Our Annual WSWNE St. David's Day Luncheon Event was held Saturday March 4 from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM for our annual St David’s Day Luncheon Event—The day we celebrate our patron saint and all things Welsh. - The event description below is based on the WSWNE Newsletter article written by Board Member Magdalen Dowden.
- See the YouTube video of our post-luncheon program at the end of the article.
WSWNE President Susan Davies Sit
On March 4th, 2023, a gathering of thirty plus intrepid members and guests of WSWNE braved the snow to gather at the Nutmeg restaurant, in East Windsor, CT.
The room was cheerful, made even brighter by pots of daffodils. The bar offered drinks including the colorful Red Dragon cocktail that we had tried at NAFOW in Philadelphia.
Our two youngest members, Matthew and Aiden busied themselves with tickets for several prizes (the Penderyn whisky was a favorite). Our two board members, Ed and Beth Brown, wore their traditional dress of Welsh lady and slate quarry worker.
Janet Lewis read a short obituary of both Gladys Mahoney and Bronwen Hughes Wrinn, and delivered the invocation. Both Gwladys and Bronwen will be sorely missed. After a wonderful lunch and during dessert, we were greeted by president Susan Davies Sit, who addressed the audience with news of Wrecsam Football (soccer) club and their owners , Americans Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, who also have the show ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ streaming on Netflix, now in its second season. Our president also read the proposed slate of WSWNE officers which was approved and accepted. Lunch was served at 12:00 noon followed by a brief Annual Meeting during which the proposed slate of WSWNE Board Members was approved by unanimous vote.
Board member Glyn Dowden read the communication from the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford to mark St. Davids Day which was as usual uplifting
Our program included NAFOW’s Eisteddfod Winning Poets: Adele Evershed and Robert Jones. Poetry, in Welsh and English.
Adele read her winning poem at NAFOW as well as others. They were wonderful and very moving to we immigrants (brought tears of Hiraeth to my eyes!).
Another accomplished poet, Robert Jones of Vermont, zoomed in on a big screen to read us his poem, Clychau Aberddoe, which he performed in Welsh.
Poet Adele Evershed
Adele Evershed, born in Wales and has lived in Hong Kong and Singapore before settling in Connecticut. She started her writing journey by producing scripts for a British ex-pat theatre group’s annual Pantomime. She was encouraged to continue when she was a semi-finalist in the London Independent Story Prize competition. Previous publishing credits include Every Day Fiction, Ab Terra Flash Fiction Magazine, Grey Sparrow Journal, Prose Online, High Shelf, bee house Journal, Shot Glass Journal, and A470 Poem for the Road. In August 2022 she won the North American Festival of Wales (NAFOW)'s Eisteddfod: Poem in the English Language.
Poet Robert Jones
Robert Jones, Born in PA, Robert studied French and Spanish and added Welsh on his own.He has dabbled in writing for most of his life, in fact the first article was for Ninnau in 1987 - in Welsh. He has taught French, German, Spanish and Welsh for a community college and the State University in upstate NY. and travelled often to north Wales. he and his spouse have moved to Vermont where they run a small gift and import store inspired by Wales and his European travels. In August 2022 he won the North American Festival of Wales (NAFOW)'s Eisteddfod: Poem in the Welsh Language.
… and a 100 year anniversary of Heddwch Nain Mamgu “In Her Own Words”.
“In Her Own Words” is a celebration of 100 years since 390,000+ Welsh women signed a petition and sent an appeal for Peace to the Women of America. Meeting the President was not the highlight of their trip. Jessie Roberts reads Annie’s own words as she traveled throughout the USA.
We were treated to a history of Heddwch Nain/Mamgu- Our Grandmothers Peace, written and presented by Jacqueline Burke, a professor at George Mason University, Virginia and supported by lawyer and actress Jessie Roberts. The history relates the efforts of three Welsh women, Annie Hughes Griffiths, Elined Prys and Mary Ellis to bring peace to the world following the horrendous World War One. These three women took their petition to the USA, meeting President Calvin Coolidge and succeeded in gathering 390,000+ signatures of Welsh women on paper that stretched for seven miles in length, an incredible feat in 1923. They hand delivered it in 1924 to American women in New York and Washington DC encouraging them to lobby Congress to join the League of Nations. It was so very interesting and enlightening.
Jessie Roberts and Jacqueline Burek
Jacqueline Burek, Susan Davies Sit, Jessie Roberts
Jacqueline Burek, is an Assistant Professor in English Literature at George Mason Univ. Her research interests include Welsh literature and culture.She was a fulbright scholar at Aberystwyth Univ for two years. She is a Welsh learner and a member of the Washington DC St. David’s Society and a member of the research team of Heddwch Nain Mam-gu .
Jessie Roberts has an MFA in Theater from Brandon Univ. and has performed in San Francisco and New York City, and has been involved with over 50 plays in the community theater world. She joined Heddwch Nain Mam-gu in the hope she could produce a theater piece telling the story, along with Elen Davies in Wales to bring the story to the stage in time for the 2023 Peace Conference.
There were prize drawings for some very special items donated to us for this very special day.
Our event ended with the singing of the Welsh National Anthem.