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THE ANGLO-FINNISH SOCIETY
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REPORT OF THE HONORARY SECRETARY FOR THE YEAR 2007
In the year which marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Sibelius, we began with a talk by Dr John Allison, music critic of the Sunday Telegraph and editor of Opera magazine on “Sibelius and the Kalevala”.
In February, thanks to the generosity of the Ambassador, H E Mr Jaakko Laajava, we held our AGM at the Residence for the first time since its refurbishment. The event attracted a particularly high attendance of more than 50 members and, once the formal business had been dispensed with, we were able to socialise and enjoy the Ambassador’s hospitality.
In March, Professor David Kirby gave a thought-provoking talk on the perils and pitfalls of writing a national history in the context of his Concise History of Finland which had recently been published.
Once again we filled the basement at Garbo’s restaurant to celebrate Vappu and we were pleased that the Ambassador was able to join us as our guest, which showed considerable fortitude, even sisu, on his part since he had already been the guest of the Finnish-British Chamber of Commerce at their Vappu lunch at the same restaurant earlier that day.
Following on from the major exhibition Aalto Through the Eyes of Shigeru Ban, Professor Richard Weston gave us a talk entitled “Learning from Aalto: Nature, Form and Architecture”. In addition to talking about Aalto, he also linked in work by one of Aalto’s pupils, Jørn Utzon, and showed us some extraordinary and wonderful photos of rock formations which, through digital technology, can now be printed as fabrics, tiles or what you will. Also in May, members of the Society were invited together with members of the Anglo-Belgian Society to a private view of still life paintings by Nadine Lundahl at Messum’s Gallery.
Our autumn programme got off to a bad start with the events planned for September and October having to be cancelled but in November we enjoyed a most entertaining talk from Erkki Toivanen entitled “Nordic Encounters” in which he reviewed stereotypes and distorted images in travel writing about the Nordic countries from the eighteenth century to the present day.
We used the legacy given to the Society by Phyllis Chapman to sponsor the concert by the Helsinki Brass Quintet at the end of November. The concert was part of the programme of the Sibelius and Beyond festival put together by Seppo Kimanen and the concert had one of the biggest audiences for the later part of the series.
Paulus Thomson, February 2008