St David’s Day Dinner 2025

We held our annual St David’s Day Dinner on Saturday 1st 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.

Quiz Night 2025

On Friday 17th January we held our Quiz Night.

We all arrived at Coleshill Village Hall around 7pm and it did not take long to arrange the tables and chairs in a semi-circle around the question master.
We eventually organised ourselves into 4 tables of 5.

Colin Picton had created the quiz and was acting as question-master, assisted by his glamourous assistant Kate, though she introduced herself as ‘Samantha’ (after the fictional assistant on Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I haven’t a Clue).

As is traditional, each team then had to think of a team name. These included the Red Dragons, the Floribundas, and the Annesiacs.

By the time this task had been completed, the Fish and Chips had arrived, so we all took a break to enjoy them, before the quizzing started.

As well as the 9 rounds, there were two table rounds to ponder. The first was a set of cryptic clues to Welsh towns or places. The second involved maps of Wales with twenty missing place names, plus a list of 25 places all starting with Llan……. It was quite amazing how difficult this was.

Kate came round with our question papers and Colin read the questions out. Colin had made many of the questions multiple choice this year, which made it a bit easier.

There were several rounds on Wales and Geography.

Questions included:

Where did Dylan Thomas die? (New York)

Who played Nessa Jenkins in Gavin & Tracey (Ruth Jones)

What is the longest road in Wales (the A470)

What is Buckinghamshire’s oldest railway station (Cheddington 1838)

Name the London Underground line that extends into Bucks (Metropolitan Line)

Which WWII aircraft was substantially made in High Wycombe (the Mosquito)

After each round we passed our answer papers to the next table and the scores were declared.

When all the question sheets had been gathered in, there was one team clearly in the lead – The Floribundas were way out in front.

We all thanked Colin and Kate for their efforts and making the evening so enjoyable and we ended the evening at about 9:30.

Windsor Walk

On Thursday 19th September, a group of 15 members met at10:00am on Windsor Bridge for a walk around Windsor and Eton.

David & Gwyndaf had done their homework and planned a walk that was to take in sights of Windsor that many of us had not seen before. The walk was loosely based  on The Queen’s Walkway and a series of 63 of the town’s attractions, but we were to cover only the sights in the centre of the town.

Starting at the bridge, we went past the memorial to King George V, designed by Lutyens, the Old Bank House, that used to be a brewery and is now part of St George’s school, and the Theatre.

We then passed the Curfew Tower, built during the reign of King John, and which is where the bodies of traitors were hung from the battlements, stepping over the clock in the pavement (an advertising gimmick for Dyson’s, the clockmakers).

There were many unusual attractions:  the death warrant for Charles I, a game of hopscotch based on monarchs connected with Windsor and the parish church of St John the Baptist which held an 18th century picture of the last supper, a wonderful carved altar rail by Grinling Gibbons and the royal pew with two grand wooden  thrones.

As we stood beside the Guildhall, we managed to see the changing of the guard, with the band of the Irish Guards playing and the pipers wearing the Irish kilt.

 

These were followed by the Welsh Guards, wearing bearskins with the leek badge of green and white.

Later, Bill Jones discovered that there was a video taken of the whole event and posted on YouTube.  If you look very carefully in the video you’ll see our group at about 5 minutes in!  Click here to see it 1st Battalion Welsh Guards with Pipes of Number 12 Company Irish Guards

Jubilee Fountain

 

By the time we had seen the Queen’s train, the Jubilee Fountains and the river, we were feeling quite tired and decided that we should retire for lunch at Cote Windsor and leave Eton for another day.

Spring Walk 2024

A tale of two churches

This year Gwyndaf and Janet John took us to The Lee for our Spring Walk.

We met at 10:00 at the Cock and Rabbit Inn by the village green and placed our orders for lunch.

There were about 26 walkers, with the welcome addition of 5 of our newest members joining us.

Gwyndaf explained that the recent history of The Lee has been associated with the Liberty family (of Regent Street fame) and that the original pub had been on the green itself, but was demolished and a new one built across the road, as the original pub had spoilt the view from Liberty’s manor house!

Janet had secured the help of a local guide and old friend – Trish Swain to help us as she was able to grant us access to the old church. Trish breeds hearing dogs, and brought a spaniel called Tammy along with her. We had a whip round for ‘Hearing Dogs for the Blind’ and were able to raise £118 for the cause.

First we visited the new church which was built in Victorian times (1867), to house the growing population of the village. Unusually for a Victorian church, it was built in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ style rather than gothic. The church bell was taken from the old church and is said to date from about 1290.

It was very light and airy inside. We were told that when the first world war was declared the local men were engaged in a cricket match and they all stopped playing and went to sign up. Many of them never returned. In 2014 a service was held to remember their bravery.

