Diana Bell

GB State

Organisation President

2023 - 2025

State President's Report
June 2024

We have a full programme of events thanks to the Planning Committee: Joan Carroll, Anne Goldstein, Barbara Kern, Aileen Dickson, Penny Kinnear, Sheila Roberts and me. The Committee works hard to find and arrange for excellent speakers, events, exhibitions and good places to visit - do check the GB Website regularly for more information.

As ever a special thank you to Anne for our Zoom sessions and putting our meetings on YouTube. If you miss a session do look to ‘catch up’.  Zoom has certainly allowed for a wide range of interesting speakers.

We have also had the opportunity to meet members of other DKG States. This began during Covid with European members joining our Zoom meetings, but now, thanks to the activities of the European Forum we have enjoyed joining in with other states’ activities. As part of the ‘Avenue M’ initiative the International First Vice-President, Connie Rensick, is encouraging connections with other countries / states.

GB News in Brief, can be read on-line or printed out.  Members are sending in photos, news and articles. They have been asked to make them fairly short so that it is a bright, quick read to showcase our activities and to hear some news about members.  

I am grateful to Kathy Hodgson, our GB Vice-President, who will represent us at the DKG International Convention in National Harbor, Washington, this July.

We had a good turn-out at Dulwich Hamlet Junior School for our own GB Conference. Claire Purcell, the Headteacher and an Alpha Chapter member, did a great job of taking us around and showing us the school, which she is rightly proud of. She then gave an enlightening and amusing talk about the trials and tribulations of OFSTED inspections.

The Regional Director, Marie-Antoinette Hubers de Wolf is arriving in the UK on the 21^st June and travelling to the University of Sussex. She will be accompanied by Sandra Blacker, Kathy Hodgson and me.  Hopefully we will get the go-ahead to hold the Regional Conference, supported by the European Forum, there from the 18^th – 20^th July 2025.  It will be a big undertaking, especially as we are getting older and there are fewer of us, but we will manage.  I am very happy to say that a number of you have already offered to help.

Diana Bell 

Chapter Report June 2024

Following on from our AGM in April, held at Dulwich Hamlet Junior School, our May meeting was a discussion (via Zoom) focussing on the interesting talk given by Claire Purcell, the Headteacher, about the Ofsted visit to her school.  We had more time to discuss the pressures of the Ofsted visit, which build up over the preceding months. We also commented on the highlights of our tour of the school. After this Diana Bell showed a Powerpoint of the visit that she and Sandra made to the University of Sussex, the potential venue for the conference in 2025.

Sheila Roberts had organised a visit to Rye, in June, for Gamma and  Alpha, so I  hope that went well

Also in June Diana had organised a visit to the Great Exhibition Road Festival. Seven of us, undaunted by the rain, visited various stalls along Exhibition Road, as well as the V&A Museum, and some of the science projects at Imperial College. Music students from the RCM played in a brass ensemble (under cover) and Albert’s Band played jazz. A fun day, with a leisurely lunch together.

Thanks to Anne Goldstein for organising the Zoom link, and to Diana who produces the GBNews in Brief  - contributions and pictures about our various DKG activities.

Future outings and Zoom meetings are already programmed for July through to October, outlined on our website.

Barbara Kern Alpha Chapter

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