Milestone reached! Total donations exceed
£100,000.
Just over fifteen
years
ago, a small group of friends in The
Farmers Arms decided to form a club to
raise
funds for local charities and organizations. The
club become known as
the Penknife
Club. That first
year, 1995, the Penknife Club
made donations of £397. Since then the
Penknife Club has gone
from strength to strength and in 2009 made
donations totalling,
£11,237. Donations to date since the club
was formed is now at
£104,969. Click here
to see letter from St. Davids City
Council.
St. Davids City Council Community Award Scheme
2005.
The Penknife Club were the recipients of this
award!
Forthcoming (planned) events
Treginnis Fete - Treginnis Farm, 10am - 4pm
Saturday 16th July
The annual
Treginnis Fete is on Saturday 16th July and the
Penknife Club will be there to provide the beer,
the burgers and a delicious hog roast.
For more information see here.
Past events
Cycle Challenge Wales - Rugby Club, 5pm Thursday
9th June
Cycle
Challenge Wales arrived at St Davids Rugby Club
at 5pm on
Thursday June 9th.
With a wealth of talent from Welsh Rugby in the
saddle, they put
the mini and junior teams (and coaches) through
their paces.
Food, drinks and fun was available.
www.cyclechallengewales.co.uk
Sponsored Walk on May 1st
The 2011 Roland
Bateman
and Bob ‘Taxi’ Jenkins Memorial Walk started at
9.30am at The
Farmers Arms with
over 30 (TBC) people who all walked 6 miles to The
Royal George in
Solva.
You can see
the
poster and route here.
The
photos are here.
All
the
proceeds raised are in aid of
Solva & St David’s District Nurses.
2011 New Year's Day Sponsored Swim - Whitesands
Beach
The
annual New Year's Day swim was held at
Whitesands Bay. The swim was
organised by David Chant and all proceeds will
be donated
to local emergency services, the RNLI
and Porthmawr
Lifesavers.
The photos from the event are here.
Treginnis Fete, Sat. July 17th, 2010
The annual Treginnis
Fete
was held at Lower Treginnis
Farm in aid of the Friends of Treginnis. The
Penknife Club provided
refreshments as usual.
14th Signal Regiment Family Open Day, Sat.
June 26th, 2010
The Penknife Club
provided
refreshments at this event.
Please see their official website here
for more details.
Cycle Challenge Wales 2010 reaches St. Davids,
Thu.
10th June 2010
There was a coaching
session at the Rugby Club at 6 p.m.
followed by a Medal Presentation and barbecue.
Please click here
to see the official website. And the route they are following.
Longboat Rowing Races, Solva, Sun. June 6th,
2010
Solva Rowing and
Watersport
Club hosted longboat rowing
races on Sunday 6th June 10a.m from Trinity Quay
Solva. The St. Davids
Penknife Club provided refreshments from their new
catering trailer.
Charity Marathon Relay - Sat, May 29th, 2010 -
Bank
Holiday weekend.
The fifth sponsored
relay
marathon through the streets
of St.Davids was organised by Andrew Chalmers.
This raised £1,079
which will be presented to the St. Davids Rugby
Club minnies.
Penknife Club Annual Ball, Fri. 21st May 2010
This years ball was
held at
The Bishops. Dress - DJ's.
Penknife Club Annual Walk, Sun. 2nd May 2010,
09:30
start
This years walk was
organised by Les, Rob and Brock. In
memory of departed friends this walk was known as
The Roland Bateman
and Bob 'Taxi' Jenkins Memorial Walk. The walk
started and ended at The
Farmers Arms, St. Davids. Proceeds will be donated
to the Solva and St.
Davids District Nurses. Click here to see poster. Click here
to see map of route. Click here
to see photos. A record 73 walkers took
part and as at 1st June over £2,200 had been
received by our
Treasurer.
Penknife Club Beard and Moustache Growing, Apr
2010
Members were invited
to
grow moustaches or beards to
raise money for Ward 10 Withybush Hospital. As at
5th May £1,980
has been received by our Treasurer. More monies
have been promised.
