bellows to provide ventilation. It was commissioned by Sir Arthur Liberty and built by Liberty’s craftsmen.