Tag Archives: AGM

2023 AGM

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CDWS AGM 12th May 2023

This year we chose a new venue for the AGM – the Jubilee Hall in Amersham. This is a new building on Rectory Hill, near the railway bridge, and just down the hill from Dr Challoner’s and is the home of the 2nd Amersham-on-the-Hill Scout Group.

The building has several meeting rooms, and we had booked the Ernest Shackleton room. When we arrived to put out the tables and chairs, the first thing we noticed was the faint smell of fresh paint. Soon afterwards we also noticed that the fire alarm had gone off! Thankfully one of the leaders from the Beavers managed to turn it off.

There were about 33 members in attendance, and chairman, Colin Picton, kicked off the meeting at 7:30. Colin went through the formal part of the evening with approval of last year’s minutes and a run through of all the events we had enjoyed over the past year. Membership remains at about 110, and Colin welcomed several new members to the Society.

2Ann Lawrence asked a question about older members. Some members are no longer able to attend any of our meetings but still wish to keep in touch with the society. Ann asked whether it would be possible to let these members become ‘honorary members’ with no fee, but still included in emails and sent copies of the newsletter. David Powell said that, as treasurer he should point out that newsletters and postage would cost £4 per annum. The chairman proposed a vote on the issue and it was carried unanimously. The society will now offer an honorary membership to those who can no longer attend meetings.

David Powell then gave the Treasurer’s report, showing that the Society’s funds were in good order.

Next was the election of the Committee members. Colin thanked the committee for their work, without which the Society would not be able to function. Barrie Reece is unable to take up the role of our next chairman, but Gwyndaf John has volunteered to take over, as Colin will be stepping down from the position after 2 years in the role. Merle Davies is stepping down from the committee and her role as Minutes Secretary, Colin offered to 2take over this role. David Powell has been acting as Treasurer for the last year, and Lloyd Jones has volunteered to join the committee to take up this position.

After the committee had been elected, Gwyndaf addressed the room as the new35 Chairman. Of course, many will remember that Gwyndaf has held this post before, in 2010. The new chairman thanked Colin for his work over the past two years, and our President, Ann Evans presented Colin with a present of Welsh whiskey.

Gwyndaf again thanked the committee and asked for members to consider volunteering for committee membership.

Ann Tennant then served us all with dinner with three choices of main and several alternate desserts. We are all very thankful to have Ann, and are constantly surprised at how she prepares such good food on her own at such reasonable prices.

After the meal, Gwyndaf gave us a very interesting talk on the subject of ‘The Search for the Snowdon Lily’. This flower can only be found in two locations in the UK, both in Snowdonia. The flower is the only Alpine bulb in the UK and is probably a remnant from the ice-age.

Gwyndaf described the history of the original discovery of the flower by Edward Lhwyd (Lloyd) around 1690 and the flower was named after him (Lloydia serotina). Gwyndaf described his search (with Janet) which involved climbing Snowdon to find it at one of only 5 sites in the UK.

Gwyndaf then answered questions and the evening finished just before 10:00 pm.

2022 AGM

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22nd CDWS AGM on Friday 20th May 2022

People started arriving from about 7pm and in total there were 31 members in attendance.

Members at the AGMChairman Colin Picton started meeting at 7:30 with apologies for absence. There were 16 in total including committee members Ann Evans, Ann Lawrence and Kay Day. Colin expressed the feelings of all members in sending best wishes for a speedy recovery to Ann Lawrence who is in hospital.

The approval of the Minutes of the 21st AGM was proposed by Barrie Reece and seconded by Sue Jones.

Chairman’s Report
Colin gave his Chairman’s report, starting with saying how good is was to be able to greet everyone personally this year rather than having to rely on a Zoom meeting as occurred in the previous 2 years.

CDWS Members at 2022 AGMColin then introduced a slide show of photographs illustrating the history of the society over the past 22 years, with almost 900 photos, which continued to roll over the whole evening. It was a little disconcerting to some to see themselves age by 22 years over the course of one night!

