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Summer Lunch 2021

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Gazebo ConstructionA fine selection of able-bodied chaps gathered at Peter & Beth’s home on Saturday morning to put up the gazebos for Sunday’s Summer Lunch. The garden looked like a team of gardeners had been at work, but Beth assured us that they did all the work themselves.

Alan Longshaw had brought over his tents and Bill Jones was there to help even though neither of them were going to be able to make it to the lunch itself – what altruism!

Alan directed the operations, showing us which bit fitted where, and there was a general discussion about positioning of the gazebos in the garden. It didn’t take too long, and by midday, we were able to sit under the canvas to enjoy a well-earned drink and biscuit.

Many thanks to the construction team!

Sunday Lunch on Saturday 4th July at ‘Silvana’

With everyone having looked with fear and trepidation at the weather forecast for mid-day on the Sunday, what a great joy it was when Jupiter declined to agree and offered us a window of opportunity to have a most delightful and convivial get-together in the wonderful garden of Beth and Peter Sykes-Johnston at Gerrards Cross. On arrival at Silvana, and being welcomed by a Welsh Flag, a Welsh Dragon placed auspiciously on a small table offered the use of hand-gel to ward off the Covid terror.

  • Food Gazebo

Volunteers had been there earlier to put up 3 large excellent white Marquees sufficient to comfortably accommodate tables, each with up to 6 people, to keep us safe within the Covid guidelines.  Food was professionally provided by “…To Dine For…”, most ably administered by Stephanie and Susan, and most excellently arranged by Kay Day. The mature garden, resplendent with trees, flowering shrubs, floral beauties of all kinds interspaced with garden effects, was drowned by the engaging chatter of people enjoying a moment of real integration away from zoom meetings and distant exchanges. Each table was adorned with a white tablecloth and a floral tribute placed centrally, carefully arranged place settings, and supported with comfortable chairs. The sun shone, the air was warm: a Greek Elysian Llwyn Afallon by any standards!

In orderly fashion, befitting the recognised culture of the CDWS, each table rose when requested to collect their food and return to continue exchanges and reminiscences of visits to Wales, present and past events, news and family matters.

Photographs were taken of happy faces amongst the Welsh gold as each one toasted the future of the Society. The photographer witnessed only one fall amongst the aging assembly and that was of a beautiful stainless steel water-fall in the shrubbery! Those of us who managed to walk around were amazed at the variety of plants interspersed with vibrant sculptures and child oriented Peter Rabbit type memorabilia.

At an appropriate point, retired Chairman David Powell was thanked warmly by Lifetime President, Ann Evans, for the masterly way he had conducted the Society through a difficult Covid time and was presented with a bottle of the elixir of Welsh life – Penderyn Whisky – intended to alleviate his pains and help him continue unabated his work as a Committee Member.

As it was the President’s Birthday that day, a rousing tribute was sung to Ann to commemorate the auspicious event! Thanks were expressed by the newly elected Chairman, Colin Picton, for the wonderful part that Kay had played in arranging the cuisine, for the loan of the Marquees and the members who had erected them, and use of a beautiful garden for the event by Beth and Peter. Beth was then presented with a bouquet of flowers in grateful thanks, and Peter responded with Welsh candour and harmony.

Shortly afterwards, as if prompted by an unseen Zeus hiding in the trees, the heavens opened and blessings came down to ensure that we packed our bags and left for home!

Just another wonderful day in the history of the Society!!

Barrie Reece

2021 AGM

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2021 AGM Report

Friday 14th May by Zoom

Our 21st Annual General Meeting started as a Zoom meeting at 7pm with Jonathan Pegler acting as host to approximately 40 members. Before the serious business of the evening, we were randomly divided up in breakout rooms to meet people in groups of 4 or 5 to catch up and chat.

David Powell opened the formal part of the evening with apologies for absence, and approval of the Minutes of the 2020 AGM (with one correction!). As it would have been difficult to see a show of hands, Jonathan used a Zoom-based voting system, which allowed one vote per device (two people sharing a screen only had one vote).

