On 10th May we held our 24th AGM at Coleshill Village Hall.
There was an excellent turnout of 38 members.
Chairman Gwyndaf John opened proceedings at 6:30 welcoming several members who have not been with us for a while and several new members. He then moved on to the formal part of the evening, going through apologies for absence, approval of last year’s minutes and running through all the events that we have held during 2023/4.
Membership stands at 113 plus 4 honorary members
Lloyd Jones gave us his report as Treasurer saying that the Society actually had a surplus of £475 over the year, with a bank balance of £4419.96. Lloyd explained that we have kept membership at £10 per year and that the Committee tries to make each event break even.
Gwyndaf revealed that our Minutes Secretary, Colin Picton, is standing down to spend more time with his grandchildren, and thanked Colin for his years of work as secretary and as our previous chairman.
Our committee is now short staffed and we really need at least one more volunteer to help with the planning and organisation. The position is not very arduous, and only involves about 6 meetings per year held in one of the committee members’ homes.
The existing committee was then unanimously voted in for another year’s term.
Under ‘Any Other Business’ the possibility of another trip to Wales was raised. We can not hope to rival the trips that Jonathan Peglar planned in previous years, but could use a commercial company to arrange a trip for us if there is sufficient support.
There was a broad approval for this idea.
At 7:00 the chairman closed the formal part of the evening and Ann Tennant appeared to serve everyone supper.
It is always a wonder that Ann can do so much on her own. There was an excellent choice of a chicken or a beef main course and a wide variety of deserts.
After the meal, our speaker took the floor.
Our own Treasurer, Lloyd Jones, had been persuaded to talk to us about his time in the police force, more particularly, in Special Branch.
Lloyd started his career in Gwent Constabulary, moving to Panda cars and then to CID.
The chief constable of Gwent was quite adventurous for the time, and as well as introducing the panda cars, also took up the offer to create a Special Branch within Gwent. It was quite a coincidence that the Chief Constable’s daughter is one of our newest members – Gail Baldwin!
Lloyd volunteered for this embryo Special Branch with tasks such as providing VIP security and monitoring shipping.
Lloyd was trained both by the Metropolitan Police in London and by the SAS in Herefordshire.
After 6 or 7 years he was moved from Gwent to the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, which was a far larger organisation.
Lloyd described the Force’s organisation and the different squads within the force, covering Head of State protection, Irish Terrorism, Extremist organisations, Naturalisation issues, Rest of World threats and Surveillance.
He described how surveillance is very discreet and involves very large teams following suspects, who, under normal circumstances, would never know that they were being followed. However, this can be difficult if the team has to travel to small locations.
Lloyd described some of the duties of personnel in the protection squad. This included planning the VIPs travel, liaising with local security staff, checking exits, seating arrangement and billing etc. It also meant that the security team ate in the best restaurants and travelled first class with their charges. Often the VIPs had quite a close relationship with those they were protecting. Lloyd recalled that Margaret Thatcher objected to her Special Branch operatives being changed and would sometimes offer to make them tea!
The UK security staff were discreet as opposed to US security which tended to make themselves obvious.
UK staff used to use Walther PPK pistols, but changed to bulkier Smith & Wesson revolvers after an incident when the automatic pistol jammed. Lloyd described the care and maintenance of the weapons and the firing practise that they undertook.
When Lloyd worked at Special Branch it was just before computers were widely used and in those days all record keeping and research was carried out by hand with Desk Officers and civilian staff.
Not so long afterwards the Flying Squad, Art & Antiques Squad and Special Branch were all brigaded within ‘Specialist Operations’ and the National Crime Agency assumed some of these roles.
We all found Lloyd’s talk fascinating and Gwyndaf led a vote of thanks for such an interesting and informative talk.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 
This year we had a distinctly odd AGM.
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.
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.
future event to offer magical entertainment?
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!