Colin reviewed the events of the past year, starting with the Summer Lunch, which in 2021 occurred twice. The first occasion was held in July at Peter and Beth Sykes-Johnston’s home in Gerrards Cross, but due to Covid restrictions, the numbers were limited.  So, in order to give more people a chance to attend, a second lunch was held in September at Ernest Morris’s house in Chesham Bois. We have to thank the generosity of our hosts in letting their home be used for these occasions.

At the end of August, Gwyndaf John and Rob Britton organized the annual golf day at Oaklands Park, won this year by Pam Britton.

In December Ralph and Margaret Broomby hosted our Christmas Drinks event at their home in Chesham Bois.  Again, due to Covid, we were not sure that this event would go ahead, but in the end, it was a convivial and cheering event with canapes provided by ‘To Dine For’.

January saw a return of Jonathan Pegler’s Quiz Evening. Unfortunately, due to a rise in Covid numbers, this had to be another Zoom based event, without the usual food, but it was still up to the usual standard in terms of fun and difficulty.

This was Jonathan’s last quiz as he is stepping down from the committee to concentrate on his musical pursuits. Colin thanked Jonathan for the preparation and hard work he has put into his quizzes and trips over the years.

March saw a return to normal with our St David’s Day Dinner being held at Gerrards Cross Golf Club. Over 70 members enjoyed a delightful dinner in the refurbished venue, followed by a great selection of operatic and Welsh songs performed by the first-class mezzo soprano Angharad Rowlands.

In April Gwyndaf and Janet John led our Spring Walk to explore the wild flowers around Coleshill. As they are such experts in the matter, we learnt a lot and finished the morning with a pub lunch at The Red Lion.

Colin then said that the next event will be the 2022 Summer Lunch, returning to the kind hospitality of Diane and Colin Thomas in Gerrards Cross.

Barrie Reece proposed the acceptance of The Chairman’s Report, seconded by Kate Picton.

Membership
Colin said that Membership numbers stand at 110, a slight drop over last year.

Financial Report
Jonathan Pegler presented the Financial Report for the last time. For the year ending 31st March 2022, assets were approximately £3,000. Jonathan explained that annual income from subscriptions comes to between £1,100 and £1,200 and that our main costs are for about £800 in insurance, printing and the web site, leaving about £400 to be used as subsidies for our events, but, as a whole, events are self-funded. He concluded that the Society is financially sound.

Colin appealed to the membership for a person to fill the role as our new treasurer, with Jonathan explaining that the work was not onerous and no financial qualification was necessary. In the meantime, David Powell will stand in for the role.

Election of Officers
Colin then came to the election of officers to the Society. Ann Evans is Life President and as such is not elected. Election of the other officials was as follows:

Position Name
Chairman
Vice Chairman
Minutes Secretary Merle Davies
Treasurer Vacancy
Membership Secretary Ann Lawrence
Secretary
Committee Members Kay Day
David Powell
Ruth Huckle

 

Colin presented a bottle of wine to Jonathan. Sue Jones proposed a vote of thanks for all the work that Jonathan has contributed over the years. Colin said that Jonathan has contributed an awful lot to the Society, not only as Treasurer, but compiling and hosting quizzes, the organization of trips to Wales and other places, and his stint as past Chairman.

As Colin brought the formal part of the evening to a close, Ann Tennant appeared through the serving hatch to announce that the evening’s supper was ready.

There was a choice of cooked ham & broad beans or chicken & mushroom as the main course followed by a selection of deserts: rhubarb fool, orange tart, chocolate mousse or a plate of cheeses. As usual, Ann’s food was delicious and generous.

Throughout the meal we were entertained by the continuing backdrop of photographs of events through the years.

The evening concluded with Barrie Reece taking to the piano to play some well-known Welsh songs and to lead the singing.

The evening finished at around 10pm.

