March 2012 Newsletter
The March 2012 newsletter can be found by clicking on the Read more link below.
Annual General Meeting - Wednesday 18th April 2012
Our Annual General Meeting will be next month, 18th April at the usual time. All committee positions are open for re-election, so please come along and help bring fresh ideas into your Welsh Society.
Message from President Sylvia
It has been a great privilege and pleasure to be your President, but, as you know, I cannot stand for re-election. Of course, I will continue to be an active member of the Society, but the time has come to pass the baton! I am sure you will all give strong support to the new committee that you will elect in April and that the Society will continue to flourish.
The St. David’s Day Dinner on 1st March was a most successful event and I give my thanks to Olwen, Delys and Bryce for all their hard work, which resulted in such an enjoyable event. My thanks also to Huw for being such a wonderful emcee. His jokes kept us all highly amused. Thanks you Margaret and Delys for giving us such pleasure with their singing.
I must make special mention of my Vice-President, Pat Price, who has stepped in for me and done such a wonderful job during my absence. To Terry - thank you for keeping those cuppas going at all our meetings. Thanks to Olwen for keeping our money affairs in order, and to Bryce as Secretary of the Society and for organising many of our programs. Thanks to Fay and Tony for their support also.
Lastly, I salute you, our members who, without your support, the Society could not function.
St. David’s Day Dinner - 1st March 2012.
This was a very successful event with over fifty people present, and it was good to have President Sylvia with us again. Welcome guests were our Patron, the Hon. Bob Kuchera MLA and his wife Susan, and our auditor Carol Dover with husband lliffe. Several visitors were also welcomed including MLA member Elizabeth Behjat and also Bronwen. Messages of good wishes for St. David’s Day were received from Welsh Societies interstate and overseas. Our emcee Huw Bevan kept the program running smoothly, whilst beguiling us with a series of amusing jokes.
Delys had prepared a short program of songs for everyone to sing, which she led beautifully. Margaret Edwards sang an item, and it was good to hear her sweet voice again.
The winners of the annual limerick, poetry and short competitions were announced and trophies presented to Diana Thompson (limerick), Odwyn Jones (poem) and Fay Hall (short story). These items will be included in our next newsletter.
Our Patron gave a highly amusing little speech. The highlight was our Toast to Dewi Sant. Congratulations to Olwen, Bryce and Delys for organising this very happy evening.
St. David’s Day Evensong at St. George’s Cathedral
This took place on Sunday 26th February. Those who attended said it was a beautiful Service, much appreciated by all.
Perth Male Voice Choir
Sylvia received a message that Glanmor Edwards is seeking men to join the Perth Male Voice Choir. If anyone is interested please get in touch with Sylvia for contact details.
Peel Welsh Society
Joanne and Mark Needs have had a rough time over the last twelve months. They were in a car accident last year (no fault of theirs) and all landed up in hospital, including the children and the dog! They have recovered and are well but have not been able to do much with the Peel Welsh Society. They have just moved to a new address in Meadow Springs and hope to get their Society going again a little later on. If anyone wishes to contact them please contact Bryce for details.
Welsh Humour
“Gentlemen, your wives have all had little boys! However, in the confusion we may have mixed the babies up. Could you come to the nursery to help us identify them?”
The Welshman ran to the nursery, picked up a dark-skinned baby with dreadlocks and said,
“This boy is mine.”
The surprised doctor said, “But this child looks Jamaican.”
“True”, said the Welshman “but there is a fifty-fifty chance that one of the others is English and I’m not taking the risk.”
Church Humour
Sometimes women are overly suspicious of their husbands. When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset. “You’re running around with other women” she charged. “You’re being unreasonable,” Adam responded. “You’re the only woman on earth.”
The quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be awakened by someone poking him in the chest.
It was Eve. “What do you think you’re doing?” Adam demanded.
“Counting your ribs,” said Eve.
Thanks to Mavis Williams for these items from “Y Wawr” Magazine of the Melbourne Welsh Church.
Gruffydd ap Cynan (c. 1055 - 1137)
He was a King of Gwynedd. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was remembered as King of all Wales. As a descendant of Rhodri Mawr, Gruffydd ap Cynan was a senior member of the princely house of Aberffraw. Through his mother Gruffydd had close family connections with the Norse settlement around Dublin and he frequently used Ireland as a refuge and as a source of troops. He three times gained the throne of Gwynedd and then lost it again before regaining it once more in 1099 and this time keeping power until his death. Gruffydd laid the foundations which were built upon by his son Owain Gwynedd and his great-grandson Llewellyn the Great.
(Another item from “Y Wawr” Magazine of the Melbourne Welsh Church)
“I haven’t become an American! Having a house in LA is just where the house is. It’s just a convenience thing living there. I carry Wales around inside me. I’d consider moving back there one day. I never really left.”
Tom Jones
“The good Lord didn’t create anything without a purpose, but the fly comes close.
Mark Twain
Note from the Editor
We are always on the lookout for jokes, stories, poems, so please keep your items rolling in.
