Newsletter Spring 2022

 Dear Member(s),

This is a newsletter I fully intended to write BEFORE Easter not a week later but so many things seemed to get in the way – a sign, I suppose, that we’re all now as busy as we were before Covid hit us. Since my last newsletter we have not only successfully celebrated our 40th anniversary but also organised a well attended study day after a gap of two years.

Next up is a new members’ coffee morning, scheduled for May 18th. This was also cancelled two years in a row and means that a number of those new members we’ll be inviting have become very familiar faces! I’ll be meeting up with Julie, our membership secretary, next week to finalise arrangements and issue invitations. Weather permitting, it will be a garden event.

Better weather also means it’s time to think of outings and we will be combining with the Pantiles Society to offer you the chance to join two forthcoming trips, details of which are attached. Kent societies feel more than ever that cooperation is the way forward and I am due to meet up with the chairmen of the two Sevenoaks societies next week to discuss possibilities. Those of you at our March study day may have noticed a couple of unfamiliar faces!

Coming up: our next lecture on Thursday April 28th will be ‘The Elgin Marbles – A History of Meaning’ with Alan Read. Removed from the Parthenon two centuries ago, this lecture explores the response to them over their time in Britain and the current debate surrounding their restitution to Athens.

Thursday May 26th ‘A Life of Art and Love – The Life and Works of Giacomo Puccini’ with Roger Askew. Puccini is one of the most popular of all operatic composers with his ability to convey strong emotion through music, and this lecture, illustrated with recordings, explores his life and work.

As always, I really hope you’ll continue to volunteer to help out at lectures, whether selling raffle tickets or serving tea. I will send you a reminder a week before and there are written instructions to guide you through the tea making. Your society still needs you!

Thanks, as always, go to the committee and also past chairmen for their support over the last few months. I couldn’t do this job without them.

In the meantime, I hope that most of you have managed to steer clear of the more recent Covid wave and were able to enjoy a more normal Easter with friends and family. For the Theakers that meant a trip to Diggerland!

Best wishes,

Gill Theaker, Chairman