Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL)

Next month will mark 40 years since the untimely death of Lord Louis Mountbatten at the hands of the IRA in Donegal Bay. Serving as ROSL President from 1942 until his death, this article from the December 1942 edition of Overseas, by Hector Bolitho, introduces him to members. 

In the August 1937 edition of Overseas, member Freda Dalley gives her account of a breakdown in the middle of the dense Indian jungle. 

In the June 1985 edition of Overseas, then-Vice-Chairman Godfrey Talbot LVO OBE, penned an article for the journal in which he recollected his relationship with our Patron, HM The Queen, over the years. It's heartening to see that, some 34 years later, many of his opinions on her still ring true today. 

The interest in our new ROSL Photography Competition has been excellent, but did you know that this isn't the first time the organisation has run such a competition. Read an excerpt from a 1937 edition of Overseas, calling for submissions of photographs showing the coronation celebrations for King George VI.

In a 1999 edition of Overseas, Stanley Martin looks back at the Queen who won the heart's of a generation of British people with her rainy ride in the Coronation procession of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953. 

To celebrate the 21st anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement next week, we look back at ROSL's footprint in Northern Ireland. 

In a 1997 edition of Overseas, Terry Freidmann looked back at the history of world-renowned architect James Gibbs, who is responsible for the beautiful staircase in the Central Lounge of the London clubhouse. 

Given the environmental theme of the current edition of Overseas, we look back on an article from a 2005 edition, in which ROSL member John Luckie discusses his preferred mode of transport; container ship! 

In the latest edition of Overseas, Jane Atwell, designer of ROSL's garden, discusses making our green space a haven not only for members, but also for the birds and the bees. 

Today in 1882 world renowned author and poet, AA Milne, was born in London. Most famous for creating the residents of Hundred Acre Wood, led by Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne's stories have been a central part of children's fiction for generations. 

To celebrate the birth of renowned British suffragist Millicent Fawcett, on 11 June 1847, whose statue was recently unveiled in Parliament Square, ROSL looks back at an article she penned for Overseasin 1917 entitled 'When we have the vote'. 

Back by popular demand, we have again produced an interactive version of Overseas, designed specifically for reading onscreen, whatever device you are using. 

With the 2018 World Cup in Russia now only days away, we look at why the gender pay gap at the professional level remains so wide. In the latest edition of Overseas, Abi Millar asks what can be done to promote equality in participation and pay in sport. 

It is now less than five months until the XXI Commonwealth Games begin on the Gold Coast of Australia, on Wednesday 4 April 2018. The fifth time Australia has hosted the games, the multi-sport event has been held every four years since 1930, when it was known as the British Empire Games. 

Many ROSL members have served or have family who have served in the armed forces. As part of our centenary commemorations for WWI in 2018 and 70^th anniversary of WWII in 2019, ROSL is creating a memory board showcasing people’s stories. Read the account of ROSL member Barry Whittaker, who returned to his father’s grave in Normandy, many years after he died, along with thousands of others, as part of the push inland following the D-Day landings. 

Mindfulness has become one of the foremost techniques used to ease the demands of the attention economy. Ross Davies looks at how this contemporary form of meditation might be applied to renew the mind and help us better reconnect with ourselves. 

In the latest edition of Overseas,former ROSL Hong Kong Branch Chairman Paul Surtees gives us his reasons for choosing Thailand, specifically Chiang Mai, as his home in retirement. 

In the latest edition of Overseas, former Indian Foreign Secretary, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General, and long-time ROSL member, Krishnan Srinivasan, gives us the inside knowledge on his hometown, Kolkata. 

Sisters and ROSL members - Poonam and Rohina Jaiswal tell us about their Delhi.

In the latest edition of Overseas, former editor Miranda Moore asks if the increasing use of the glottal stop or a dropped 't' in speech means we're lazy, or is it just part of the evolution of language? 

Underrepresentation of BME musicians in the classical music world is a major problem. In Overseas, Abi Millar speaks to renowned double bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE, founder of the Chineke! Foundation, to find out how participation can be increased. 

Trouble reading the June issue of Overseas online? Try this new version. 

Many of you will have already received your copy in the post, but for those who haven't, read the latest edition of Overseas online now. 

Many of you will have already received your copy of the Overseas journal, but for those still waiting, you can now view the latest issue online. 

What does the Commonwealth mean to you? Ask that question amongst ROSL’s membership and you’re likely to receive a huge variety of answers, but all with a common thread running through them; the shared language, values, interests, history, and purpose. Those commonalities have held the organisation together since its inception. To mark the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) taking place in London and Windsor in April, the upcoming issue of Overseas aims to look at the many facets of this vast organisation and highlight some of the lesser known areas in which it works. 

The four-minute mile, The Thriller in Manila, “They think it’s all over”. We all have our own favourite sporting moment forever imprinted on our memories.  The drama, the glory, the feats of skill and athleticism, keep the world hooked to both playing and watching sport in all its many forms. In the new issue of Overseas, out today, we look why at the high ideals of inclusion, equality,  and fair play are what make sport so universal. 

They say behind every great man, stands an even greater woman, but at an organisation like ROSL, it is women who stand front and centre, and always have done. Led by Director-General Diana Owen, with a largely female executive, ROSL in 2018 is the embodiment of our founder’s principles of equality and egality. 

Over the past four years, the world has commemorated the centenary of the First World War in vivid and thought-provoking style, most notably in the UK via the installation by artist Paul Cummins of Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London, a moving depiction of the 888,246 British and Commonwealth servicemen killed in the war in the form of ceramic poppies.