This was the Esperanto Association of Britain's site from 2005 to 2018. You will find its current site at esperanto.org.uk.

EAB News 2010-08-09 to 13: Esperanto Summer Festival 2010

50th Jubilee Celebrations at the Esperanto Summer Festival 2010

This year's Esperanto Summer Festival, held at the Wedgewood Memorial College in Barlaston, followed the successful pattern of previous festivals: tutors Jack Warren and Hilary Chapman led summer-school study-and-discussion sessions for the "improvers" and "fluent" groups respectively; mealtimes were a communal event where the conversation was in Esperanto; evening events included two talks (in Esperanto) on the Esperanto World Congress in Havana, Cuba and on the history of spectacles, a screening of the Esperanto film Angoroj, and a lively entertainments evening produced by the participants themselves. Several guests took the opportunity to go sight-seeing in the Staffordshire countryside, to visit the local Barlaston pubs, to browse in the Esperanto bookshop at Esperanto House, or to study in the Butler library. The presence of guests Lidia and Sergei (from Russia) and Nelly (from the Netherlands) added to the international atmosphere, and encouraged everyone to exercise their Esperanto language skills, even outside the classroom. As at previous schools, even the less-experienced participants found that by the end of the week their fluency and confidence in the language had improved significantly - as testified by the five-minute presentations delivered (in Esperanto of course) by everyone towards the end of the week.

However there was also a one-off highlight in the programme, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Esperanto Summer School at Barlaston. Viv O'Dunne prepared an exhibition showing the history of the summer school, Paul Gubbins introduced a sherry reception, and Marjorie Boulton gave a talk on some of her personal experiences running 25 of the summer schools. Other guests included Kate Hall, another long-time tutor at the Summer Schools, and Hilda Jones, who had been present at the very first Barlaston Esperanto Summer School in 1960.

Vilĉjo Walker

Festival participants; photo Lidia Yerofeeva Course tutors Hilary Chapman + Jack Warren; photo Vilĉjo Walker
Festival participants; course tutors Hilary Chapman & Jack Warren

Marjorie Boulton lectures; photo Vilĉjo Walker Sherry reception; photo Vilĉjo Walker
Marjorie Boulton lectures; Sherry reception

Jubilee Zamenhof bust; sculptor Barbara Tribe Jubilee celebration lunch; photo Vilĉjo Walker Marjorie Boulton cuts the cake; photo Vilĉjo Walker
Jubilee celebration lunch; Cake-cutting
(On the mantelpiece overlooking the lunch is a terracotta bust of Zamenof, initiator of Esperanto. Made by Barbara Tribe, it was on loan to the Esperanto Summer Festival from the Stoke-on-Trent Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.)

entertainments evening audience; photo Vilĉjo Walker Hju Rid + Nelly Bracke; photo Vilĉjo Walker Sergei Potoskuyer; photo Vilĉjo Walker ; photo Vilĉjo Walker Jack Warren; photo Vilĉjo Walker Hilary Chapman; photo Vilĉjo Walker Hilda Jones + Michael Heary; photo Vilĉjo Walker Vivienne Isherwood + Mike Wade + Catherine Venture; photo Vilĉjo Walker Mikaelo Sims; photo Vilĉjo Walker
Audience at the entertainments evening, enjoying sketches and performances from Hju Rid & Nelly Bracke, Sergei Potoskuyer, Carolyn Wade, Jack Warren, Hilary Chapman, Hilda Jones & Michael Heary, Vivienne Isherwood & Mike Wade & Catherine Venture, Mikaelo Sims.

Esperanto at mealtimes; photo Vilĉjo Walker
Esperanto at mealtimes

[Return to EAB news bulletins list]
[EAB Homepage]