Well done to those who helped organize the event, especially to Kay and Ann who could not attend in person.

2021 AGM

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2021 AGM Report

Friday 14th May by Zoom

Our 21st Annual General Meeting started as a Zoom meeting at 7pm with Jonathan Pegler acting as host to approximately 40 members. Before the serious business of the evening, we were randomly divided up in breakout rooms to meet people in groups of 4 or 5 to catch up and chat.

David Powell opened the formal part of the evening with apologies for absence, and approval of the Minutes of the 2020 AGM (with one correction!). As it would have been difficult to see a show of hands, Jonathan used a Zoom-based voting system, which allowed one vote per device (two people sharing a screen only had one vote).

David then gave the Chairman’s Report for 2020/21, saying that little did we think that when we had to hold the AGM by Zoom last year, we would be doing the same in 2021. In 2020/21 we had to cancel the Summer Lunch, but were able to hold a Golf Day in September. We also held virtual events for the Christmas Drinks, the Quiz Evening and our St David’s Day celebrations – which was a shame since we had such a good speaker in Dr Rowan Williams.

Under the eased Covid restrictions in April, Gwyndaf and Janet John were able to organise a Spring Walk to view the bluebells in Hedgerley.

David added that it is a pity that this year’s AGM is only a virtual one, as it marks 21 years since Ann Evans established the Society and proposed a vote of thanks to Ann. He then went on to give thanks to the Committee members for their work over the last year, and especially to Peter Chapman, who is now standing down as Treasurer after moving to Brecon.

Covid permitting, the Committee plans to hold a Summer Lunch on 4th July, courtesy of Peter and Beth Sykes-Johnston, a Christmas Drinks party courtesy of Ralph and Margaret Broomby, the Golf Day and hopefully another event in the Autumn.

Membership numbers have fallen slightly from 119 to 114, with one new member – Ruth Huckle.

Peter Chapman then gave his final Treasurer’s Report, a very short one. Our balance as of 31st March was £3239.06. The report was accepted by a Zoom vote.

It then came to the election of the Committee.  Jonathan Pegler has taken on the duties as Treasurer pro-temp. We also have a new Committee Member to welcome – Dr Barrie Reece.

A single unanimous vote was taken for the committee and the results are as below:

Position Name
Chairman Colin Picton
Minutes Secretary Merle Davies
Treasurer Jonathan Pegler
Membership Secretary Ann Lawrence
Secretary Gwyndaf John
Committee Members: Barrie Reece
  Kay Day
  David Powell

David then handed the meeting over to Colin Picton, as our new Chairman.

Colin thanked David for his chairmanship over the past 3 years and went on to introduce our speaker – Neil Rees, an IT professional who is also a keen amateur historian and writes for the Bucks Free Press and has some fascinating facts about Aneurin Bevan.

 

 

Aneurin Bevan – Welshman, Founder of the NHS and Chesham Resident

Aneurin “Nye” Bevan was born in 1897 in Tredegar in south Wales, growing up in a coal mining community. Elected as Labour MP for Ebbw Vale in 1928 and serving as Minister of Health in Atlee’s post-war Labour Government, Nye is considered the architect of the National Health Service, which started on 5th July 1948 and was inspired by the model of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society. The NHS was born out of the ideal that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth.

 

Nye Bevan and his wife, the MP Miss Jenny Lee, lived in Chelsea until 1954. However, Nye wanted a home near London, but in the country. He was told about Asheridge Farm, near Chesham, which was on the market and he bought it for £9,000.

The old farmhouse came with just over 50 acres, plus farm buildings, and 2 cottages. The farm manager and cowman were kept on, together with the herd of Guernsey cows and 60 hens. Nye became an enthusiastic farmer. He built up the herd to 60 cattle, and also started to keep pigs. 

Nye and Jennie were very social, joined in local life, and shopped in Chesham. He used to visit the Blue Ball pub in Asheridge where he was friendly with the landlord and with many of the regulars.

