Saint David’s Day Dinner
On 1st March we held our annual St David’s Day dinner at the Gerrards Cross Golf Club.
We met at 6:30 to give us a chance for members to catch up with friends both old and new and chat over a glass of bubbly or orange juice.
At about 7:15 we went into the dining room and Chairman Kay Day greeted a record turnout of 84 people and welcomed 5 new members.
There was then a chance to chat to our neighbours at the table. At our table we wished Eilwen Turner a happy birthday as she was born on St David’s Day.
The food was excellent featuring Welsh Lamb Rump (of course) or Haddock as an alternative.
Liz Seely, who was sitting next to me, said that her food was the best she’d ever had in any golf club – up to gourmet standards!
I went round and took some pictures of people sitting at their tables.
There are more pictures on the ‘gallery’ page of the web site.
Kay then introduced our soprano, Alys Roberts, accompanied by Iain Ledingham at the piano.
Iain, who lives locally, is a professor in the piano, vocal and opera faculties at the Royal Academy of Music. He coaches many young Academy singers and pianists in preparation for operatic and concert work, and also trains and conducts choirs. Alys is one of his most promising young students.
Alys studied music at Durham University and is now at the Royal Academy. She has been a solo soprano at Durham Cathedral and has sung at many other locations.
Alys entertained us, starting with some Welsh folk songs, and then moving on to a selection of operatic arias including pieces from La Boheme, Romeo and Juliette.
I particularly liked her version of Summertime in Welsh. Alys finished with some more Welsh folk songs, this time as arranged by Benjamin Britten.
Kay then thanked our musicians and presented them with small tokens of our appreciation.
Alys and Iain stayed on for a while to chat to people before they left.
Meanwhile, our stalwart singers prepared themselves.
I’m afraid that my party were feeling a little tired, and needed to leave at this point, so I am unable to report back on the quality or quantity of the singing, but based on previous years, I’m sure that a great time was had by one and all.
This year’s St David’s Day dinner was the best attended yet, and what an enjoyable evening!
The meal included a really delicious Welsh lamb steak, preceded by a prawn tart and finished off with a good old fashioned sponge pudding with custard.
A wonderful operatic soprano, Rhiannon will this year be the guest soloist for the London Welsh Festival of Male Choirs at the Royal Albert Hall. She gave a charming and captivating performance covering a varied programme, ranging from Puccini’s La Boheme to Gershwin’s Summertime. I think that most of the men in the audience liked the pieces where she played the ‘vamp’ and teased various gentlemen in the room singing amorously at them (soprano/lap dancer she says in a recent tweet).
Jonathan Pegler thanked the pair, Rhiannon was presented with a bouquet of flowers, and Peter with a bottle of wine.
