Presented by Robin Stanford
April 25th, 2022.
It’s been an honor for me to serve as your President for the last two years. The pandemic has led to so many changes in our world, but the CWLC is still the same remarkable club, devoted to the study of literature, in all it’s forms. Today marks our first live meeting since March 10, 2020.
Despite some connectivity challenges, Zoom served us well. Members and guests joined our meetings from all over the world and for some of our members, an online meeting is more convenient than the traditional commute to Memorial Park Library. Next fall, we may experiment with hybrid meetings, with a mix of online and live participants, so we can accommodate those members who prefer Zoom.
We’ve enjoyed another marvellous year of presentations by our members and guest speakers. And I must thank all our presenters for their creativity and effort. Your wonderful presentations are what this club is all about.
Socializing is also part of our meetings. Admittedly that’s been more of a challenge online, but we made it work. We continued the fine tradition of socializing before each regular meeting, and our online Winter party was delightful, with a Hannukah rebus led by Betty, and a secret book exchange organized by Helen.
The Executive couriers added to the fun, delivering cookies at Halloween; and then mugs, chocolate, and books for the Winter party. And we’re capping off the year with our Spring Luncheon, here at the Calgary Golf and Country Club. We must thank Mooréa for sponsoring us here and making all the arrangements, Doloris for the beautiful tulips, Helen for the raffle and Little Library, and Sandy for our new pens.
Some good news about our archives. The Taylor Family Digital Library at the U of C has agreed to resume taking our archival materials. So, we can add to our existing archive of minutes, membership lists, program lists, and presentation summaries dating back to 1906. Our club Historian, Sandra, maintains a separate club archive with Historical program and membership lists, and club histories.
At one time, the club archived copies of each member’s entire presentation. Fewer members back then. At the request of the Glenbow Archives, we reduced that to a summary of each presentation. This year, we made presentation summaries optional to try to assess whether our members want to continue with this tradition.
Many of our new members find us through our website and it’s a great way for all our members to follow club activities, like the pictures from today’s Luncheon. With the upgrade, our website is backed up and can be safely restored if necessary. Our webmaster Shawna has been fine tuning a few areas, like the President’s reports, to improve flow and readability.
Our Executive committee is a talented and dedicated group and they rose to the challenges of the year, including outdoor meetings in all kinds of weather. Please give a huge round of applause to: Doloris, Mooréa, Janet, Elaine, Helen, Sandra, Linda, Shawna, Betty, and Cecilia.
Linda and Betty are stepping down this year and we will miss you both. Others are changing roles this year but remaining on the committee. Thank you, Elaine, our Treasurer for keeping everything balanced. Who knew paying the bills could be so fun? And Mooréa, thank you for coordinating Zoom and doing whatever else was needed with grace and ease. Doloris is graduating from the Executive today. It’s been 12 years on the Executive committee for Doloris, most recently as Past President and membership chair. Thank you, Doloris, for all the guidance and support over these past years. It’s hard to imagine the Executive without you.
The pandemic has taught us how quickly the world can change but rest assured, one way or another, the CWLC will be meeting again in October, as we have for over one hundred years.