Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Farewell Letter from Felicity Kelly

To the OWC members.

It is with mixed emotions that I write this letter, excitement at the prospect of moving to Cairo, Egypt – new beginnings, sadness to be leaving Chennai, home for the last 5 years. I can honestly say that living in Chennai has been wonderful and yet quite challenging at times for us personally and professionally.

I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to be involved in the OWC and have made many wonderful friends in the process. The OWC is well positioned to continue its charity work. Chennai is changing rapidly and with a steady membership, and a committee of dedicated hardworking individuals the work of the OWC will hopefully continue to support those less fortunate than us. Happily for me, I will maintain a relationship with OWC by checking the blog site every now and then!

Living in Chennai has greatly enriched my life. It has made me laugh, smile, and jump up and down in excitement at times and also cry and roll my eyes heavenwards and shout in complete frustration at other times. I have enjoyed life a lot here and it has been made very easy by knowing such kind and caring people who live in the Chennai community. My thanks go out to all of you, for the years of genuine kindness, unstinting support and generosity. Your collective names would fill pages, but you know who you are, some have moved on but are not forgotten.

A privilege of living here has been that we have come to know, respect and cherish the Indian people and Indian way of life. India will always remain in our hearts. Our children have grown up here and genuinely have had a fabulous early childhood. They have been spoilt rotten by our staff and have had a happy and carefree existence, with wonderful holidays and cultural experiences. We have dozens of photos and happy memories to take away with us and to remind them of their life in India.

I'll miss the craziness of Chennai. The bumpy roads, the street scapes, the kids playing Cricket – everywhere. The happy, smiling people. The fabulous food. From the wide, tree lined avenue of TTK Road to the cows crossing the road ever so slowly on the ECR. Where else in the world will you find a doctor’s office adjacent to a herd of cattle or a bike repair shop next to a Restaurant?

We have spent fabulous holidays exploring the country, meeting new people and finding out about the history of India. We will be intrigued to know and see how the city of Chennai evolves in the future.

This is closing a chapter, certainly, but not closing a book, and in the meantime my fondness for Chennai won't ever go away, I'll just honor it differently now, and in the meantime I have some new challenges and obligations to fulfill.
Thank you for your support and friendship.

I would also like to say thanks for the beautiful flowers and kind words written in the last newsletter.

In closing, I will say peace, goodness and love to all.

With warm regards,

Felicity Kelly

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

June General Meeting

Wednesday, June 14th
12:30
The Copper Chimney(Formerly 'le Madeleine')
Kasturi Ranga Road
Alwarpet

This will be an informal get-together and serve as a combined General Meeting/Ladies who Lunch. No entrance fee, of course, just the price of your meal and new people are always welcome!

President's Message

Well, it’s that time of year again, new President, new Committee and hopefully some new ideas!
Our aim is threefold, firstly to inject some life into the monthly meetings by making them both informative and entertaining, secondly to increase awareness amongst the membership with regards to the charities we support and thirdly, to provide a support group to those new in town and to strengthen those bonds already made.
With this in mind we will be continuing with our Ladies Who Lunch, our Bookclub meetings and the Childrens Playgroup as these have proved popular, particularly in the case of the Childrens Playgroup which I know many of the mums view as a real lifeline. Two of these activities have been organized by Felicity Kelly who is leaving Chennai in the near future and will be greatly missed by all her friends. She has given the OWC a lot of her time over the four years she has been here and it has been greatly appreciated. In fact a few of the OWC members will be leaving Chennai over the next couple of months and we’d like to wish them all the best in whichever country they find themselves. Let’s hope they are not all as hot as Chennai!
As we are indeed going into the hottest months of the year and so many members head out of town we have decided that Mays general meeting will be a ‘Pot Luck’ Luncheon at Lisa Feldmanns house (details in the newsletter.) For those of you who are not familiar with this, basically it means everyone brings one dish which will be shared by all. She has kindly offered to open her house to the members and says she can cater for up to 100!
Also, for June we have decided to forego the usual monthly meeting at the Park Sheraton due to depleted numbers and will instead invite members to come along to the Ladies Who Lunch at the new Copper Chimney restaurant (details in the newsletter) for informal chat and hopefully, good food.
The main event that is coming up in the OWC calendar is the Welcome Back Lunch at the new Courtyard Marriott hotel on Wednesday 16th August. The theme this year is International Day and so come decked out in your countries finest national costume. This can be as serious or tongue-in-cheek as you like. We look forward to seeing what you come up with!
At this event we will have an International Gift Table which we would like small donations for please. When you are on your summer break please pick up something which represents that country. This could be in the form of a fridge magnet, keyring, coaster – anything would be greatly appreciated. We will sell these on the day and raise funds for our charities. Thank you!
We will keep you updated over the summer months on the blog as we are consolidating April and Mays newsletters. The next newsletter will be out in June and the next General Meeting at the Park Sheraton will be on Wednesday 12th July.
Enjoy the hot months ladies, and I look forward to seeing you all in July.
Jo Frogbrook

Welcome Jo!







