On Friday lunchtime, the British Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg (BCC) held its traditional Christmas Luncheon at the Hemicycle in Luxembourg-Kirchberg, with guest speaker The British Ambassador to Luxembourg, John Marshall.
Before the meal was served, Joanna Denton welcomed the 200-strong audience, thanked the sponsors and congratulated AraCityRadio which also is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, along with the British Chamber.
She talked about three key things: (1) you sometimes need to just “jump off the cliff” and “learning to fly”; (2) when stepping into a leadership role you are as good as the people around you - she thanked Sophie and Becca from the BCC secretariat, the sub-groups and their leaders, the council and the officers group, and people around such as the British Ambassador and the other international chambers, as well as members and sponsors; (3) when you are building something to last, you need to build the clock to tell the time. She said that she will build on the legacies of previous BCC chairs, and to ensure the British Chamber of Commerce is welcoming and inviting, and stimulating.
Amb John Marshall steered clear of Brexit jokes this year but did address some related issues - an update on citizen rights, a financial settlement and commitments regarding Ireland, referring to today’s meeting in Brussels where a decision has been made to progress on talks regarding trade issues, as sufficient progress has been seen to have been made on the withdrawl agreement. He acknowledged that the agreement on citizens rights does not go as far as some British nationals living in Luxembourg would like but stressed that more discussions would be held on this issue in the future negotiations.
He also talked about the #LuxUKlinks exhibition and explained that, while based in Senegal, he wrote a book ok UK-Senegal links, and decided to explore such links between Luxembourg and the UK once he moved here. He humorously remarked that Luxembourg is one of the few countries that Britain has not invaded, and that record is likely to stand and not be broken.
On the issue of #LuxUKlinks, he referred to the Duke of Wellington proposing that the Duchy of Luxembourg becomes a “Grand Duchy”; also that St Willibrord was born in Northumberland in the UK, for example. He also referred to the current exhibition in the Trois Glands museum in Kirchberg, which The Duchess of Cambridge visited earlier this year.
He also mentioned that the RAF will celebrate its celebrate its centenary nmext year, on 1 April 2018.
The #LuxUKlinks exhibition is not just about history, but culture too, with authors such as JK Rowling and Agatha Christie referring to Luxembourg in their books. He also referred to Radio Luxembourg and its British DJs amongst other anecdotes.
Audrey Lewis and Dave Evans were drawn as winners of the Luxair return flights to LondonCity.
