When I was officially elected your new President last February little did any of us know that just a month later we would be thrown into a global pandemic. Now over a year later things are staring to feel much more promising than the last time you received your society newsletter. I am happy to report that The St. George’s Society of Baltimore has weathered the last year and we are in great standing. Soon after the pandemic started, the Board of Directors made the decision to meet every other month as opposed to quarterly. Event dates became postponed and eventually cancelled altogether. While it was a shame to cancel all but one of our events over the past year, it has allowed the Society to use some of the funds allocated for those events to purchase some items that have been on a wish list for several years.

Last summer I requested that the Finance Committee review our budget and make recommendations to the Board of Directors on what special projects we might be able to fund with reallocated budget funds. I am happy to report that we were able to fund several items that had been on our wish list for several years. These purchases will help to enhance our membership events throughout the year. The Society was in desperate need of replacements for the US and Maryland flags that were in our collection. The new flags were custom made by the same firm as our Union and St. George’s Flag to match them in size and quality and will be used at our indoor dinners and meetings. We were also able to purchase a model of the HMS Victory, which had been on loan for use at our annual Trafalgar Dinner.

One of the challenges that have faced many organisations over the past year is how to keep their membership engaged when all social events have been cancelled. We have tried our best to be in regular communication with our members throughout the past year. We also created a sub-committee on membership to look into how the membership process is handled, from how prospective members are introduced, to what they receive upon their installation, Society merchandise etc. One issue that the committee discussed was the fact that due to supply changes over the years our members have been presented with different lapel badges depending on when they joined. The committee made a recommendation to the board that we adopt a standard badge and every member will be issued a new one. This is a great way to give back to our membership who have continued to support the Society of the past year. You will read more about our new Society badge in this newsletter.

I am happy to report that despite the challenges of the past year our Society has remained “True To Our Trust” of providing support to the citizens of the United Kingdom. Through our Foundation, not only did we once again support Help For Heroes and the Invictus Games Foundation, but also we were able to increase the amount of our donations. This was much needed during this past year when these organisations are suffering financially due to decreased giving. I would like to thank all those who made contributions to the Foundation over the past year; your support is very much appreciated. Another way you can support the Foundation is by purchasing a Society Tervis Tumbler. The Board of Directors approved the design last summer, which includes our Society Badge and all profits from sales will go directly to our Foundation. This is a great way to support the Society’s mission and receive an item you can be proud to use when entertaining.

Although most events were cancelled in 2020 we were able to hold one outdoor socially distanced event. In November for the first time in many years, we held a Remembrance Sunday Service at Lorraine Park Cemetery. Our Society has a long history of providing graves to British expatriates and this event was a great opportunity to assemble to mark the Commonwealth War Graves in the Baltimore area. In addition to the poppy wreathes that were placed at Lorraine Park, Harry Aycock cared for the marking of all other Commonwealth War graves in the Baltimore area with poppy crosses and one poppy Star of David. My sincere thanks to Harry Aycock and Stephen Morgan who helped to organize this meaningful event and to Harry for providing an article on the Commonwealth War Graves for this newsletter.

For those who are not currently involved in leadership in the Society and have a desire to contribute to the operation and management of our activities and events, please contact Harry Aycock, Chairman of the Nominating Committee for 2021. It might seem early to think about serving next year, but give some thought to how you might become more involved as the Nominating Committee submits our slate for the 2022-2023 year to the Board at the October meeting.

Also if you happen to know of any prospective members, please talk to them about joining our Society. As with any organisation, new members are the lifeblood and the younger the better. We encourage all prospective members to attend at least one event and get to know the officers and members of the society before letters of introduction are sent to the Membership Secretary. My sincere thanks to all those members who have been involved in recent membership efforts, even with the pandemic, we were still able to welcome three new members.

In closing I would like to thank all of you for support over the past year. It has been challenging in so many ways, but the Society remains in a very strong position and that is in thanks to our dedicated membership. We are hopeful that we will once again be able to hold our Trafalgar Dinner in October, if it is safe to do so. Please look for updates on events via email throughout the next few months.

For more information, please download the St.George's Society of Baltimore's newletter.