TO MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY MAGNA CHARTA DAMES AND BARONS, POTENTIAL MEMBERS AND THOSE WHO SHARE OUR INTEREST IN THE PRINCIPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY
FROM LEWIS L. NEILSON JR., CHANCELLOR
DATE: JUNE 25, 2006
If this is the first Electronic Newsletter which you have received from our Society, please read the paragraph OUR E-MAIL LIST below. The link to the Newsletter on the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org/enews62006.htm The link to the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org.
This Electronic Newsletter features presentations from our Washington DC Dinner on April 15, 2006, presentations from Lincoln Magna Carta/ USA Week on June 14, 2006 and information about upcoming events. Please mark your calendar for Saturday, April 14, 2007 in Washington, DC.
Our membership is now over 17,000 Dames and Barons
I encourage you to call our office at 215-836-5022 with membership questions. Please speak with Mrs. Rose Mary McKeown, an experienced genealogist.
Topics: New Information ***
*** Magna Carta/USA Week in Lincoln - June 2006
*** Reports From DC Reception and Dinner -
April 15, 2006
*** Additions To our website
*** Future Events DC Reception and Dinner April 14, 2007 – University Club
*** Educational Tour Program - June 2007 Lincoln, UK
*** Participation in State Divisions
Greetings - Please send new email addresses
*** Thank you
Potential Members
Contributions
OUR E-MAIL LIST
I have just returned from visiting Lincoln for the Magna Carta USA Week.
Magna Carta USA Week June 2006, Lincoln, UK
The 2006 Annual Magna Carta Lecture was presented by Reg Weaver, President of the NEA (National Education Association). I have included the video of this outstanding presentation. Additional remarks, also on video were made by Steve Sinnott, General Secretary of the N.U.T (National Union of Teachers) and Alan Nugent, Subdean of Lincoln Cathedral. For links, please refer to the news page of the website or CLICK HERE.
A key initiative of Lincoln Cathedral is to bring the original Magna Carta to the United States. Since many of the original immigrants to Virginia in 1607 came from Lincolnshire, it is appropriate that the Magna Carta visit Virginia Beach to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the landing in April 2007. The planning for the exhibit is in process and I hope that our members visiting Virginia will have the opportunity to view this exhibit.
Reports From Washington DC Reception and Dinner - April 15, 2006
A report was presented for the prior year and I made a presentation titled “Magna Charta and the Other Charters” explaining why the 1215 Magna Charta is the most significant. The video of the report and presentation are on our website. For links, please refer to the news page of the website or CLICK HERE.
Additions to our WebSite
I had the opportunity to meet, in New York City, on May 12, 2006, with Sir Robert Worcester KBE DL who presented the 2005 Magna Charta Lecture. While we previously included the text of his talk on the website we did not include video and he recently brought greeting which we have now included as video. He is Co-Chairman of the British Committee of Jamestown 2007 Quadrennial Celebration of the first English-speaking settlement in the new world, is Chairman of the Pilgrims Society, a Governor of the English-Speaking Union, and a Trustee of the Magna Carta Trust.
Future Events
We have scheduled our Washington, DC dinner for April 14, 2007 at the University Club. Our speaker will be Michael West, Chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral. We have also scheduled a luncheon in Philadelphia on Friday, April 13, 2007 for Chancellor West and his wife. Please be sure to let us know if you wish an invitation to either event.
We are also planning for an additional educational program in Philadelphia this Fall. We will plan to send an Electronic Newsletter with details and a notification by regular mail to our local members.
Tour Program - June 2007 – Lincoln, UK
We encourage our members to participate in the Magna Carta Week 2007 which will be held in June, 2007. I heard two outstanding speeches the two evenings I was in Lincoln, however, there were other programs for the remaining days of the week. I encourage our members to participate next year. If you have suggestions for additional venues, please let me know.
Last year, as quoted in the website of Lincoln Cathedral, The Very Revd Alec Knight, Former Dean of Lincoln, noted: “The links between Historic Lincoln and the USA are strong, particularly those flowing from Magna Carta. They deserve to be highlighted and celebrated. We intend to do this in what I hope will become an annual Magna Carta/USA Week.” You may view the Official Web Site of Lincoln Cathedral: http://www.lincolncathedral.com/html/default.asp Then look at Events and Events Diary.
