The English-Speaking Union
Charlottesville Branch
P.O.Box 4816
Charlottesville, VA 22905 |
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| Charlottesville High School English Teacher, Kathleen Wiesner, recipient of the Branch's 2008 Lilly Dabney British Universities Summer School Fellowship, with Education Committee Member Sheila Hardaway and Andrew Brennan, Education Committee Chair. |
| Program Cover for Old-Time Music Hall, BUSS Fellowship fund-raiser, performed by The British Players, Saturday, September 12, 2009 |
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FURTHERING MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING
In the summer of 1918, journalist Evelyn Wrench asked fifteen of his friends to join him at a London club to discuss ways in which closer ties and mutual understanding between English-speaking peoples could be fostered. The group's vision became The English-Speaking Union, today's worldwide, influential organization, which in the United States can count among its chairmen the distinguished World War Two general and former United States president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and, in Britain, the famous stateman, Winston S. Churchill. | OUR BRANCH'S ROLE
Since its establishment over fifty years ago, our Branch has performed a significant role by funding numerous scholarships, now fellowships, worth $5,000 to successful recipients. These awards have permitted many an outstanding college student or deserving local high school teacher in Charlottesville and its surrounding eight counties to attend summer school study at prestigious British universities, including Oxford. New to the program is Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance, a three week course for teachers at The Globe, the replica of Shakespeare's playhouse constructed on the site of the original on the south bank of London's Thames River.
Among other ESU programs are those designed to promote the exchange of ideas between educators and administrators in the United States and those in similar career fields in the U.K. and the Southern Hemisphere. Our Branch members open their homes to these scholars, make appointments for them with local counterparts and provide transport during their visits. |
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