There was a shave off during our April meeting at
The George Solva.
Click here
to see photos.
Annual General Meeting 2010
The Penknife Club's
17th
AGM was held at The RAFA Club,
Thu Jan 28th, 2010 at 08:00 p.m. Executives
election took place. Please
see the Contact
page for Executive details.
2010 New Year's Day Sponsored Swim - Whitesands
Beach
The annual New
Year's Day
swim was held at Whitesands
Bay. This years event was organised by David Chant
and all proceeds
will be donated to local emergency services. The
Mayor Councillor
Stephanie Halse kicked off the proceedings for the
57 swimmers.
Sponsorship monies and donations have reached
approx. £2,800.
Please click here
to see pictures. Thanks to everyone for their
support. Many thanks to
Mick and Julie Rose for the cawl at Whitesands and
Matthew Blakiston
for free cawl at the Farmers Arms afterwards. Also
huge thanks to the
St. Davids RNLI, Red Cross and the Porth Mawr SLSC
for looking after
everyones safety.
The funds were split
between the Wales Air Ambulance,
St. Davids RNLI and the Porth Mawr Surf and Life
Savers club. A
presentation of cheques for £933.79 each was
made at The Old
Cross Hotel, Mar 24th to Hannah Perkins, Wales Air
Ambulance; David
John, St. Davids RNLI; and Junior members, Lea
Rees, Nathan Jones and
Scott Riches, Porth Mawr SLSC. See pictures below.
Solva Rowing and Watersports Club Presentation -
Sept
2009
Phil Prickett, for
The
Penknife Club, presented a cheque
for £1000 to Dr. Iain Robertson-Steel, Solva
Rowing and
Watersports Club, towards the replacement of the
safety boat engine.
This money was raised at various Royal George
& Ship events
organised recently. See picture below.
Bank Holiday Extravaganza - Aug 30th, 2009, The
Royal
George, Solva
There was for live
music on
the sun terrace with lamb
spit roast and barbecue. Click here to see poster
Treginnis Fete, Sat. July 11th, 2009
The annual Treginnis
Fete
was held at Lower Treginnis
Farm in aid of the Friends of Treginnis. The
Penknife Club provided
refreshments in the beer tent and at the burger
and roast lamb stall.
The funds raised were donated to Mike Plant on
behalf of the Friends of
Treginnis.
Simon Davies Football Tournament - Sun, May 31st,
2009.
A special
fundraising
tournament organised by The
Penknife Club and Solva Football Club. Twelve
six-a-side adult teams
competed in knock out rounds for the Simon Davies
Cup. These games were
played on the three roadside pitches from 12am.
The Penknife Club
provided food, a bar, and the usual fun and games.
The day was
completed with a sports quiz in The Harbour Inn
with Ronnie Beynon.
Thank you for all the support - Phil Prickett.
Schedule of
activities:-
- 10.30am Junior games on the main pitch.
- 12am Senior games on the roadside pitch.
- 3pm BBQ Lamb Roast.
- 3.30pm approx Bar Opens!
- 4 pm approx Semi Finals and Finals on the Main
Pitch.
- 5pm approx Cup Presentation.
- 9pm Ronnie's Quiz The Harbour Inn.
Charity Marathon Relay - Sat, May 23rd, 2009 -
Bank
Holiday weekend.
The fourth sponsored
relay
marathon through the streets
of St.Davids, organised by Andrew Chalmers, was
again a huge success
raising over £2,000 for the St. Davids Rugby
Club minnies.
Penknife Club Annual Walk, Sun. 3rd May 2009
This years walk
again
featured Porthllisky and Treginnis
Farms. Walkers met at The Farmers Arms beer garden
at 9.30am. Gareth
"Brock" George organised this event. Proceeds to
Ward 10 Withybush
Hospital and local children’s play groups. Please
click here to see
the poster.