David then gave the Chairman’s Report for 2020/21, saying that little did we think that when we had to hold the AGM by Zoom last year, we would be doing the same in 2021. In 2020/21 we had to cancel the Summer Lunch, but were able to hold a Golf Day in September. We also held virtual events for the Christmas Drinks, the Quiz Evening and our St David’s Day celebrations – which was a shame since we had such a good speaker in Dr Rowan Williams.

Under the eased Covid restrictions in April, Gwyndaf and Janet John were able to organise a Spring Walk to view the bluebells in Hedgerley.

David added that it is a pity that this year’s AGM is only a virtual one, as it marks 21 years since Ann Evans established the Society and proposed a vote of thanks to Ann. He then went on to give thanks to the Committee members for their work over the last year, and especially to Peter Chapman, who is now standing down as Treasurer after moving to Brecon.

Covid permitting, the Committee plans to hold a Summer Lunch on 4th July, courtesy of Peter and Beth Sykes-Johnston, a Christmas Drinks party courtesy of Ralph and Margaret Broomby, the Golf Day and hopefully another event in the Autumn.

Membership numbers have fallen slightly from 119 to 114, with one new member – Ruth Huckle.

Peter Chapman then gave his final Treasurer’s Report, a very short one. Our balance as of 31st March was £3239.06. The report was accepted by a Zoom vote.

It then came to the election of the Committee.  Jonathan Pegler has taken on the duties as Treasurer pro-temp. We also have a new Committee Member to welcome – Dr Barrie Reece.

A single unanimous vote was taken for the committee and the results are as below:

Position Name
Chairman Colin Picton
Minutes Secretary Merle Davies
Treasurer Jonathan Pegler
Membership Secretary Ann Lawrence
Secretary Gwyndaf John
Committee Members: Barrie Reece
  Kay Day
  David Powell

David then handed the meeting over to Colin Picton, as our new Chairman.

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.

 

 

Aneurin Bevan – Welshman, Founder of the NHS and Chesham Resident

Aneurin “Nye” Bevan was born in 1897 in Tredegar in south Wales, growing up in a coal mining community. Elected as Labour MP for Ebbw Vale in 1928 and serving as Minister of Health in Atlee’s post-war Labour Government, Nye is considered the architect of the National Health Service, which started on 5th July 1948 and was inspired by the model of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society. The NHS was born out of the ideal that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth.

 

Nye Bevan and his wife, the MP Miss Jenny Lee, lived in Chelsea until 1954. However, Nye wanted a home near London, but in the country. He was told about Asheridge Farm, near Chesham, which was on the market and he bought it for £9,000.

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. 

Nye and Jennie were very social, joined in local life, and shopped in Chesham. He used to visit the Blue Ball pub in Asheridge where he was friendly with the landlord and with many of the regulars.

Still working a couple of days a week in London, Nye would catch the train to London from Chesham Station.

In 1960 Nye fell severely ill and was later diagnosed as having stomach cancer. He died on 6th July 1960 at his home aged only 62. Bevan’s death led to an outpouring of national mourning, and there were memorial services to him both in Wales and at Westminster Abbey.

Jennie Lee did not share her husband’s interest in farming. In 1961 she rented out the land at the farm, but continued to live at the farmhouse until 1968, when she moved back to London.

In 1964 Jennie was appointed Minister for the Arts in Harold Wilson’s government playing a key role in establishing the Open University. In November 1970 she was made Baroness Lee of Asheridge, and continued to work from the House of Lords. She died in 1988 aged 84.

2021 Spring Walk

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Anne's groupOn Thursday 29th April Gwyndaf and Janet John organized a Spring Walk around the woods at Hedgerley.

Due to the fact that we hadn’t been able to meet in person for so long, there was a great deal of interest and 24 people signed up for the walk. The Johns organized us into 4 groups of 6 so that we could be properly socially distanced, and recruited Colin Thomas and David Powell to lead the other two groups.

The plan was to meet at the pond in Hedgerley at 10:30, book our meals at the pub and then set off covering very similar walks but at different times and in different directions. However, when parking the cars, people were so pleased to see each other again, that in true CDWS fashion, they stopped to chat and soon it was 11:00.