Trish then took us on a path leading behind the new church to a much smaller building. This dated back to about 1220, built by the Cistercian  monks at Missenden Abbey  on a site of an older wooden church. One of the first things that we noticed were the old sun dials on the exterior wall. These were Mass Clocks, for telling the time for mass.

Inside there were traces of the medieval wall Doom painting showing the weighing of souls and another depicting St Christopher.

Above the entrance, was the coat of arms of the Plaistowe family, Lords of the Manor from the 17th century.

The stained glass windows are also of interest. At the very top is one of the original windows dating back to the 13th century and showing the crucifixion, and the figures of St Mary and St John. Below that, the main window depicts three puritans including John Hampden in the centre and Oliver Cromwell to his left. This window was originally meant to be for the church in Little Hampden,  but was rejected as it contained the figure of Cromwell.

Gwyndaf then led us off on our walk through the countryside around The Lee. Outside the pub stands a curious stone structure which looked a bit like a modern art installation, but in fact is a natural feature called a puddingstone.

We then walked through the woods, which were carpeted with wild garlic and their aroma filled the air. Some of our walkers took the opportunity to gather leaves as they can make a very good pesto. Luckily, it had not been raining recently so the path was not very muddy.

Where there was more light in the woods, there were banks of beautiful bluebells.

Gwyndaf then took us through the village where we saw an old school, now used as private houses. This used to be known as the plaiting school, as the young girls there used to plait straw which was then transported to Luton to be made into straw hats! I’m not sure how much schooling the girls received.

As The Lee is quite high up, there are no streams and the village used to rely on a pond for its water. In 1897, in the year of Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, a well was dug to provide clean water. This was quite a task, as the well is 365 feet deep, 4 foot six inches wide, and the workers had to rely on candles for their light and a blacksmith’s bellows to provide ventilation. It was commissioned by Sir Arthur Liberty and built by Liberty’s craftsmen.

The well has two enormous buckets, which were used to counter-balance each other. The well was still in use until the 1950’s.

From the well we continued through the village, with houses commissioned by Liberty for his workers, both labourers and management.

We went past the new manor house that Liberty had built – and in front of it stood a most incongruous figurehead from an old fashioned sailing ship. It is the figurehead of the ’Lord Howe’, one of the last wooden sailing battleships, purchased as salvage by Liberty for the timbers which were used in the construction of the Liberty store.

We were running late, so we  made a hasty retreat back to the Cock and Rabbit in time for lunch where the food was very good.

Rob Britton stood and proposed a vote of thanks to Gwyndaf, Janet and Trish.

Thanks to all three (and Tammy) for a lovely walk.

 

 

Theatre Trip – Nye

On Wednesday 20th March, we had a trip to The National Theatre to see a matinee performance of ‘Nye’, starring Michael Sheen.

A coach picked us up from Amersham and Gerrards Cross, and we arrived at the South Bank at about 1:30 pm, only slightly later than planned. We met a few of our party who had travelled in by train, and then David Powell picked up the tickets and distributed them, leaving us just over half an hour for a hasty lunch.

‘Nye’ tells the story of Aneurin Bevan, from his imagined death bed, under the influence of morphine, looking back over his life.

It was useful that we had been given a background of Bevan’s later life a couple of years ago when  Neil Rees gave a talk about Aneurin Bevan and his life in Chesham at our Zoom- based AGM.

Our seats were in the circle with a very good view of the stage.

Martin Sheen was wonderful as Nye, appearing in all the scenes dressed in his hospital pyjamas and seemingly bewildered as each scene unfolded before him in random order, as a schoolboy with a stutter, then his fights with Winston Churchill, his open marriage relationship with Jennie Lee and the death of his father (a Welsh miner). Finally he remembers his creation of the National Health Service against very high odds, only winning against the doctor’s opposition by promising them to make them the highest paid professionals in the country (“Filling their mouths with gold”).

The staging was quite clever, the green curtains reminding one of those in a hospital and also acting as the green seats of the House of Commons, whilst hospital beds were transformed into lobby entrances during the parliamentary scenes.

 

We  found our coach at 5:15 and our driver fought his way through the rush hour traffic to get us back to Gerrards Cross by about 6:30 – well behind those who had travelled by train!

I think that everyone had a really good time.

Quiz Night 2024

19th January 2024

We all gathered at Coleshill Village Hall at 7pm for our first engagement of the year.

30 of us formed into 5 teams to do battle in Colin Picton’s Quiz Evening.

We were pleased to welcome some new (and newish) members and their guests –

Lorraine Boyd and her partner, Ian,  also Heather Roberts with her son Mark Roberts and daughter Susan Paul.

Chairman Gwyndaf John opened proceedings and handed over to Kate Picton to give an update on Jonathan Pegler’s progress in hospital. We all wished him a speedy recovery

Colin set us the first task of coming up with team names.

