Welcome to a special Winter Supplement of the Club Magazine. You will find here a few items of news, a tribute to our long-serving Honorary Librarian, and some reminders of what’s on offer in the Club Calendar.
Hopefully, your seasonal plans are well advanced, whether these involve shopping, decorating, cooking, volunteering, travelling, or socialising. The Clubhouse is now decked out for Christmas, and looking very festive. If you are in or near London, perhaps to brave the retail frenzy that is Piccadilly in December, the Clubhouse is more than ever a place of calm, rest and refreshments. Our own Big Day is December 13th, with a full programme of events (page 5). Christmas Dinner is fully booked, but there are still some places available for Lunch, and the Carol Concert and Quiz provide free entertainment between the two.
Seasonal contributions to the Staff Fund can be made in person via the tronc box at Reception, or if you prefer, via the ‘donate’ tab on the members’ area of the UWC website.
Meanwhile, whatever you are doing to mark the holidays, I wish you the Merriest of Christmasses and Happiest of New Years.
Pauline Foster
Number 19:
Winter Supplement 2024
Retirement of the Honorary Librarian 2025 Debenture update Christmas celebrations at the Club
Re-homing unwanted Christmas Presents
Amendments to Club Bye-Laws
December’s Dining Room menu
Retirement of Diane Spero, our Honorary Librarian
The Library is often cited as members’ favourite space in the Club. It offers a particular atmosphere of stillness for reading, writing, taking tea, or just sitting comfortably.
sub-Committee soon evolved into something less formal, with an Honorary Librarian assisted by volunteer Club members to help out with the task of keeping the Library in good working order.
Of course, the books that line the walls are not just for show. This is a working Library, where members can browse the bookcases, take down something of interest, and curl up with it on one of the sofas. Or, if they prefer, they can sign a book out, take it home, and return it at a later date.
All this means our extensive collection of books needs to be regularly checked and sorted in order to be kept in their proper places, with old or damaged items weeded out, and newer titles purchased This has been the tireless (and often invisible) work of the Honorary Librarian, Diane Spero, who is now stepping down after two decades in the role.
Diane joined the UWC in 1987. In 2002, when the late Helena Henderson was Chair, the GC established a Library subCommittee, consisting initially of seven members, including Diane, under the chairmanship of Janetta Stewart. This
From 2002 to 2004, Diane was the organiser of the Library Talk programme. Then in May of that year, with the resignation of the incumbent Honorary Librarian, and no-one else able or willing to take on the task, Diane stepped up. To aid with the perennial need to put books back onto the shelves, she introduced the colour coding scheme for the main sections. This might not be aesthetically pleasing to some, but the Library simply could not function without it. In 2016, after 12 years in the role, Diane was ready to step down, but was persuaded to stay on as it proved impossible to find a successor.
One of the main challenges to keeping the Library functioning is dealing with the aftermath of film crews, or event attendees, moving books from their designated places (sometimes entire shelves of them), and setting them on the floor, or haphazardly on random desks. This problem of careless handling of books dates back at least to 1996 when the then Honorary Librarian complained that film crews were removing books and not caring to note which shelves they came from. Despite the much stricter conditions (and penalties) now applied to room hire agreements, an episode of book mishandling occurred earlier his year, when a film crew created hours of hard labour for Diane and her helpers.
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When it was established in 2002, the Library Committee was allocated £300 a year for new books, an amount that has not increased (though the GC will be looking at changing this, at last.) Within this very tight budget, Diane has been choosing about 25 books per year to appeal to the varied reading tastes of the membership. While most titles are new, others are sourced in charity shops and through donations. (Diane had to give up using the Hayward Hill bookshop on Curzon Street when their prices went just too high.) The library additions for 2024, listed below, reflect the current reading habits in our membership, and Diane’s care in keeping our book stock responsive to them:
Rural Hours, by Harriet Baker
The Long-Winded Lady, by Maeve Brennan
The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri
Everett, by James Percival
The Years, by Annie Ernaux
Lady In Waiting, by Anne Glenconner
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Fictional London by Stephen Halliday
Karla’s Choice, by Nick Harkaway
The Guest Cat, by Takashi Hiraide
The Figurine, by Victoria Hislop
Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James
Le Testament Français, by Andreï Makine
Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, by Hilary Mantel
All The Rage: Power, Pain, Pleasure: Stories from the Frontline of Beauty 1860-1960, by Virginia Nicholson
Caledonian Road, by Andrew O’Hagen
Good Evening, Mrs Craven by Mollie PanterDownes
Trailblazer, by Jane Robinson
Knife, by Salman Rushdie
Rhine Journey by Ann Schlee
The Island of Missing Trees, by Elif Shafak
Long Island, by Colm Toíbín
Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
In Memoriam, by Alice Winn
We express our sincerest thanks to Diane for all the years of service to our Library. As she herself puts it:
“It’s been a long, long time and many miles of ladder.”
