Friday 20 September 2024

28 of us enjoyed another Croeso in the Mortonhall Golf Club, where we were pleased to welcome new members Llinos Jones and John Brown, and their young daughter Gwenno won all our hearts, displaying boundless energy as she pushed her dolly’s pram round and round the club house!

The welcome meeting’s main purpose is conversation, though there is usually a quiz. This year, with the recent holiday period in mind, Jennifer Welsher challenged us to put stickers on the world map at places we’d visited that were significant for us, and to say why, leading the way by talking briefly about Newcastle, NSW, and inviting her daughter Gillian to talk about her time in Vietnam.

Some of those who spoke talked about recent months: Alan and Helen Campbell had been to Kuala Lumpur for a very different Malaysian wedding; Walter and Megan Whitelaw had celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on a trip to the Yukon; Hywel Williams had returned to Iceland, fascinated by its geology.

Others remembered the past, but looked forward to new experiences: Janet Thomas’ physio conferences had taken her to Port Elizabeth (an elephant family experience) and Dubai (too hot!), and she and Huw will be off to Japan next year; Llinos is returning once more to China in November, having first been there to teach English after university.

Yet others spoke of memorable experiences some years ago: Lin McMillan remembered being on a charity fundraising trip to Peru that included a ride on the Inca trail, hanging on to the pony’s mane with a 1,000ft drop alongside; John Bowles put his sticker on Siberia, having fond memories of a visit with a British Council group of librarians, where the contacts made had lasted for years; Ros Newton had been to India, where a crazy bus drive was rewarded by a rare close-up sighting of a tiger looking at the tourists with disdain, and she’d been so emotional that she’d hugged the driver!

Not all the experiences were positive: Jennifer had spent 3½ “awful years in the Bahamas” and had been glad to be back; Alison recalled a boat trip back to New Zealand’s South Island from Stewart Island – “it’s going to be rough!”; David Hughes remembered a “rescue mission” to a daughter stranded by conflict in a dark corner of Egypt.

Huw Thomas introduced his music slot by asking who had heard the news about ten Welsh words being added to the Oxford English Dictionary in its most recent quarterly list of additions. [The full list is at this link] Most were familiar to us, though not perhaps calennig (the tradition of New Year gifts).

We then sang Sospan fach – what else from a Llanelli man?! – Ar lan y môr, recently featured on the Last Night of the Proms, and the inevitable Calon lân, before finishing with Mae hen wlad fy nhadau.

Grateful thanks to the staff at Mortonhall, to all those who took part, and especially to Jennifer Welsher for her organisation.

Your webmaster thought it might be helpful to have a summary of the season as a separate post, rather than clutter the home page!

We had a busy first half, with our usual Croeso evening, a Harvest thanksgiving service, an illustrated talk by our President, a St Andrew’s Night supper party and a carol service. We much enjoyed a Chinese Evening at Priestfield on Friday 16 February and our annual St David’s Day dinner was held at Mortonhall Golf Club on the best possible date of Friday 1 March. And then there was a Gymanfa Ganu on Sunday 3 March … a bit different from usual! … and on Saturday 20 April we went to Galashiels to see the Great Tapestry of Scotland and have lunch. Click the links for reports on all these, or scroll down our Recent Meetings page.

Saturday 20 April 2024

Eight of us took the picturesque but rather slow Borders train journey to Galashiels to enjoy a visit to see the Great Tapestry of Scotland in its new permanent home. We combined this with an excellent lunch in Stitchers, the cafe that takes up much of the ground floor, where we were joined by ‘locals’ Pam and Hywel Williams.

Before our visit, some of us had thought that it wouldn’t take too long to examine the tapestry and we’d be able to finish with a stroll around the town, but in the event there was so much of interest in both the scope of the Tapestry and the wealth of its detail that a return trip will be necessary!

The historical notes that accompany the panels both explained them and added to our store of knowledge of Scottish history, and we heard intriguing stories told by some of the thousand or so stitchers who contributed to this community project.

