There was many a member who was secretly worried about our ‘Fun Night’. Some who worried they might not be able to join in the singing, some who thought their art work would let them down when it came to the illustrating a proverb, some who worried that their Laurence Olivier gene would fail to kick in when it was their turn to have ago at the improvised drama and many who thought that their knowledge of welsh History wouldn’t stand up to close scrutiny …….. but!
In the end everyone had a brilliant time. No embarrassing moments, no being tongue tied and no worrying about saying it in Welsh as saying it in English did just as well.
We began with a ‘Who am I?’ round. Clues were given and the team who guessed the name of the famous Welshman or woman (yes we do have quite a few) won points. If it was guessed correctly after only one clue or if a few more were needed the points varied accordingly. It was amazing watching the teams drag pieces of information back from their primary school days and the debates and discussions as to what exactly was Twm Sion Cati’s real name, where did Betsi Cadwalader live and when did Madoc discover America. Bet you didn’t know it was a Welshman that landed first on the shores of the USA.
For the artists amongst us we had a proverbs round where a team member illustrate a common Welsh proverb and the rest of the team had to decide what it was. For the beginners amongst us we had English equivalents but as no proverb totally matched that just added to the mayhem and the fun.
In between the rounds came the challenge!! Could anyone read the piece without punctuation and get it right all in one go. Several tried and indeed tried valiantly but ….. all failed. Trust me it’s not as easy as it might sound.
Next came our attempt at choral singing. Each team were given the words of a very well known Welsh song and had to sing along to a CD. Unfortunately when the sound was turned down they had to carry on alone. Points were awarded for being as close as possible when the sound was re-instated. Some were not at all bad but others seemed to have changed song in mid-stream! Possibly the heckling (good natured obviously) from the opposition confused them.
Our final round was the dreaded improvised drama. Pairs were given scenarios to act out with not a single moment of preparation time and to quote a certain someone -didn’t they do well. We were all holding our sides to stop them splitting as we laughed heartily at the drama pieces. I’ll never forget Jan’s very stern doctor’s receptionist when dealing with Ron’s very peculiar problem, or John and Lynne’s argument over a football and the realisation that Lynne’s children don’t possess fingerprints! Work that one out!
We ended with a rousing version of Hen Wlad fy Nahadau and left with high expectations of the next Noson Lawen. Maybe you’ll join us next time???
Jane Jones