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CHAIRMAN’S AUTUMN BULLETIN 2020
In my August bulletin I reported on the start of our remote live lectures using
Zoom, and there was plenty to be pleased about the way they started - enough
for a monthly bulletin, anyway.
Unfortunately, I spent 10 days in hospital in September, recovery through October
and into November - you can see where this is leading: monthly bulletin out the
window, in with the seasonal one! My thanks for the many well wishes I received
and I am delighted to say my recovery is going very well. Well enough to be
chairing Committee meetings again, anyway!
I know you agree with me that your Committee has done an amazing job in
organising and running the live lectures, including the just completed three ‘Study
Day’ lectures on Byzantine icons. They (the Committee, not the icons) don’t like
being singled out for thanks, you know who they are anyway, so on your behalf I
thank them all most sincerely. There have been some stunning lectures this
Autumn, with Leslie Primo’s “The Magi: The true story of the Three Kings” to
come as our Christmas lecture to round off this unique year.
I must thank you all for endorsing our proposals at the remote EGM and AGM in
September. The issue of length of tenure of office for Committee members is a
pertinent one: I have committed to another year in office as Chair, if confirmed by
you of course - i.e. into the 21/22 season. The Committee are considering their
own positions on this, especially where they are coming to the end of their term in
office. I mention this because succession in the Committee is so important for our
continued success, not to say existence. In the current circumstances recruitment
to the Committee without face to face contact is very difficult. I am asking,
therefore, for any of you who would like to be considered for service on the
Committee to contact us.
The membership has held up amazingly well at over 300 - a reflection, I hope, of
what we have done to keep lectures going, so a sincere thanks for your
continued support. At the recent East Midlands Area Meeting (Zoom, of course!)
it was very gratifying to find that we are amongst the ground breakers in exploring
remote lectures. I must say, also, that The Arts Society has done a great job in
both helping us with our Zoom contract and providing excellent online lectures
which any of us can access.
We will be planning our 21/22 lecture programme over the winter in the hope that
we could be meeting physically, vaccines and government rules permitting, so
there is hope for optimism. Until that is a safe and permissible option, we will be
continuing our remote lectures of course.
Our Volunteering sections, Church Recording, Trails of Discovery and Arts in the
Community are all on hold to varying degrees at the moment. We hope to resume
when conditions are conducive and safe.
If you are reading this I don’t need to badger you into using the website. You
might, however, help us encourage as many members as possible to make use
of it. It is updated regularly and is an efficient way to disseminate information and
help communication.
All that remains is to wish you all a Happy Christmas and look forward to actually
seeing you in 2021!
Nigel Harper, Chairman