CETG AGM on Monday 11th October 2021
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This was the first time the group had met as a whole since the beginning of the pandemic, and it was heart-warming to see how many of our members turned up on a dark October night, despite the need for masks and social distancing and, especially, the lack of tea and coffee.
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Our Chair, Pirkko Soundy, arrived in her Finnish national costume – all of it hand-stitched by herself. There was no way anyone could fail to notice who was in charge of the meeting!
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Among the official business, we had a few changes on the Committee. So we bid farewell to our Treasurer Val, who has held the purse-strings so ably for the past five years. Her daughter Helen has arranged a potpourri of fascinating speakers for the past three years, both in person and more recently online. Linda has worked quietly away in the background to arrange workshops and outings, when these were possible, and helped describe our online talks for the website. A big thank you from all of those present for their hard work, and large pots of beautiful stargazer lilies to take home with them.
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Three new members were voted onto the Committee; Barbara, Janet and Sue who bring new faces and experience to help run the group. Michaela has bravely stepped into the role of Treasurer. At the end of the official business, former Chair, Liz, gave a well-deserved vote of thanks on behalf of all members to the committee who have kept the group moving forward in these challenging times.
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A raffle of textile related items raised nearly £70 from our generous members. Examples of work completed during the past 18 months by individuals and the Hand Stitch Groups had been brought along for us to admire. Among these, the lockdown challenges set by Anne Brooke and work completed at online workshops held by Zara Day were prominent.
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The most important part of the evening, however, was simply to catch up with friends we had not seen for such a long time, swap news and stitching stories. We were grateful that the group had managed to keep going by adapting to online meetings, but it was so good to be there in person again.
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Photos © CETG
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