BLS Hosts Annual Summer Reception at British Ambassador's Residence

The British-Luxembourg Society (BLS) recently held its Summer Reception at the residence of the British Ambassador to Luxembourg, Joanne Olivier, in Luxembourg-Ville.

The evening event took place on Thursday 25 June 2026. Originally scheduled to begin at 18:00, the start time was moved back to 20:00 due to a red weather warning in force for high temperatures. Around 200 guests were welcomed to the ambassador’s residence, with many choosing to arrive via a vintage double-decker bus organised by the BLS.

Following words of welcome from Ambassador Olivier, short speeches were given by Fiona Urquhart Johnstone, BLS Co-President, Jacqueline Spence-Willis, BLS Vice President for Events, and Michael-James Clifton, BLS Co-President.

The guests were entertained by live music, with food and refreshments provided by the hosts.

The evening featured an exhibition of the art produced at the BLS’s art classes – which were guided by visual artist Elsa Charalampous – and BLS course certificates were later presented by Ambassador Olivier.  

A second exhibition featured the BLS’s 2027 80^th anniversary oak tree sponsorship project, with Julien Bosseler of the Fondation Hëllef fir d'Natur on hand to give technical details on the forestry aspects of the project.

Speaking to Chronicle.lu after the event, Michael-James Clifton said: “We were most grateful to Ambassador Olivier for graciously hosting our summer reception and for facilitating the reception’s start in the cooler evening. The summer reception continues to be a wonderful start to the summer and members’ feedback has been extremely positive. All the council working on the summer reception deserve the highest praise for making the evening such a success. The music was great and the perfect backdrop to the evening and members were able to enjoy the company of old friends and new acquaintances in the Residence’s garden.”

He added: “Many members sought further details of the BLS Educational Award programme for post graduate studies or short courses in Luxembourg or the UK and members were able to see the fine work produced during our art classes and to learn more about our 2027 80^th anniversary oak tree project and to sponsor a tree.”

Michael-James Clifton announced that the next major event for the BLS will be the Sir Winston Churchill Memorial Lecture on Thursday 29 October 2026, which will be delivered by The Rt Hon. the Baroness Ashton of Upholland LG GCMG, who served as the EU’s first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy from 2009 to 2014. During the lecture, Baroness Ashton will deliver a speech entitled “A New Storm Gathers”.

Credit: Kaitlin Alarcon