Summer 13 Newsletter
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1 2 ODA Contacts President Mr. Cledwyn Jones Chairman Warren D. Martin ‘Kwetu Bach’ 4 Gorwel Llanfairfechan LL33 0DS Tel: 01248 680398 E-mail: [email protected] Secretary Elfyn M Edwards 3, Cae Mair Beaumaris LL58 8YN Tel: 01248 810340 E-mail: [email protected] Treasurer Gareth V Williams Llwynysgolaig Ffordd Gwyllt Llanfairfechan LL33 0ED Tel: 01248 680770 E-mail: [email protected] Welsh Affairs John Bryan Jones Heulfryn 7 Victoria Rd Old Colwyn LL29 9SN Tel: 01492 515558 & fax E-mail: [email protected] Committee members Barry A Wynn 7, Ffordd Islwyn Bangor LL57 1AR Tel:01248 353851 Information Technology Don Parry-Jones 21 Laurel Avenue Bangor on Dee Wrexham LL13 0BQ Tel: 01978 780005 E-mail: [email protected] Co-opted members with responsibilities for recruiting younger members Paul D Smith Patrick R Hemphill 5 Parc Derwen Springhill The Green George Lane Denbigh Glemsford LL16 5TJ CO10 7SB Tel: 01824 708017 Tel: 01787 282307 E-mail; [email protected] The Newsletter Editorial Team and Archivist (See page 43 for contact details) 3 IMPORTANT NOTICE IF YOU HAVE NOT YET PAID YOUR SUBSCRIPTION FOR 2013/2014. THIS WILL BE THE LAST NEWSLETTER YOU WILL RECEIVE. The annual subscription is £12.00 and should be paid by the 1 April each year by cheque to The Treasurer, Gareth V Williams, Llwynysgolaig, Ffordd Gwyllt, Llanfairfechan, LL33 0ED. Or fill in the Bankers Order on page 41 and send it to your bank. If you have already paid, please disregard this notice. Thank you. One other thing, we would like to have an up to date list of all our members email addresses. Please send an email to [email protected] Put ODA in the subject line and your name and current address in the message. Thank you. Please note that the views expressed by our contributors are not necessarily the views of the Association 4 Chairman’s Notes The Editor called and told me that I was holding up production! Surely not. I had plenty of time and many things to do and then it dawned that where as I did have many things to do I did not have much time. So I quickly beat a retreat up to the office to strike the iron whilst it was at least partly warm! Already having successfully negotiated myself out of taking part in a planned walk, it had already been moved from the depths of Ffestiniog to the milder shores of Newborough. Good decision .Now as I gazed out of the window faintly through the driving rain and the dark and heavy clouds a glimmer of light appeared over Anglesey. Should I have been with them? No .To the task in hand. What can I say to you all about our weekend .Elfyn will report on the General Meeting and Gareth will update on his report. It is difficult to describe my feelings leading up to the meeting .Perhaps; they could be compared to those of a young recruit approaching his first parade or those of a young groom about to take the first steps towards the Altar! An enormous desire to please but some considerable apprehension and doubt. However, due to the excellent work of the committee ,for which I am extremely grateful ,although there are still niggling doubts as to what they are up to, the meeting went well and I would like to thank you all for your confidence and acknowledgement of what we have done. So on to the evening and a lively noisy gathering .Perhaps I am getting better I didn`t feel that I had to shout so loudly and the tables soon began to form. There was much chatter and the taking of many photographs. There was one moment of panic when it did look as if Alun was about to do a mischief to himself!! It was a delight to witness and to listen in to the conversation between our President and our guest speaker. Full of wisdom tempered with humour which continued into Tom`s speech .It was quite wonderful to hear his recollections of school and I feel was most appropriate for an O.D.A. dinner. I was very pleased to hear that he was a member of that large club who were terrified of Ned Darke! As I drew the gathering to a close I realised that my memory was not as good as his and had to admit that Mrs Noah did not appear in Captain Brassbound`s conversion .As is usual the conversation continued and it was good to see our two young guests very much involved and enjoying themselves. Many thanks to Medi for steering them through the evening `s proceedings. We have an interesting future in front of us. Will our two young recruiters (comparatively young) be able to bring in about 25 of their Ilk and so ensure that we