The purpose of our educational tours is to visit locations of cultural and historical significance primarily relating to the Magna Charta. We are undertaking to reduce the cost while maintaining quality.
Participation in State Divisions and New Divisions
I am pleased that we have furnished up to date listing of members to most of the State Division Regents or local Regents. If you are a member and wish to participate at the State or local level, please let us know.
Several of our members have expressed interest in forming new Divisions. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to assisting with this effort.
Greetings
On behalf of the Officers and Council of the Society, I bring greetings with this Newsletter. We continue to develop awareness of Magna Charta and its message. We ask each of you to participate with us in continuing the long tradition of friendship and fellowship which has continued over many years. We need to increase the number of members and friends on our email listing. Please ask your relatives or friends to send us their E-mail address. Please also send us the E-mail addresses of friends who are interested either in lineage societies or in memorializing Magna Charta. For the future, please propose new members for our Society. Please also attend your local meetings and include your children and grandchildren. We have a very special organization and I hope that you will help us to maintain its traditions.
Thank You
We continue to be pleased with the response from our members to update addresses and provide new addresses for those who have been lost. . Many members have appointed successors who were eligible to do so. Updated address lists will be sent to the State Divisions. I am, however, saddened to learn when our members are deceased. I and the Society are grateful for the time, dedicated effort and financial contributions that many of those members have given to our Society. As I update the deceased role with members who I have worked with and known during the past fifteen years, I am reminded that we need to express appreciation on an ongoing basis to all of those who are helping to make our Society a wonderful organization. Thank You!
Potential Members
If you are not a member of our Society and are eligible I hope that you will join. If you are not eligible but share our interest in history and genealogy we encourage you to remain on our Email list. We also welcome your participation in our ongoing genealogical research projects and our Tours. We welcome and encourage new members and remind those submitting lineage information to include copies of referenced material.
As mentioned in prior E-Newsletters, membership continues to be of vital importance to our Society. If you wish to speed up or facilitate the membership process, please include with the Proposal Form a well documented lineage (including copies of the documentation) to either a known ancestor or to one of the qualifying Barons. If you have sent lineage information without the copies you may also speed up the process by sending copies of the documentation. Lineage Forms are provided on the Website.
Contributions
We rely on member contributions for our Society operations and we plan to build our endowment in connection with the 100th Anniversary of the founding our Society in 1909. We hope you will consider year end contributions, including contributions of appreciated securities. Our Society is a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
OUR E-MAIL LIST
We continue to significantly increase our e-mail list. To those of you who are new to our list we welcome you to receive our Electronic Newsletter and hope that you will find our Society and our mission to be interesting. Since a primary mission of our Society is to develop awareness of Magna Charta we wish to expand the circulation of our Electronic Newsletter by increasing our e-mail address list particularly including those who are members of lineage societies and/or who might share our interest in the principles of Constitutional Liberty. I would like to thank those who have shared their email lists since our last Electronic Newsletter.
We encourage you to check our Website regularly for new developments and information. The link to the Newsletter on the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org/enews62006.htm The link to the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org.
Our E-mail list is made up of those who have sent us e-mail, of members and friends of the Society who have responded to our Newsletter request for E-mail addresses and others who we believe might be interested in our Society or mission. If you would prefer not to receive future Electronic Newsletters, however, please let us know. If you have friends who you believe might be interested in our Society, please forward this e-mail. If you have received this as a forwarded e-mail, please visit our Website at for more information about our Society. You may also contact our Society Office at 215-836-5022.
Do not hesitate to contact me with questions or suggestions. Chancellor@magnacharta.org
Sincerely,
Lewis L. "Ted" Neilson, Jr.
Chancellor
National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons
Email:
Chancellor@magnacharta.org
WebSite:
www.magnacharta.org
Telephone: 215-836-5022
Fax: 215-836-5056
Mailing Address: PO Box 4222, Phila., PA 19144
Office Hours: Monday - Wednesday - Friday 9:30am - 3:00 pm
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