In memory of Werner Wyss (who died 13 February 2012)
- founder and president from 1982 to 2011 -
In 1982 Werner Wyss's vision of an English-speaking club in Uster became reality. The idea of creating a setting in which people of multi-national background could meet, practise their English and have discussions in a leisurely way, succeeded. Many people were attracted by the idea and took the opportunity to meet new people and have the possibility to get in touch with many interesting topics. With two exceptions: religion and politics.
Various members of the committee influenced the wide range of topics , which were presented by numerous guest speakers and members of the club.
Here is just a small selection of past events:
- "Women of today, women of yesterday" with Heidi Witzig
- "Language and consciousness" with Manuel Schoch
- "An introduction to expressive painting" with Suzanne Sharma
- "On rail, rack and cable" with Fred Krähenbühl
- Sailing evenings with Charles and his friends on the Greifensee
- "Fun and games with words" with Brian Poysden and Verena Wüthrich
- "Beautiful flora and strange fauna of Australia" with Urs & Erika Bolliger
- "A scenic trip though the Lake District" with Marie Friedli
- "Berlin - center of Europe" with Werner Wyss
The Club met at the Werkheim from 1982-2009. Since 2009 we have been meeting at the Bildungszentrum in Uster.
Over the years many people of the Zürich Highlands came and went as they pleased, and quite a lot stayed and became members or frequent guests at the Friday meetings. At the beginning up to 10 different nationalities were represented. A great success!
Werner even created a small one-man travel agency and organized the first trip of a group of Highlanders to Malta. Many more trips were to follow: Ireland being a favourite haunt of ours with 3 visits so far. Cornwall and Scotland were to follow.
On January 20, 2012 we shared our last evening with Werner on a culinary tour around the world. We will miss him dearly.
His brainchild "Highlanders' Linguist Club" will live on in the spirit Werner left us inspired with: friendship, humour, tolerance and openness in sharing the love of the English language.
In 2021 we changed the name to focus on our central goal: To bring together people who are interested in practicing English in an informal atmosphere. The programme offers a wide range of topics presented and discussed together with our guest speakers. We also organize activities outside the usual venue such as visits to museums.
Furthermore, we also changed the logo:
1982 - 2020
2021 -