Still working a couple of days a week in London, Nye would catch the train to London from Chesham Station.

In 1960 Nye fell severely ill and was later diagnosed as having stomach cancer. He died on 6th July 1960 at his home aged only 62. Bevan’s death led to an outpouring of national mourning, and there were memorial services to him both in Wales and at Westminster Abbey.

Jennie Lee did not share her husband’s interest in farming. In 1961 she rented out the land at the farm, but continued to live at the farmhouse until 1968, when she moved back to London.

In 1964 Jennie was appointed Minister for the Arts in Harold Wilson’s government playing a key role in establishing the Open University. In November 1970 she was made Baroness Lee of Asheridge, and continued to work from the House of Lords. She died in 1988 aged 84.

2020 AGM

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CDWS AGM 22nd July 2020

This year we had a distinctly odd AGM.

Held in the afternoon, in July, with no food, with very little time to chat, with no entertainment, with no wine, without leaving the house!

Even so, about 30 of us signed into our Zoom session and we got the business done while looking at 20 screens of other members looking back at us.

Chairman, David Powell opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and giving the sad news that Peter Day, Kay’s husband, had died earlier in the week from an asbestos related disease. Peter has been a good friend to the Society, a regular attendee and an organiser of our trips to wetlands bird sanctuaries in his role as chairman of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and he will be sorely missed.

David gave his Chairman’s report, commenting that although we had had to cancel or postpone 3 events, over the past year we had been able to successfully hold over 10 events.  The Society hopes to hold its Golf Day in September, a country walk in the Autumn, but it is still uncertain whether conditions will permit us to hold our ever-popular Christmas Drinks event.

Membership has remained steady at 120, with new members replacing those who have left.

Peter Chapman gave his Treasurer’s report from Brecon and said that the Society’s finances are in good order.

It then came to the election of the officials. All members of the Committee agreed to stand again for the following year, with the proviso that Peter Chapman will need to relinquish his post as Treasurer within the next few months when he and Pat complete their move to Wales.

David thanked the committee for their time and efforts in running the society and running its events. He also called for members to volunteer for Committee membership as without them, the Society cannot function.

This must have been the fastest AGM on record. We finished after about 30 minutes, with very little chance to chat and a final farewell as the Zoom meeting concluded.

2019 AGM

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CDWS AGM Coleshill Village Hall May 17th

A good turnout of over fifty members set the scene for an informative, interesting and illusionary evening.

Our Chairman, David Powell got off to a good start (this being his first year as Chairman and hence his first chairing of the AGM) by welcoming us all. In particular Thelma and John Lusher who had traveled all the way from the New Forest. The reports for the year were encouraging; membership strong at one hundred and sixteen; finances in good shape; two new members of the committee have volunteered their services – Merle Davies and Peter Chapman; and there has been strong support for all the events over the year. Particular thanks were directed towards Graham Beavan on his retirement after a long tenure as Treasurer.

Jonathan Pegler had briefly taken on the role of Treasurer to fill the gap and so he presented the Accounts for the year. Under his watch the magnificent sum of £20 had been dealt with. Peter Chapman has now stepped into Graham’s shoes.

The formal part of the evening was, as ever, well presented and short and was followed by a meal. The caterer was Anne Tennant who clearly knows exactly what the members of the CDWS enjoy, and on this occasion was like a human dynamo. The rest of her team were at an event catering for the mayor of Beaconsfield so Anne was chief cook and bottle washer and everything in between. Well done Anne! The choice of desserts was particularly appreciated. Bread and Butter pudding and custard, Chocolate mousse, cheese and biscuits, Fruit Pavlova and I spotted a fruit salad for someone dairy intolerant. The gentlemen on our table made a bee-line for the Bread and Butter pudding, and then when Anne explained that she really didn’t want to take anything home, they were happily also tucking into Pavlova. No doubt belts were loosened.

