Friday 4th March
It was so lovely to see everyone in the flesh again! All those Zoom meetings that we’ve had since St David’s Day 2020 were a good way to stay in touch, but not like the real thing, and what a turnout! – There were 79 of us in total and it was lovely to see new members and guests as well as old friends. We had all been warned beforehand, that due to Covid we should all have had Lateral Flow Tests before we went.
This year our St David’s Day Dinner returned to Gerrards Cross Golf Club. The club house has had a real face lift since we were last there – the interior has been renovated and it looks very smart. The bar and the dining room were festooned with Welsh flags. People started arriving at 6:30 and were greeted with a drink, giving people time to circulate around the bar, meet old friends and catch up.
Martin Hillary, the GX Manager was very helpful in making suggestions and putting up all the flags.
By 7:15 people were ushered into the dining room, where a table plan assigned them to their places. The tables were decorated with lovely floral displays of daffodils created by the ladies of the committee. Barrie Reece had printed the place names at the table to include the menu choices that people had made – just in case we’d forgotten – and had produced a programme for the evening.
When we had all found our allocated places our Chairman, Colin Picton, welcomed us to the evening and Gwyndaf John said grace.
Then the food started to arrive. For starters we had made the choice between tomato and garlic soup, smoked salmon mousse or asparagus with poached egg. I had the asparagus and was pleasantly surprised that the poached egg was just right with a really runny yolk, which was quite an achievement when catering for so many people.
Main course was a choice of seabass, lamb shank, or a traditional Welsh cawl. My lamb shank was substantial and very tasty. While we were at the tables, Barrie Reece was touring the room with his camera taking lots of pictures (see more photos here).
Dessert choices were spiced oranges with orange sorbet, chocolate torte with fresh raspberries or a selection of Welsh Cheeses. I went for the cheese option and the cheeses were excellent and so generous that I could not finish them, though I had heard that the spiced oranges disappointed.
After coffee, Colin introduced our guest singer for the evening, Angharad Rowlands a Welsh Mezzo Soprano, accompanied by Iain Ledingham.
Angharad is at the Royal Academy of Music, studying on scholarship for a Master of Arts in Performance. A native Welsh speaker, Angharad grew up singing in the Welsh folk tradition, competing regularly in the National Eisteddfod of Wales. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2019, and this year Angharad will join Royal Academy Opera.
Iain Ledingham is a familiar figure to many of us, a professor in the piano, vocal and opera faculties at the Royal Academy of Music, and founder of the Amersham Festival of Music. We are very grateful to Iain as the source of so many of the very talented musicians who have performed for us over the years.
Angharad spoke quite softly, but that all changed when she started singing and she could really produce some power to her voice.
Angharad’s repertoire included a number of traditional songs with arrangements by Benjamin Britten, followed by works by Mozart, Bizet and Handel. The music then turned to a Welsh theme with Mae Hiraeth yn y Môr and Gwynfyd, and lastly Calon Lân, for which everyone joined in.
Jonathan Pegler then took to the keyboard and played the National Anthem, led by Angharad.
Colin thanked our performers and Ann Evans presented Angharad with a bouquet, while Iain received a bottle of wine from Jonathan.
Due to Covid restrictions, the committee decided not to finish with our traditional singing, but turned to our friends to say goodbye. Hopefully we shall have another opportunity for singing in the near future!
Thanks to all those involved in the planning and execution of our St David’s Day Dinner!
Barrie Reece took a lot of pictures at the event – see more of them here