Annual St. David's Day Luncheon

To attend, PLEASE NOTE PAID RESERVATION DEADLINE: SATURDAY, FEB. 22.

Join us Saturday March 1 from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM for our annual St David’s Day Luncheon Event—The day we celebrate Wales’ patron saint and all things Welsh.

See Luncheon Menu and prices at the end of event description>

Event highlights: Full details at our

11:00 AM Social Hour: we begin with a social hour in our own room, decorated with daffodils and flags, with lyrical Welsh music playing in the background.

Meet friends old and new; enjoy cheese, crackers, crudités, and fresh fruit. Cash bar available.

There will be time to browse our tables, have your photo taken with two of our Board members in Welsh national dress, and find your Welsh roots on our map!

12:00 Lunch will be served promptly at 12:00 noon.

During lunch and before our feature presentation, WSWNE members who traveled to Wales in 2024 will show a few slides and tell short stories about their trips.

Board member Magdalen Dowden will talk about the black and yellow St. David’s flag. How did that flag come about?

There will also be a brief Annual Meeting during which the Board for 2025-2026 will be elected.

Our 2025 Post-luncheon Program includes:

John Bollard presenting: Dafydd, awenydd wiwnwyf, Dafydd, poet of fine desire -

Dafydd ap Gwilym was one of the greatest lyric poets of early European literature. He was, however, much more personal than other poets of the age. Dafydd’s favorite subject was love, and he sang most often of his own (sometimes fictional) misadventures in his quest to win the one he loved most – whoever she might be at the moment!

John Bollard, author of Cymru Dafydd ap Gwilym / Dafydd ap Gwilym’s Wales, will introduce us to Dafydd, his poetry, and some of the women who captured, and more often than not broke, his heart.

John will read, and comment on, selections from his book, while showing photographs by his collaborator, Anthony Griffiths.

John Bollard (MA, Aberystwyth; PhD, Leeds) has taught Medieval Welsh literature and language at Harvard, Yale, the Universities of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and English at Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges.

His studies of The Mabinogi are considered seminal in the field, and he has published five volumes of translations of medieval Welsh prose and poetry in collaboration with prize-winning Welsh photographer Anthony Griffiths. He is co-editor, with Michael Livingston, of Owain Glyndwr: A Casebook, a collection of 101 documents about the great Welsh hero.

We will end our day together singing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, the Welsh National Anthem.

Luncheon MENU
Fresh Greens Salad with rolls

Choice of Entree: (The chicken and beef served with vegetable and potatoes)

CHICKEN FRANÇAISE
PRIME RIB OF BEEF (ADDITIONAL $8)
TRADITIONAL FISH AND CHIPS
EGGPLANT PARMESAN

Dessert: Chocolate Mousse; and COFFEE or TEA

Prices Below Include Lunch, Tax, And Tip.
• Members* $38 (except Prime Rib) … Members: Prime Rib: $46
• Guests (non-members): $43 (except Prime Rib) … Guests (non-members): Prime Rib: $51
*Members: All household members living at member address are considered members.

To attend, you must both make your choice of entree and pay in advance (by the SATURDAY, February 22 DEADLINE). You have two choices.

• Credit card payers can RSVP using Eventbrite.

• Check in the mail payers can use the Pay-byCheck RSVP form button on our website event page.

Note: Payments to WSWNE are not tax deductible; your cancelled check will serve as your receipt.

The Welsh Society of Western New England 's website is at https://www.welshwne.org

Host or Publisher Welsh Society of Western New England