Dear Members,
Next year we are looking forward to celebrating two significant anniversaries; 100 years of the grant of our Royal Charter on 3 March 1922 by King George V and 70 years of the Annual Music Competition. We will be hosting special events during the course of our yearlong celebrations. And the next edition of Overseas will be dedicated to these two anniversaries, to include some extracts from our archives.
There’s lots more to look forward to in 2022. We have been redecorating the art deco Dining Room in keeping with the historic period and will start significant works to the kitchen area early next year. We will launch a much anticipated fine dining option to include a convivial club table.
Public Affairs will continue with a high profile line up, starting with Lord Simon MacDonald, former Permanent Undersecretary at the FCDO, and the two new Discussion groups will launch. The first speaker of the Transatlantic Europe Discussion group will be the Ambassador of Norway, a seasoned diplomat who will provide an outside perspective on the EU and insights on the US where he was also posted. The Africa Discussion group will launch with the High Commissioner for South Africa, HE Nomatemba Tambo.
And look out in January for an exciting new ROSL Arts Patron scheme. As part of our marking 70 years of a Competition that makes a tremendous impact in the classical music world and on the careers of young musicians, we are looking to bring together a community of supporters of our arts programme.
We hope also to renovate more of the special heritage of our historic Clubhouse, including the Hall of India and Pakistan. Please do consider a donation to our ROSL Foundation to support such works.
For my part, some one and a half years after having started as D-G of ROSL, I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute – including the challenges - working with the amazing ROSL Team and meeting the special ROSL members. We’re all bound together in the common belief of the importance of social ties across the world. And the importance of these connections has, of course, been brought into distinct focus by what we have all been through together.
Wishing you all an enjoyable festive break and all good wishes for 2022.
Annette
