Chairman\u27s Annual Report for 2015

Another successful year\u27 is always good to report, and is expected of a chairman. But it really was a terrific year for the Fellowship. The only damper was the slow, painfully slow progress on the Visitor Centre. I start with thanks to the Fellowship Council, strengthened in March by the election of Joy Hunter, Joy Redfem and Linda Mayne as full members. The George Eliot Essay Prize was won in 2015 by Jen Davis, and her essay appeared in last year\u27s Review. On a more positive side, we think Whitbread is still committed to helping create a Visitor Centre; and in Nuneaton\u27s George Eliot Memorial Gardens the borough council opened up the area around the obelisk, cutting down overhanging trees and shrubs and making the memorial more visible to passers-by. Soon after that, we worked with BBC Scotland to help in their DU programme about The Mill on the Floss, an interesting feature fronted by Fiona Shaw and drawing on the expertise of Kathryn Hughes. As part of our regular programme we held our annual George Eliot Day in May at Chilvers Coton Heritage Centre. The following day in May we held one of our George Eliot Country Tours. The Fellowship supported the Institute of English Studies conference at the Senate House on Daniel Deronda