After the meal came the entertainment. This year it was the place of Bertie Pearce whose web site says that he “…brings wonder and laughter to your event”. We were not disappointed on either count. The theme was “Now you See it-Now you Don’t, The Art of Visual Deception”. This was a whistle-stop tour through Surrealism, Trompe L’eoil, Ambiguous Imagery, Optical Art and Camouflage. Fascinating, thought provoking, puzzling, entertaining, amusing and all delivered at a pace that kept you on your toes, engaged and surprised. A particular ripple of amusement occurred when Bertie said that in America artists had used illusionary methods to paint potholes on the road which appeared to be 3D in order to reduce speeding. Here in Buckinghamshire we have no need for artists’ illusions. We have the real thing.

Interspersed with the artistic journey were a number of magical moments. Ably assisted by our very own Ann Lawrence, Kay Day and Gwen Hill, Bertie performed mysterious and inexplicable tricks. Ann, Kay and Gwen have clearly been sworn into secrecy as they were reluctant to share any explanations afterwards. Perhaps they could be prevailed upon at a future event to offer magical entertainment?

 

The evening closed at 10 pm everyone having been well entertained and well fed. Thank you to all.

Janet John

2018 Annual General Meeting

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On 11th May 2018 we held our annual general meeting at Coleshill Village Hall.

People started arriving at 7pm, and by 7:30 there were 44 members present as Kay Day called the room to order.

The minutes for the previous AGM were agreed and Kay reviewed the past year, starting with the passing of Mike Stythe, an enthusiastic supporter of CDWS and who had organised memorable trips to Snowdonia. Kay remembered how Mike’s army background meant that he always planned for the unexpected, including carrying a foldable stretcher in his rucksack in case of mishaps on the walk!

Two of the past year’s events had been beset by snow, many were unable to attend the Christmas party due to impassable roads (leaving generous supplies of canapes for those who were able to attend). Then the St David’s Day Dinner had to be postponed as snow meant that even the staff at the Harewood Downs golf club were unsure that they would be able to get in. On that basis, Kay hoped that there would be no snow forecast for the summer lunch on 1st July!

Kay reviewed the past year’s events and thanked Ernest Morris for hosting the Summer Lunch, Colin & Di Thomas for hosting the Christmas drinks and Pam Britton & Chris Thomas for arranging the golf day.

There were 7 new members this year meaning that we now have approximately 120 members.

Graham Beavan gave his financial report, showing that the society’s finances were in good form with an underlying balance of about £2,800. Graham also announced that he is planning to move houses, and would soon he stepping down from the committee.

We then came to the election of the committee. Ann Thomas and Jean Owen are both retiring from the committee, and Kay and Jonathan Pegler are stepping down from positions as Chairman and vice Chairman after many years of service, but would still be standing as committee members.

Colin Picton has been seconded to the committee as Minutes Secretary, and was now proposed and elected.

David Powell was proposed as the new chairman, with Rob Britton as vice chairman, and these were both elected unopposed.

Ann Evans thanked Kay for her years of service as Chairman, Vice Chairman and Minutes Secretary and present her with a bouquet of flowers.

Ann Tennant then served a choice of chicken or beef stew with a choice of desserts.

David Powell thanked Ann Tenant for once again providing such a good meal, and then ran through the list of coming events: Spring Walk, Aberystwyth trip, Summer Lunch, Windsor Races, Golf Day, Bristol coach trip, Musical evening and Christmas Drinks.

David then introduced the evening’s entertainment – Tony and Margaret Curtis with Jayne Pegler reciting light hearted and amusing works by among others Carol Ann Duffy, Idris Davies and (of course) Dylan Thomas.

The evening ended around 9:30 with Jonathan Pegler leading the singing of the national Anthem.

Annual General Meeting 2017

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We all gathered at Coleshill Village Hall at 7pm on Friday 5th May, for our 2017 AGM.

Chairman, Kay Day, called us to order at 7:30 and we went through the ‘official’ business of the evening. Kay recounted some of the trips and events of the past year and mentioned some of the planned events for the rest of the year.

