History

Background:

The Finnish-British society in Turku was first established in 1937 but ceased functioning in the mid-eighties. In autumn 2000 the Finnish-British Society in Helsinki asked Jukka Itäkylä, a society member from Turku, to look into the possibility of re-establishing a Finnish-British society in Turku. The network of societies was already dense with activities apart from Helsinki in Hyvinkää, Hämeenlinna, Pietarsaari, Jyväskylä, Kotka, Kouvola, Kuopio, Lahti, Mikkeli, Oulu, Pori, Rauma and Tampere. Jukka had a meeting with the British honorary counsul Jari Lähteenmäki and Marita Anstead, a recent returnee from England. The unanimous decision was to revive the activities in Turku.

First meeting:

The first meeting of the Finnish-British Society in Turku/Åbo r.y. took place on 3rd May 2001. The meeting was chaired by Jukka Itäkylä and attended by 16 persons, all interested in promoting Finnish-British ties. A board of six members was elected as follows:

Jukka Itäkylä, chairman
Geoffrey Bowring, vice chairman
Leena Casagrande, treasurer
Alex Frost, PR activities
Jari Lähteenmäki, member
Marita Anstead, secretary

The Board's first task was to go through the process of registering the new society. The board also started to organise the activities of the society, based much on the Helsinki society's objectives:

"To strengthen friendship and cultural ties between Finland and Britain by making British culture known in Finland and to promote contacts with Finns to British citizens residing in Finland. The aim is also to promote the use of good English. In order to reach the aim the society organizes meetings, lectures, get-togethers. For supporting its activities the society can receive donations, own necessary property and organise raffles and money collections. The languages of the society are Finnish and English."

Official registration:

The Patent and Registry office approved on 23rd January 2002 the Finnish-British Society in Turku/Åbo r.y.'s registration.

Marita Anstead