2012 Programme

8th January Vassilopitta Party at Loretta & John Proctor’s in Malvern. The Vassilopitta is a special cake made for the Greek New Year, a tradition which dates back to the 4th Century AD. A coin is baked in the cake with the ingredients, and the person receiving the portion containing the coin is considered blessed for the New Year.

23rd February Life on Naxos Liz & Tony Poole have spent a number of years at their holiday home on the largest island in the Cyclades, as well as journeying widely around the World. They return to give us an insight into the real Naxos.

29th March Pylos The Palace of Nestor at Pylos has the best preserved ground plan and most complete Linear B archive of the known Mycenaean sites. Guest speaker Ray Aspden of 3CAHS will combine the two to speculate on what life was like immediately before the terminal destruction.

26th April Greek War of Independence 2 Also known as the Greek Revolution of 1821, guest speaker Les Roberts continues his evocative story of how Greece finally gained its freedom from the 400-year tyranny of the Ottoman Empire.

31st May AGM & Symposium Following the short annual report, we invite everyone to contribute to the members’ evening; a wonderful opportunity to tell a favourite Greek story, recount a great journey or just chat about Greek life and culture.

28th June Argos Corridor John Fryer will talk about the Argos Bypass which runs from Mycenae to Tiryns on the Peloponnese. Steeped in ancient history, this is a cultural delight. John promises ‘more interesting sites than you can get in one talk!’

7th July Garden Supper Party This year the summer party, Panagiria, is kindly hosted by Shelagh & Geoff Peters at their home in Sale Green. As always we are warmly invited to bring a little sunshine, Greek food and wine to share, and dance, and sing…

August No meeting this month.

27th September Film Night It's the turn for a 'new' film, not one of the black and white classics; 'Dogtooth' has attracted a lot of attention. It's a most intriguing film; its follow up 'Attenburg' is now all the rage with the cineastes in Greece. Comes subtitled and highly recommended by Eleni!

25th October Between Two Cultures Loretta Proctor wrote this as a chapter for David Willis’s book ‘Greece & Britain’. Loretta tells us that it’s rather autographical!

29th November The Lycian Way According to the Sunday Times, this is one of the top twenty long-distance treks in the World. Malcolm Delingpole travels to visit some remarkable ancient Greek cities in what is now Southern Turkey.

December No meeting this month.