Really I have no excuse for taking so long to update my blog. But maybe I have looked a bit like a swan, serene on the top but with my legs going wild in the water underneath!
Since the last blog there was the very moving Memorial service for Lady Weir at St. James's Church, Piccadilly. This was, naturally, extremely well attended and reflected Hilary's wide range of interests. I still find it difficult to believe that such a formidable and influential person has gone. At the Reform Club in March we welcomed, formally, His Excellency and Mrs. Hatem Seif El Nasr. Around 100 guests enjoyed the evening and the short speeches from His Excellency and from our Chairman, Baroness Symons. His Excellency has agreed to become our Honorary President and for this we are most grateful.
At Birkbeck College on 20th May we had an enthralling talk by Professor Ronald McCaffer from Loughborough University. he had helped to found the British University In Egypt which shortly will award its 1st degrees. The complex, the construction of which which has financed largely by Mr. Mohamed Farid Khamis, is quite magnificent (I have been fortunate enough to visit the campus) but students number around 2,000 to 2,500 against the10, 000 hoped for. Amongst the audience were two trustees of the BUE, Sir David Blatherwick and Lord Stone, so it was extremely disappointing that the audience numbered just 13 with members who had signified their intention to be there just not turning up. I have to say it is a little dispiriting to organise and evening such as this (with drinks and refreshments afterwards) and get such a poor attendance, particularly as a similar lecture a year ago from the President of the AUC was very well attended.
Our next event will be the Annual Dinner at the Royal Automobile Club on 17th June. The guest speaker will be Lord Malloch-Brown, the British Government's Minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations. To quote from my "flyer": -
"He served as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations from April to December 2006 having been, from January 2005, the Secretary-General's Chef de Cabinet. Before the UN. he worked at the World Bank, joining in 1994 as Director of External Affairs and subsequently serving as Vice President for External Affairs and Vice-President for United Nations Affairs from 1996 to 1999. he founded the Economist Development report and served as its editor from 1983 to 1986. Previously - from 1977 to 1979 - he was the political correspondent of The Economist. Lord Malloch-Brown is a renowned speaker and we are most fortunate that he has agreed to speak at our dinner."
The cost of the dinner will be £60 per head, down from last year's £80 thanks to a generous subsidy from two members of our Executive Committee. Do please come; I can assure you of a happy and interesting evening in quite beautiful surroundings.
Just before the dinner we plan to launch our first photographic competition: - "Makes me think of Egypt". This website will be used for entries. We have been helped greatly by Amateur Photographer magazine; donors include Soliman Travels and Eon Media with Amateur Photographer donating free annual subscriptions to the 5 winners. The 1st exhibition will open in the Clore Gallery at the British Museum on 14th September with the winners being announced and prizes presented there on Friday 18th DSeptember. Afterwards the exhibition will transfer to Edinburgh University and later Hull University. This will be the First Time the BES will have visited the provinces!
Finally may I mention that at the AGM on 29th April we spoke of progress on becoming a charity and hope that this will all be tied up soon? One irritation is that HSBC Private Bank Ltd has asked us to move our account of HSBC Bank plc, Curzon Street, London. this we are in the process of arranging and I will advise you of the ramifications to your Annual Banker's Order!
Noel rands
29th May 2009
P.S. May I mention that my "compuserve" e.mail account stopped working without warning last week and so my e.mail address (and for the society) is now noelrands@hotmail.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment