Evelina Ferrar

Dear Members and Friends,

On behalf of The British-Slovene Society, I wish you a Merry Christmas and let my little bird bring you the best of fortune in the New Year. It has been a great pleasure to meet so many of you during this past year. Earlier this month our annual service in St Martin’s Ludgate Church brought us together in glorious singing and readings of the Christmas story – followed by potica specially baked for us in Slovenia.

This year for the first time we held a new event – a Standup Comic performance featuring Slovenia’s Tin Vodopivec underneath the Vauxhall arches in London. The fine turnout showed this was a welcome addition to our programme, which also included our annual Prešeren celebration in March, featuring Andrej Šifrer, as well as a summer picnic by the Slovene kozolec in Henley.

Now’s the time to reserve a couple of firm dates for 2026.

• On Saturday 28^th February, we will stage our Prešeren Evening in London, featuring the ever-popular Vlado Kreslin. It’ll be at our usual hotel venue at 12 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0HX, previously The Ambassadors, since renamed The Memoir Club.
• The picnic under the kozolec in Henley is planned for Sunday 28 June.
• On Friday 4^th December, we will be back in St Martin’s Ludgate for another service of Carols and Readings.

A big thank you to my fellow-Trustees and other supporters for helping to carry out our programme this year – and to all of you for joining in with warm hearts.

Evelina Ferrar, Chairwoman of the British-Slovene Society

Message from VTIS:

VTIS organises the 10th symposium of Slovenian researchers abroad, taking place on 16th and 17th December 2025 at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana and on Zoom. This is a central annual event connecting Slovenian researchers in Slovenia and abroad.

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.it/e/10-simpozij-slovenskih-raziskovalcev-v-tujini-tickets-1781460328799?aff=oddtdtcreator

For more information please contact: pisarna@drustvovtis.si

The British-Slovene Society brought its year to an end with a traditional service of Carols and Readings in Wren’s historic St. Martin Ludgate Church on 5^th December. Organist Aljoša Skorja and two professional singers filled the high vaults of the church with glorious, powerful singing, encouraging the congregation to join in heartily. Young and old read the traditional nine parts of the Christmas story from the Bible – in Slovene and English. Officiating was the Reverend Jacqui Miller, who together with her husband Father Luke has been benevolently leading our celebrations for more than 10 years. In the meantime she has visited Slovenia herself!

After the service, we all tucked in to quantities of potica cake, made in the village bakery of Senčur in Slovenia and kindly donated by the Sekne family. All washed down with Slovenian wine offered by the Embassy of Slovenia in London. On a dark rainy night it was a warm gathering animated with a light touch by Chairwoman Evelina Ferrar, together with BSS Trustee James Walker and his wife Brigita.

We will be back again next year for another Service of Carols and Readings in early December.

We are grateful to the Slovenian Government’s Office for Slovenians Abroad for their financial support.

The British-Slovene Society warmly invites you to our annual Christmas Carol Service on Friday 5^th December 2025, at 7 pm. We will gather again in the Church of St Martin Ludgate, 40 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7DE.

Join us our service of carols and readings in English and Slovene. If you would like to do a reading, that would be most welcome. Contact BSS Chairwoman Evelina Ferrar: evelina@ferrar.org.uk

Afterwards there will be a chance to catch up with friends over potica (offered by the Society) and Christmas drinks.

There is no charge but a collection is taken to support the work of the Barka charity in Slovenia.

Nearby stations are City Thameslink, Blackfriars and St Paul’s.

We are grateful to the Slovenian Government Office for Slovenians Abroad and the Slovenian Embassy in the UK for supporting this event

Message from the Office for Slovenians Abroad:

The Government Office for Slovenians Abroad has published a tender for Undergraduate, Master’s and Doctorate dissertations. The whole text is available on the following link:

https://www.gov.si/zbirke/javne-objave/xxiv/

https://slovenci.si/xxiv-nagradni-natecaj-za-diplomske-magistrske-in-doktorske-naloge-s-podrocja-slovencev-v-zamejstvu-in-slovencev-po-svetu/

Cycling author Andy McGrath will launch his new book Unstoppable, a biography of Tadej Pogačar. VIA Atelier. 16 – 19 Stable Street, London N1C 4DR. Doors open at 6.30pm, with the event starting at 7pm.

The four-time Tour de France champion is pro cycling’s dominant force. The Slovenian sensation is a two-time world champion and has won ten Monuments, as well as countless other races. Already, Pogačar is one of the greatest riders of all time, lighting up the sport with his bold, long-range breakaways and charismatic personality.

Experienced cycling writer McGrath is the former editor of Rouleur magazine. His comprehensive biography charts Pogačar’s meteoric rise to the top, recounts his greatest race wins and rivalries, and reveals the characteristics, motivation and skills that have led to his supremacy.

The evening will consist of a discussion between McGrath and host Duncan Steer about Pogačar, the book and modern cycling, followed by a Q&A open to the floor.

This is a free event. Sign up on https://via-atelier.eventrac.co.uk/e/book-launch-and-evening-with-andy-mcgrath-author-of-unstoppable-a-biography-of-tadej-pogacar-14419

Message from the Slovenian Embassy in London:

Friday, 7 November 2025 at 3pm

University of Glasgow

Room 248 (Gannochy)
Wolfson Medical Building

Glasgow G12 8QQ

The event will be followed by a reception in The Atrium.

You are warmly invited to the readings by the poets participating in Edwin Morgan Trust International Translation Exchange, a biennial series that brings leading international poets to Scotland to collaborate with Scottish poets through workshops and public readings.

This year, the series brings together four poets — Beth Frieden, Iva Jevtić, David Kinloch, and Milan Šelj – working across Scottish Gaelic, Scots, and Slovene for a two-part exchange taking place in Edinburgh (November 2025) and Ljubljana (summer 2026)

Chaired by Ken Cockburn, this event will feature readings from all four poets as they share the outcomes of their Edinburgh residency, during which they translated each other’s work and explored the cultural and linguistic contexts that shape their writing. The evening will reflect on the art of literary translation, offering insights into the creative and collaborative processes behind their work.

Tuesday 4 November 2025 at 6 pm

Rudolf Steiner House, 35 Park Road, London NW1 6XT

Nearest Underground: Baker Street

Erika Žagar will present the spiritual adventure books she has written for children. Originally written in Slovene, the books have been translated into English and will be available for purchase at the bookshop on the ground floor of the Rudolf Steiner House.

In her books Poseidon’s Underwater School and Sleeping Knights young heroes embark on journeys through fantastic worlds of enchanted lakes, magical mountains, and underwater kingdoms glowing with swirling colours. They confront and overcome challenges born of human pollution, war, and cruelty with the help of mermaids, fairies, and mysterious guardians of the woods. Žagar’s stories show that children can be the heroes who save our society and our planet.

This event is ideal for teachers, parents, children, and anyone interested in spiritual growth and imaginative storytelling.

Admission is free – all are welcome!

Tin Vodopivec, one of Slovenia’s most acclaimed comedians, entertained some 50 Slovenians and Britons at the Ha Ha Club underneath the Vauxhall railway arches by the River Thames on 23 October. He was guest of the British-Slovenian Society, extending its range of events for the first time to feature a stand-up comic.

The Ha Ha Club turned out to be a first-class choice – trendy and welcoming. The audience stayed long after the show to chat, make new contacts and renew friendships.

All credit to Michael Zetta King, Trustee of the British-Slovene Society, who masterminded our first venture into jokes and laughter with a sure hand. And to Tin, for carrying it off in great style.