Tag Archives: Society

Spring Walk May 2017

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The Hambleden valley was the perfect location for the Society’s Spring walk on May 9th. It shows England at its very best with the idyllic villages of Fingest, Skirmett and Turville, beautiful rolling countryside and quaint pubs.

Sixteen members met at The Frog at Skirmett at 10 o’clock on a dry but quite chilly morning. As a large herd of deer grazed in the distance we were glad to get going. The walk took us across the valley, up a gentle slope through Adam’s Wood, passing a field of rare breed sheep and lambs. Even those of us with an agricultural background were unsure of the exact breed!

 

Through the bluebell woods

We were in luck as there was still a fine display of bluebells scattered amongst the trees. When we emerged from the wood we were greeted by marvelous views taking in the villages of Fingest and Turville below us. Turville is often used for filming episodes of Midsomer Murders and The Vicar of Dibley is set in the local church.

 

Gwyndaf explains the view

Gwyndaf explains the view

The valley and surrounding hills are a haven for wildlife and flora and one of the highlights of our walk was Janet enthralling us with her knowledge of the local wild flowers. As well as naming the myriad of tiny hedgerow flowers, which many of us had not even noticed, she educated us on the subtle differences between different species. Who knew there were so many species of buttercup! We all gave her our full attention suspecting there might be a quiz when we returned to the pub!

 

 

Even though we were given the option of following a shorter route we were all made of sterner stuff and completed the full distance of Gwyndaf’s 3-4 mile walk, returning to Skirmett via Fingest and its ancient church. This is a Grade 1 listed building with a tower dating from the early 12th century. Surrounding the church is a cluster of medieval and Georgian houses and cottages.

 

 

The Frog at Skirmett

We were all looking forward to our lunch at The Frog and we were not disappointed. The food was excellent and it was difficult to resist those tempting desserts!

Our thanks to Gwyndaf and Janet for organising such an enjoyable and interesting Spring walk.

 

Gwyneth Herrington

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

Quiz Night 20th January 2017

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On the evening of the inauguration of President Donald Trump, members of the CWDS had better things to do – Quiz Night!

Jonathan & Jayne

Jonathan & Jayne

Everyone braved the cold and gathered around 7pm and settled in tables of 6 or 7, six teams altogether. This year Jonathan’s lovely assistant was his wife Jayne.

Subjects for the five rounds included Water, the Year 2016 and Entertainment. The most difficult questions were on one of the table rounds, consisting of pictures of islands off the coast of Wales, which we had to try to identify.

Halfway through the evening we stopped for supper, provided by Ann Tennant and her ladies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the evening, with our heads reeling, Graham Beavan’s team, the Bluebirds, were the clear leaders and stepped up to accept their prizes.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Jonathan and Jayne for devising and conducting the quiz.

Christmas Drinks 2016

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On a bright, beautiful  December morning we gathered for our yearly Christmas drinks.

We were warmly greeted by our Chairman Kay Day and our hosts Di and Alan Longshaw at their home in Chalfont St Peter.img_0047

A warming glass of wine enjoyed with delicious canapes prepared for by *To Dine For*  As usual the atmosphere was convivial , guests chattering together  – Christmas preparations- activities with friends and families.

Some had attended the London Male Voice choir at the Albert Hall, others to the Christmas concert at Jewin chapel where Huw Edwards was the host. Excitement at learning Huw is to be our guest speaker at next year’s St David’s Day Dinner.

With warm sunshine , the conservatory doors were opened, guests spilled out into the garden and admired the beautiful coy carp in the garden pond.img_0052

Later, before it was time to leave Jonathan Pegler organized the carol signing, unaccompanied this time but the pure Welsh voices  were a delight to hear.

Kay thanked all that had made this event so enjoyable and as we left we picked up our copy of the newsletter.

 

Liz Seely

London Wetland Centre, October 2016

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Visit to the London Wetland Centre, October 2016

Peter Day guides our party

Peter Day guides our party

Having followed the amazing directions provided by Peter, via Gwyndaf, a select party of eighteen souls duly arrived at the Wetland Centre in Barnes late morning on Thursday 13th October. We were met and greeted by the WWT Chairman himself, otherwise known to us all as Peter Day. Having downed a very welcome hot coffee, we then embarked on our tour, under the watchful guidance of Peter.

We were led through a series of avian habitats from around the world, which have been expertly created by the efforts of the Trust. It is astonishing what the workforce has achieved in less than twenty years by remodelling the redundant Barnes reservoirs and diligently planting an abundant amount of trees and shrubs.

Emporer and red Breasted Geese

Emporer and red Breasted Geese

Peter walked us round, demonstrating a very impressive grasp of the subjects and imparting his extensive knowledge. He managed to answer virtually all our questions, no matter how obscure or trivial they may have seemed.

