Christmas Drinks 12:30pm 12th December 2021
No-one was absolutely sure whether our 2021 drinks party would go ahead, due to rising numbers of Covid.
In the end after some careful thought about precautions the day went ahead. It was decided that we would have the windows open, have hand gel on hand, ask all the all guests to have taken lateral flow tests, and lastly that there would be no singing this year.
Ralph and Margaret Broomby were there to welcome us through the door, as people started arriving. The Broomby’s have hosted so many events in the past and we are very grateful to them.
In each room there was a welcoming fire, fueled by mulberry logs from a tree that used to grow in their back garden, a victim of honey fungus.
Numbers were down when compared with previous years with just under 30 people attending, but this gave us lots of room in which to meet and catch up with friends.
It was good to see many old friends again. We hadn’t seen Maldwyn Pugh for a while and it was nice to hear about how he is enjoying living in his new flat. Graham and Anthea Beavan came from Wokingham to catch up and tell us how their new house is going and it was good to see Graham Lewis and Anne Pierce Jones again.
Canapes were provided by ‘To Dine For’ who circulated with plates of interesting and tasty treats.
There were many examples of Ralph’s handiwork around the house.
Many of us looked out the window to admire Ralph’s new Summer House – he explained that not only had he designed it himself, but he had also built it during the summer lockdown. One would never have guessed – it looked so professional, large, sturdy and stylish.
The occasion wound down by late afternoon, with people leaving to get home before it got dark. Thanks to Ralph and Margaret for their hospitality, ‘To Dine For’ for the food, and to Kay Day for organizing the event.
Sorry for the lack of photographs!
Bright blue matching chairs and, cheerful garden flowers adorned the crisp white tablecloths. At this juncture, our thanks to the ‘flower girls’ as they were referred to. The guests had come laden with their own wine, fruit juice, beer and fizzy water and people on the tables introduced themselves. I maintain that Welsh is my first language and, was fortunate enough to be educated through the medium of Welsh from the age of 3 to 21. I was especially pleased to catch up with a few people who spoke Welsh and spent a while chatting to Bill Jones about the delights of Amlwch and Anglesey in particular!
Table by table, we were invited to the serving area, where the To Dine For ladies had set up a veritable spread. Our food had been pre-ordered, I had salmon, others had chicken and there was a vegetarian option, all adorned by a variety of salads, I have to say it was very tasty. We had olive and chilli bread, which you could wash down with the drink of your choice. Extra food was available if you wanted a top up. Chatter, covering a multiple of varied subjects, was constant. David Powell managed to pop round each group to photograph everybody deep in conversation. For dessert there was fruit salad, tiramisu, chocolate tart with lashings of cream, should you want it. To round off the meal tea and coffee were served with some lovely chocolate mints. All in all, I would say the afternoon was a massive success, everybody was pleased to catch up, after such a long time of being at home.
I would like to give a special mention to Ernest Morris, whose delightful garden we enjoyed and for the loan of the gazebos by Alan Longshaw. Thanks too to David, Gwyndaf, Alan, Peter Johnston and Colin Thomas for erecting these and, getting the furniture in situ; hopefully it was dismantled a bit quicker than it went up. Thank you very much to Kay for her organisational skills and making the afternoon such a success, we all know that these events, don’t ‘just’ happen.
A 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.
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.
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.
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. 
On Thursday 29th April Gwyndaf and Janet John organized a Spring Walk around the woods at Hedgerley.
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.
As we moved into the final round Team Goch put on a late spurt, but it was too late, Team Gwyn (appropriately consisting of Gwyndaf and Janet John, Bill Jones, Ruth Huckle and Ann Brown) were too far in the lead.
