It hit the spot!

Friday 30 September 2022

There was an unusually large number of apologies for our Creoso at the Mortonhall Golf Club, but the twenty who attended (including some welcome new faces) enjoyed both another very generous meal and our Secretary’s entertainment! For this, the audience were presented with a map of Wales and encouraged to put a favourite spot on the map – if they wished, they could talk about the significance of the place to them. This led to some great stories …

• Jennifer Welsher remembered a pre-University summer holiday working behind the counter at Woolworths in Porthcawl, and “oiling the salamis”
• Myra Tarr recalled 1940s holidays near Lake Bala (Lllyn Tegid) and “Ceri’s eggs”
• Jim Hughes put his pin in Llandudno, leaving his exploits there to our imaginations!
• Margaret Brandie took the “Jones bus” from Cribyn (near Lampeter) to Aberaeron to taste the fish and chips and honey ice-cream, and enjoy the August Bank Holiday Carnival atmosphere.
• Hywel Williams earned his tourist guide badge by taking us round the beaches of the Llŷn Peninsula to his mother’s home near Abersoch, calling in on the way on two past presidents living at Morfa Nefin.
• Lisa Poulter told how the cries of seagulls always reminded her of holidays at Saundersfoot.
• Nigel Lindsay told of his holidays on a smallholding at Govilan (near Abergavenny) and trips to the “fleshpots of Barry Island” funded by collecting empty bottles.
• Steven Griffin has links with Merthyr Tydfil and Ogmore-by-Sea, but put his pin in Anglesey, marking the pub (“somewhere between Llangefni and Holyhead”) where he had had his first really positive experience in striking up a conversation with someone whose first language was Welsh.

By the end of the evening, the map was sufficiently populated for Jennifer to be able to call on Jim Hughes to lead the community singing, ending with “Mae hen wlad fy nhadau”.

Thank you so much, Jennifer.