Membership is now at 129 and Jonathan Pegler (standing in for Treasurer Graham Beavan) reported that our bank balance has been managed down to the target figure through subsidising some of the events.
All committee members were willing to stand again and were duly re-elected , and Kay agreed to continue as chair for an additional third year. Jonathan, on behalf of the members, thanked Kay for her leadership and presented her with a bouquet. We are happy to announce that Rob Britton has also agreed to join the committee.

After the AGM we enjoyed an excellent supper supplied by Ann Tennant’s team, we settled down to an evening of Magic.

Mike Smith was introduced as a holder of the Silver Star award which is the highest achievement given by the Inner Circle and its House of Magic, which is in a secret location.

 

Arranging us into a loose semi-circle around him, Mike started by saying that he was a Mentalist and was going to give us an observation test. His constant chatter, was accompanied by his producing a red ball, which in turn appeared and disappeared. With his jacket sleeves rolled the ball was either in his hand, in his pocket, or simply turning into a piece of fruit. Card tricks are a staple diet for magicians and  Mike was no exception and had us all marvelling at his sleight of hand.

 

Mike then produced three lengths of rope, duly inspected by a member of the audience,  that they were quite ordinary and were of different lengths. Mike then proceeded to manipulate the lengths into one long one, then two long and one short, then into a complete circle and so on. He then turned his craft to fool us with various dice tricks. Just when we thought that we had ‘seen through’ the deception, we were surprised, yet again, by another turn of events.

Next came a hair-raising feat with paper cups, placed over numbered small blocks. One block held a vicious large spike. As each member called out, at random, a number, Mike slammed his hand down smashing the cups. The last number, obviously the one with the spike, was the number not called out. We all held our breath.

Mike then announced that he was also a psychological magician and a mind reader. Producing a book he asked two members to pick out, from any page, a letter, which they were asked to tell him. They were then asked to pick from the book a word starting with that letter of more than five words, but to keep it secret. Mike proceeded to guess the correct words. It was all very spooky.

The evening ended with Mike seemingly swallowing, with great ease, a fully blown up balloon under our intent gaze. It was an evening of high drama thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Kerry Birbeck

2016 AGM

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So the AGM took 20 minutes, but it also took the whole evening.

People started gathering from about 6:30, allowing everyone to meet and catch up before the start of the meeting at 7:30.

Kay Day welcomed 67 members of the Chiltern District Welsh Society, including 2 new members and reported 22 apologies for absence. That took 20 minutes.P1060375

Kay described our activities over the last year, the Summer Lunch, Golf day, Tring walk, Christmas drinks, the days in the Brecons, the trip to the BBC studios and Fullers brewery, Quiz evening, St David’s Day dinner with soprano Alys Roberts.P1060377

Kay thanked all our organisers and kind hosts.

This year we are looking forward to the spring walk at Cliveden, going to Ralf & Margaret Broomby’s for the summer lunch, a trip to two Cambridge colleges in September, bird watching at the London Wetlands in October, and Christmas drinks at Colin & Di Thomas’s.

Treasurer, Graham Beavan, reported on our healthy finances, he is managing to subsidise many of our events in order to reduce our bank balance.

Membership is expected to be about 130 this year – we continue to grow in numbers.

The committee all agreed to stand again and were all re-elected. Kay thanked all the committee members for their hard work over the year.

So that took 20 minutes – what took the rest of the time?

P1060381 Well, Anne Tennant’s wonderful team fed us with salmon, chicken or beef, plus a variety of desserts.

That was followed by coffee and a lot of nattering.

 

 

 

P1060384Then Mary Medlicott entertained us with stories from Wales.

Mary last visited us in 2003, and we were very pleased that she could return with more stories including one about ‘2 dreadful women’ and the burial of a dead cat, followed by a series of tall tales about Shemi Wad (James Wade) from Fishguard.

We concluded well after 10pm and made our way home celebrating another successful year.