Facebook
YouTube
LinkedIn
Email
Twitter
Email Sign-Up
Share
PrintGeneral Membership Meeting
News
General Membership Meeting
September 1, 2024
ESU Atlanta Branch
President's Corner
August 19, 2024
To Atlanta Branch Members,
Greetings! I am honored to start my second year as your Branch President and look forward to our upcoming ESU sponsored events. In addition, I am honored to now serve on the National ESU Board and to serve as the Chair of the ESU National Task Force Committee. I also have the pleasure of participating as a member of the ESU National Happy Hour Committee and am looking forward to all of the fascinating speakers planned for the 2024/2025 year.
Regarding membership renewals, you will receive renewal notices in early September. Please consider not only renewing your Membership, but also becoming a National Sponsor or Patron.
On August 23 we will have a meeting of your new Board. I am pleased with the hard work and enthusiasm of the Board Members. Plans are underway for some great programs for the 2024/2025 year.
Please mark your calendars for the following:
Sunday, September 1st , 4-6 PM
Speaker - Grahame Davies CVO
Renowned poet and lyricist
Past Director within King (formerly)
Prince Charles' Office
Cathedral of St. Philip, Gould Room
2744 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305
Reception to Follow Guests Welcome
Sunday, September 15, 4-6 PM
Wrench Speaker – Baroness Catherine Meyer, CBE, Life Peer, Trade Envoy to Ukraine
Survivors, by Christopher Meyer, KCMG, former British Ambassador to US, published posthumously. Historical Biography of the real-life story of Lady Catherine Meyer's family and their dangerous journey across Siberia
Lenbrook Atlanta
3747 Peachtree Rd. NE
Atlanta, GA 30319
Heavy Hors d'oeuvres and full bar - Details forthcoming
Sunday Brunch, September 29th, 11:30
Speaker- Dr. Patrick Allitt
British Prime Ministers
Ansley Golf Club
196 Montgomery Ferry Dr NE, Atlanta, GA 30309
Details Forthcoming
Tuesday, October 15, 4-6 PM
Speaker- Michael Thurmond, CEO DeKalb County
Author: James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia: A Founder's Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist
Cathedral of St. Philip, Gould Room
2744 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305
Book signing
Reception to Follow Guests Welcome
Please note that the ESU Annual Conference will be held in Cleveland, Ohio on October 18th – 20th. The ESU National website has all of the relevant information as well as the schedule of events. You are invited!
In addition to our large traditional events, such as our events with Distinguished Speakers and the Holiday party; The ESU Atlanta Branch continues to organize the yearly Shakespeare Competition, Boyce Ansley School programs and T-Lab Scholarship programs.
Let's all continue our adventures together at the ESU!
Sincerely,
Susan Phillips, President
ESU, Atlanta Branch
News And Events
General Membership Meeting
Travel and Learn Abroad Scholarship 2024
News
What did you do on your summer vacation? If anyone asks Bridget Walsh, a high school English teacher at Brookwood High School in the Gwinnett County School System this question, she has an inspiring answer. Bridget, ESU Atlanta's 2024 Travel and Learn Abroad Scholar (Tlab), spent three weeks at Exeter College, Oxford participating in an English Literature seminar (English Literature Summer School | Oxford University Department for Continuing Education). Bridget will share her Oxford experience at one of our future programs. The date and time will be posted on our website under the Calendar of Events.
The Atlanta branch of the English Speaking Union's (ESU) Tlab scholarship for classroom teachers fully funds a study abroad program in England or Scotland and provides a travel stipend. Information about this scholarship is available at TLab: Travel and Learn Abroad - Atlanta Branch (esuus.org), and the 2025 scholarship application process will be posted in early November, 2024.
2024 ESU Atlanta Shakespeare Competition
News
Sixteen high school students competed in the annual ESU Atlanta Shakespeare Competition at the Shakespeare Tavern on Feb 25, 2024. Here are the top performers:
1st Place – Amelia G., St Pius X Catholic High School (Chamblee, Dekalb). Teacher Jami Warren.
2nd Place – Mars W., Westminster School (Buckhead, Fulton). Teacher Kate Morgens. This is Miss Wilkiemeyer's second appearance on our stage.
3rd Place – Charlotte C., Mount Vernon School (Sandy Springs, Fulton) Teacher Tyler Dale.
Amelia G. will represent ESU Atlanta in New York City as a participant in ESU's 41st National Competition on April 15th at Lincoln Center. The 1ST PLACE winner of the National Competition will receive a fully funded summer study abroad at the BRITISH AMERICAN DRAMA ACADEMY MID-SUMMER CONSERVATORY PROGRAM at Oxford University.