In Diane’s place, we are delighted to welcome Olga Celda-Real as Honorary Librarian. Olga has been working in the Library alongside Diane for some time, and knows the scope and challenges of the role.
Library refurbishment project
Last month we welcomed three additional members to the House sub-Committee overseeing the Library refurbishment. They bring invaluable experience to the task in terms of their specialist backgrounds in Architecture, Design and Heritage. We will be keeping members informed of developments as the sub-Committee makes further progress.
The 2025 Debenture scheme is live and now well underway. Contributions will go toward bringing our Library back to its former glory, and we are very grateful to those enterprising members who have been early adopters of this scheme and such generous supporters of the Club. The larger the Debenture Fund, the greater the scope for the Library restoration.
With the annual subscription renewal date just around corner, do bear in mind that if you sign up to the Debenture scheme before December 31st, you will benefit from the attractive ‘debenture discount ‘on your subscription for the full calendar year.
“Become a Debenture holder, joining the ranks of founders and members in the Ledgers of the University Women’s Club – be part of History for future generations by subscribing to the 2025 Debentures Scheme”
You will find the Debenture subscription form, and full details of the scheme in the Members’ Area of our website, under the Club Information tab. Alternatively, you could email the General Manager (gm@uwc-london.com) to have a copy sent to you.
Christmas at UWC: Friday December 13th
1.00 pm and 7.45pm: Festive Lunch and Dinner in the Dining Room
Mulled Wine on Arrival
Starters
Spiced Butternut Squash & Leek Soup
Prawn & Artichoke Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette & Baby Gem Brie & Caramelised Leek Tart
Main
Roast Turkey with all the Trimmings
Spinach, Feta, Butternut Squash Wellington with Sundried Tomato Pesto
Regular and vegetarian gravy available
Desserts
Christmas Pudding
Chocolate Yule Log
Apple Tart Tatin with Vanilla Cream
Tea & Coffee with after dinner mints & Mince Pies
3.30 pm: Christmas Carols and Music in the Drawing Room
6.30 pm: Christmas Quiz in the Library
Light-hearted seasonal trivia. Come as a team or join up with others.
If you enjoy a topical quiz, and like the idea of winning with a prize no matter your score, then Jan 28th offers both in this double-billed event:
Quiz of the Year and re-homing unwanted Christmas presents
28th January, from 6.30 pm
2024 has been quite a year, with space exploration, General Elections, natural and man-made disasters, extraordinary weather, the Olympic Games, and births, marriages and deaths among the glitterati. How much of it will you recall, once 2025 has got under way?
The UWC Quiz of the Year will reveal how much of the past year you were awake for.
The event is free to members, £5 for guests, and entitles each attendee to a strip of Raffle Tickets, and a chance to re-home an unloved Christmas Present.
Come with friends as a ready-made team, or by yourself and make a team with others.
According to the financial comparison site Finder, an estimated 48 million UK adults will be spending an average of £600 each on Christmas presents.
It is sad, but not surprising, that some of these presents, even the most carefully chosen, are destined to be unloved by their new owners (secretly, of course) On the brighter side, there is perhaps no such thing a truly unloved Christmas present, there is just an object deserving of a better home
To aid the process of finding new homes for unloved presents, we are inviting members to gather together any Christmas gifts they would rather not give house room to, and bring them to the Club on or before Jan 28th.
On that day, for members attending our Quiz of the Year, we will lay out everything in the Library, and hold a special raffle. The holder of the winning ticket will choose anything from the table that she takes a fancy to. The holder of the next winning ticket will then select her choice from the table, and so on, till there are no unloved presents left.
We all know that clutter is bad, and recycling is good. Let’s tackle the former by doing the latter, and get those presents out of a cupboard and into a place of love.
Two items to note:
Room Hire:
A year after joining, a valuable benefit is available to UWC members: two free room bookings per year to hold a private event such as a dinner party or birthday celebration. The normal room hire charge is £150 per hour, so this is a considerable saving. You will pay only the staffing, food and beverage bill. (Please note that you cannot reserve the Library or Drawing Room for your exclusive personal use without incurring such costs.)
If you have a special date coming up in 2025, do consider getting in touch with Lukasz Szala, the Operations Manager (events@uwc-london.com) to go over your requirements, and to get a quotation for hosting it here in the Clubhouse.
Changes to Bye-Laws:
The General Committee has amended Club Bye-laws 25, 30 and 36, as follows:
Bye-law 25, referring to left luggage, has been amended to include a monthly charge of £5 per item per month, to a maximum of two items per member for no more than 6 months. There will be a designated locked space provided on the 2nd floor for such items, thus removing the current clutter of bags and suitcases in the basement.
Bye-Law 30, referring to the smoking restrictions, has been expanded to the Library Balcony, and now includes vaping.
Bye-law 36, referring to the Business Room, has been deleted. The room has been restored as a bedroom (for which there is much more demand)
An updated version of the Club Rules and Bye-Laws has been uploaded to the UWC website
For those members planning to visit the Club over the next weeks, here is the updated monthly menu:
