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Our Visit to the New Acropolis Museum December 2008
FROM THE PRESIDENT
It’s too early to wish you special things for the holidays and the New Year, particularly as I hope and expect to see you all before we break up. But I would like it to go on record that I thank you one and all for giving me this opportunity to be your 31st President and for all the support you’ve given us over the past months. I’ve had lots of fun and hope that you have too and before I start getting all sentimental, we’ve still got quite a lot planned for the next few weeks and I look forward to seeing you at the various events – there will be some final words in the January Newsletter! Over
the past year I have included profiles in my ‘President’s
Letters’ in the monthly Newsletters on the Ladies who make up the
2008 Executive Board. As it would have been impossible to keep everything
on an even keel throughout the year, I feel it is appropriate to show
these profiles in the website, so here goes, in no particular order as
they are all Stars in their own field and as part of the team. This month’s profiles: Jeaneth Zelou Figueroa (Publications) and Maria Freitas (International Coordinator)– after the 4th draft of the Newsletter in February I held up my hands in defeat and said ‘don’t worry if there are typos, a misplaced comma isn’t worth losing sleep over’ – you see I am not a perfectionist as my girls are and they put me in my place saying it didn’t matter how many drafts they did, they wanted it right! And that’s how if turns out such a readable publication – watch out for bright colours as we are determined that our Newsletter is not going to get lost among other papers on your desks! Penelope Smith (Vice President) brings her 30 years of not just membership but involvement in club affairs to the for front on matters of history and policy and keeps us on the straight and narrow where the rules are concerned; of course, she also keeps an eye out for anyone who’s ill or feeling down – she was also one of my sponsors when I joined the club 29 years ago, so any complaints should go straight to her! Nancy Otis (Corresponding Secretary) has been a member since 2003. We have a great system as Nancy lives in Vouliagmeni and I live in Kastri (South and North of Athens for anyone reading who isn’t a local): she emails me the letters and I print them out and mail them – painless, especially as, although we have only recently become friends (we were on the Poland trip together) she knows exactly what I want to say and how and her letters are just as would have written them myself without any effort on my behalf, so I feel very spoilt having such a secretary! But, apart from her efficiency, what I like most about Nancy is that she is always smiling. full of fun and laughs a lot (which is so cheering and infectious, especially to someone like me who has a tendency to glumness – by the end of our year together I hope that some of her exuberance will have rubbed off on me!)and she is a great asset during discussions at “Board” level. We are so lucky to have her on the Board and in the Club. Our
Treasurer, Dora Konsolas has been a member since the
very beginning in 1976 – what she doesn’t know about WIC doesn’t
need to be known. She’s been a member of the Choraleers since its
founding and this is her second term as Treasurer – Erika (as member
of the nominating committee) casually asked her if she liked numbers,
an affirmative answer was enough for Erika (always be very careful how
you answer Erika, you never know what devious plot she has in mind!) and
before she knew it she was counting Euros and doing Balance Sheets. In
her spare time – what spare time, do you remember her CV? A page
and a half of the most erudite accomplishments in archaeology, the history
of Greek Civilisation, Heritage Managements, Cultural Policy, Urban Regeneration,
publications in scientific journals, in both Greek and English, Prehistoric
Thebes, Early Helladic Architecture, etc., etc., actually we could solve
all our ‘programme’ problems just by having Dora speak to
us each month! So far, sadly I have been unable to persuade her (maybe
I should get Erika on the case!) I’m running out of Newsletters in which to profile your current Board so this month I am going to tell you about the ladies who make the General Meetings possible: Leopoldine Theophanopoulos joined the Club in 2004 and has been very active from the word go culminating in her position as Hospitality Officer this year and we all know how marvelous she is at organizing the catering side of our General Meetings; her years as a diplomat’s wife, not to mention her upbringing in Germany, have meant she has lots of experience in organizing events with scrupulous attention to detail and the ability to be a very hard negotiator over the financial arrangements – with her charm hiding a determination of pure steel, no one can deny her anything. AND she is never flustered! She is a calm, efficient and totally reliable member of the Board, with a twinkle in her eye that barely conceals a delightful sense of humour. Dear Helen Margaronis from the USA joined the Club in 1994 and has also been very involved since then, participating on previous Boards and Committees and bringing her special talent and experience to the benefit of all. She has always been a lively member of the Board and very organized and