1st Place Winner Amelia G. with ESU President Susan Phillips
Our ESU Atlanta Shakespeare Competition benefits from the many hours that students and teachers dedicate to preparing for this event. This is the second year in a row that St. Pius X has taken first place, albeit with a different teacher. Their last theater teacher was Tracey Buot, and Jami Warren is the current teacher. Westminster has participated since the early 1990's. Kate Morgens has been the teacher for many years, and her students regularly do well. Ms Morgens was inducted into Westminster's Hall of Fame for alumni who excel in the arts. She graduated from the school in 1991, and she is in good company – actors Brian Baumgartner and Ed Helms of The Office fame were two of her classmates! Mount Vernon High School has become a theater power-house in recent years due in large part to one student, Miss Arden Adams, who won our competition two years in a row, and placed third in another year! We are happy to report that she is continuing to pursue her passion for the stage as a student at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. She will graduate in 2025 with a BFA.
Thank you to Diane and Randy Brannen for the phenomenal job they do each year in organizing and presenting this event.
Congratulations, Amelia!
2024-2025 Program Year
Sunday, September 1st , 4-6 PM
Speaker - Grahame Davies CVO
Renowned poet and lyricist
Past Director within King (formerly)
Prince Charles' Office
Cathedral of St. Philip, Gould Room
2744 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305
Reception to Follow Guests Welcome
Sunday, September 15, 4-6 PM
Wrench Speaker – Baroness Catherine Meyer, CBE, Life
Peer, Trade Envoy to Ukraine
Survivors, by Christopher Meyer, KCMG, former British Ambassador to US, published posthumously
Historical Biography of the real-life story of Lady Catherine Meyer's family and their dangerous journey across Siberia
Lenbrook Atlanta
3747 Peachtree Rd. NE
Atlanta, GA 30319
Heavy Hors d'oeuvres and full bar - Details forthcoming
Sunday Brunch, September 29th, 11:30
Speaker- Dr. Patrick Allitt
British Prime Ministers
Ansley Golf Club
196 Montgomery Ferry Dr NE, Atlanta, GA 30309
Details Forthcoming
Tuesday, October 15, 4-6 PM
Speaker- Michael Thurmond, CEO DeKalb County
Author: James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia:
A Founder's Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist
Cathedral of St. Philip, Gould Room
2744 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305
Book available/signing
Reception to Follow
Guests Welcome
Tuesday, November 12, 4-6 PM
Speaker- Mark McDonald, Retired Georgia Trust President and CEO
Author/Editor of Architecture of the Last Colony:Georgia's Historic Places, 1733-2000
Book available/signing
Gould Room Cathedral of St. Philip
2744 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305
Reception to Follow Guests Welcome
2023-2024 PROGRAM YEAR
Annual General Meeting
Tuesday, June 11th, 4:00pm
Gould Room, Cathedral of St. Philips
Gould Room, Cathedral of St. Philips
2744 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305
Election of 2024-2025 Officers and Directors
Reception to Follow
May 18, 2024, 3-6pm
Annual Garden Party
At the Resident of His Majesty's Consul General
Rachel Galloway
1320 Beechwood Hills Court
Atlanta, GA 30327
Members $45.00 Guests $55.00
Tuesday, March 12th, 4:00-6:00pm
Gould Room, Cathedral of St. Philips
Guest Speaker, Tony Brown, Reminiscences of the Shakespeare Tavern
Light Refreshments, Guests Welcome
October 4, 2023; 4-6 PM
Member Meeting, St.Philips -- Gould Room
The Speaker will be Mr. George Bevington. Champagne reception to follow.
November 19, 2023; 11:30
Sunday Brunch at The Ansley Club.
Wrench speaker, Ms. Flora Fraser will speak on her book about Flora McDonald.
December 16, 2023; 4:00-6:30 PM
Annual Holiday Party
Lenbrook located at 3747 Peachtree Rd., NE, Atlanta, 30319
Please bring your friends, and come eat, drink, and be merry!
January 14, 2024; 11:30
Sunday Brunch at The Ansley Club.
Our ever popular speaker, Emory Professor Dr. Patrick Allitt will speak.
February 25, 2024; 12 Noon
ESU Shakespeare Competition
Shakespeare Tavern
Midtown Atlanta
February 15, 2024; 4:00 PM
General Membership Meeting
Reverend Dr. Simon Mainwaring
Founding of the Church of England during the Reign of King Henry
Cathedral of St. Philip, Gould Room
2744 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305
Interns at New American Shakespeare Tavern
l to r: Katherine Carey, Abbe Fralix, Lydia Flock
The Grants/Sholarship Committee shared a lunch with Laura Coles and the Interns which the Atlanta Branch has provided for The New American Shakespeare Tavern. Note the names are below the picture. It was a pleasant day and once again the ESU, Atlanta Branch, has been generous.
Honoring our Patrons