2009 New Year's Day Sponsored Swim - Whitesands
Beach
The annual New
Year's Day
swim was held at Whitesands
Bay. There were 51 swimmers this year raising
between them a total of
£2,276.82. This was split between the Wales
Air Ambulance, St.
Davids RNLI and the Porth Mawr Surf and Life
Savers club. A
presentation of cheques for £758.94 each was
made at The Old
Cross Hotel, Feb 26th to Hannah Perkins, Wales Air
Ambulance; David
John, St. Davids RNLI; and Richard Cox, Porth Mawr
SLSC.
Beer Festival, Ship Inn, Solva, Fri 1st August to
Sun
3rd August 2008
The Ship Inn, Solva;
landlords Paul and Jo Williams;
recently organized a Real Ale Festival and invited
the St. Davids
Penknife Club to run a promotion in conjunction
with the event to raise
funds for local organisations. The picture below
shows Club secretary,
Ivor Thomas, presenting a cheque to Peter Cole,
Solva Football Club,
for £2,072.40. The St. Davids Penknife Club
thanks all staff and
regulars of the Ship Inn for their enthusiastic
support.
Porthclais Regatta, Sat. August 16th, 2008
The Penknife Club
provided
refreshments at this event.
The picture above also shows Frankie John in the
background to whom a
cheque for £400 was presented for the
Porthclais Harbour
Childrens Regatta. With the £200 previously
donated this makes a
total of £600.
Treginnis Fete, Sat. July 12th, 2008
The annual Treginnis
Fete
was held at Lower Treginnis
Farm in aid of the Friends of Treginnis. The
Penknife Club provided
refreshments in the beer tent and at the burger
and roast lamb stall.
The funds raised to date, approximately
£1,170, will be donated
to Mike Plant on behalf of the Friends of
Treginnis.
Penknife Club Guide Coastal Walk and Talk, 29th
June
2008
In aid of Diabetes
Wales
and Local Charities and
Featuring Porthllisky and Treginnis Farms The
Penknife Club annual
walk with a difference started from The Farmers
Arms beer garden at
9.30am, and then took the Porthclais Road down to
the harbour and
followed the coastal path to Porthllisky Beach
where refreshments were
available. The walk resumed on the coastal path to
Carn Ar Wig then
moved inland to Treginnis Farm and eventually on
to St Davids via the
Treginnis Road, left at Penlan and up the
Cathedral steps and lane back
to The Farmers Arms beer garden. During the walk
Rob Davies showed and
discussed points of interest, which included the
Copper Mines, Ramsey
Island, a Cromlech, an Iron Age Fort and Buzzards
Rock.
There were 41
walkers and
at the present time over
£1,000 was raised with more sponsorship
monies yet to come in.
Charity Marathon Relay - Sat. May 24th, 2008 -
Bank
Holiday weekend.
The third sponsored
relay
marathon through the streets
of St.Davids started at 12:00. This was organised
again by Andrew
Chalmers. All monies raised will be donated to the
St. Davids
Mini-Rugby and Mini-Football.
Annual General Meeting 2007
The Penknife Club's
14th
AGM was held at The RAFA Club,
Tues Jan 8th, 2008 at 08:00 p.m. Jim Braby
presented the 2007
final accounts which were
agreed by all members. Executives election then
took place. Please see
the Contact
page
for Executive details.
Just before the
official
start of the meeting a
presentation of funds raised by the 2008 New
Year's Day Sponsored Swim
was made to representatives of Pembrokeshire
Crossroads (Caring for
Carers) and All Pembrokeshire Cruse Bereavement
Care. Individual
cheques for £735 each were presented to
Sharon Houghton for
Pembrokeshire Crossroads and Alan York for All
Pembrokeshire Cruse.
2008 New Year's Day Sponsored Swim - Whitesands
Beach
The annual New
Year's Day
swim was held at Whitesands
Bay. Please click here
to see pictures. Many sponsored swimmers braved
the cold waters on a
reasonably mild day to raise in excess of
£1,600. All monies
raised will be donated to the local charities,
Crossroads (Caring for
Carers) and Cruse Bereavement Care.
