Well, someone forgot to take the photos! (sorry)
Anyway, we had a lovely time at Alan & Di Longshaw’s home in Austenwood (Chalfont St Peter). They are wonderful hosts and have held our Christmas Drinks and the Summer Lunch at their home many times before. There is lots of room to circulate and try to get round to seeing everyone.
Kay Day had made the arrangements and asked Ann Tennant to do the catering. Ann worked on her own and was like a dervish – she was preparing the canapes and serving them and seemed to be everywhere at the same time offering a wide selection of different goodies, and even remembering people’s food requirements.
As Ann was
working on her own, we were able to reduce the price of the event from £18 in 2021 to £14 this year.
Guests started arriving at around 12:30 and we had a very good turnout this year with 50 members in total, including many new faces, which is really nice, although illness prevented one or two from attending at the last moment.
Kay and Ann handed guests a drink as they arrived, but after that people served themselves from the well-stocked dining table.
The World Cup was a frequent topic of conversation, with most deciding that Wales had played bravely and that this was the best result for decades, but as they were no longer in the competition, then, under the circumstances, many felt that it was now permissible to support England.
Another topic was the sadness that a number of our most stalwart members had passed away this year. They will all be missed.
We had no piano or keyboard this year, but that did not deter us. Towards the end of the afternoon, Kay, Barrie Reece, Colin Thomas and Jean Owen formed the core of our cerddoriaeth and soon got everyone joining in in a succession of carol songs and Welsh favourites, culminating, of course, with the National Anthem.
Colin Picton thanked Alan and Di for their hospitality, and we all thought that Kay and Ann Tennant had done a splendid job in planning and delivering the food.
Our thanks go to all those who contributed to making this such a success.
We last visited the Thomas’s for Christmas in 2017, when the snow prevented many from attending. Luckily, this year was a completely different story, with bright winter sunshine. Only a few people couldn’t make it, being struck down by winter bugs and not able to attend. So we were about 45 in number.
Our caterers, ‘To Dine For’ were excellent and a constant stream of canapés and drinks were served as we circulated, chatted and caught up with old friends. Many used this opportunity to distribute Christmas cards – a chance to circulate and save on postage!
This year Jonathan had produced new carol sheets, which were much appreciated and the entire room joined in for some of our favourites.
Bill & Sue Jones were excellent hosts, and, assisted by the staff of ‘To Dine For’, attendees were plied with canapés and drinks. Many people used the opportunity of such a large gathering to distribute Christmas cards and Kay also handed out copies of the Winter Newsletter.
After the ambulance left, with Peter looking somewhat brighter, Jonathan Pegler played the organ and Bill Jones led the singing of some favourite Christmas carols.
Thankfully, the caterers, ‘To Dine For’ made it through the snow and were all prepared. The food was excellent and very plentiful. We had not only the canapés we had ordered but about half of the canapés for Stephanie’s following event (for 100 people) which had 
been cancelled. She said that the canapés for the later event wouldn’t keep, and insisted they had to be eaten.
Despite the fact that by then some members had already departed, the thirty or so remaining members joined in the singing of a traditional selection of carols in wonderful Welsh harmony before finishing the proceedings with a gusto performance of Maen hen wlad fy nhadau.