Click here for the list of International Honorary Members.

 Revitalisation June 2024

We continue to combine excellent zoom sessions with face to face visits to places of interest. These give members the opportunity for chat and to catch up on news. 

The main event of the year was the State Conference held at Dulwich Hamlet Junior school. This provided a great opportunity for all members to come together and our State President, Diana Bell even made a presentation about it, so that members unable to attend could hear all about the event via zoom.

Alpha Chapter has organised several fascinating visits in the London area and details of the visits can be found in the 'events' section. They have been well attended by members of both chapters and the various lunches afterwards much appreciated by all.

Gamma suspended trips out over the winter months but had their first visit last week on Tuesday 11th June to Rye. We were only a very small group -2 other members, Sandra and Evie, plus me, (and Harry completed our number to 4!)

The visit was very interesting and enjoyed by all of us. We heard the exciting story of Rye's history at the Heritage Centre, explored the various sites in the town and had an excellent lunch at The Globe Marsh Inn in Rye. Sandra took photos and these are in the events section of the web.

Our next visit in July to Margate and the Turner Gallery has had to be cancelled unfortunately. It could be that we can have the visit in the Autumn, if someone can volunteer to organise it.

There will be a summer lunch at my home in Tenterden on Saturday, 10th August. DKG members from both chapters are warmly invited, Friends and spouses are very welcome. In the past we have had this on a weekday and it has been very popular. We hope for the same this year. Further details will be circulated

Gamma plans to have more visits from October. Both Evie Goodsell and Sandra Blacker have offered to lead these visits, with venues to be decided.

Other volunteers of help in leading these would be much appreciated -and participation is paramount to success too!.

Alpha continues to organise interesting visits in London. Unfortunately distance prevents participation for most Gamma members. That might also be the case for some Alpha members too. We are scattered far and wide as an organisation!

Finally - it is wonderful that chapters have the occasional face to face meetings, via visits to amazingly interesting venues which we can all enjoy. These complement the excellent zoom meetings where we are privileged to hear speakers of the highest calibre -and covering a whole gamut of subjects.

We plan to continue with a similar programme for the coming year.

We are a part of an International group of women interested in education, whether still working or retired. Our big function next summer, July, 2025, will be to host a European and International Conference in Brighton.

Come and join us!

Sheila Roberts, Gamma Chapter, Revitalisation Chair .

  Revitalisation, August 2023 

At the start of a new biennium it seemed a good time to look anew at DKG. Things had changed for many of us in the wake of Covid restrictions, and for Gamma Chapter it was the loss of their excellent venue for monthly meetings. Thankfully Chapter meetings have continued via zoom, so kindly organised by Anne. Many of the meetings now are shared Alpha/Gamma meetings as Alpha Chapter is also without a permanent venue for monthly meetings. These zoom meetings work very well indeed and we have been able to have some excellent speakers on a whole gamut of topics. (These are covered in other pages of the DKG GB website)

The thing people missed most seemed to be the lack of face to face opportunities. Alpha Chapter continues to organise some very interesting outings. Most of these are based in London so transport costs, train strikes and travel distance mean that many Gamma members, living in 'far flung' places, simply can't join in. We had a meeting attended by 10 Gamma members in June, to discuss the current DKG situation and brain storm ideas for the future.

The outcome of the meeting is that in addition to the monthly shared zoom  presentations, we should also introduce a programme of social, face to face visits to places of educational interest in and around Kent. A pub lunch is an integral part of these. We had one such visit in July to see the wonderful Chagall stained glass windows in the tiny Tudely church, followed by an excellent pub lunch at a nearby hostelry. This visit was mostly Gamma members but Alpha was also represented by Barbara.

We decided not to organise trips during school holidays so the next outing will be on 19^th September to NT's Sissinghurst, to walk in the extensive grounds, visit the world famous gardens and enjoy a lunch together.  This will be followed on 17^th October by a visit to Rye, complete with a son et lumiere presentation showing the amazing history of Rye and its battles with its closest neighbour - France. In early December we plan a Christmas lunch at Aylesford Priory. There are ideas galore for visits in 2024! All the details of the visits will be circulated to all DKG members well in advance.

So the future of DKG GB is rosy. Let's hope as many members as possible can continue to enjoy meetings.   

 Membership and Revitalisation. January 2023

Covid seems to have changed our habits forever. We no longer have many face to face meetings, but both chapters rely on joint Zoom meetings more and more. This has the advantage of enabling us to hear so many talented and quite wonderful speakers. Our last speaker was an Iranian musician/composer who was very impressive, His music is available to listen to on YouTube.

Using Zoom has also allowed many of our European members to join our meetings. This is a great perk, as meeting and sharing with our European counterparts is such a great aspect of DKG.

