I may have offended - not sure what to do

I was told off slightly by a chair in a meeting a while back for going off track, he was right, I actually liked him even more for being able to do that. Also we sometimes spend a lot of time worrying about something we have said when the person we have spoken to has forgotten all about it.

Yes, you were right. But maybe a bit sharp, although in your post you’ve said as much. You’d probably admit that next time the subject might be raised.

To be fair, the meeting had a specific purpose. It was why everyone was there. Since it had been a good while since you had got together, it was probably too tempting for some not to want to just chat.

I’d let it go now and, as Callistemon has said, you were trying to do your job. It was a Committee meeting. If 3 people you consider friends cannot see that, and that they were testing the patience of the others, they’re obviously not friends.

You were the chair of the meeting, you did what a chair is meant to do. When chairing a meeting I have often drawn the meeting together when two people were having a private conversation - and in my time been quite rightly reprimanded, when I and somebody else were having a private conversation.

If they want to go off in a huff that is their problem. leave them to it and next time you see them just act as if nothing had happened. Everyone else in the meeting was clearly on your side. I certainly wouldn't waste any time worrying about it.

That is your job, as Chairperson, to keep the meeting on track. You did the right thing so don't worry about it.

It's unfortunate that they went off in a huff but I would leave it for the time being.
If anything is said then you could explain that you'd love to hear all their family news if meeting socially, or even after the meeting was over, but that there was a lot to discuss and you needed to get through everything on the agenda.

If they still remain huffy, then that's unfortunate but you have nothing to reproach yourself for.