As you saw from our last website update in March Christina Preston from the University of London, visited us in February. While she was here, she requested that SPES should use their expertise to design and make some Art Deco style artefacts for the CAL99 Conference that was held 29-31 March in London. Frances Gibson, an English textile designer, was visiting SPES at the same time as Christina and she worked with the SPES artisans to produce the designs. Everyone worked very hard producing scarves, bags, headbands and bow ties for the CAL99 officials to wear at their conference and during the Art Deco Ball held on the evening of 29 March.

The CAL99 conference was a big success and so were the items designed by SPES. During the conference, both men and women wore the scarves to show that they were the Cal99 officials. This was such a good idea as these people could be identified easily by their Art Deco scarves. On the evening of the ball all the gentlemen wore the bow ties and the ladies wore the headbands.

Frances Gibson attended the CAL99 conference on behalf of SPES. During the “Teachers Day”, when some presenters were missing, Frances was asked by Christina to fill in some time by giving an impromptu speech to the audience of teachers and educational professionals on the SPES project for a Multimedia Training Academy. This project is for training specialised teachers working at grassroots level in the Islands of Mauritius and is in alignment with the Government’s determination to uplift the excluded.