The Tai Chi Community extends its deepest sympathy to Liam Kelly, and his extended family circle on their recent sad bereavement. Liam and his sister Anne have been highly respected members of the community for many years, and as such we feel great sympathy for them both at this sad time. We pray that they find the strength to cope with the sad loss of their mother during the month of June. RIP. A special word of thanks should be said to those members who called to show their respect at the Kelly family home.p>
Wen Hui has been in touch to tell us that she is eagerly awaiting the birth of her new child in August. She is feeling tired at times which is to be expected, but she is otherwise in good spirits. We have sent her one of our new T-shirts, and some photographs of her recent visit to the city. She sends her regards and best wishes to all our members, and is looking forward to returning to the city in the spring of 2002, p>
Many of our members were very surprised to see our good friend Master Zhu Chang Hai at the walled city festival. It was great to renew his acquaintance and friendship once again.p>
Members of the Community will remember that over one year ago we had four Chinese people as our guests for a period of approximately two months, and amongst them was Tai Chi Master Zhu Chang Hai. Zhu has recently returned to Northern Ireland, and currently resides in Belfast. He is getting married to a local girl on Friday 6th July 2001 in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, and he has kindly sent an invitation to his wedding to Charlie. Zhu was very popular with our members when he was in the city, and has often said that he really appreciated the kindness shown to him at that time.
Members will be aware of the on-going situation with regard to the Foyle Arts Centre. It is expected that the sale of the building will be complete by August 2001 and the building must be vacated by September. We have been very happy with this building mostly because of the excellent facilities, and the neutral location of the venue. The University Authorities are to meet the user groups in the near future with regard to our future. We are hopeful of a satisfactory outcome to the negotiations.
Again this year we had the great pleasure of having Mary Margaret Doherty and Elish Herron from Carndonagh join us for the Tai Chi display in the Guildhall Square. As two of our most popular members we are absolutely delighted that they have tolerated us all this time. They take the time to travel each week to be with us. Great credit is due to them both for their continued loyalty and support to the Tai Chi Community, and the work we do. Thank you.
A special word of thanks is due to our own Vonnie Harvey for organising the T-shirts for the Walled City Festival 2001. Despite a very tight time-scale Vonnie pulled out all the stops to ensure that everyone received his or her T-shirt in time for the demonstration.
We have been informed that our Tai Chi display at the festival was shown on T na G ( an Irish television station) on Saturday 9th July at 22:00 (10 pm), and was repeated on the same channel on Sunday 11th July. The station also covered the event last year with great success.
Peter Shanahan kindly gave a television interview to T na G the Irish-speaking TV station at the walled city festival. We have been reliably informed that he described the Tai Chi Community as being one big family of friends. Much appreciated.
Many people are now preparing to go away on holiday and we wish them all an enjoyable and safe time. Members should be aware that Tai Chi classes will continue as usual over the summer to accommodate those members who wish to continue their Tai Chi. Nowadays people take holidays at various times of the year so there is always a substantial number of members around at any one time to avail of classes. Additionally, with the imminent sale of the Foyle Arts Centre we think it is prudent and in our interests to maintain our presence in the building as much and as long as we can. p>
Paddy Casey, manager of the Foyle Arts Centre, will be moving on soon to take up other council duties when the Arts Centre is purchased by the university. It is therefore timely that the members of the Tai Chi Community acknowledge the tremendous work Paddy and his staff have put in over the years, in making community groups feel welcome and comfortable in the building. Words inappropriately describe the amount of work Paddy has put in to developing community action in that building. Although a council owned facility, Paddy realised the need for and encouraged community ownership of all our activities (a unique and special skill which few managers possess these days). As stakeholders in local community action and ownership we sincerely thank him and his pleasant staff for all that they have done for us.
