St Helena Commercial Representative for Southern Africa, Mr Adam Kossowski, recently attended the launch of the newly formed "Kwazulu-Natal Friends of St Helena Society" on his visit to Kwazulu-Natal during October. The official launch of the society took place as part of the 6th Annual FRENCH PRESENCE symposium, which celebrates Kwazulu-Natal’s and St Helena links, at the Voortrekker Museum in Pietermartizburg. Asked about the origin of this society, Adam Kossowski replied "the launch of the new Kwazulu-Natal Friends of St Helena Society can be attributed directly to Ms Glenn Flanagan’s unstinting desire and tremendous energy over the past two years, since her visit to St Helena, to find a way to promote the cultural interest and links between the island and her province of Kwazulu-Natal".

Some 25 or more original saints together with 44 other members of the public attended the repeat talks, following which there was a large response by the public to join the society. On Tuesday, 22 October 2002, some 23 saints and other locals attended the inaugural Meeting of the KZN FRIENDS OF ST HELENA SOCIETY. At the meeting the committee was elected, with Ms Glenn Flanagan as chairperson and a number of saints nominated to manage various other managerial portfolios.

The society’s broad aims were agreed as follows:

• To fete links between Kwazulu-Natal and St Helena.
• To foster links between Kwazulu-Natal and St Helena.
• To facilitate meetings, talks, and research on Kwazulu-Natal and St Helena and to make this available to the SAINTS community and the general public, both in South Africa and St Helena.

A notable coup for the new society was the presence of Ms Melanie Veness, Director of Pietermaritzburg Tourism, who has also agreed to serve on the KZN FRIENDS OF ST HELENA SOCIETY committee. "This is a wonderful show of support locally for St Helena and we all appreciate Ms Veness joining the society to help promote cultural and tourism links with St Helena" said Mr Kossowski. "I think we all can appreciate that it is not every day that a new society gets formed which has this kind of support from a city’s principles and is so well represented by a local saint community. We must be particularly grateful to Glenn Flanagan for that" he stresses. Mr Kossowski also highlighted the strategic potential of this link, discussed during a private meeting with Ms Veness, which could open the door to St Helena to promote its tourism directly in Kwazulu-Natal. "We have a direct opportunity here between St Helena and South Africa to develop a niche tourism link, now its up to the St Helena Tourist Office, the St Helena line, and their counterparts in Pietermaritzburg to take this forward. On this note, I should add that Pamela Young has also been very much at the helm of cultivating these exchanges and has to be strongly commended for that", he added.

Many more saints would have attended the society’s inaugural meeting but unfortunately the lack of transport for some posed a problem. Two SAINTS also attended from as far as Durban and expressed their interest in the Society on behalf of the Durban saints community. The Society has indicated that a general meeting is planned in Durban for next year to extend this important link.

Following the inaugural meeting, the committee of the KZN FRIENDS OF ST HELENA then met again to discuss its constitution, membership fees, the Society logo (designed by Priscille de Charmoy who also visited St Helena in 2000), aims, rapprochement with the rest of Kwazulu-Natal (Durban, Eshowe etc.), further research subjects relating to the saints, setting up of a "museum" display about St Helena in Pietermartizburg, and various further administrative matters. It is anticipated that many more saints will join the Society at a planned November meeting.

When asked for her view of the society’s launch, Ms Flanagan concluded that "the dream of formalising links between Kwazulu-Natal and St Helena Island which started two years ago have finally been realized. We are all very pleased with the way matters have progressed."

Anyone interested to find out more about the new KZN Friends of St Helena Society can contact:

Glenn Flanagan

Chairperson, KZN FRIENDS OF ST HELENA SOCIETY

Alternatively, you can also contact the St Helena Commercial Representative in South Africa, Mr Adam Kossowski, at one of the following:

Fax: +27-21-6837767

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