We were blessed with a dry and mostly sunny day, if a little chilly. There was
always plenty to see, with new surprises round every corner. Some of the birds there we would not have expected to see, like the Egyptian geese. However, as Peter pointed out, these had originally been imported from the Middle East by some unknown person and the young had escaped from their collection enabling them to fly to places like the Wetland Centre as and when they wished.

Puna Teal

Puna Teal

Cranes

Snooty looking Cranes

There is a constant threat from foxes and this has been largely controlled by surrounding the site with electric fences, extending up to three feet below ground, preventing burrowing. Incredibly they do not have a problem with squirrels or Canada Geese. The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, originally set up at Slimbridge by Peter Scott in 1946, is doing very valuable work in the
conservation of wetlands, their plants and waterfowl around the world. It is also providing an educational experience for many thousands of disadvantaged and other school children every year, some of whom we
saw, and they appeared to be having a very good time.

Southern Screamers

Southern Screamers

After lunch, in the excellent café, a number of us enjoyed seeing the Asian
otters being fed. Others enjoyed further strolls, taking in some of the hides
where the wild birds can be observed in peace and quiet.

All in all the visit to the London Wetland Centre proved to be both extremely
enjoyable and rewarding. A visit we are likely to repeat in the future. We thank
Peter Day very much for organising it and proving to be an excellent host.

Steve Adams

Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk

Cliveden Walk – 19th May 2016

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Cliveden 1Cliveden is conveniently local and was an excellent choice for a Society excursion on May 19th.


Cliveden 3The grand house, standing high over the Thames, is surrounded by gardens and extensive woodland. It is owned by the National Trust with the main part of the house leased to a luxury hotel group. An ideal place for our members to meet up and enjoy a convivial lunch, then take  walks in the fresh air before returning for afternoon tea and a tour of the house.

Many members will have visited Cliveden before, but not so many will have enjoyed a guided tour of the house, led by a knowledgeable National Trust volunteer. Our party of twenty members discovered that there seemed to be two ways to become owners of such a magnificent residence. One was by family members consorting extremely closely with their King, whose favour resulted in titles and wealth. The other was for your family to develop housing in Manhattan and eventually become fabulously wealthy slum landlords.  Even after the property passed to the National Trust its association with scandal continued as it featured in the “Profumo Affair” in the early Sixties.

interiorWe were impressed by the opulent interior of the property. The extremely ornate “French Dining Room” had been re-assembled after being transported from a French hunting lodge, and no expense had been spared on wood panelling, ceilings and pictures.  As we wandered through the hotel and stood in the Great Hall we got a  hint of the what it must be like to stay at this luxury hotel as a steady stream of staff passed by us on their service errands. On the banks of the river we saw their beautiful boats of wood and gleaming

Suzy_Ann_Clivedenbrass, ready to be hired for trips along the Thames.

For those who were members of the National Trust, all but three of our group, the event was completely free. Though the Trust café did very well out of us during the course of the day!

 

Gwyndaf John

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.

 

Christmas Drinks 2015

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This year Bill & Dilys Dover kindly allowed their lovely house in Gerrards Cross, to be taken over for our Christmas do.

The Committee had been worried – would enough people turn up? The committee were worried – there were too many people accepting invitations, how could they explain the mass invasion to the Dovers?

In the end it worked out fine about 60 arrived – not too many, not too few.

The caterers, ‘To Dine For’ turned up promptly and took over the kitchen, working expertly to create a variety of canapés.

Guests starting arriving at 12:30, several waiting in their cars until the due time, as they had arrived too early.

Bill & Ann

Bill & Ann

The Dover’s house is ideal for such a congregation, and most people descended on their large conservatory with the lovely views of the garden, to catch up and discuss important society gossip matters.

Pam Britton asks treasurer Graham about annual fees

Pam Britton asks treasurer Graham about annual fees

 

 

 

 

Our Treasurer, Graham Beavan, descended gleefully on newcomers to welcome them and demand a token fee for the proceedings.

 

 

 

 

The ladies looked stunning, and many a comment was made about Jayne Pegler’s lovely blouse.

Dinner is served

Dinner is served

The canapés came round and were appreciated by all. Just when you thought you were quite full, another really interesting plate came around, which would be a shame to miss.

 

 

 

Kay looks for the hosts

Kay looks for the hosts

Our Chairman, Kay Day, rounded up our hosts to thank them for their generous hospitality and present them with a token our appreciation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chairman Kay thanks hosts Bill & Dilys

Chairman Kay thanks hosts Bill & Dilys

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan prepares for the carols

Jonathan prepares for the carols

 

Around 4pm as the light began to fade, and people drifted towards the living room where Jonathan Pegler was ready at the keyboard to orchestrate the carols and singing of Welsh favourites.

Hugh singing quietly

Hugh singing quietly