Dear Members,
What a disappointment it is for all of us that the inevitable has happened. Despite hopes that what promised to be a first-class season could somehow be salvaged from the pandemic, perhaps by making a late start, we have had to delete 2020/21 from our record of well over a century of entertaining and informing people in the Darlington area.
We agonised over the real health risks to an audience of our age profile, the issue of member confidence in returning too promptly to crowded indoor meetings and uncertainty about what changed arrangements Carmel College would offer. Indeed, Carmel cannot guarantee any date.
Speakers were sounded out on having an online virtual season. But for most members, it was agreed, the actual monthly meeting with friends and acquaintances is important to the lecture association’s success.
In the end, rather than risk a shortened season being a poorly attended flop, it was decided to plan for a re-start in September 2021. So that is what will happen. The good news is that it is likely that most speakers booked for an especially attractive programme for the 2020/21 season will be available for a resurgent 2021/22. We have been touch with all of them and negotiations continue.
There are the TV personalities, garden designer Adam Frost and the antiques entrepreneur Caroline Hawley; the music administrator of the Royal Ballet and, an encore, Oliver Everett with more great art from the Queen’s palaces; Chris Lloyd delving into the history on our doorstep while another expert explores great houses in the region; and one distinguished photographer of birds in flight and another who records triumphs and disasters worldwide.
Our latest accounts, which you will not have seen because the AGM did not take place, are satisfactory and we have reserves which your committee will not hesitate to use to maintain and hopefully to increase membership for the re-launch. We will keep you informed. On behalf of the committee, I send our best wishes to all of you.
Roger Colley
(2019/20 vice-president, was to have been confirmed as 2020/21 president at the AGM)
What a disappointment it is for all of us that the inevitable has happened. Despite hopes that what promised to be a first-class season could somehow be salvaged from the pandemic, perhaps by making a late start, we have had to delete 2020/21 from our record of well over a century of entertaining and informing people in the Darlington area.
We agonised over the real health risks to an audience of our age profile, the issue of member confidence in returning too promptly to crowded indoor meetings and uncertainty about what changed arrangements Carmel College would offer. Indeed, Carmel cannot guarantee any date.
Speakers were sounded out on having an online virtual season. But for most members, it was agreed, the actual monthly meeting with friends and acquaintances is important to the lecture association’s success.
In the end, rather than risk a shortened season being a poorly attended flop, it was decided to plan for a re-start in September 2021. So that is what will happen. The good news is that it is likely that most speakers booked for an especially attractive programme for the 2020/21 season will be available for a resurgent 2021/22. We have been touch with all of them and negotiations continue.
There are the TV personalities, garden designer Adam Frost and the antiques entrepreneur Caroline Hawley; the music administrator of the Royal Ballet and, an encore, Oliver Everett with more great art from the Queen’s palaces; Chris Lloyd delving into the history on our doorstep while another expert explores great houses in the region; and one distinguished photographer of birds in flight and another who records triumphs and disasters worldwide.
Our latest accounts, which you will not have seen because the AGM did not take place, are satisfactory and we have reserves which your committee will not hesitate to use to maintain and hopefully to increase membership for the re-launch. We will keep you informed. On behalf of the committee, I send our best wishes to all of you.
Roger Colley
(2019/20 vice-president, was to have been confirmed as 2020/21 president at the AGM)