can have a seamless transition to the next committee. I hope so but if it not possible then we will have to face up to what many organisations have to meet and think carefully about our future. Myself I feel that a planned withdrawal is much preferable to a collapse or even worse a fade out. 5 For the moment we can together look forward to our next Summer gathering and some more pleasant moments in each other’s company. May I assure you that your committee will do its utmost to carry out your wishes as expressed and once again a heartfelt thank you for your support. Warren REUNION DINNER 2013 Dr. Tom Jones. His speech was quite wonderful. To listen to his recollections of school life was most appropriate for an O.D.A. Reunion dinner 6 It was a delight to witness and to listen in to the conversation between our President and our guest speaker. Full of wisdom tempered with humour The evening was full of enjoyable conversation, retelling of happy memories, and as usual in excellent company. Many thanks to Medi for steering our young guests through the evenings proceedings. Amy and Leon gave us a very heartfelt “Thank you” at the end of the proceedings. 7 Secretary’s Notes Anyone who has ever belonged to an organisation, be it political, a sports club, or social or fund raising charity, will know that, in reality, the whole thing is actually run by a small handful of willing volunteers who then depend on a much larger general membership for periodical support. In our case, the ODA Committee could be described as a “handful” and occasionally “willing”, so it was particularly pleasing that 42 members turned up to our General Meeting at the Carreg Bran Hotel on May11th. Only a few enjoyed the buffet lunch on offer (was it too expensive at £9.50 ?) Then the meeting heard how the ODA had been active over the past two years, including a number of social events such as the Presidents Lunch, a Summer Lunch, and fortnightly walks with Rucksack Club followed by two Christmas lunches. The President, Cledwyn Jones, had presented the ODA Awards, and spoken at several functions with considerable charm and wit. Our main function, though was keeping members in touch with the regular Newsletters and several members expressed the view that they were the “life blood” of the ODA although more content needed to be relevant to our members from the 60s and 70s. Our chairman, Warren Martin, urged members from post 1950s to make contributions to the newsletters or the present ODA could well fall by the wayside again as our present (1950s vintage) committee have all limited “shelf lives”!! On this last point, it was agreed that two years between general members meetings is far too long a time period for many of us, so the concept of Annual General Meetings would be introduced with a Members Dinner and Members Lunch on alternate years. The ODA Friends have had a successful if limited beginning with a number of close friends, wives , and relatives of members joining in activities. Please encourage such people in your lives to join and keep the ODA solvent. Don Parry Jones paid tribute to our archivist, Hefin Williams, the archives now containing the very first Dominican magazine dated 1908 and they were attracting enquiries from several sources including one lady from New Zealand looking for information about her grandfather for which Hefin was able to be of assistance. Summing up, the chairman reiterated the need for our members, younger and older to make the newsletter, and therefore the ODA, their own “baby” by using it, and playing a part in it. Judging by the warm reception and the subsequent very successful evening and Dinner, his comments have not fallen on deaf years. Elfyn 8 The Chairman opens the Biennial General Meeting and is listened to patiently by the members Photos by Alun Jones 9 Message from Editor Dear Colleagues and Readers Time waits for no man! It seems only yesterday, in this old man’s mind, that we were leaving Friars School for the last time. That was in 1953! Where have the last 60 years gone? Water under the bridge flows all too swiftly and silently for us to realise how quickly we age. This was certainly brought to mind at the recent ODA Biennial Dinner. As you have read from Chairman’s Notes, it was an evening of pleasant socialising and chatter. Two things brought a realisation of time; one was a fellow diner and the other an honoured guest. The fellow diner was Gwyn Rees Jones of the famed engagement process in Northern Ireland where we were posted to after training.