Nevertheless, we were able to give our orders at the pub and set off, aided by handouts from Janet showing us the difference between Spanish and English bluebells and pictures of other wild flowers to look for on the walk.

Both Gwyndaf’s and Janet’s groups had the advantage of expert wild flower knowledge, but the two other groups were supplied with pictures of plants to look out for – a bit like the old I-Spy books we had as children. The early purple orchids were not out yet, but the cowslips made a great display in the Glebe Meadow by the church.Cowslips

Three of the groups went for a slightly longer walk covering the trip to Hedgerley Green as well, but David’s group just covered the woods and then headed straight back for the pub.


The food was good and so was the beer, and the bluebells were almost at their best (a cold dry spring had delayed them a bit).

Thanks to Gwyndaf, Janet, Colin and Di Thomas and David for leading the groups.

 

There are some more photographs on the 2021 Gallery page.

Dame Cheryl Gillan

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It is with great sadness that we report the death of our local MP and honorary CDWS member Dame Cheryl Gillan on 4th April 2021, after a long battle with cancer.

Cheryl was born in Llandaff, Cardiff in 1952 and brought up in South Wales. Her family still farms near Usk and she was incredibly proud of her Welsh roots.

Her early career was as marketing executive and she chaired the Bow Group from 1987 to 1988. She was elected MP for Chesham and Amersham in 1992 and served as junior minister for Education and Employment from 1995 to 1997 before being appointed as Conservative whip and spokesperson for Trade and Industry, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs.

In December 2005 Cheryl was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Wales and showing quite some enterprise, Ann Lawrence offered her honorary CDWS membership the same month, which Cheryl accepted.

The Society kept in touch by sending her copies of the Newsletter and our Programme of Events and eventually this paid off when Cheryl facilitated a tour of the House of Parliament in June 2011 and joined us for dinner in one of the private dining rooms.

Dame Cheryl was fiercely opposed to HS2 and never passed up an opportunity to speak against the proposed high-speed rail link, HS2.

She was awarded a damehood in the 2018 New Year Honours list.

St David’s Day

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SThis year our St David’s Day Dinner was a bit different. There was no dinner!

On Friday 26th February, we were very fortunate to have Dr Rowan Williams, the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, address our St David’s Day gathering.

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we were unable to meet in person. So, our meeting was the ‘Not St David’s Day Dinner’ as it wasn’t St David’s Day, and there was no dinner, but we had an excellent meeting anyway.

Janet John acted as technical host for our Zoom meeting and we met at 7:30pm with a welcome from our Chairman, followed by two 10-minute breakout sessions where we were able to chat to about half a dozen other members and catch up on local news.

At 8pm David Powell then introduced Dr. Williams and thanked his cousin Cathy Young for facilitating the talk. Cathy and Dr. Williams share an interest in Religious Icons, like the one shown above, which Cathy painted.

Dr. Williams spoke on the subject of ‘The Age of the Saints in Wales: Fact or Fiction?’, a very suitable subject for St David’s Day.

Dr. WilliamsDr. Williams told us about the early church in Wales and how there was a surprising amount of movement of people and ideas between Wales, Ireland, Cornwall and Brittany. The Christians of the time (500 to 700 AD) thought themselves the successors of the Roman tradition, as opposed to the largely pagan influx of Angles and Saxons. Gravestones of the time frequently contain complex Latin verses and Hebrew Christian names.

He spoke of Welsh saints such as St David, St Gildas, St Samson St Asaph and others.

Monasteries were centres of learning, but were not great stones built buildings but more like villages, and these were in touch with each other across Wales and to Scotland, Ireland and Brittany as a sort of Christian Celtic commonwealth around the Irish Sea.

Dr Williams 2There were very many Saints in Wales, and one of the reasons for this was that at the time, there was no central control from Rome and sainthood was determined locally in Celtic churches and was often given to the founder of an ecclesiastical settlement (llan). It wasn’t until the middles ages that there was a central role in determining sainthood.

We then had about 15 minutes of questions and answers, with mention of the Illustrated Manuscripts of St Chad’s Gospels and the pre-Roman druids.

