President’s Message
President’s Welcome to CFUW Nepean 2024-2025
Dear fellow members,
On June 11th a Club Executive Crossover meeting hosted by Past President Joan Conrod welcomed
me as your new President for 2024-2025 – there is even an official gavel that goes with this position!
We have enjoyed a successful year and I am looking forward to another positive year with our
dynamic club.
We held our May AGM Dinner at the Waterford Grand Retirement Home in Barrhaven with an
engaging and informative speaker, Donna Shields Poë. She spoke about the 125th anniversary of
the May Court Club of Ottawa.
The well attended Garden Party and House Tour in June hosted by Betty Ann Grainger raised
$2000.00 for the Scholarship Trust. Thanks to your generous contributions to fill our three gift
baskets, the raffle added another $400.00.
Another successful June event was the Pontoon Boat Ride from the Nichols Island Long Island
Locks in Manotick organized by Sue Carter. It was an enjoyable afternoon on the Rideau River as
we cruised past the lovely homes and scenery in good company.
As President, I attended the July AGM in Edmonton with Joan Conrod, Past President, and Marcia
Armstrong, Past President and VP Membership Ontario. It was the first in person AGM since 2020
and was a well-organized event with 132 club representatives from coast to coast in attendance.
We are looking forward to the gathering on Parliament Hill September 21st- World Peace Day.
An assembly of CFUW members, friends, and supporters of Peace will gather on Parliament Hill
with a display of hundreds of colorful panels calling for Peace in our troubled world.
CFUW clubs across Canada have sent in their Pieces4Peace to be displayed on the Hill. Our
indefatigable Past President, Joan Conrod, is fully involved and is encouraging everyone to
participate and create their own banner. Joan set up a P4P workshop at the AGM and many
attendees, including our new CFUW National President, Linda Sestock, contributed. Jennifer
Robinson has posted lots of information about this upcoming event on our Facebook page.
On August 16th Joan hosted a Pieces for Peace Picnic at her condo, where we painted panels for
September 21st and enjoyed a picnic lunch together.
We will start our new CFUW year at our General meeting on September 10th with Thomas A. Barber,
who will speak about his great-grandfather, Paul Barber, a formerly-enslaved Black man who moved
to Ottawa and became a respected horse trainer.
See you there!
All the Best, Carole
President’s Welcome to CFUW Nepean 2023-2024
Well begun is half done – I quote my mother – and last year we had just begun to come out of our COVID way of doing things. We did begin well, and we are perhaps at least half done on our way back to preCOVID ways.
What returns have we made? Lunching Out is back, as our tours of the National Gallery. Some of our bridge games are in person, and certainly most of our general meetings were held at Bells Corners United. Well begun to say goodbye to COVID indeed.
Return to “normal” is still considered for other interest groups. Book Club will continue to meet on Zoom, as will Travel Talk. Our executive meetings were, and might still be, on Zoom.
Perhaps Zoom is here to stay. The convenience of such meetings in the bad weather of winter, and for those who have trouble getting out and about, must be considered.
Whatever the case might be, I welcome you to the 2023-24 year of CFUW Nepean and thank you for your work, your friendship, your commitment and your advice. Let us move ahead together, prepared to deal with the changes that will come, anticipating another great year, following the advice of Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3 – Wisely and slow. They stumble that move fast.
Stay safe.
Joan
Joan Conrod, President, CFUW Nepean
