First of all, I would like to wish everybody a healthy and safe new year. May we be less restricted than in the last one, so that we can see our family, meet our friends, receive our usual visitors, go to concerts and theatres, in short, lead a more normal life. Compared to Europe and other parts of the world we are very lucky in Australia. Let’s hope that it remains so.
Because of Covid-19 there are just a few SCCS events to remember from the past year, as several outings and the First of August Luncheon had to be cancelled. However, we were lucky that we could go ahead with the Christmas Luncheon. The date had to be changed though to a weekday and the numbers limited, but the 70 or so people who attended enjoyed the gathering at the Concordia Club: the nice food, the accordion entertainment by Philipp and some carols singing with Philipp and myself. It was a new experience for me to play the violin accompanied by accordion.
Thanks to the generosity of the Concordia Club we were also able to hold our
Volunteers Dinner there, despite the relatively small number of attendees. We are usually close to 40 people at this dinner, but some of our older helpers were not so keen to mingle which reduced the party to about 28. Please let us know if you are not a volunteer but would like to become one.
The AGM however was held digitally. As the planned venue was no longer able to
accept us, it was decided to hold it on Zoom. The committee and just a few dedicated members sat at home in front of their individual computers. Sophie Nakajima, our young, new secretary, did an excellent job convening this meeting and we were so glad that we could see each other and participate in the discussions. Luckily the new constitution had been accepted at the 2019 AGM, as one of the key changes in it is to allow us to use technology and make such meetings legal. At the 2020 AGM there were no major issues to discuss or vote about. Unfortunately, as the meeting closed, we were not able to enjoy a tasty meal and nice drink with our fellow members. In normal times these make
the necessary get together a more enjoyable evening.
For 2021 we have not yet set many dates, as planning ahead is still difficult. We are hoping to hold our two luncheons, celebrating Swiss National Day and Christmas. The dates for these will likely be July 29th and December 2nd . We have chosen Thursdays as this allows us to have more participants. Please make a note of these dates if you plan to attend.
If it is possible to organise outings, e.g. to concerts, we will send out the invitations in due course. Should you not be a member of SCCS yet, please consider becoming one so that you receive those invitations as well.
For now, just let’s hope that bigger social gatherings will soon be possible again and most of all that we have the strength to stay positive in these difficult times.
Regula Scheidegger
Swiss Community Care Society