COVID-19 Update #2 

27th March 2020

Philippa Somerville sat in the local Lazaretto in her fifth week of quarantine, playing a cut-throat game of cards for olives, with Archie Abernethy.

Dunnett Weekend 2020
Good news:  when we cancelled the Dunnett Weekend this year, we said that we would refund, by end June at the latest, 50% or more of the money that our delegates paid. In fact, we are able to refund 100%, and by 15^th April at the latest.  These refunds will be cost-neutral to the Society.

This is thanks to the goodwill of all our speakers and guides, Hunters Coaches, the John MacIntyre Centre, the MacDonald Marine Hotel in North Berwick, and the Radisson Blu hotel in Edinburgh. Thank you also to those delegates who have decided to refuse any refund, but rather donated their money to the Society.

If you booked for the Dunnett Weekend 2020, you will be contacted individually regarding refunds, or to thank you for your donations.  It is good to know that in such difficult times, so many people are showing such generosity and such patience.

2020 AGM
We still intend to hold the Annual General Meeting itself in Edinburgh later this year, but the situation is still too fluid to set a date.  A number of members have suggested that we hold an online AGM rather than a physical one.  We have investigated this.  Unfortunately, it would involve considerable practical complexities, and is also not permitted by our constitution.  However these are exceptional times, and if it seems that we are unable to hold a physical AGM by end 2020, or if the Scottish Charity Regulator recommends that we go down this route, we will investigate further.

Dorothy Dunnett
Dorothy Dunnett created the DDS in large part so that her readers around the world could keep in contact with each other through the Dorothy Dunnett Society. It’s now almost 20 years on, and I know that she would be proud of the way that everyone has dealt with this, across the Society and also the suppliers in her home town of Edinburgh.  If you are self-isolating, sheltering in place, or just spending more time at home than usual, we all know that the solution to all your problems (who doesn’t love a little hyperbole?) is simply to read more Dunnett, and to recommend to all your family and friends that they do too!