Secretay's End of the Year Blog

Secretary’s Blog 31.12. 08
The last day of the year and so I had better get up to date with the events of the last few months. I’m sorry for the delay since my last blog but I do have to wait for the muse to hit me, and sometimes it just passes me by!
On 30th October, Dr. Jean-Marcel Humbert gave a talk at the English Speaking Union on his “Napoleon et Egypte” exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Lavishly illustrated with slides, Dr. Humber gave an enthralling talk which delighted the 100+ members of the audience. He apologised for his English, strange when it was a lot better than many of the voices one hears these days on what passes for the BBC. His accent was reminiscent of the late Sacha Distell but without the guitar and any reference to Brigitte Bardot! He was quite fascinating and received a most enthusiastic reception. I have to say that the ESU provided an excellent buffet reception afterwards.
Biggest shock was the death of Lady Weir. I have put a piece about Hilary on the website already but couldn’t write a blog without mentioning her. She was such a vibrant person, so full of life and even now I can’t believe that she is no longer with us. At the 1st Sir Michael Weir Annual Lecture at the Institution of Civil Engineers, One Great George Street on 27th November, tribute was paid to this remarkable lady in the presence of many members of her family including her mother. The Vice Chairman, Dr. Ahmed El Mokadem spoke of our founding Chairman before introducing The Rt. Hon. Lord Patten of Barnes, OM, PC. Lord Patten was an old friend of Sir Michael and he then gave a stunning lecture on “After the Crash” to an enthusiastic audience of 150, a record for one of our events. Our problem for 2009 will be to find a speaker of the same quality. After Dr. El Mokadem had given the closing remarks, our Chairman, Baroness Symons, thanked Lord Patten warmly and presented him with a certificate confirming that he is the 1st Honorary Member of The British Egyptian Society. She then announced that Dr. El Mokadem had decided to retire as Vice Chairman but he was happy to accept the title of “Patron and Founder Member” and confirmed his continued interest in the Society.
The Society’s visit to Paris took place during the 1st weekend in Paris. Setting aside the chaos over breakfast on the Saturday morning and one of the guests collapsing over dinner in a local bistro, needing paramedics to take her to hospital, the weekend was mostly enjoyed! The highlight undoubtedly was Dr. Humbert’s conducted tour of his exhibition on the Monday morning, on a day when the gallery was closed to the public. Dr. Humbert is both a master of his subject and also the English language. He showed us an incredibly well curated exhibition and, again, seemed to eat time effortlessly. We are indebted to Cathie Bryan for persuading Dr. Humbert to give the lecture at the ESU and also the tour of the exhibition.
At our Executive Committee Meeting on 9th December 2008, Professor Magdy Ishak-Hanna was elected unanimously Vice Chairman, in succession to Dr. El Mokadem. At the same meeting it was agreed that the 4 office holders (Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary) would be ex-officio Trustees of the Society after we have been granted Charitable Status. At the next meeting it is hoped that we will agree on the other 8 trustees.
The year ended on a disappointment. We had been working with the British Museum on a major Joint Conference on Conservation in October 2009. However, doubts over sponsorship during these troubled financial times means that it is being postponed for a year. Naturally, we do have other items planned. A privately conducted tour of the Petrie Museum early in 2009 and a major event in the autumn will be a photographic exhibition which is the brain child of our Executive Committee Member, Ms. Dina Soliman. We are working also on the occasional lunchtime lecture.
May I end by thanking the National Bank of Egypt (UK) Ltd for their sponsorship of this website and by saying that we are always looking for new ideas and events. If there is anything that you would like us to arrange, please send me an e.mail at noelrands@compuserve.com
May I wish you all an extremely Happy New Year?
Warm regards,
Noel Rands, Secretary, the British Egyptian Society