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Friday, February 27, 2009 dawned with gray, drizzly skies but our very own Welsh magician, the Amazing Kenneth (a.k.a. Ken Evans, WSCO president), conjured up a bit of blue sky and some sunshine about 30 minutes before the flag-raising ceremony.
The sun disappeared by the time the attendees gathered around the flag pole, but Ken tapped into the powers of his ancient Celtic heritage and kept the rain at bay.
John Davids, accompanist for WSCO’s Columbus Welsh Singing Society, gave us the pitch for our singing and, after the American National anthem, the flag went up the pole while we were singing “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau”.
After Matt Colopy from the Governor’s Office of Global Relations read a proclamation from Governor Strickland honoring the Welsh and St. David’s Day, our small, but singing-with-gusto, group graced High Street with the sweet sounds of “Calon Lân” and “Cwm Rhondda”.
Senator Jim Hughes, whose wife is also Welsh, closed the ceremony with the reading of a proclamation from the Ohio Senate.
Charlotte Prior, Gene Beard, Roger Roberts, Homer Williams and Ken gathered, after the ceremony, in the lobby of the Riffe Tower, toured the backstage of the acclaimed Riffe Theater, and then went through the tunnel system (under Front Street) to the Ohio Judicial Center where they were received by their personal, knowledgeable guide Rex Zent and his son, John.
Several late arrivals missed the flag-raising but met, by accident, under the Red Dragon flag. Holly Church Wendell discovered Chris Watkins, who had traveled down from Wooster with his three children, Aneira, Bryn, and 5-and-a-half-month old Eleri, and they joined up with the rest of the group at the Judicial Center.
Ken reported that it was a wonderful tour with a lot of Ohio history told richly in paintings, motifs, murals, and sculpture, and urges others to check out www.ohiojudicialcenter.gov.sconet.state.oh.us or call (614) 387-9223 to arrange a tour.
Many thanks to Ken for coordinating the flag-raising ceremony, providing the daffodil-yellow song sheets (much easier to handle in the famous Broad & High winds than song books!) and arranging the post-ceremony tours.
In addition to those already mentioned, ceremony attendees were: Carrie Yost, aide to Rep. Clyde Evans, and Mike Evans (related to Rep. Clyde Evans), aide to Rep. Ron Maag; Donna Boyce, Eileen Davies, Lynn Jones, Joe Speakman, and Peggy Morgan Speakman.
The lovely Brookside Golf and Country Club was the location of our Feb. 28th celebration where we gathered to greet old friends and meet new ones. Our day of great Welsh camaraderie brought people from near and far across Ohio -- Radnor, Delaware, the Welsh Hills and Pickerington; Mansfield, Lancaster, and Chillicothe; Tipp City and Cincinnati.
For our 10 a.m. seminar, “An Insider’s Look at Wales”, we viewed a selection of Mary Ellen Morgan’s photographs of “the landscape, architecture, oddities, and people of Wales”. The many wonderful slides ranged from curious buildings, Welsh cobs and sheep with undocked tails to the bleeding yews of Nevern. Her commentary included historical facts and interesting tidbits such as the information that Welsh grave markers show the baptism date and not the birth date – a good thing for you genealogists to know! I, for one, was ready to whip out my passport, pack my bags, and hop on a plane to Cymru.
Dr. Maria Teresa “Mabli” Agozzino conducted our second seminar – “Y Wladfa Heddiw: Contemporary Welsh Language and Lore in Patagonia”. Mabli presented an overview of the Welsh settlement in the Chubut Valley in South America and the harsh life of the 1865 settlers and talked about the decline of Welsh in common use as a “working” language – the Welsh dialect is spoken to a Spanish rhythm. She gave examples of how both Welsh and Spanish words are often used in the same sentence and of “hybrid” words with the root of the word from one language and the suffix from the other. Her presentation was accompanied by slides of the area and the people living where she conducted her study.
After the annual meeting we were “greeted “ in the dining room with white tablecloths, yellow napkins, and Dianne William’s elegant white tulip and yellow daffodil bouquets and we sat down to begin our meal with leek soup.
Following a short greetings and announcements session during which Beth Ransopher, WSCO vice-president, revealed the new WSCO logo chosen by the members and presented a thank you gift to president Ken Williams for his past year in the office, we sat back to enjoy the piano music of John Davids, the accompanist for the Columbus Welsh Singing Society. Ann Gillard, conductor for the CWSS, led us in singing Cwm Rhondda to close our afternoon.
Diolch yn fawr! to Mary Ellen Morgan, chair of the event, for her work in securing our location and arranging the menu, seminars and entertainment.
WSCO also gives a special thank you to Dianne and Homer Williams for donating the cost of the bouquet centerpieces.
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