First Responders Presentation of defibrillator,
18:00, Tue, Dec 4th, 2007
Many of the members
gathered at the Red Cross Centre,
St, Davids to present a defibrillator to the First
Responders. This was
purchased by the Penknife Club from monies raised
by the 2007 Sponsored
Walk in May.
Picture top left
shows Ivor
Thomas presenting the
defibrillator to First Responder, Roy Thomas.
Other Penknife Club
members present are Phil Harris, David Chant,
Gareth George, Arfon
Morgan, Jim Braby, and Phil Prickett. These are
joined, picture top
right, by Steve Roberts, Pat Thomas, Dr. Iain
Robertson-Steel, Barrie
Webb and David Guy.
Picture bottom left
shows
Bryn Hazledean, paramedic; Dr.
Iain Robertson-Steel, Pembrokeshire Local Health
Board; and Stephen
Roberts, Welsh Ambulance Service First Responder
Officer for Central
and West Wales. After brief talks by these
gentlemen on the importance
of defibrillators throughout Wales and a short
demonstration by Bryn
Hazledean, it was left to David Chant to show just
how easy it is to
operate!! - pity he blew the poor chap's legs off.
Members and Guests Xmas Ball, Thu, Nov 29th, 2007
The annual ball was
held at
the Warpool Court Hotel. The
members and their guests enjoyed a full Xmas
dinner with after dinner
dancing to Will Candler (as Elvis) and his disco.
The award for the
member of the year went well-deservedly to Andrew
Chalmers.
The Really Wild Food and Countryside Festival,
Sat/Sun, Sept 1st/2nd, 2007
The third Really
Wild Food
and Countryside Festival was
held in St. Davids on the St. Davids Football
ground over the two days
Saturday and Sunday Sept. 1st and 2nd, 2007.
Please visit their web
site www.reallywildfestival.co.uk
for details.
The St. Davids
Penknife
Club was invited to provide
refreshments again. David Chant project managed
this effort on our
behalf. All monies raised by the Penknife Club
will be donated to local
organisations.
Treginnis Fete, Sat. July 14th, 2007
The annual Treginnis
Fete
was held at Lower Treginnis
Farm in aid of the Friends of Treginnis. The
weather was glorious as
usual. The Penknife Club provided refreshments in
the beer tent and at
the burger and roast pork stall. The funds raised
will be donated to
Mike Plant on behalf of the Friends of Treginnis.
Charity Marathon Relay - Sat. May 26th, 2007 -
Bank
Holiday weekend.
After last years
success, a
second sponsored relay
marathon through the streets of St.Davids took
place. This was
organised by Andrew Chalmers. All monies raised
will be donated to the
St. Davids Mini-Rugby. Click here
to see the letter. For a
selection of pictures, please click here.
Annual Sponsored Walk - May 6th, 2007
The seventh annual
sponsored walk took place on Sunday,
May 6th. The walk this year was managed by Andrew
Chalmers and was from
The Sloop Inn, Porthgain to The Farmers Arms, St.
Davids. All monies
raised to be donated to the First Responders for
the purchase of a
defibrillator.
Trip to The Big Pit, Apr 2007.
Mystery Tour that
took in
the Big Pit as well as other
locations! For a selection of pictures, please
click here.
Annual General Meeting 2006
The Penknife Club's
13th
AGM was held at The Grove
Hotel, Tues Jan 9th, 2007 at 08:00 p.m. All
current Executives were
re-elected. After the Executive elections there
were three other
elections, namely; Katy Grimwood was voted in as a
new member, Bob
Jenkins was proposed and approved as an Honorary
Life member and Adam
Hill was elected into the new position of
Promotions Manager. Please
see the Contact
page for
Executive details.
2007 New Year's Day Sponsored Swim - Whitesands
Beach
The annual New
Year's Day
swim was held at Whitesands
Bay. Please click here
to see pictures. Approximately 36 sponsored
swimmers braved the cold
waters on a very wet and windy day to raise in
excess of £1,600.
