Diana Bell

GB State

Organisation President

2023 - 2025

State President's Report
April 2025

The preparations for the European Forum Conference https://dkg-ef-conference2025.weebly.com have been taking priority.  Kathy Hodgson, our conference treasurer, is to be thanked for all the time and effort she has put into getting the finances up and running.

This is the first ever European Forum Conference and we were asked to take on the hosting role. There is a great deal to learn about working together with the European Forum, and our Committee meeting in Oldenburg, near Bremen in Germany, was very productive.

There was a problem locating our EF Conference on the DKG main website, but it is now more prominently displayed. The Canadian Regional is taking place just before ours, and the main International Convention in New Orleans is just after.

At our EF Conference I’m pleased to say we have some really excellent speakers, including some international ones such as Dr Diane Bell and Louise Evans (Catch her on YouTube) who has just been given the Global Women Leadership Award. Do look at all our wonderful speakers on the website. We also have some interesting events – the BBQ on Friday night should prove to be entertaining with Morris and Scottish dancing, singing with Aileen Dickson, and the Grand Dinner has some excellent music - thanks to the Blue Café Jazz Trio. After Gordon’s quiz we find out who is the recipient of the European Achievement Award.

One of our members from Washington State, who you will meet at the EF Conference, is Dr Claire Smith who gave us a very interesting Zoom talk about her experience of British and American schooling. This was minuted by AI (thanks to Anne Goldstein).  We also had a fascinating talk on Human Values by Suzanne Palermo minuted by AI.  You can read more of what was said in the Spring edition of GB News in Brief.

Five Alpha members visited the Wellcome Collection ‘Hard Graft’ Exhibition, which was well thought out and quite enjoyable. As was meeting face-to-face for the coffee, lunch and chat.

Judith Sutton, Alpha Chapter member, sadly passed away aged 95. She was one of the original DKG Alpha Chapter members in Britain, joining in November 1977. She was always very supportive of us. Read more about Judith’s life (Eulogy and DKG membership) on the History page, bottom right-hand column.

Gamma Chapter Report April 2025

Thanks to all in DKG GB.  We continue to support each other through life challenges, our illnesses and our sad losses.  I have seen my aim as helping us to have access to high quality meetings, despite our ‘falling rolls’. Our enthusiasm about education continues to shine. This is illustrated by the commitment to the European conference. Diana’s leadership is amazing.

Joan’s super-efficient organising ability has enabled our Planning team to put together a strong Zoom programme with splendid speakers.  Our meetings have been put onto my YouTube, with unlisted links, so all of us can access them at our leisure.  We’ve had speakers based in US and Italy this past year, of course, this would have been impossible in the past!

Thanks to the trip leaders for the face-to-face opportunities to meet, which are truly appreciated.  

An innovation this year has been giving AI a trial on Zoom for summarising meetings. This has really been a revelation, with its immediacy and general accuracy.

Many thanks again to Sandra for hosting our Christmas get-together, this time with a difference, as we enjoyed making decoupage Christmas decorations. Thanks too to Sheila. Her sunny get-together in the garden, with excellent food and drink, was a highlight of the summer.

Our film for December’s St Lucy’s Day made an impact and was much appreciated – particularly our own piano and chorus rendition of In The Bleak Midwinter!

Here are some meetings we had:

13 July 2024. One Life, Many Stories  I gave a talk about the 68 Czech mainly Jewish children who came to safety from Nazi oppression to Chislehurst, Kent in 1939.

19 October 2024. The Art of Icons. Former teacher Veronica Jones talked about her experience on an icon writing course.

9 November 2024. Leaders. Prof. Denis Tourish again stretched our minds with insights into what makes leaders tick.

18 January 2025. Dr Claire Smith from Washington State, talked about the difference between US and UK education.

15 February 2025. Suzanne Palermo, internationally known speaker on Human Values, introduced us to her website for children - Marty and Human Values.  She continues to keep in touch with us.

Alpha Chapter Report April 2025

Following on from our series of talks and visits last year, we have continued along with a similar pattern. Anne’s report highlights the strong series of talks that we have enjoyed during the year.

There were also interesting talks, with members from Europe, via zoom, including a ‘Beginner’s Guide to AI’. Zoom has also enabled us to have talks from speakers joining us from the US and from Italy, as well as opening us to a wider audience.

Our year of talks has been interspersed with a variety of visits to places and exhibitions of interest. These outings give us the opportunity to meet in person and enjoy catching up over a meal.

In June we enjoyed a visit to the Great Exhibition Road Festival, with the opportunity to visit the museums and other organised events.

Also in June was a visit to the Bank of England Museum, ‘The Future of Money’. Unfortunately, no free cash handouts were forthcoming.

Later in the summer there was a visit to the Migration Museum, Lewisham, about the NHS’ The Heart of the Nation’. From its inception people have come to this country to work in the NHS Britain from all over the world and this highlighted their vital contributions.

There was a very windy visit to the Walthamstow Wetlands – an outdoor trip followed by a pub lunch.

September saw some of us at the exhibition about the fashion designer Biba which was very colourful and resulted in a lot of reminiscences.

For the Alpha pre-Christmas event, members enjoyed a Christmas lunch at Maggie’s restaurant in Lewisham, before visiting the exhibition at the Migration Museum ‘All Our Stories, Migration and the Making of Britain’ This was another thought-provoking exhibition at that venue.

The Wellcome Collection exhibition ‘Hard Graft’ about Work, Health and Rights highlighted undervalued workers on the plantation, the street and the home.

All in all, we have enjoyed a lot to keep us active in mind and body, and to appreciate our friendship and support for each other during the year.

On a sadder note, we heard of the death of Judith Sutton, our longest serving Alpha member. She was a Charter Member of Alpha in November 1977. She still kept in touch with us, and enjoyed reading about our activities.

Grateful thanks to Joan, supporting me as chapter vice president and also for her sterling work running the Planning Group. Thank you also to Anne, who, with her techie Zoom expertise has now introduced the AI function, which usefully aids in producing its written version of the meeting.

Click to see the list of GB State Presidents list.pdf 

  and Great Britain's Chapter Presidents