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Mar. 11th, 2007 05:22 pmThe girls were at Southampton this afternoon, but of course that bloody dentist's bill put paid to my attending, so I ended up joining my mother at the Portsmouth Welsh Society's annual hymn-singing gathering at a local church.
Even if hymn singing isn't quite my thing, they were a very friendly lot. The welcome and prayers and half the hymns were in Welsh, though most of the membership are English-speakers from the Swansea-Cardiff-Newport belt. Vic, the Deputy Mayor of Havant, endeared himself to our hosts when he said he was from Wrexham, and spoke in Welsh to the Welsh-speaking lady among the welcoming committee. When John and Pam from Fareham arrived, I went to kiss Pam; she reluctantly let me, then said "Don't come near me, I'm full of bugs." I momentarily got a mental picture of Pam's body being infested with creepy-crawlies, but soon realised from her sniffing that she meant a cold or flu. My mother asked whether they were feeling too gloomy after Italy controversially beat Wales in the rugby yesterday - a couple said "We won't talk about that"; the visiting Welsh vicar said "That was yesterday, it's over and done with now."
Alan, the conductor, who'd travelled from Cardiff, introduced each hymn with some patter - before the one called 'Aberystwyth' he said "It's a glorious sunny day, so imagine being on the beach at Aberystwyth, and going for an ice cream" etc. He made us all sing several of the hymns twice when he wasn't 100% happy with the renditions!
After the service we were served cups of tea, and invited to help ourselves to a generous spread of Welsh cakes and other tasty cakes. We talked to Brian, one of the society's former presidents, who revealed he's actually an Englishman from just over the border in Shropshire - he'd been dragged into the Society by his Welsh wife. We told them about visits we'd made to Wales; when we mentioned our trip to Porthmadog last summer, Brian went and fetched Megan, who came from Porthmadog, and we had a little chat about The Goat pub and the town of Beddgelert. As we said goodbye, the tea lady said "See you next year?" We pointed out that there'll be a new Mayor next year. She said "Ah, just come anyway."
Got to go watch Plymouth v Watford.
Even if hymn singing isn't quite my thing, they were a very friendly lot. The welcome and prayers and half the hymns were in Welsh, though most of the membership are English-speakers from the Swansea-Cardiff-Newport belt. Vic, the Deputy Mayor of Havant, endeared himself to our hosts when he said he was from Wrexham, and spoke in Welsh to the Welsh-speaking lady among the welcoming committee. When John and Pam from Fareham arrived, I went to kiss Pam; she reluctantly let me, then said "Don't come near me, I'm full of bugs." I momentarily got a mental picture of Pam's body being infested with creepy-crawlies, but soon realised from her sniffing that she meant a cold or flu. My mother asked whether they were feeling too gloomy after Italy controversially beat Wales in the rugby yesterday - a couple said "We won't talk about that"; the visiting Welsh vicar said "That was yesterday, it's over and done with now."
Alan, the conductor, who'd travelled from Cardiff, introduced each hymn with some patter - before the one called 'Aberystwyth' he said "It's a glorious sunny day, so imagine being on the beach at Aberystwyth, and going for an ice cream" etc. He made us all sing several of the hymns twice when he wasn't 100% happy with the renditions!
After the service we were served cups of tea, and invited to help ourselves to a generous spread of Welsh cakes and other tasty cakes. We talked to Brian, one of the society's former presidents, who revealed he's actually an Englishman from just over the border in Shropshire - he'd been dragged into the Society by his Welsh wife. We told them about visits we'd made to Wales; when we mentioned our trip to Porthmadog last summer, Brian went and fetched Megan, who came from Porthmadog, and we had a little chat about The Goat pub and the town of Beddgelert. As we said goodbye, the tea lady said "See you next year?" We pointed out that there'll be a new Mayor next year. She said "Ah, just come anyway."
Got to go watch Plymouth v Watford.
