OUR HISTORY
EIN HANES
In 1965, a group of Welsh friends, nostalgic for their homeland, decided to go out for a meal on the first day of March to celebrate St. David’s Day. The idea of forming a Norwich Welsh Society came from this gathering. (These friends may not have known that there had been, at least, two previous attempts to form such a society. The first, in the 1920’s was very short lived but the second had been more successful but had agreed to close down soon after the start of WWII).
The dinner plans continued and a second celebration was held in 1966 but then, when plans for the formation of the Society were almost complete, the driving force behind the idea (and due to be the first President), Mr. Trevor Jones, was required to leave Norwich. However, this was not allowed to prevent the birth and the first President, Mr Horace Rowley, was duly elected at the inaugural meeting of the Norwich Welsh Society in 1967.
The new Society rapidly gained a membership in excess of fifty and settled into a programme of monthly meetings from September to May with at least one outside meeting in the summer (often accompanied by Welsh rain!). The high-point of the year has always been the St David’s Day Dinner and church service on the closest Sunday. For many years the Society has supported the Welsh charity TENOVUS (known for its research work on cancer and its care of cancer patients) with collections during the St. David’s Day celebrations.
For many years monthly meetings were held at the Assembly House in Norwich but these were brought to a sudden end by a fire in 1995 which caused severe damage to this wonderful building. This fire was almost the start of the end of the Society; in 1995 meetings were becoming less well attended and the forced change of meeting place triggered an accelerated reduction in the audience, causing embarrassment to those who did attend. This reached a crisis in 2002 when it was suggested at the AGM that the Society should close but the members responded with a determination to prevent it.
A new format for the annual programme was agreed which introduced a more social character to the meetings; outside in the summer and inside for the rest of the year. This does involve several meals, in addition to the St David’s Day Dinner, but also involves Welsh cultural topics such as musical evenings, Dylan Thomas evening and in recent years groups have met to discuss Welsh history and writing while three groups meet to speak welsh at different levels!
In 2017, the Norwich Welsh Society celebrated our 50th anniversary and we are now looking forward to the next 50 years! The Society feels it has the strength to resist the demise experienced by many societies both cultural and Celtic. We have a growing membership, including younger ones and a vigorous committee who try something new almost every year. While the Society was founded for people who are Welsh by birth or descent we also welcome new members who are non-welsh but (like us) have a love of Wales, its language and culture.
LIST OF PRESIDENTS
1967 • Mr R Rowley
1971 • Dr D Elias
1974 • Mrs B Davenport
1977 • Dr R Baker
1980 • Mrs M Baker
1983 • Mr E Evans
1986 • Mrs Megan Davies
1989 • D Melville-Jones
1992 • Mrs Elaine Twigg
1995 • Eileen Day
1998 • Elinor Thomas
2001 • Marion Davies
2004 • Margaret Goodchild
2007 • Ann Cole
2010 • Christopher Ash
2013 • Margaret Goodchild
2016 • Carolyn Phillips
2019 • Anthony Davies
2022 • Gareth W Phillips
1968 • Rev D Melville Jones
1972 • Mr N Rowland
1975 • Mr R Jones
1978 • Mr L Davies
1981 • Mr D Lane
1984 • Mrs M Cullington
1987 • Mrs J Wright
1990 • Mrs Mary Ash
1993 • Mrs Doreen Donnelly
1996 • Richard Greenway
1999 • Peter Twigg
2002 • Anthony Davies
2005 • Carolyn Phillips
2008 • Mair Parry-Jones
2011 • Frank Tucker
2014 • Eirlys McLean
2017 • Terry McClennahan
2020 • Gareth Phillips
2023 • David Charles
1969/1970 • Mrs K Chatters
1973 • Rev E Francis Jones
1976 • Miss A Jones
1979 • Mrs D Rayner
1982 • Mrs S Walsh
1985 • Mr A Thomas
1988 • D Melville-Jones
1991 • Franklyn Brookman
1994 • Anthony Davies
1997 • Enfys Chalmers
2000 • Dr Arnold Day
2003 • Mary Ash
2006 • Gareth Phillips
2009 • Anthony Davies
2012 • Tony Goodchild
2015 • Gareth Phillips
2018 • David Charles
2021 • Gareth W Phillips
THE PRESIDENT'S CHAIN
The medallion was presented by Mr Ivor Jones, who should have been the first president but moved away just before the inauguration of the Society. For quite a few years the medallion was held by a ribbon while other local Celtic societies had grand chains. Eventually it was decided that we looked like “the poor relations” and a fund raising committee was formed to fulfil our desires. The required £300 was soon achieved and Rev D Melville Jones was the first president to be ennobled.
The bars, engraved with the President’s name and year of office, were added until in 1995 there was no space for a new bar. Lengthening the chain was considered but lady presidents were already complaining of the chain's weight so it was decided to save money and weight by adding later presidents on the reverse of existing bars.
SPECIAL EVENTS
DIGWYDDIADAU ARBENNIG
Over the years, the Norwich Welsh Society have been part of some very special events. We have compiled a couple of our favourites below. Visit our events page for a full list of all our upcoming events and meetings.
TRIP TO WALPOLE OLD CHAPEL
Janaury 2014
In January 2014, the Norwich Welsh Society visited Walpole Old Chapel in Halesworth. Originally two farmhouses, it was converted into a chapel in the 17th century before it eventually closed in 1970. Our trip to Walpole Old Chapel was a wonderful experience, and we even sung a rousing chorus of Bread of Heaven, which you can watch in the video above!
GWALIA MALE VOICE CHOIR CHARITY CONCERT
September 2017
In September 2017, the Norwich Welsh Society invited the Gwalia Welsh Male Voice Choir to Chapelfield Road Church, eight years since they were last in Norwich. The event was to celebrate the life of our former president, Carolyn Phillips (pictured far right), who sadly died in December 2016 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 31 days before. The money raised helped to fund a research project at Oxford University for the earlier detection of the pancreatic cancer.