Category Archives: AGM

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.

 

AGM Friday 8th May 2015

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Chairman’s report.

P1050746aJonathan Pegler welcomed everyone to the meeting, including 10 new members. The Press coverage has been excellent this year, and the society is thriving with healthy finances. Jonathan continued and reviewed the various events throughout the year.

The 2015/16 year will include the following :-

  • local walk on the 18th June – Marsworth in Herts along the Grand Union Canal.
  • Summer lunch – 10th July at Kay & Peter Day, Chesham Bois
  • Golf Day 28th August at Oakland Park Golf Club, Chalfont St Giles
  • Short break centred on Brecon on14th September ( 4-5 days)
  • During October it is hoped to finalise a London Day both to the BBC TV Centre and a visit to a Brewery.
  • In November it is planned to attend The Singer of The Year event in London. Details not yet confirmed.
  • On 13th Christmas Drinks at Dilys and Bill Dover’s home in Gerrards Cross.

We start 2016 with The Quiz evening, to be followed on Tuesday 1st March with our St David’s Day Dinner, at Gerrards Cross Golf Club.

Jonathan hinted that there may be a “Special Speaker” at the 2017 St. David’s Day event. He also thanked all the Committee for their hard work & support throughout his period as Chairman.

Treasurer’s Report.

Graham presented the Accounts up to 15th March 2015. Membership is now up to 127, an all time record. We have a healthy balance despite the higher costs of printing, primarily associated with the larger newsletters and also expenditure on a new hi tech projector.

After his 2 years as Chairman, Jonathan is stepping down and Kay Day was nominated as the next Chairman. Jean Owen will be the new Minutes Secretary.

P1050767Kay Day welcomed everyone in both English and Welsh and proposed Jonathan Pegler as vice Chairman.

Ann Evans thanked Jonathan for his 2 years hard work & presented him with a thank you gift.

Ann Evans reported that Mike Stythe had been an active member of the Society for many years, organising walks and holidays. For health reasons he can no longer attend meetings and other activities , so Ann suggested we make Mike an Honorary Member.

The formal business being completed the members enjoyed an excellent supper prepared by Ann Tennant.

P1050751aChicken Curry & Rice or Beef Stew, followed by a wide choice of desserts including profiteroles, rhubarb fool, raspberry brule, ginger meringue, white chocolate cake and cheese and biscuits.

 

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Entertainment was provided by a  duo of 2 leading tenors, members of the London Welsh Male Voice choir: Geraint Lewis and David Jones.

 

AGM & Woodland Walk

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The Annual General Meeting – 9th May

AGM’s are often dry, tedious affairs, but not with CDWS!

Our chairman, Jonathan Pegler welcomed over 50 members to the AGM held in the village hall in Coleshill. Jonathan described some of the highlights of the previous year, including the trip to Highgrove, our St David’s Day dinner, the perfect weather for the Summer Lunch, the Golf Day, the four day sightseeing trip around Cardiff, visiting the Magic Circle and the Christmas Get-together.AGM 2014

A quick straw-poll revealed that there was sufficient interest in a visit to see the London Welsh Festival of Male Choirs at the Albert Hall on October 18th. Details will be circulated soon.

Graham Beavan briefly explained the intricacies of the Society’s funds, reassuring the membership that we still had some.

With the formal part of the evening over Ann Tennant and her staff provided a delicious choice of hot dishes and desserts – so difficult to choose between that I had to try several of them.

Glenys at AGMFinally, we were entertained by Glenys Groves, accompanied at the piano by Francine.  Glenys ran through a selection of songs from opera and musicals, some well known, others a new treat.  I had never heard Cole Porter’s song about the Little Oyster before!

Glenys finished to well deserved and enthusiastic applause. We then quickly restored the hall to order and said our farewells at about 10:30.

 

 

 

Visit to Church Wood, Hedgerley

A small, but elite party met by the village pond in Hedgerley on Saturday 17th May. We knew that our search might be in vain, but we were prepared to overcome many hardships in our search for late bluebells.

In fact the weather was perfect, the going easy, and yes! – we did find some late blooming bluebells. We were told that if we kept our eyes peeled, we might spot some rare wild orchids growing next to the path – but no-one spotted them.

We meandered around the wood, with Gwyn and Jean Owen striding out ahead acting as pathfinders while others admired the wild flowers and tried to identify them.

After an hour or so we reached the church with an interesting churchyard, indicating that we were arriving back in civilisation – and there would be a pub nearby!

And what a pub – the journey was rewarded with a visit to The White Horse in Hedgerley, well known for both its food and beer. We sat in the garden talking of previous more adventurous escapades while enjoying one of a variety of beers from the cask and a great selection of hot & cold dishes. Hedgerley Pub

2013 AGM – Friday 17th May

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We had a tremendous turnout for the 2013 AGM, over 60 people travelled to the Coleshill Village Hall.

As Chairman, Gwyndaf John welcomed everyone and remembered all the events that had been organised over the past year. Membership at the yearend was 109 paid-up members (plus a few honouree ones).

Our Treasurer, Graham Beavan, went through the accounts which showed that we actually made a slight profit for the year; the books are looking quite healthy.

Jonathan Pegler then took us through the proposed amendments to our Constitution. Jonathan explained that the original Constitution was drawn up over 10 years ago when the Society was first proposed and the actual running of the group has deviated from that over the course of the years. The revisions refer to small things like the approval of the accounts, membership of and elections to the committee.

What may have been a dry subject was brightened up by some lively questioning from the floor, but with a couple of very minor revisions, the new Constitution was unanimously approved.

Gwyn, then turned to elections to the committee. This year, four members of the committee are standing down, after many years of really fantastic service, these are: Bob Ford, Eileen Mitchell, Hugh Griffiths and Maldwyn Pugh. Bob and Hugh are past chairmen, Eileen was our Treasurer for many years, and Maldwyn was secretary and did most of the administration behind the scenes for many a year.

Gwyn congratulated them all, and presented them with small tokens of the Society’s appreciation. At this point, Gwyn announced that he was standing down as Chairman, and would be succeeded by Jonathan Pegler.

Jean Owen is a welcome new addition to the committee. The remaining officials were re-elected for the following year. So the new committee is:
Life President……………..Ann Evans
Chairman…………………Jonathan Pegler
Vice Chairman……………to be appointed
Minutes Secretary………..Kay Day
Treasurer…………………Graham Beavan
Membership Secretary….Ann Lawrence
Other Members…………..Anne Thomas, Jean Owen, David Powell, Gwyndaf John

Jonathan and Gwyn gave fair warning that other members could be co-opted onto the committee – and therefore no-one should feel safely out of the running.

Ann Tennant’s team then provided an excellent hot meal with choice of puds and coffee.

The entertainment for evening was provided by Maldwyn Pugh , who gave an interesting and amusing talk about his childhood growing up in a welsh dairy business in Soho. Maldwyn described his family memories and those of wartime.

As his talk progressed he started to reveal stories of some of the characters he got to know as a child and teen. Maldwyn then started talking about some of the street trade that he was able to observe from his vantage point living above the Soho streets. He also offered to reveal even more if approached discreetly after the talk.

We finished about 10pm and there were willing hands to help clear the hall before we left.