efficient suggesting programmes and looking after speakers’ requirements; although Helen hasn’t been very well for a while and is sadly missed at all our events, she keeps in touch with all that is going on, especially through her many friends that continue to visit her. We wish her a speedy recovery and return to our midst. Pat Kouyoufas, (UK/Greece) member since 1978, President in 1984 (when I was her VP!) and Life Member since 1993, is known to us all and as Helen’s Co-Chairman has stepped into the breach on the Programme front until Helen is able to resume her duties. There is very little Pat doesn’t know about WIC having been on so many committees – probably all the committees at some time or another – so we are very grateful that she brings all her expertise and ideas and her special humour to our meetings. You might have noticed that a ‘sense of humour’ is a prevailing characteristic of all the ladies profiled so far which makes for very relaxed Board Meetings – they probably need it with me as President! Heike Meyer from Austria, joined the Club in 1999 and this is her first time on the Board as Membership Officer and from the start she has been organizing all the very many lists that make up membership – every combination and convolution, alphabetically, nationality, year of joining, attendance, non-attendance (!) and recently has even made new, modern (and lighter) signs and boxes for the sign in tables. In her spare time (!) she has been heavily involved in the restoration of an Old People’s Home that is now operational, she has been Treasurer of the German Protestant Church, and she makes huge numbers of cakes (especially her famous Seed Cake) for the Austrian Stall at the equally famous annual German Christmas Bazaar. We are so lucky to have Heike in the Club and on the Board this year – she is so thorough and efficient and will hand over a very professional file to future boards. BUT, that’s not all – she’s a pleasure to be with and brings her own special style to our meetings and the ubiquitous ‘sense of humour’ so essential to Board participation!
Laurence Forlano Kallergis (co-Activities Officer), from Switzerland only joined in May last year and her introductory speech at the Golf Club was so impressive that she was immediately earmarked for a place on the Board, specifically as Joint Activities Officer. Laurence has a young family and she has also moved house during the year (quite an accomplishment as we all know); she was thrown in at the deep end but is a strong swimmer and throughout is unflustered and utterly charming and has slotted into WIC and the Board as a very organized member with lots of good ideas and the different perspective that a young woman brings to the table – who else could have inveigled the WIC ladies to appear on Television?? Laurence is a great asset to the Club and has a great future ahead – but give her a chance to enjoy being a member for a little while! You would be forgiven for thinking that the nominees for next year’s Executive Board are the stars of the November EGM; but you’d be wrong! The nominees will have plenty of time to shine once their election is confirmed, in the meantime the Star of the show is Denise Nairn who, as Recording Secretary has her moment in the limelight as she checks all the members in, gets them to sign the Voting Book, ensures the Ballot Sheets and the Voting box come together, hands out the red voting cards and confirms the Quorum without which we have to go round again! The rest of the year Denise keeps the Board in order at our regular meetings and through some magic talent makes sense of our discussions and decisions and commits them all to paper and produces THE MINUTES – no mean task I can assure you. And Denise does it all hyper-efficiently, but more importantly with her ready smile and easygoing nature – nothing fazes her and, without fail, she always puts things into perspective. Denise has been a friend for many years and we’ve worked on the Board together before and I was very relieved that she agreed to come on this year’s journey with me – and we are still friends! My
final President’s letter comes out in January 2009 and I plan to
profile my truly wonderful Honorary President, Shrimi Sinha
from India. As an Ambassador’s wife she is very busy with official
duties, but from the moment she joined WIC she has become involved and
attends practically everything, including and very importantly, our General
Meetings and our Board Meetings. Her input is greatly appreciated and
very helpful especially with liaison with her fellow members of the diplomatic
corps. She is a beautiful person, both with her lovely happy face and
her spirituality and I thank my lucky stars that she agreed to come along
on this adventure with us! PS Bridget Past
and Present WIC Presidents 2008. Left to right: UPCOMING CALENDAR GENERAL MEETINGS DATE Please mark your Calendars December 11thThursday 22nd
January 2009 AGM details to follow in January Newsletter
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The secretarial address of our Club is WIC – PO Box 65029, 15410 Paleo Psychico Contact us at info@wicathens.com
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The WIC of Athens website was launched in 2005 under the Presidency of Sana Cherfan in a coordinate effort with Maria Freitas©2005 Copyright WIC-Athens |
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Dear
Ladies,
