PIONEER CLUB PARTY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 143, 13 December 1940, Page 11

PIONEER CLUB PARTY

TALK ON WALES BY MRS. D. J.

DAVIES Sunshine and flowers enhanced the Pioneer Club room yesterday for the Christmas party given by the Arts and Crafts Circle of the club.. The mem- , bers and guests were received by Mrs. Mitchell, president, of the circle, assisted by Miss V. Dawson, secretary. A seasonal gift was presented to each guest. Afternoon tea was enjoyed and a talk of much interest on Wales was given by Mrs. D. J. Davies, wife, of Canon Davies. Mrs. Davies spoke mainly of Anglesea, which had become a very popular tourist resort during the last forty years. The druids had been a strong force in Wales where the people were at one time under their subjection, said Mrs. Davies, and at the time of the Roman invasion of England the opposition was led" by druids who hailed .from Anglesea. The Romans eventually raided Anglesea, Where, after about 100 years, they overcame the druids. But after the Romans left England about 400 A.D. Anglesea was frequently raided by the Irish and captives taken to Ireland. St. Patrick was one of these, the Welsh people maintain, for he was born in Wales and after his capture by the Irish later escaped from Ireland and was educated in a Welsh monastery. He eventually returned to Ireland, however, to aid that country. SEATED ON TOMBSTONES. Mrs. Davies gave interesting descriptions of various churches. There were over 80 parishes in Ahglesea alone, many of the churches being extremely small. At one. where she attended the service, there was not room for everyone in the minute church so the congregation of about 40 people sat on the surrounding tombstones. In speaking of historical St. Asaph's Cathedral, the smallest in Great Britain, Mrs. Davies said that although it was completely destroyed in 1408, it was restored again in 1488, and with such success that she felt sure that much that was beautiful and historical now being razed to the ground in London and other parts of England would again be restored with equal success.