We hope too, that current members will invite friends and contacts to join in the Zoom meetings -and spread the message that belonging to DKG enables internationality to thrive. (Anne Goldstein always sends the zoom links in plenty of time.)

Do join us. You are all warmly welcome.

Sheila Roberts 

Revitalisation - June 2021

As earlier in the Pandemic, our focus is on retaining an involved, active. Membership. The regular zoom meetings organised by both chapters have been a resounding success. All credit must go to the team of chapter presidents and vice presidents, namely Penny, Dorcas, Carole and Anne, who have ben responsible for organising these meetings. Very special thanks goes to Anne (Goldstein) who has tirelessly organised speakers and attendees. Thank you Anne for your patience in ensuring we can all access such an excellent programme. The topics have been varied and always interesting and informative.

We all agreed at our recent Exec meeting that retaining a balance of face to face and zoom meetings, as and when we return to 'normal times', would be beneficial. Marian proposed alternating face to face meetings with zoom, but as some people cannot access the internet, it was felt that a plan to have at least one zoom meeting per term would be a good alternative.

The general consensus is that we carry on in the current manner for the time being. At some future point of normalcy,we could discuss ideas for new projects to promote the society at chapter meetings. That could also be a good point for the Revitalisation Committee to meet and plan actions.

Again, many thanks to the hard working zoom team.

Sheila Roberts. Chair -Revitalisation Committee

Revitalisation or Survival During the Strange Times of this Pandemic.

Where would we be without Zoom and online services? I know, that like most of you I now do all my shopping online and groceries are via Click and Collect. Online and Zoom are great ways of keeping in touch - for those who are lucky enough to have the facility.

As we can no longer have chapter meetings in DKG we have all enjoyed the brilliant Zoom sessions shared by our two chapters, and by our friends in DKG Germany and Netherlands too. Many thanks go to Anne, Carole and Penny for finding such excellent speakers who have focussed on the many issues so many people cope with on a daily basis. The speakers and topics are described well elsewhere on our web, so if you haven't managed to join a session yet, do read the comments on them and make a note in your diary to join in the next one. No technical experience is necessary as when you click on the link sent by the organiser, the instructions come up step by step.

If you go to the calendar page you will see that our February Zoom meeting will focus on the representation of BAME teachers in our schools, and the March one will focus on education during this pandemic. These are shared meetings with our European colleagues. We intend to have a translator for the March meeting so our German friends can pose questions in their own language.

The April meeting is about the history of the Suffragette Movement in London's East End.

These will all be fascinating topics. Maybe one or two of you will be inspired to write a comment or two about the meetings for the Web? (Please send any comments for the web to Diana)

Maybe some of you can identify topics for future Zoom meetings? If so please send your ideas to Penny, Carole or Anne. (Anne Goldstein has kindly taken on the task of hosting the Zoom meetings and has brilliantly organised all the meetings to date.)

Sheila Roberts. Revitalisation Chair

January 2021

Revitalisation

An update on Revitalisation may seem a bit odd at the moment, but perhaps this forced rest period we are all enjoying, thanks to ‘lockdown’, is a good time for reflection. A time for us to become ‘revitalised’!

It’s now nearly two years since Carolyn Pittman came to London and led a session on Revitalisation of our society in UK. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and since then members of both chapters have been inspired to develop more interest in membership of DKG. We began with a project to donate books to local schools, with a follow up visit.  Although appreciation and interest in DKG was expressed by school staffs, this didn’t translate into attendance at meetings or recruitment of new members. We fully understand the heavy workload of teachers, but would love to share the advantages of DKG with both practising teachers and those now retired, teaching assistants, librarians, and all involved in education

The ‘Books for Schools’ project, certainly served to reignite current members’ enthusiasm for DKG. Through personal contact, both chapters have each initiated three new members over the past 18 months. This is a great result and we offer a warm welcome to all six of you. Maybe during this quiet period of ‘lockdown’ all members can think of other strategies to attract new members to our excellent organisation? Reflect on what attracted you to join. DKG is too good to keep hidden as though it were a secret society. Let’s shout it from the rooftops, or whisper it into the ear of close friends or professional acquaintances, and pique their interest!     

We now have 42 members –let’s all work hard to increase it to 50 within the coming year, and after that the sky’s the limit!

NB. Remember we have a European Facebook page and Gamma Chapter also has one, so we can keep in touch with each other in a variety of ways during this quiet period. Stay safe and healthy.

Sheila Roberts. Revitalisation Chair. 

Sheila Roberts with books DKG gifted to schools

Alpha Chapter welcomed three new members.

Tina O'Connor(second from left), Alison Ajayi (second from right) and Nuala Garvey (right).

