Secretary’s Blog: 26th September 2010

To my shame this is the first Blog for several months. I do apologise and if I claim “Pressure of Business” well, so can everyone else.
Just to do a bit of a recap, in April we launched Anthony Sattin’s new book “Winter of the Nile” in the lobby of the Egyptian Embassy, thanks to the generosity of H.E. the Egyptian Ambassador, Mr. Hatem Seif El Nasr. Around 50 people attended and enjoyed the refreshments, the buffet and Anthony signing copies of his remarkable book about Florence Nightingale’s visit to Egypt when she was 29. (Her house was just along the road from the Embassy). In June we had a quite exceptional evening at the English Speaking Union where Sandro Vannini gave an illustrated talk on his visits to Egypt over the past 15 years. Egyptian members of the audience were astounded to see photographs of an Egypt they did not know existed. It is a shame that Sandro’s presentation is not on DVD; well worth buying if it was. This was followed by a delightful party in the courtyard of the ESU where the weather was extremely kind to us and enjoyed by just under 100 guests. As usual, we are indebted to our Vice Chairman, Professor Magdy Ishak-Hanna, and Out Trustee Mr. Assem Allam for sponsoring this event.
In July the Petrie Museum exhibited the photographs which won 2009’s Photographic Exhibition, “Makes me Think of Egypt”. They looked well in the museum but it was a shame that so few turned up for the Private View. In early August we did our first coach tour, a visit to Oxford where we were joined by a few members who had travelled by road making up a party of 32. We were so fortunate that, on a day when the Ashmolean Museum was closed to the general public, we had a privately conducted tour by the Director of the Museum, Dr. Christopher Brown, plus senior members of his staff. After a delightful “Pub Lunch” at the “Head of the River”, Ms Lindsay Siviter gave us a tour of many of the sites used in the “Inspector Morse” series, including the spot where he had “died”. Lindsay had worked on the series, knew the actors and the Director well, and showed us historic Oxford from such an interesting viewpoint. Our Board Member, Dr. Elisabeth Kendall, arranged for us to have drinks in the Senior Common Room at Pembroke College, again a rare privilege.
In September our Committee Member Ms. Dina Soliman, organised an “Iftar Dinner” in a restaurant in Queen’s Park, jointly with an Egyptian club. It was very busy and with an Oud player, all much enjoyed by our Egyptian members in a packed restaurant.
On 5th October we are holding our 20th Anniversary Reception in the Cholmondeley Room and on the Terrace of the House of Lords. We are hoping for a decent turnout to celebrate what is an achievement; we like to think we are still a vibrant society (even though the Secretary gets behind with his blog!).
Future events include the 3rd Sir Michael Weir Lecture in late November. We are still awaiting news on the lecturer but I am hoping that this will be finalised during the coming week. In addition we have been offered a Private View of the City of the Dead exhibition in the British Museum. This is due to take place on 8th November and a flyer will be coming out next week.
Next year in March Mr. James Watt succeeds Mr. Dominic Asquith as HBM Ambassador to Egypt. We will be holding a reception for him in London. We are planning a trip to Highclere to see The Earl and Countess of Carnarvon’s impressive Tutankhamen collection and hope to follow this with an afternoon at Newbury races. Another idea is a tour of Egyptianised sites in London in the morning, followed by a tour of the Jack the Ripper sites in the afternoon, where our guide will be the uniquely talented Lindsay Siviter again!
For reasons beyond our control we have to cancel the 2010 Annual Dinner but hope to make up for it next year. Cross your fingers.
Please note that we are always looking for new ideas and events. Now that we are a Charity we have to be more self supporting and so, with the Egyptian Cultural centre under renovation, we need venues for talks and exhibitions. Any suggestions? noelrands@hotmail.com will find me.
So, I do look forward to seeing many of my readers at an event before the end of the year. Don’t let me down!
Warmest wishes
Noel Rands
26.9.2010

P.S. There are Membership forms on this website, if you can persuade any friends or colleagues to join us.