David Powell led a vote of thanks for Dr. Williams, who then joined us in two further chat sessions in breakout rooms, which gave some of us a chance to talk to him on a personal level.

We finished off the evening with Jonathan Pegler playing the National Anthem and a selection of hymns.

Dr. Williams asked that instead of a fee, a donation should be made to Christian Aid.

A recording of much of the evening is available on YouTube, please click on the link below:

Welsh Marches Trip 2019

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Oswestry Trip 17th June 2019

We had an early start at 8am in Gerrards Cross, picking up the rest of our party at Amersham. After a brief stop on the M42 we drove on through the countryside and to Presteigne to visit the Real Wine Company for a wine tasting and paella. The company was established by Mark Hughes, who used to live in Gerrards Cross, but followed his dream to create his own specialist wine company. We sampled up to 12 delicious wines, and many of us ordered a few.

After lunch we drove north along swollen Severn. The previous weeks had rained pretty continuously and river levels were high. As we passed we saw that many of the fields were flooded.

Phil, our coach driver, drove us on to Montgomery, where we had 10 minutes to stretch our legs and to explore the market square and the Norman church with the tomb of Sir Richard Herbert (dating from the 16th century).

There followed a somewhat sleepy trip on to Oswestry as the effects of lunchtime’s wine made themselves known. We drove to Oswestry’s Premier Inn through stunning countryside, avoiding floods which had been prevalent only a few days before. That evening, some ate locally while others walked to Oswestry to sample the local restaurants.

Tuesday 18th June

The coach picked us up from the hotel, and we drove to Llanfair Caerinion station, where Jonathan had booked two carriages on the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway. The railway dates from 1903 and has an unusual 2’ 6” narrow gauge. We had time to look around the station and watch the engine (‘Countess’, one of the original engines) being prepared.   The first part of our journey followed the path of the valley of a small river (the Afon Banwy neu Einion), where, Jonathan said, otters and king fishers lived.  It took about 45 mins to cover the 8.5 miles to Welshpool. We crossed streams and small roads, with or without level crossing gates, admiring the countryside as we chugged along. When we arrived in Welshpool we had another chance to admire the train getting ready for the return journey. (More railway pictures.)

Our coach had driven on to meet us and we all climbed on to travel to Powis Castle. On the way there, Jonathan, acting as the most knowledgeable tour guide, gave us an extraordinary level of detail of the history of the castle, built in the 13th century by the Welsh prince (Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn), loyal to Edward I. By 1587 the castle was sold to the Herbert family. In 1784, heiress Lady Henrietta Herbert married Edward Clive, son of the famous Clive of India.  Their son inherited the castle, on condition that he changed his name to Herbert.  The castle remained with the Herbert family until it was passed to the National Trust.

A really impressive structure, the castle was built of local red sandstone, with wonderful views over the surrounding countryside. It was easy to see that the building was not only a castle but also a home. We entered smart drawing rooms, elegant dining rooms and formal bedrooms, all decorated with paintings of family members through the ages from the 17th century to the present day. A separate room was set aside to display some of the riches brought back from India by Clive, including Indian weapons and fine jewel encrusted figures.

The castle has beautiful gardens set within steep slopes and terraces revealing wonderful flower beds.

In the courtyard of the castle was a male peacock displaying and protecting his mate with one chick, the last remaining of clutch of 5.  (Additional photos of Powis Castle in the gallery.)

That evening, after the bus had dropped us off, Jonathan took us on a conducted tour of Oswestry including the remains of the castle which was torn down during the English Civil War. In the memorial gardens we saw a statue to one of Oswestry’s famous sons,the poet Wilfred Owen, who was tragically killed in the last week of World War 1.

The whole party then met for an evening meal in the Wynnstay Hotel, making our own way home after discussions in the hotel bar. (More pictures of our evening here.)

 

Wednesday 19th June

We set off early to visit ‘Jones the Boats’ on the Llangollen Canal, where we all boarded a canal boat to take us across the famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct – the highest aqueduct in the world.

The bridge was built in 1805 by Thomas Telford, and stretches for 336 yards above the River Dee.

It was a strange experience to be in a boat on the canal and to be able to look down over 120 feet to see the river and fields below with the drop just inches away from the side of the boat.

Looking down from the boat on to the Dee
5 Ann(e)s on a boat

  We traveled on until we passed through the Chirk tunnel, 460 yards long, turning around just before the Chirk Aqueduct. The tunnel is narrow, with only room for one boat at a time, and boats must show lights so that they can be seen by those coming from the other direction.

(More canal pictures here)

After the canal trip, we once again boarded the coach to visit Chirk Castle. The castle was originally constructed in the late 13th century by Roger Mortimer de Chirk under the orders of Edward I, in order to guard the Dee and Ceriog valleys. It was expanded and remodeled over the years and was bought by Sir Thomas Myddelton in1595.

The interior of the castle was varied in style. It was interesting to see the different tastes in different rooms and to see areas where the Victorian designer Pugin had made changes to restyle the Georgian features into what was then considered to be a more authentic new Gothic.

The gardens at Chirk are extensive, with clipped yews, herbaceous borders, a ha-ha and views over the Ceiriog valley. As we left Jonathan had two more sights for us.

The original gates included the Myddelton crest featuring a sinister looking red hand. There are several stories about the significance of the hand, most of them somewhat gory. The coach then took us back via the Llangollen canal, where we could walk down to the tunnel we had been through that morning, and then walk across the Chirk Aqueduct, crossing from Wales to England. This is another Telford bridge, this time crossing the Ceiriog valley, 710 feet long and 70 feet above the valley, this aqueduct runs alongside a later viaduct carrying the railway.

More pictures of Chirk Castle.

Thursday 20th June

We set off to Brymbo Heritage site, which is really two sites in one. Brymbo is close to Wrexham, and is the site of an old iron works dating from about 1790. We split into two parties and were shown around the site where we were given a brief history of the development of the industry as well as being shown the original furnace and the old ruins of an even older coal mine.

Interestingly, Brymbo had another aspect. Recently, when the coal was being extracted by open cast methods, they found an ancient petrified forest beneath the coal. This originally grew as gigantic ferns and mosses over 300 million years ago, when this part of Wales lay on the equator! While walking over the site, we met some of the paleontologists working on the site. As we were talking to the leader, Dr Tim Astrop, another of his party picked up a stone lying on the ground and showed us a fossilised plant stem from 300 million years ago, saying that we were the first people ever to see this fossil specimen!

We were then driven over to Erddig Hall, another National Trust site. It was built in the late 17th century for Josiah Edisbury, but in 1733 it passed into the Yorke family. We were met by one of the guides who entertained with stories of the Yorke family (mostly Stephens and Phillips) who threw very little away, which was why the site had such a vast collection of artifacts. One of the last of the line became almost a hermit who removed the phones and the electricity. He used to sleep at night guarding the silver with a shotgun and a burglar alarm fashioned from carnation milk tins.

The Hall is also famous for its paintings, poems and stories of the servants who worked there. From the early days, portraits were made of some of the serving staff, maids, gardeners, gamekeepers and housekeepers and together with these there were descriptions or poems, often in a child’s hand, to describe the individuals.

The gardens at Erddig are extensive, based on the original 18th century formal garden. They contain a lake and a canal in addition to rose gardens, fruit trees, walled gardens and herbaceous borders.

(More Erddig pictures here)

 

 

 

Friday 21st June

We said goodbye to those of us who travelled by car and set off on the first leg of our journey, to Shrewsbury. We were met by our guides, who took us on a conducted walk around the town, looking at taverns and houses with connections to the Tudors, then a led us on a tour around St Mary’s, Shrewsbury’s oldest church, dating back to Norman times, to see the stained-glass windows. We completed the tour by looking at the medieval trades areas, after which the streets were named, and at the centre of the high street, where David III, Prince of Wales, was executed in 1283.

After lunch we boarded the coach and David Powell thanked Jonathan Pegler for all the planning and the incredible amount of information he had provided us with about the places we passed through and visited.

We finally arrived back home at around 4pm all feeling quite tired.

Thanks once again Jonathan!