The largest single contribution came from John
Wellman, a fellow member
and Home Editor at The Times, who individually
raised £500 in
sponsorship from his work colleagues. All monies
raised will be donated
to the local life saving groups.
As an example of our
work,
one of last years recipients,
The Porth Mawr Life Savers fund, used the
£1,475 they received
from the Penknife Club to purchase the ten nipper
boards shown in the
picture below. Click here
to
see their thank you letter.
Xmas Party, Sat, Dec 9th, 2006
The Grove Hotel
hosted the
annual members and partners
Xmas party. This was a Fancy Dress party with the
theme being
"Christmas". Please click here
to
see pictures. As you can see a good time was had
by all.
St. Davids Carnival, Bank Holiday Monday,
August 28th, 2006
The annual St.
Davids
Carnival was held at the Rugby
fields with a parade from the Upper School which
started at 14:00. This
event is run by the Lions Club; the St. Davids
Penknife Club entered a
float in the parade. The picture below shows the
members with their
mascot waiting to start the parade. For a
selection of additional
pictures, please click here
.
The Really Wild Food and Countryside Festival,
Sat/Sun, Sept 2nd/3rd, 2006
The second Really
Wild Food
and Countryside Festival was
held in St. Davids on the St. Davids Football
ground over the two days
Saturday and Sunday Sept. 3rd and 4th, 2006.
Please visit their web
site www.reallywildfestival.co.uk
for details.
The St. Davids
Penknife
Club was invited to provide
refreshments again. David Chant project managed
this effort on our
behalf. All monies raised by the Penknife Club
will be donated to local
organisations.
Solva Fete (in aid of the Lower Solva Playing
Fields), July 30th, 2006
The second Solva
Fete,
organised by the St. Davids
Penknife Club in conjunction with the Lower Solva
Play Area
sub-committee, was held in the Lower Solva playing
fields, following on
from the Solva Regatta. This comprised of
traditional activities like a
childrens bouncy castle, bar, burger stall, bottle
stall, cake stall,
mini-duck race and a raffle, sponsored by local
Solva and St. Davids
businesses. Special thanks, again this year, to
Ashley Hart for the
overall organisation of this project on behalf of
the Penknife Club.
The picture, below
left,
shows Andrew Chalmers, Ashley
Hart, Rose Perkins, David Gray, Jim Braby and
David Chant. The picture,
below right, shows Ashley Hart; with David Gray
and Andrew Chalmers;
presenting a cheque to Wendy Wright, Chair person
of the Lower Solva
Play Area sub-committee for the Community Council.
Treginnis Fete, Sat. July 15th, 2006
The annual Treginnis
Fete
was held at Lower Treginnis
Farm in aid of the Friends of Treginnis. The
weather was glorious as
usual. The Penknife Club provided refreshments in
the beer tent and at
the burger and roast pork stall. The funds raised
totalled
£1,985, which was donated to Mike Plant on
behalf of the Friends
of Treginnis, see picture below.
Charity Marathon Relay - Sat. May 27th, 2006 -
Bank
Holiday weekend.
This event, a
sponsored
relay marathon through the
streets of St.Davids, organised by Andrew
Chalmers, took place from the
Penknife Club marquee on the Old Cross lawn,
starting at 10am. All
monies raised were in aid of the youth of St.
Davids. Entertainment was
provided by the Manchester Youth Steel Band and
the St. Davids Fire
Brigade was also on show. The event raised
£3,472.00 and Andrew
Chalmers, with other members of the Penknife Club,
is pictured below
presenting a cheque for £2,472.00 to Carwyn
Ritchards (far left),
the coach of St Davids Rugby Club Juniors. The
balance of
£1,000.00 was donated to the St. Davids
Youth Drop in Centre.
