English, Department of

 

Date of this Version

1985

Document Type

Article

Citation

The George Eliot Review 16 (1985)

Comments

Published by The George Eliot Review Online https://GeorgeEliotReview.org

Abstract

The first year of my presidency of the George Eliot Fellowship has now safely passed, and how quickly it went! I have much enjoyed it, and though, for reasons of distance and available time, I have missed many of the most interesting functions with which the newsletter has tempted me from time to time, I have attended, with my wife Marjorie, the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Westminster Abbey which was a great pleasure as always, and the Birthday Luncheon in November which we very much enjoyed.

We were particularly sorry to miss performances on behalf of the Fellowship by Margaret Wolfit and Gabriel Woolf during the year, but were delighted with Margaret Wolfit's recent performance at the Fortune Theatre of 'The Mill on the Floss', which I hope was seen by many members of the Fellowship. It was an illuminating and inspiring performance, quite apart from being an amazing display of stamina and memory. I wonder when we can hope for a one-woman "Middlemarch."

We are now looking forward to the great unveiling. As with the memorial stone in Westminster Abbey, the completion of the statue must be seen as a tribute to Kathleen Adams's untiring work on behalf of the Fellowship - perhaps the rest of us should begin to look for a site for another statue! The fund-raising has gone well, and I should like to thank all those who have so generously contributed to it. The more contributions, of course, the more work for the Treasurer, and a special vote of thanks to Ann Reader for her meticulous work in handling this large amount of money. There is still some way to go, however, and I hope that the balance will be made up before the Autumn, when I hope, too, that the sum will shine on one of the most important events in the life of the Fellowship.

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