Concerts by Candlelight
The Candlelight Concerts began in 1976 with concerts
on Sunday evenings. Mrs. Esther Kahn, was the founding chairwoman of
the Women for Greater Philadelphia
Music Committee. She oversaw these popular summer concerts for twenty years
until her death in 1996. Alice Nugent, also a founding member of WFGP, became chair of the Music Committee in 1997. These outstanding classical concerts still continue
today with great success under the leadership of Barb Frankl. Following
each concert there is a lovely reception with light refreshments prepared
by the volunteers and served out on the porch overlooking the Schuylkill River.
Information about the 2023 season of Concerts by Candlelight will be published at this link when available.
Education
Since 2011, Women for Greater Philadelphia has hosted a “Symposium on
the Constitution” in partnership with the 7th and 8th grade students from
Holy Cross School in Mt. Airy and the Rawle & Henderson law firm which
was founded as the Rawle Law Office in 1783 by William Rawle, son of Rebecca
Rawl. William's portrait hangs in the Octagonal Room at Laurel Hill
Mansion. This spring the event was held at Holy Cross. For several
years lawyer Scott Griffiths from Rawle & Henderson has engaged the
students from Holy Cross on the Amendments of the Constitution through this
program. Many thanks to Bette Young, Chairwomen of the WFGP Education
Committee for her tireless dedication to the program.
The program was temporarily halted in 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
We look forward to its resumption.
MEMBERSHIP
Carolyn Ancker, Vice President for membership, 1976, administered an effective recruitment program. She devised information forms and was constantly on the lookout for potential members. In 1972, 18 members attended the first meeting. In 2005 there were 186 members, some of whom are the original members from 1976. In 2005, Colleen Alexander and Mary Shorley were appointed the new Co-Chairs for Membership. In 2015 Jeanette Gonsalves and Kathryn Holden became Co-Chairs of the Membership Committee.
NEWSLETTER
Beginning in 1976 a monthly newsletter, now quarterly has been produced
and distributed to WFGP members. Since there are only two general
membership meetings per year, the UPDATE gives a sense of coherence to the
group.
WFGP Vice President, Nancy Cohen, has been the newsletter editor since 2020.
Resent newsletters can be viewed
here.