Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL)

Those members who stay at the clubhouse overnight may have noticed a small voluntary addition to their bedroom bill, just £2, which has been helping to fund the work of ROSL's education projects for many years. 

ROSL is excited to announce the artists chosen to attend this year's ROSL International Residency are Cole Ndelu from Johannesburg, South Africa, and Dimple Shah from Bangalore, India. These two artists will soon arrive in the UK and spend the months of September and October at The Art House in Wakefield, developing their creative practices and networking across the UK with the support of ROSL. 

It’s that time of year again where people across the world don a poppy as a sign of remembrance. The most common poppy you will see is the red one, but increasingly over the last few years people have taken to wearing a white poppy instead. But what is the difference? 

Over the festive break our Visual Arts Curator, Eilidh McCormick got the chance to visit the newly opened Collective exhibition space in Edinburgh, and she recommends you do the same.

The first of 2019's Annual Music Competition (AMC) Section Finals is now within sight, on Tuesday 12 February to Solo Wind and Brass musicians will be the first to take to the stage in the Princess Alexandra Hall. 

The 2019 Annual Music Competition is officially underway! As I write, the Arts office is filled with the sounds of this year's entrants, more than 150 of them!

Time magazine once summed up Noel Coward by saying he had "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise". But he was so much more - he was also a remarkable and prolific composer, playwright, director, actor and singer. On Tuesday 11 September, ROSL Victoria Branch members and guests enjoyed a delightful musical soirée at The Savage Club Melbourne under the auspices of Club Member Mr Kenneth Park, a ROSL Honorary Life Member. 

Today marks the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, that commemorates those who have died serving their country in war and peacetime. Originally ANZAC Day just honoured the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), who fought in Gallipolli during the First World War, one of the bloodiest battles of the war, but has since been broadened to include other service men and women in later conflicts. 

To mark the 100^th anniversary since the Great War, every year between 2013 and 2018 the Royal Over-Seas League have organised a battlefield tour to France and Belgium to pay tribute to the people who lost their lives. 

ROSL members from the British Columbia branch came together to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday 8 April. 

Bournemouth branch Secretary, Gordon Irving, reports on the Queen's Birthday Garden Party and celebrating its twinning with the ROSL Tasmanian branch. 

Next week, ROSL will see the arrival of this year's shortlisted writers for the 2019 Caine Prize for African Writing. To celebrate their stay at the club, on Thursday 4 July the authors will take part in an event which combines musical performances along with readings of their shortlisted works. 

Last night saw this year's Caine Prize shortlisted authors and ROSL musicians gather in the Princess Alexandra Hall for an evening of words and music which celebrated African creative culture. 

To celebrate Canada's sesquicentennial in 2017, ROSL has put on a number of events over the past month which highlight our club's connection with the country. 

It seems apt to be celebrating both the 150th anniversary of Canada's confederation and the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, where the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers' awakened a budding patriotism in Canadians, in the same year. To commemorate both of these important landmarks, ROSL has planned a month of Canadian-themed events to suit all tastes this October. 

When King George opened Canada House on 29 June 1925 he stated: “Canada is a great country: alike in the literal sense of cast extent from ‘sea to sea’ and great in achievement and in promise: and it is right and necessary that its official representatives here should be housed in a manner worthy of the Dominion and adequate to the discharge of their ever-growing and important duties.” 

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is due to get underway in London on Monday, with a wealth of events celebrating the shared history, values, and purpose of the 53 member states, and you have the chance to get involved. 

Our seasonal bestsellers, the ROSL Christmas card and 2018 diaries, are now available to order from our website. 

Ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (2018 CHOGM) meeting in April next year, UK Prime Minister Theresa May took to the stage at the UN General Assembly, alongside Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, to announce the theme and priorities for the summit: 'Towards a Common Future'. 

Monday 11 March marks Commonwealth Day, a celebration of the 53-nation family which was formed 70 years ago. ROSL will be joining in with the festivities here at the clubhouse. 

What another remarkable Commonwealth Day we witnessed yesterday! 2.4 billion people across 53 member countries came together to celebrate in a variety of ways the unique union focusing on this year’s CHOGM theme: ‘Towards a Common Future’. 

Looking for something to keep the kids amused tomorrow? This February half term, celebrate a coming together of families and cultures as the Royal Commonwealth Society partners with Westminster Abbey for a day of Commonwealth-themed activities delivering Commonwealth Family Day on Friday 22 February. 

The opening ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, held on the Gold Coast of Australia, is now only hours away. Find out why this year looks set to the best ever. 

Celebrating its 30^th anniversary, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is organising a unique set of civil society events from 11-18 April 2018 alongside the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London. 

Yesterday and today has seen the Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, together with the Royal Over-Seas League, the Commonwealth Association and others Commonwealth partners, organise a two-day conference  focusing on the aims and likely outcomes of the CHOGM 2018 summit in April 2018.