Books for Schools Project

Gamma Member, Anne Goldstein, wrote about her visits to deliver books to primary schools:

Delivering the DKG books was an uplifting experience. The gift was welcomed by staff and children at all three primary schools I visited. The local newspaper printed a very positive article about our initiative, based on a press release I sent. This was also accompanied by pictures of staff and children accepting the books. As a result of one primary school visit, I led an assembly for International Women's Day, where I told the children about the work of our organisation and inspirational women in my life. Another member of DKG and I went to the school's Easter Tea, hosted by key stage one children, which showed how one positive event can lead to another.  At one school, a teacher showed great interest in our organisation and so this could lead to a new member. 

Sheila Roberts, Chair of the Revitalisation Committee, wrote: 

It’s such a pleasure to say that both chapters are on target with the ‘Books for schools project’.

Both chapters held brain storming planning sessions and formulated action plans. It was decided to donate books suitable for Key stage 2 pupils. Then the books were chosen and ordered. We decided what should accompany them, identified appropriate schools in the locality, and asked for volunteers to contact the schools with a time frame for the end of January.

The books chosen by both chapters as suitable for Key Stage 2 pupils to read are:-‘Great Women who made History’ and ‘Great Women who changed the World’.Additionally, Gamma added in ‘Women in Science’, which is a more challenging read, and may be best for the teacher to read to the class.

To accompany the books Kathy Hodgson designed and produced book plates to display the name of the donor.Joan wrote a template letter addressed to the headteacher of each school, which the volunteers will personalise to their designated school, and include an invitation for staff to come to one of our meetings.

Elisha Hoggart designed and had printed new postcards, which give some details about DKG and its international character. A number of these will be given to each school for sharing amongst female staff.

Each volunteer agreed to tie up the books and accompaniments with red ribbon. They look really eye catching. Gamma has begun delivering the books to the ten schools they identified. So far two volunteers report delight from the schools, and interest from the local press. We are hoping for a report in the local weekly newspaper.

Alpha had a very productive meeting on Saturday 9th February when everyone helped organise and collate the book sets, letters, etc into bundles - a total of 20. These were then allocated to each member who had agreed to contact schools.

Diana Bell and Penny Kinnear had a very successful and enjoyable visit to St John's Angell Town in Brixton where they both taught more than thirty  years ago. The school has changed completely from a single storey building to a new 3-storey building which will eventually cater for over 750 pupils. They were given a tour of the school and were extremely impressed. They took a selection of (historical) items including photos of past pupils and staff. The headteacher was delighted to receive these for the school’s archive and also thanked them for the DKG books.

We hope the end result will be that DKG becomes better known by women working in education in Britain and hopefully will want to come along to one of our meetings.

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Membership

We recently had a brain storming session, held in Central London, where members, led by Carolyn Pittman, Past International President, reflected on what they valued most about DKG. These are some of their thoughts:

Community,

Interesting speakers,

Respect for a teacher’s role,

Leadership and management training and opportunities,

Worldwide friendships,

Hearing and considering different perspectives,

Supportive friendships within the group,

Building confidence,

Learning from peers about education in their various countries,

The international aspect of DKG,

Broadening experience by travel to conferences in Europe and USA.

There are many more aspects of DKG which members appreciate. We would very much like to make DKG better known in Britain. We are actively encouraging new members to join us. Our current project to promote DKG is donating books to schools. We hope this will both help the schools and also publicise DKG locally. We invite women educators to come to our meetings, hear good speakers on a variety of subjects and make firm, supportive friendships. Meetings are held in London and Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on Saturdays. Information and dates can be found in the Calendar section.

We warmly welcome guests to our meetings.

We particularly value and celebrate the international aspect of DKG. This year’s Regional Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, in July, is an ideal opportunity to meet fellow European and American members, and share all our expertise and experience in education.  It’s a great chance to see a new country and enjoy wonderful hospitality, and to renew old friendships and forge new ones from so many countries.

Sheila Roberts,       Revitalisation Chair.

Marian Bowles,      Membership Chair.  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Janet Carrol, left, presents our books to Claire Regnarf, Headteacher at Salfords Primary School in Redhill.

Janet Carrol presents our books to Claire Baldock, Headteacher of Woodcote Primary School, Coulsdon.

Diana Bell, left, with Emilie Haston, Headteacher of Greenfinch Primary School, Wandsworth.

Carole Stirling, right, presenting Facilities Manager Liz Milner of Beechwood School, with our books.

Chris Ashley-Jones, Executive Headteacher of Hitherfield Primary in Lambeth, receives the books from Diana Bell and Liz Day.

Evelyn Goodsell, Vice President GB, thanking Carolyn Pittman at the revitalisation session. photograph by Anne Goldstein

DKG International Conferences that will take place in 2023

Detroit, Michigan: July 12 - 14.

Phoenix , Arizona: July 18 - 22.

Tampere, Finland: July 26 - 29.

Find out more on our main DKG website at www.dkg.org

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