We held our annual St David’s Day Dinner on Saturday 1^st March at Gerrards Cross Golf Course, as this has been so successful in the past. This year was no different.

We gathered at 6:30 to be  greeted with a glass of fizz or a soft drink, and this gave us the chance to catch up with old friends and to talk of anything except rugby.

This year we were particularly pleased to be joined by Bob Ford (who was chairman when I first joined in 2010) and Jayne Pegler as well as Peter & Pat Chapman, who had travelled from their home in Brecon to be with us. It was also good to see Ernest Morris back with us after his accident.

Peter and Pat’s journey was not the longest though, as Glenys Newton’s son , Gareth, was visiting from Canada and came along for the occasion.

Gwyndaf also had a guest, Gareth Morgan, Chairman of the Slough Welsh Society, with his wife Janet.

There were over 60 of us in total and we all wandered over to look at the table plan to see which table Gwyndaf had assigned us .

Before we sat down for dinner, Ann Evans said grace.

As usual with Gerrards Cross Golf Club, the food was very good, with the most popular choices being Beetroot and Orange Gravadlax and Lamb Tagine followed by Merlot poached Pears with Blackcurrant Sorbet.

After the meal, Gwyndaf introduced our speaker for the evening, Sarah Green, the MP for Chesham and Amersham.

Sarah was born and grew up in Corwen, Clwyd and speaks Welsh fluently.

She greeted us in Welsh, before talking about her early life going to school in Bala and then on to Aberystwyth University, where she was chair of the Welsh Young Liberals (IR Cymru).

Her early work was in market research, before she started her own marketing and communications company, working as a freelance and consultant.

Sarah stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate in general elections in Wales, before the death of Dame Cheryl Gillan triggered the 2021 by-election in Chesham and Amersham.

She said that she was lucky to be able to stand for the by-election, as she had a job where she could put things on hold at comparatively short notice while she canvassed.

She then described going to parliament for the first time as being like being a new pupil at school, getting used to the atmosphere in the House.

At the last general election the borders of the Chesham and Amersham constituency changed to include Gerrards Cross, but Sarah won again and returned to Parliament.

This time there were lots of new MPs, and she could understand their sense of wonder and confusion over the first few days.

Sarah, while explaining that much of the work in parliament in unseen, added that it is not the Punch and Judy like exchanges seen on television, but in the work of the various committees, where politicians work together that matter.

Finally Sarah ended by saying that she felt proud to have worked on the Public Accounts Committee and to have worked on NHS finance questions.

Gwyndaf John thanked Sarah for her talk and Ann Evans presented her with a bouquet of flowers.

John Breese then took to the piano and played the National Anthem, followed by a number of old favourites and everyone joined in using the song sheets provided.

The evening finished about 10:30pm, another successful St David’s Day celebration.

There are more photographs of the evening here.