At this year's Annual General Meeting held on April 19 at the Park Sheraton, Jo Frogbrook was voted in as President of the OWC. Please welcome her and get ready for a great year ahead. Congrats Jo!

June Book Club

The book we will be reading for next month's meeting is:

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Rs.269.00
On Tuesday 20 June

At Subha Sen Gupta's house
135 Chamiers Road''Padmini''
Ground Floor R.A. Puram
Ph.2431134512 noon for social chat...12.30

Book discussion followed by lunch
Please let Shuba know if you are coming.

- Joanne Burema

Executive Committee 2006-2007

President
Jo Frogbrook
4211-0112/9840891824 jofrogbrook@hotmail.com

Vice President / Newsletter
Natalie von Hoffmeister 9884187761 natalievh@gmx.net

Secretary
Kelly Forsyth 9840166647

Treasurer
Lakshmi Chockalingam 2447-0891/98400-41541 lakshmu@yahoo.com

Membership
Sanjita Shah 9840857869 sanjita_quinn@hotmail.com
Rhadika McGregor 9840523430 radhikashetty@yahoo.co.uk
Heather Cater 2442-5127 cater1@bigpond.com

Social Welfare
Eleonor Daruwalla 2498-6927 n_eleonor@hotmail.com
Aruna Vijaykumar 2453-0556 vijay_n@yahoo.com
Maureen Hudson Murari 2641-3027 hmmaureen@hotmail.com
Francoise Queval 2449-1045 quevalf@md4.vsnl.net.in
Vijaya Rangarajan 9841099363 vijaya_raghu@hotmail.com

Entertainment
Jaya Tambay Patwardhan 4203-0778/98402-33975 jayatp@onebox.com
Roseanne Smith

Children’s Events
Sarah Woods 2447-4383, 98407-984425
Lucy Robson 9840172139 Lcyrobson@yahoo.co.uk

Officers at Large
Sejal Wasani 9884052575 sej173@yahoo.co.uk
Bee Bee Chong 2446-4990/98410-23808 beebee@martinent.org

June Marketplace

In search of...

I am looking for an excellent kobbler to repair my husband's leather shoe soles.
Please contact Cathy Tiret at ctiret@sify.com

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AVAILABLE FOR RENT.

A beautiful and very big appartment on A location in T.Nagar.

1500 sqft. 2 Bedrooms (one very big one + balcony)
A study
2 Bathrooms(one is a big one)
Big kitchen + balcony
2 Toilets
Living / dining rooms are seperated
Marble floors, Woodwork in every room, a lot of storage possibillities.

Elevators within the building (2) one is connected to the generator in case of powercuts....but there are NO problems at all there. 24 hours water. 24 hours security at both entrances. The appartment is a very light one, breezy and cool.

Available furnished or unfurnished, this is negotiable. No brokers involved. Preferred to rent to foreigners and or big companies.

Contact Netty Pecqueur (044) 55.254.938

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In excellent condition a TUGA swimming suit
- colour Blue
- size 6-12 month.
It is UPF 50+ excellent protection at >97.5% UVBlocked.
Bought in Singapour S$120, selling price 1600 rupees . (or nearest offer)
In the same brand and quality the hat - size S - colour Blue.
Bought S$60 in Singapour, selling price 800 rupees. (or nearest offer)
Please contact Cathy Tiret at ctiret@sify.com



For sale - Bargain:
1 single Futon with mattress in excellent condition. Bought in Chennai 2 years ago at the price of rs5700.
Size of the mattress: W: 106 cm - l: 194 cm (+ or -)
Cover: dark green cotton
Selling Price: rs3000
Please contact Cathy Tiret at ctiret@sify.com


Baby Items:
1. Avent express bottle and babyfood warmer. Rs 500 or nearest offer (bought in Chennai)
2. 1 Inflatable bath - very handy when travelling - 0 to 6 months - Rs 300 or nearest offer (Mothercare brand)
3. 1 cot light Tomy brand. Different choice of lullabies and different options of lights too. Can be attached to cot rail or use on tabletop. Works perfectly, unfortunately one stripe broke. Rs 750 or nearest offer - (bought in Chennai)



3 boxes of ISOMIL - Milk free and Lactose FreeSoy infant - Formula Net weight per box: 400gPrice Rs255 per box (it is a MRP price, product bought in a pharmacy in Chennai)Exp. date 04.2008

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Heather Cater has the following to sell:

Assorted golf clubs
1,3,5 wood
4,5,7,8,9,pw irons
RS 2000 or offers

Available now

Contact Heather at:

Home 24425127

Mobile 9444951435