St David’s Day Luncheon 2009
March 2, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Janet Walquist was the recipient of the prestigious Dewi Sant award at this year’s St David’s Day celebration held on Saturday February 28th, 2009. Janet has been a faithful member and hard working Board member of the organization for many years. She has principal responsibility for organizing the decorating of the 50 foot Welsh Christmas tree at the Museum of Science and Industry every year. This is no mean feat! Boxes and boxes of ornaments have been assembled over the years and meticulously stored and repaired under Janet’s guidance. The first Welsh tree was decorated in 1991 after years of the Board’s petitioning of the Museum for inclusion; an effort spear headed by Karen Mueller. When Karen left to live in Wales Janet took on the leadership role and has continued to add to and care for the colorful array of ornaments which includes musical notes, harps, sheep, stuffed red dragons, Mari Lwyd horse heads and, new this year, daffodils. It is one of the favorite trees in the Museum’s ‘Christmas Around the World’ exhibit of more than 50 themed trees and has been featured in Museum advertising for the event.
In addition to her work on the Christmas tree Janet has coordinated the staffing at the Cambrian booth at Chicago’s two day Celtic Fest in Grant Park for many years. She is an accomplished folk dancer and has introduced a local dance troupe to Welsh folk dancing. The Fermi Lab dancers, who were featured in the recent NAFOW event in Oak Brook, have learned a number of Welsh jigs at Janet’s urging. Their delight in performing these lively traditional reels was very much in evidence at a choreographed perforemance at the Museum of Science and Industry in November 2008.
Over 70 people registered for this year’s St David’s Day luncheon at the grand old Carleton Hotel in Oak Park. A sumptuous four-course lunch was followed by a harp and song performance by Carl and Mona Johnson. Guests ranged in age from two month old Colin Huber, son of Board member Jay Huber, to a long tiome supporter of Chicago Welsh events, 97 year old Mrs. Mair Ropes, who came elegantly dressed and all smiles. The mix of young and old, familiar and new faces, added to the overall ‘joie de vivre’ at the event. An assortment of raffle prizes raised over $300 for future Cambrian sponsored events. The spirit of ‘hiraeth’ generated by the assembled group sent us all home with full hearts and broad Welsh smiles.
Dilys Rana
St David’s Day Banquet
January 26, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
St David’s Day dinner 2010 - details below
Date: Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Time: 11:30am to 3pm
Location: Carleton Hotel
Street: 1110 Pleasant St
City/Town: Oak Park, IL 60302
Contact Info: Dilys Rana at 847-251-3214
Organized By: The Cambrian Benevolent Society of Chicago
Come join us between 11:30 and noon to meet your friends and greet new folks; dinner will be at 12:30. There will be a raffle of interesting items. For further information contact board members Dilys Rana or Barbara Jones.
Carleton Hotel Oak Park
1110 Pleasant St
Oak Park, IL 60302
2007 St. David's Day Dinner
The Annual Welsh Picnic
January 26, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
2007 Annual Picnic
The Cambrian picnic was a highlight of the year for many of the Welsh families who settled in Chicago in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Since its inception in 1869 it has continued to provide good fellowship and good fun for the families who come and bring their picnic lunches and lawn chairs out for a summer afternoon in the park. In recent years it has most often been held in the parks of Oak Park but many years ago it was held in large purpose built parks as far apart as Evanston and Glenwood Park.
In those days most people traveled on the train as few families owned automobiles. Announcements for the picnic included train and street car information. Hundreds of people came out to try and win one of a number of prizes for athletic events. In 1911 there were so many children in attendance that twelve separate races and a high jump contest were arranged. No child was allowed to compete in more than one event. For the adults there were eleven categories of events and fine prizes for the successful competitors; a brooch or a cut glass piece for the ladies and a box of cigars or a pocket knife for the gentlemen.
Baseball and soccer teams competed for a cup which was retained by the organization after winning teams were dutifully recorded. (What has happened to that cup is a mystery. Does anyone know where it is?) Judges were appointed to oversee the competitions and physicians were in attendance to administer to any unfortunate casualties.
