EWSNEWS March 2024
The story so far:
Friday 16 February. Chinese supper at Priestfield Church hall. 7.30pm.
Our Chinese banquet, splendidly organised by Lilian John, was very much enjoyed by all. It was followed by a quiz, based on the letters in Y DDRAIG GOCH, marking our own dragon and the Chinese year of the dragon. We finished wish community singing ably led by Huw Thomas.
Friday 1 March. Cinio Gwyl Dewi at Mortonhall Golf Club, 7 for 7.30pm.
Our annual St David’s Day dinner was held at Mortonhall Golf Club, where the very attentive staff provided an excellent three course dinner. This was followed, after a brief “comfort stop” by a most entertaining speech by our guest speaker the Rev. John Owain Jones. Owain shared with us some of his amusing and interesting reminiscences as a minister of the Anglican Church, from his very first sermon onwards. We rounded off the evening with a few favourite Welsh songs. A fuller account is at this link.
Sunday 3 March. Gymanfa Ganu at the Reid Memorial Church at 3.00pm.
We concluded our St. David’s celebrations with our hymn singing festival at the Reid Memorial Church large hall, which took the form of a challenging quiz, cleverly organised by Huw and Janet Thomas. We should have paid better attention in previous years, as we had been told all the answers in times past. It seems Martin and Myra Tarr had been paying most attention. After all the thinking and singing we were very glad of a cup of tea and slice of bara brith, provided as always by Lilian John. A fuller account is at this link.
Forthcoming events:
Saturday 20 April. Trip to see the Great Tapestry of Scotland.
As suggested at several AGMs we are planning a day trip to visit the Great Tapestry of Scotland. It was designed by Andrew Crummy, embroidered by many stitchers (Alison Hughes and I added a few stitches to one panel), and is permanently housed at 14–20 High Street, Galashiels, TD1 1SD. Opening times are 9.30–17.00 Tuesday to Saturday. Tickets are available from www.greattapestryofscotland.com. For more information contact them at tapestry@liveborders.org.uk or phone 01896 809 354. Tickets cost £10.50 (adult), £9.50 (senior or student) £4.50 (child).
We suggest taking the Borders train from Waverley to Galashiels, which runs every half hour and takes about one hour. It is a short walk from the station to the venue. It would be lovely to meet up at the Stitchers Café at about midday for lunch together. Please make your own arrangements, but I’d love to hear from you if you plan to come along. Just hit this link!
Tuesday 23 April. Annual General Meeting. 7.30pm via Zoom.
Our AGM gives us all a chance to review the year past, see our current financial state, and express our thoughts for the year ahead. If you would be prepared to join the committee, or know someone who would, we would love to hear from you.
It was agreed at the AGM in 2023 that we would – if needed – review the subscription levels for 2024–5. We now feel that this is necessary and we propose increasing the single sub from £15 to £16.50 and the family sub from £22.50 to £25. Our new financial year runs from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 and subs are due from that start date.
A reminder about the AGM and Zoom meeting joining details will be sent out nearer the time.
In other news:
I received this from Martin Macintyre and was asked to pass it on …
I thought you and your members might be interested in my forthcoming book launch at 50 George Square, Edinburgh at 7.00pm on Friday 19 April. All will be most welcome! It’s free, but you need to book at https://tinyurl.com/yardurfm. [Rhedeg Rhwng Dwy Ddraig is described as “a unique collection of Martin MacIntyre’s poems in Gaelic, Catalan, Welsh & English”.] More information at this link.
I look forward to seeing you very soon.
Jennifer
Jennifer Welsher – Ysgrifenyddes CCD / Secretary EWS