Acknowledgement – 2018 – Corfu Heritage Foundation

London, 12 October 2018

Acknowledgement of a successful Bicentenary Festival 2018

It was almost a year ago that I came up with the idea of celebrating in 2018 the 200^th anniversary of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George in Corfu.

With this in mind, I undertook with colleagues of the Foundation to organise a series of events, which would cover at least a period of three months. This took me over seven months at considerable expense and hard work to put together the various festivities, which at the end had a tremendous success.

HM The Queen’s letter, dated 24 July 2018, congratulated us for a “wonderful publication […] beautifully illustrated”!

In his letter, dated 11 September 2018, Lord Jacob Rothschild wrote, “You’ve achieved wonders with the Festival. Many congratulations and best wishes.”

I am very proud and extremely happy that all my efforts have received such positive recognition.

HRH the Duke of Kent’s forward to our bicentennial publication gave our events enormous prestige. The fact that the British Embassy Athens, two Ministries of the Hellenic Republic – Culture and Tourism – and the Mayor of Corfu have granted their auspices gave to our Festival official standing.

I am also proud because all the events, which the Foundation managed to organise, boosted Anglo-Hellenic friendship in Corfu. This was one of my main goals. Thank God all our efforts have been recognised by individuals, companies, foundations, institutions, the media – Greek and foreign – and all kinds of people.

At this stage it is important to mention the following:

i. Our five lectures attracted an audience of approximately 500 people. They included various subjects – the history of the Order, Anglo-Hellenic friendship, music, Edward Lear, Romanticism, historic and contemporary visual art.

ii. The Mantzaros Philharmonic Orchestra played at the Esplanade’s Band Stand Greek music, but, most important, British Military music, played for the first time ever in Corfu, on scores that we provided them with from London. An achievement enjoyed by a substantial crowd. They even sang “Rule Britannia!”

iii. Our three exhibitions have been visited by over 4,000 people.

iv. Finally, the two cricket matches involving English, South African and Corfu teams duly honoured the Order.

In total 11 well-attended events took place to celebrate the bicentenary of the Order. It is worthwhile noting that it has been the first time such celebrations on this scale ever took place on Corfu to honour the Order at least outside the United Kingdom.

In addition, I should also mention the following:

1. 1,500 bicentennial publications have been distributed gratis. In his letter, dated 28 August 2018, Lord Rothschild wrote, “Many, many congratulations on the celebrations and on the handsome book, which you put together for the bi-centenary. It is a great achievement.”

2. 3,500 leaflets were distributed.

3. 300 posters were displayed in town.

4. Four enormous banners were displayed in areas advertising our events.

Please note that our Facebook yielded 1M+ global reach (see below Report of Performance Review by Social Media).

On this happy note I think that the above brings to an end the circle of events that took place in Corfu to celebrate the Bicentenary of the Order.

I take also the opportunity in thanking HE the British Ambassador, as well as all of you for your support throughout this period.

Many thanks and best wishes,

Spiro Flamburiari