Modern picnics are not such elaborate affairs but we still enjoy getting together and having fun chatting and trying out our skills at ‘tea toss’ competitions and ‘shoe kick’ contests. Take a look at the photos from recent picnics held at Maple Park (2005) and Taylor Park (2007) in Oak Park.
The 2009 picnic was held at Taylor Park at Division and Ridgeland in Oak Park on Saturday, July 18th.
2010 Welsh picnic -
Saturday, July 10th at the Taylor Park picnic area, Oak Park, IL. 11a.m. - 3 p.m. Hot dogs, drinks, and ice cream will be available. Bring your folding chairs and prepare for fun and games!
Questions? Call Dilys Rana at (847) 251-3214 or Barbara Jones at (773) 275-9789
Annual Welsh Picnic — Taylor Park 2007 (view photos)
Annual Welsh Picnic — Maple Park 2005 (view photos)
Events
January 26, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
2006 Welsh Heritage Fest
October 15, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
Welsh Heritage Fest
A Celebration of all things Welsh in Chicago
Welsh Heritage Fest, Saturday, October 14th 2006 (view photos)
On a sunny October Saturday Chicago area Welsh folk and lovers of Wales gathered to celebrate the 2nd annual Welsh Heritage Fest sponsored by the Cambrian Benevolent Society. The event was held in the spacious and beautifully appointed Fifth Province room of the Irish American Heritage Center at 4626 North Knox Avenue in Chicago.
From 11:15 until 12:30 the crowd was entranced by the lively foot-stepping of the Fermilab International Folk dancers from Batavia, Illinois. Much to the delight of onlookers, Mady Newfield, the group leader, then invited them to join in and learn a Welsh folk dance. Cambrian Board member Janet Walquist later led fair goers through the steps of the ‘Horned Ram’ and other favorites. In the afternoon we were entertained with familiar Welsh songs and melodies played by a group of musicians from Madison, Wisconsin; Danny Proud on guitar, Mike Briggs on piano and Dave Mullen playing the fiddle. Danny also taught a beginning Welsh class for those who were interested in learning how to pronounce such tongue twisters as ‘diolch yn fawr’ and ‘prynhawn da’.
Children thoroughly enjoyed the craft corner run by Board member, Connie Bloom, who provided a selection of bookmarks, door hangers and sheep cutouts, and y Draig Goch for them to color and decorate. Nadim Rana and Sarah Vera enticed kids big and small to take a chance at ‘Pin the tail on the dragon’ and tossing rings over bottles of Ty Nant water. There was a fine selection of Welsh lovespoons, brasses, CDs of Welsh music and unusual gifts for sale at the booth of The Rampant Lion from Villa Park, Illinois. Dave Parry of The Chicago Tafia offered samples of Abergavenny cheeses and Ty Nant water at his table along with brochures and information about Wales. Cambrian Board President, Gwilym Williams, encouraged people to help themselves to handouts from the Wales Tourist Board and to buy Tenby daffodil bulbs to plant in their Midwest gardens.
Sandy Stanicek of the Women’s Welsh Club manned the refreshment table where there was a constant supply of freshly made tea to accompany the selection of Welsh cakes, sandwiches and slices of quiche. The delicious and unusual varieties of Welsh cakes were donated by Mike Browne of the inFamous Welsh Cookie Company who drove down from Alma, Michigan to participate in our event. At his booth he had an even more impressive selection of flavors including apricot/almond, apple/walnut, and pumpkin spice. The interesting array of raffle prizes, including a Welsh doll, a length of Welsh tweed, and a Cymru baseball hat, attracted a good deal of attention as did the Grand Prize basket of Welsh foods and gifts which included 2 Welsh CDs (Bryn Terfel and Crasdant), a bottle of Penderyn whisky, Halen Mon sea salt and a large chunk of Red Dragon cheese.
By the end of the afternoon Cambrian Society Vice-President Barbara Jones commented that it was gratifying to see so many young families and new faces eager to enjoy the good fellowship of such an event. As with many other small ethnic groups the struggle to engage and retain membership is an ongoing challenge. Cymru am byth!
Dilys Rana
Welsh Heritage Fest Coordinator
(Report prepared for Ninnau, Welsh American newspaper; www.ninnau.com)