The Annual Dinner of the ODA again took place at the Village Hotel in SA1 in May and, following the informal reception and refreshments at the bar, the evening began with warm words of welcome and grace kindly provided by our MC, the Rev John Walters.
The installation of our new ODA president, Steve Balsamo, was conducted by our outgoing president, Gareth Payne, whom we thank most sincerely for the many and varied tasks he has undertaken on behalf of ODA during a busy and challenging year for the Association.
Steve joined Dynevor Comprehensive School in 1982 and left in 1987 to go to Neath College, where his exceptional talents for singing and performing, soon to bring him success on the West End musical stage, began to be recognised and rewarded. His career as a singer and songwriter is well documented; see, for example:
The biographical notes in Wikipedia tell us that Steve was a Dynevor School choir reject because he could not sing, an irony he alluded to when he spoke to us after the dinner. Failing to get a place in the school choir is something he has in common with many former ODA presidents, although none of us went on to take leading roles in musical theatre!
Given his background, it was appropriate and much appreciated by his audience that the after-dinner presentation from Steve was a musical one, with songs performed by him recalling significant moments of his career. His musical accompanist and co-contributor was his friend Mal Pope, yet another of Dynevor’s distinguished musical performers who, as you may recollect, is also a former ODA president. Our sincere thanks go to both Mal and Steve for rounding off so enjoyably the evening’s events.
A final word of thanks goes to our Annual Dinner Organiser, Jeff Vaughan, who has worked tirelessly again this year to make the event a success. Sadly, Jeff must relinquish his role this year after many years so diligently organising the main event of our calendar. Thanks for all the hard work, Jeff! Sincere thanks also go to Margaret Llewelyn, who has again helped us this year to process Annual Dinner bookings. Margaret, we do hope you will be able to continue to assist us in future years!