Annual Sponsored Walk - April 30th, 2006
The sixth annual
sponsored
was again be organised by Len
Cotton. Walkers left The Grove Hotel at 10:00 am
for a 9 mile walk
taking in the Bishops Palace, Penarthur Farm,
Rhodiad, Lleithyr,
Whitesands Beach, Treleddyn, Clegyr Boia and
Porthclais. At the time of
publishing £1,187 had been banked with other
monies still coming
in. The final amount will be split between the St.
Davids and Solva
surgeries. Click here
to
see/download a map of the walk.
Solva Duck Race and Fete - Easter Monday, 17th
April
2006
The Penknife Club
provided
refreshments with a Burger
stall. This raised £231 which will be
donated to the Solva
Memorial Hall Fund.
Buxton Trip - 7/8/9 April 2006
This event was
organised by
Len Cotton in partnership
with Bill Preece.
Sponsored Slim - The Grove Hotel from Feb. 16th
to
Apr. 11th
The Lose pounds
(lb's) to
gain pounds (£'s)
sponsored slim, organised by Rose Thompson, took
place this year at The
Grove Hotel. Weigh in was on Feb 16th, at 8 p.m.
Weigh out was Tuesday
April 11th from 19:30. After their long diets the
25 entrants were
pleased to hear that their total weight loss was
105 lbs and a total of
£846 was raised. Sandra and David Chant took
the prizes for the
most weight lost, having shed 2.5 stone between
them.
Rose Thompson and
other
club members can be seen below
presenting cheques of £282 each to officials
of the Cylch Ti a Fi
(Elspeth Cotton), St. Davids Under 5's (Kath
Suttie) and the Little
Saints (Julie Thomas - not in picture).
Sporting Dinner - Thu, March 16th, 2006 - The
Grove
Hotel
This male formal
dinner
event, organised by Ashley Hart,
included rugby star Chris Wyatt who gave an After
Dinner speech and a
sports quiz. Funds raised were donated to the St.
Davids RFC mini-rugby
team.
Talent night - Mon. Feb 27th, 19:30 - 22:00 - The
St.
Davids City Hall.
The Talent show,
organised
by David Chant, in aid of the
Cathedral Choirs' 2006 U.S.A Tour was a great
success with a full
house. The show, compered by Brian Harris,
featured:- The Cathedral
Choir; Mike and Tom Chant, Lowri Evans and Lee
Mason; and Sarah Jane
Jones on the piano.
A cheque for
£803.85
was presented by David Chant
to Sophie Hughes, head chorister, see picture
below left. The picture,
below right, shows Timothy Noon, the choirmaster
holding the cheque
with from l to r David Chant, Jim Braby, Phil
Harris and Ivor Thomas. .
Annual General Meeting 2005
The Penknife Club's
12th
AGM was held at The Grove
Hotel, Wed Jan 4th, 2006. Elections were held for
the 2006 executive
positions; please see Contacts
page
for details. The Treasurer, Jim Braby, reported
that donations for 2005
totalled £13,793.35 (see fund-raising
2005 for details) and that overall donations
since 1995
totalled over £60,000.
2006 New Year's Day Sponsored Swim - Whitesands
Beach
The annual New
Year's Day
swim was held at Whitesands
Bay where the St. Davids City mayor, John George,
led 71 hardy souls
and a sponsored Black Labrador into the freezing
cold water. There was
an even larger turnout of spectators this year
cheering the brave
swimmers on. All proceeds will be split between
the Local Lifeboat crew
fund and The Porth Mawr Life Savers fund. The
oldest swimmer at 74
years of age was Mrs. V. Hopkins, Solva (see
picture 7) who was
sponsored for £167.
NOTE: As at Feb
17th,
£2,950.25 had been
received by our treasurer.
Cheques were
presented by
Jim Braby to members of the
Local Lifeboat crew, (l to r) Malcolm Gray, Jim
Braby, Jeffrey Davies
and Dr. Middleton (see picture below left); and by
Tony Cox to members
of The Porth Mawr Life Savers; (l to r) Richard
Cox, Tony Cox and Kevin
Thomas (see picture below right).
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