Gabriel Woolf has been a key part of the success of the Fellowship since 1969 when he did his first oneman selection of readings from George Eliot at the invitation of Kathleen Adams, then newly installed secretary of the Fellowship. In some small measure we were able to say thank you to Gabriel, for many years now accompanied by Rosalind Shanks, for those 50 years of dedicated love for and sharing of George Eliot, by inviting him to speak at the bicentenary event in Westminster Abbey in 2019 and by a special thank you presentation at the 2019 Readings, shown in the picture. He and Rosalind have taken their readings all over the world, especially to America, but because of the pandemic in 2020 we were not able to proceed with a 51st presentation. So we were delighted that Gabriel and Rosalind have agreed to present a special 150th anniversary selection of readings from Middlemarch. Also included are some personal memories of their presentations over the last five decades. It will be a unique experience. We hope Coventry residents, now enjoying the early stages of City of Culture 2021, will travel north to hear wonderful readings from the book which drew on memories of their city in the 1830s and 1840s.
“George Eliot’s Middlemarch and its relevance to modern healthcare”
Professor Vinod Patel encourages his medical students to read Middlemarch and to present their thoughts and ideas provoked by the great novel, first published 150 years ago. I sat in on their presentations at the end of 2019 and was fascinated by the relevance of Eliot’s work to modern day medicine.
Some years ago we worked closely with George Eliot Hospital to provide lectures relevant to medicine and George Eliot. They were presented alternate years by the Hospital and the Fellowship. This year’s Annual lecture picks up on that earlier co-operation.
The first luncheon took place in 1930 and apart from the war years it has been held every year since. Weston Hall is a distinguished looking Jacobean building, once home to the local aristocracy. George Eliot’s aunt and her husband are buried in Bulkington and they lived at nearby, but now demolished, Marston Hall. There are some who think Bulkington was a model for Raveloe in Silas Marner.
Our guest of honour this year will be Lesley Smith
