Chairman’s Report for the year 2021 - 2022

Firstly, I would like first to thank all the members of the Committee, every one of whom is so enthusiastic about their individual role. I am grateful for the support they have given me during the past year, I am very fortunate to be part of such a hard working team. We are pleased to report that we have been able to welcome some waiting list members and are now at our full complement of 285, so thank you for renewing your subscriptions.

Thank you to our technical team of Ian Locks, Hugh Meteyard, Ken Faulkner and Tony Heagren, without whom we would not have got through the challenges of the pandemic and zoom. Ian and Valerie Locks also produce our newsletters, links and the loop, many thanks to them too. I would like to thank Marion Oliver, who is here early each month to set up to serve us coffee before our lecture, and Lee for setting out our chairs.

We started our year last October when we enjoyed our belated 50th anniversary with a delicious lunch at Mulberry House. What a party it was! We were so pleased that it eventually went ahead after having been postponed twice.

Our varied lectures, days of special interest and visits, whether actual or virtual, have all been well attended and much enjoyed. Our virtual walks have taken us to Venice as well as London and we have actually walked in the City and in Saffron Walden. We have visited Ingatestone Hall and Watermen’s Hall as well as the Tate for the Hogarth exhibition. We have recently returned from our Society holiday in Derbyshire. I think all those who went enjoyed the trip enormously. We had a varied and fascinating itinerary, good weather and great company. My thanks to all the organisers of our programme who work tirelessly and often have had to change plans and bookings at short notice.

We have a team who are setting up Trails of Discovery around several local churches and the gardens of Copped Hall. In the Spring the first trail was launched at St. Mary’s Theydon Bois where it has been very well received.

Our Volunteers have been busy preparing and cleaning artefacts at Copped Hall for their Open Days. They are now also working with the Christian Drama Resource Centre (CDRC) in Loughton making and mending costumes. CDRC is a charity that enables local organisations to hire costumes for community or school productions.

We have given various donations during the year as Janet has mentioned, to CDRC and to the Essex Young Musician of the Year. This is a competition held by Ongar Music Club in the Budworth Hall. We donated a prize and were invited to the final day of the competition. The young musicians were absolutely stunning. We are planning to say involved with the competition and are offering a prize again for this coming year.

We have also been busy with an Area project, 50 Treasures of Essex. This is a book showing fifty different sites and places of interest around the county. Each society has submitted text and photographs for their local treasures. It has been a very exciting project, and we are hoping to have the book ready for sale before Christmas.

Despite the restrictions that have caused some changes of plans during the year, we have been able to bring our programme to you either in the hall or via zoom to your homes. We are grateful to you all for your attendance and your support, and look forward to seeing you for all our lectures, days of special interest and visits. Many thanks.

Pam

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Pamela Percy









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