DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Title

Annual Report 1998

Authors

Kathleen Adams

Date of this Version

1999

Document Type

Article

Citation

The George Eliot Review 30 (1999)

Comments

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

Abstract

Every year I begin this report by saying what a busy year the Fellowship has had. Every year it seems to get busier; certainly the workload increases each year - which must be a measure of our success in reaching out in all directions, not only in the UK but abroad as well.

We begin each year in a fairly uneventful way with the Annual General Meeting, and 1998 was in the same mould, although we followed the business meeting with an excellent slide show by John Burton of the George Eliot Country in the past. John was elected to the Council at the AGM and has already proved his value to us by improving our display material and updating our collection of slides. One only has to ask John to do something in connection with pictures and they appear, proving the excellence of his work.

Our next event was much livelier than the AGM and hugely successful - the George Eliot Day on 9 May. This time the emphasis was on The Mill on the Floss and Adam Bede with papers by Joanne Shattock of the University of Leicester, Beryl Gray of Birkbeck College, London, and Vivienne Wood of the King Edward Sixth Form College in Nuneaton. The day ended with a slide show of places associated with both novels. We had capacity booking and enrolled new members. In the evening we presented a drama documentary by Robin Allan and three friends, entitled 'George Eliot: a Woman of Some Importance'. The actors were in Victorian dress, and slides accompanied the performance. It was extremely well done and warmly applauded., No fee was charged; the actors very generously gave the proceeds to our Millennium Project and these amounted to over £300.

To complete the George Eliot Weekend the first tour of the George Eliot Country took place the following day. Everyone, as always, thoroughly enjoyed the tour and voted it extremely good value for money.

Nineteen members attended the Annual General Meeting and Seminar of the Alliance of Literacy Societies in April. The day was hosted by the two Lewis Carroll Societies and there was even a little 'Alice' in attendance! This is an ideal opportunity for us to meet members from other literary societies.