BRIDFAS
British Decorative and Fine Arts Society of Brussels
Noordwijk

BRIDFAS Events 2007 - 2008

NADFAS’ AGM 2008 and 40th anniversary celebrations

The Liver Building Liverpool

The Royal Liver Building in Liverpool
as seen from the Mersey

Liverpool, 13 - 14 May 2008

Day One

About 600 NADFAS members and guests gathered in The Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool where the AGM and the celebrations took place.

Proceedings began with an open lecture ‘The Birth of the Celebrity Portrait’ given by Christopher Lloyd, president of NADFAS. It was a fascinating account of the career of the portraitist Sir Thomas Lawrence, particularly referring to a portrait of Elizabeth Farren.

After the open lecture there was time to visit the NADFAS stands representing the great work done by the volunteers in Heritage Volunteering, Church Recording and Young Arts. There were also stands of NADFAS’ grant giving, the Education Department, the work of the New Societies Team etc.

Black Tie Dinner

A glimpse of stands
of NADFAS' actiities

In the evening we all enjoyed a black tie dinner in a beautiful and festive atmosphere. The round 12-seat tables gave us the opportunity to meet people and get acquainted with other societies. Afterwards, Gillian Reynolds MBE gave an after dinner speech about Liverpool, which was both serious and hilarious at the same time.

Day Two, Conference and AGM

This was a very busy day because of the combination of the 40th Anniversary Celebrations with the business of the AGM. The pre-lunch part consisted of presentations of the of the work of NADFAS volunteers and NADFAS’ grant giving and the preview of the book “Behind the Acanthus”, the NADFAS Story.

Dr Roger Allen told us about the ins and outs of Church Recording; a valuable and necessary activity to protect cultural heritage.

Mrs Kathleen Hollands informed us extensively about the work of the Heritage Volunteers.

Mrs Caroline Lorimer (Young Arts) spoke about the array of different projects in which NADFAS volunteers are engaged.

Then Desmond Shaw-Taylor (vice-president) introduced Buff Reid (N Trustee), who spoke of the many people who had benefited from NADFAS grants.

Right: The anniversary cake.

After his presentation Barbara Hickman (NADFAS Trustee) and Helen Clifford (Author and NADFAS Lecturer) gave the audience a preview of Behind the Acanthus and spoke about the amount of work and research that went into compiling the book.

The conference concluded with the cutting the Anniversary cake, performed by Susan Sellers (National Chairman) and HRH The Duchess of Gloucester (patron of NADFAS) who had been present for the morning.

AGM

After lunch the formal part of the AGM began with presentations of the new NADFAS stickpin to past National Chairmen followed by the Media Awards of 2008.

The Chairman of the Australian sister organization (ADFAS), Charlotte Nattey, then presented an Anniversary gift: a beautiful wall-hanging, composed of embroidered and quilted panels which represented each of the Australian societies. It will certainly get a prominent place in NADFAS House, Susan Sellers said in her words of thanks.

After the AGM there was still time to visit sun-drenched Liverpool.

Liverpool reflected in
the restaurant window.

Organized events like a cruise on the Mersey were unfortunately fully booked, but there was enough to do on your own: visiting Liverpool Cathedral, walking around the Albert Dock, enjoying a nice dinner at one of the restaurants and so on.

Most of the members with a prolonged stay took the opportunity to enjoy the Walker Art Gallery. There was an interesting exhibition “Art in the Age of Steam” with beautiful paintings, films and artifacts.

I managed to take the one-hour cruise on the Mersey. It was great fun, even though we all were almost ‘forced’ to listen to the inevitable song “Ferry cross the Mersey”!