 

Team names were:

Lloydia (reflecting Gwyndaf and Janet John’s adventure finding a rare lily on Snowdon)
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (thanks to Bill Jones)
Wyddfa (Snowdon)
Old Speckled Hen (reflecting the team’s tipple of choice)
The Magnificent 7 (the team having a numerical advantage)

Colin’s quiz had a definite Welsh theme with rounds on…… Welsh Celebs, Welsh Geography and Welsh History.

There were 8 rounds of questions plus a picture round. However, the questions were not as difficult as some that we have had in previous years and even the English players were able to answer most of the questions.

At 8pm the Fish and Chips were delivered, and we paused to enjoy them. The Village Chippy at Three Households really does a fine job.

After our meal, the quiz continued, and in the end, Lloydia won by a comfortable margin.

The final scores were:

Lloydia                                              172
Llanfair pg                                        164
Wyddfa                                             130
Speckled Hen                                   123
The Magnificent 7                             150

 

There were no prizes, just the honour and bragging rights for winning (I have to say that Mr John did look rather smug).

Gwyndaf then thanked Colin on behalf of all the participants for all the work that he had put in to devising and running the quiz and we cleared up and went home just after 10pm.

Thanks again to Colin for all his hard work.

Golf Day 2023

25th August – Oakland Park Golf Course

As always for this event the sun shone down on the hardy golfers who were keenly competing for this annual Major event.
This year Gwyndaf had organised a Texas Scramble. A very enjoyable format that involves all the players in every golf shot regardless of ability.
The results were very close apart from the winning team who achieved an impressive score worthy of winning the golf club Championship had it been achieved by a single player !
Well done Pat and the two Robs.

Detailed scores are listed below ….

Teams & scores:
75 strokes – Pat Whitworth, Rob Brett & Rob Britton
80 – Margaret Broomby, John Whitworth & Gwyndaf John
81 – Pam Britton, Ralph Broomby & Eryl Morris
84 – Jane Morris, Colin Thomas & Alun McCarthy

Ladies nearest the pin: Jane Morris
Gents nearest the pin: Gwyndaf John

Gwyndaf presented the winning team with a number of much needed golf aids – a “shot saver” for more accurately lining up putts and other strokes; A “golf ball grabber” that fits on the putter handle so that the player doesn’t need to bend down to lift the ball from the hole; some clip-on pencils; and a pack of ball position markers.
Rob Britton presented a bottle of wine to each of the nearest the pin winners.

20 members sat down for a lunch of Seared Salmon with Beurre Blanc Sauce & veg followed by lemon tart with mixed berry compote and whipped cream
Bill Jones brought along the Society’s new banner, the first time it has appeared at one of our events, though it has been promoting the Society at external events
An excellent day was enjoyed by all.

Colin Thomas

More photographs here.

Spring Walk 2023

Spring Walk April 27th 2023

We had a good turn out for the Spring Walk this year – 20 of us in all, and it was a good thing that we set off in the morning, as it poured with rain all afternoon.

We all met at 10am at The Potter’s Arms in Winchcombe Hill, a lovely pub selling real ale and with a good choice of lunchtime food. We spent some time selecting and ordering our food for lunch before setting off across the Common, down a footpath to a small pond called Gawde Water beside Horsemoor Lane.Gawde Pond

We crossed the road and went along the footpath across Warren Field from where it was just possible to see Penn House, the home of Earl Howe, who is patron of the Chiltern Society while his wife, Countess Howe is patron of the Amersham Festival of Music. Here, under the trees we found a large clump of bluebells (though nowhere as impressive as those in Church Woods in Hedgerley).

Gwyndaf and Janet John had selected an easy and a more difficult route and at this point those who wanted to avoid a steep slope (and to 5get to the pub earlier) took the quicker route with Janet. The rest of us followed Gwyndaf down a slope through trees where in days gone by bodgers used to work, and then joined an old wagon track leading back up the hill on the other side of Penn House, through woodlands known as Charcoal Grove.

CoralrootOn the way Gwyndaf found several plants of interest, including the Coralroot, a tall pink flower which is quite rare (in most places)96, but one of the few places you can find it is in the Chilterns.

We then proceeded around the back of the ground of Penn House, an area known as Little Readings, looking into the grounds to see a gardener hard at work.

Further on, we re-crossed5 Horsemoor Lane, past a farm and some woodworking buildings, across a field with views across to Penn Street and its church, then turned right into a path edging Priestlands Wood, back towards the common and The Potter’s Arms. On the way we were told of the hundreds of different types of dandelions, and were informed about sedges – all being asked to recite ‘Sedges have Edges’.

We returned to the pub right on time to enjoy our food and some real ales and before the rain started after lunch.

 

Thank you to Gwyndaf and Janet for planning and leading the walk.