We met at 6pm on 8th May at a new venue this year – at the Fitzwilliams Centre in Beaconsfield Old Town.
It was a good venue and had been recommended by Ann Tennant, our caterer.
Gwyndaf welcomed everyone and proceded through the formal part of the meeting at pace.
His Chairman’s Report ran through the events that we had organised over the previous year, starting with the Summer Lunch (where more help is needed in setting up the gazebos) which was hosted by our President, Ann Evans.
The Golf Day in September attracted a good number of non-golfers, coming for the lunch.
Our visit to Milton’s Cottage and St Giles church was very popular and informative, finishing in a trip to Merlin’s Cave for lunch.
In November we had a fascinating talk on Patagonia by Gareth Morgan of the Slough Welsh Society. He told us of the Welsh settlers who travelled there in the 1860’s in order to defend their Welsh heritage. We held this meeting in Gerrards Cross Community Centre’s Garden Room and this proved a good venue.
Ann Evans once again hosted the Christmas Drinks in December and this year we did not run out of prosecco. Michael Owen led us at the piano as we sang Christmas carols.
In January, many of us met at the Magic Circle in London, to be amazed and fooled by close up magic tricks.
At this year’s St David’s Day we were entertained by Gwion Thomas and his wife, Chloe Willson-Thomas who sang for us, accompanied by John Breese on the piano.
This year’s events will include a Tudor themed walk through Old Amersham, a Country Walk in Hodgemoor Woods, the Summer Lunch and a new event – a visit to Vache Baroque, which is a music festival held in Chalfont St Giles.
Gwyndaf continued by saying that Ann Lawrence, who has been our Membership Secretary for almost every year since the Society started in 2000, is going to step down from the committee this year.
Gwyndaf thanked Ann for her many years of service and presented her with flowers and a bottle of champagne.
Membership of the society has remained constant at 121.
Lloyd Jones then gave his Treasurer’s Report, saying that over the year 2025/26 the Society had made a loss of £429.90, which was expected as the 2025 AGM was planned as a free event to celebrate our 25th year.
We then came to the election of the Officers of the Committee. Ann Browne has offered to stand as Membership Secretary in place of Ann Lawrence, and all the other committee members have agreed to stand again.
The vote was taken and the present committee was unanimously voted in.
So are current committee consists of:
Ann Evans Life President
Gwyndaf John Chairman
Michael Owen Minutes Secretary
Lloyd Jones Treasurer
Ann Brown Membership Secretary
Kay Day, David Powell Committee Members
& Colin Thomas
The posts of Vice Chairman and Secretary and currently vacant.
Gwyndaf then told us that David Powell has indicated that this would be his last year on the committee and that we do need others to volunteer to help with the running of the society.
That concluded the formal part of the meeting, and we broke for a meal provided by Ann Tennant and her daughter-in-law, Jagger. This was up to their usual standard – delicious – with a choice of chicken or salmon and lots of different deserts.
After the meal, Gwyndaf introduced our speaker, Wendy Blythe, from the Council for the Protection of Rural Wales.
Being new to the location, we did have some tense minutes trying to set up the overhead projector, but then Wendy was able to start her talk.
Wendy told us about the Council, its background and its current campaigns. These included campaigns against onshore windfarms (advocating offshore ones), protecting the habitat of endangered red squirrels and campaigning against pollution in our rivers, particularly the Wye and the Usk.
The evening finished at about 10pm with Gwyndaf thanking Wendy for such an interesting and informative talk.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.