If you missed the trip you can take a “virtual journey through the rich tapestry of Scottish history, culture, and landscapes by downloading the Tapestry Tours app” at this link. But you won’t be able to recapture the blether round the lunch table … make a point of coming with us on our next outing!

Sunday 3 March 2024

For our hymn-singing session, Huw and Janet Thomas had devised a novel competition – before we sang each of the eight hymns we had to “Identify that tune” from the clues given about the tune and its composer. Scoring was as for “Only Connect”, the available points reducing as more and more help was given, with three points for a successful answer to an abstruse clue, reducing to zero points if Huw had to play the tune.

And we certainly needed all the help we could get, even though we had been told at the outset that all the tunes had featured in recent gymanfas, and that all the clues had been answered in the introductions Janet and Huw had given then. The questions certainly showed the gaps in our collective memory, and it was only thanks to the Tarrs’ knowledge of tune names, Jennifer’s bonus point and none-too-subtle help from Janet that we even made the 12 points that indicated a draw between audience and presenters!

We sang:

1. Calon lân – Nid wy’n gofyn bywyd moethus
2. Diadem – Cyduned y nefolaidd gôr
3. Aberystwyth – Beth sydd imi yn y byd?
4. Ellers – Fy Nhad a’m Duw, gad i mi weld dy wedd
5. Rachie – I bob un sydd ffyddlon
6. In Memoriam –Arglwydd Iesu, arwain f’enaid
7. Edinburgh – O! Llefara, addfwyn Iesu
8. Cwm Rhondda – Wele’n sefyll rhywn y myrtwydd

The letters in bold made up a pretty easy anagram for those of our members who live in Edinburgh (Caeredin)!

The audience were then asked for their suggestions, and we sang:

9. Llef – O! Jesu mawr (Jennifer)
10. Saron – Dy law sydd armon, O! (Jennifer, in memory of Selwyn Davies, a former EWS President, whose favourite it was)
11. Tydi a roddiast – Tydi, a roddiast liw i’r wawr (Helen)

Despite the intellectual challenges the afternoon presented, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and sang heartily, so the tea and delicious bara brith thoughtfully provided by Lilian John after our exertions was much appreciated.

Friday 1 March 2024

This year they had to open out the room!

Our annual St David’s Day dinner at Mortonhall Golf Club was another great success, and the welcoming and attentive staff provided a really excellent three-course meal. This was followed by a most entertaining speech by our guest speaker the Rev John Owain Jones, who shared some highly amusing and interesting reminiscences of his time as a Presbyterian minister, from his very first sermon onwards.

There were many coincidences and connections in the tales Owain told! Born in St Asaph and brought up in Rhyl, his family moved to Caernarfon when he was 13, and Owain and our President, David Hughes, were at the same school. Can you recognise Owain from the class photograph that was circulated?! (David’s older sister is also in it)

Owain’s parish appointments included a spell of rural ministry in Shropshire, before moving to Scotland, finally retiring in February 2023 after 12 years as Minister on the Isle of Bute. But his connection with Scotland has been there from the start. After Owain’s parents got engaged his father wanted money to buy a house, so went to work in Rhodesia. On the passage out, his father met the best friend from the Isle of Bute who became his groomsman when Owain’s parents married in a church in Salisbury (now Harare) where the minister originally came from St Andrews.

No surprise then that the family went to the Isle of Bute on holiday every summer, that Owain chose St Andrews University, and soon moved to the Church of Scotland. And no coincidence either that, when Minister at Kilbarchan East, Owain later went back to Rhodesia (by then Zimbabwe) for a time to minister as part of the covenant agreement with the Presbytery of Zimbabwe.

Owain’s was a circular and very amusing tale, very well told. Huw John gave a vote of thanks, and we rounded off the evening with a few favourite Welsh songs, led by Huw Thomas, before our thanks to our never-flagging secretary were acknowledged in flowers.

For those of you who like to see their smiling selves, we are ending this page with the set of photographs taken by Kim McCormick, Jennifer’s daughter. The captions were provided by Jennifer herself, so must be right!