It might have caught your eye a few weeks ago that Lance Corporal Shenkin of 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh passed away after an illness.
It took me back to our first meeting, I had been tasked with staging a dinner for 700 to celebrate the inaugural Wales Open golf tournament but more importantly to show the world of golf what Wales could offer as part of their bid to stage The Ryder Cup.
So, I decided to demonstrate to the Seves, Montys and Torrances of the world that Wales knew how to put on a show.
We worked in cockles, sea trout, leeks, laverbread and lamb into the menu. Two Japanese ice artists carved a one metre high Welsh dragon with a channel carved through the centre so shots of Welsh whiskey could be dispensed .
Dinner was called and guests entered the room to be met with a wall of sound created by bringing together three male voice choirs from local villages in the valleys.
All was going well, with good food, alcohol flowing and soothing background music from a duo of harpists, enter guest speaker Max Boyce with the brief to whip up some Welsh patriotism.
Now Max is best known for his love of rugby and the use of his catchphrase `I know `cos I was there` as he seemed to work his way through Welsh rugby triumphs of the past 40 years.
After 40 minutes he showed no signs of finishing and I received word that the Sergeant-Major of 3rd battalion The Royal Welsh needed to see me urgently, for you see, as the grand finale I had arranged for their regimental band to march through the room led by Lance Corporal Shenkin who was getting a bit impatient and had started to do what goats do, all over the carpet in copious quantities.
All ended well, we cut Max’s mike, opened the doors, the band marched in and Lance Corporal Shenkin helped lead Wales closer to The Ryder Cup.