Evelina Ferrar

The BSS warmly invites you to our annual Christmas Carol Service on Friday 9^th December 2022, at 6:30 pm. Since our usual church St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe is being renovated, we will gather in the Church of St Martin Ludgate, 40 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7DE which is 5 minutes away from “our” church (see map above).

Do come and join in our service of carols and readings in English and Slovene. Afterwards there will be a chance to catch up with friends over potica (offered by the Society) and Christmas drinks (offered by the Slovenian Embassy).

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

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

BSS Trustees

We have been informed by the church that St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe is being renovated. Therefore we will hold our Christmas Carol Service in the Church of St Martin Ludgate, 40 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7DE, which is 5 minutes away from “our” church (see map above).

Looking forward to meeting you all on 9th December 2022 at 6:30. We will have carols and readings, followed by chat over potica and wine.

The BSS warmly invites you to our annual Carol Service on Friday 9^th December 2022, at 6:30 pm. For this festive get together, we will gather as before in the church of St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, Queen Victoria Street and St. Andrew’s Hill, City of London, EC4V 5DE. Built by Sir Christopher Wren, this beautiful church is well worth a visit in its own right.

Do come and join in our service of carols and readings in English and Slovene. 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 underground stations are Blackfriars, St Paul’s and Mansion House.

We are grateful for support from the Office for Slovenes Abroad

Slovenia’s Deputy Ambassador Jakob Brenčič has planted a linden tree, national emblem of Slovenia, in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, which has been twinned with Zreče in Slovenia for the past 20 years.

In a ceremony on October 17th in Sedbergh’s Parish Church, he also donated a traditional Slovenian beehive to celebrate his country’s rich beekeeping tradition.

David Burbidge, who frequently visits Slovenia with the “Lakeland Voices” choir, writes:

“In Slovenia one in every 200 people is a beekeeper, four times the European average. The Slovenian Carniolan bee is famous around the world for its absence of aggression and high productivity. While the world bee population is declining, in Slovenia they are enjoying an increased number due to good care and environmentally friendly farming techniques.”

The choir paid tribute by singing Čebelar, which rejoices at the rustling of bees and the scent of honey.

To celebrate in style, Sedbergh’s shopkeepers decorated their shop windows with themes of bees. At Leighton’s barbers, David found the staff so excited “they could barely keep their hair on”, while the manager of the Waffle Shop recalled going to Zreče when at school “and I loved every minute of it – what a beautiful country.”

Mateja from Prekmurje and Polona from Ljubljana came to join in the singing and lend support. After Debbie and David of the “Lakeland Voices” concluded by reciting Popotnik and Nekoga moraš imeti rad, all repaired to a good lunch in the Sedbergh School Sports Centre.

The British-Slovene Society has received the following from the Delegation of the European Union to the UK:

You are invited to the first

EU citizens’ gathering in the UK

on 8 November 2022

Please register now!

There are less than four weeks to go before the first ever EU citizens’ gathering organised by the EU Delegation to the UK. We would love to see you there.

Join EU citizens’ civil society organisations, EU Member State embassies and the EU Delegation to the UK to build connections, share best practice and learn from each other at this unique event.

Location: Woburn House, 20 – 24 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9HQ

Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered for those coming from outside London.

Speakers and Agenda

The day will be a blend of networking, talks and workshops aiming to conclude with practical solutions on how to strengthen the networks of EU civil society in the UK:

• Hear from, among others, representatives of the EU Delegation to the UK, EU Member States, EU citizens’ advocacy groups and members of the European Parliament
• Learn about EU communities in the UK from academics working on migrant rights, integration and citizenship
• Get to know EU citizens’ groups from across the UK and learn from their experience in reaching out to their communities
• Discuss issues ranging from how EU citizens’ networks can be strengthened to the setting up of an EU citizens’ recognition scheme.

This in an invitation only event. If you’re unable to attend, but have a colleague who would like to, please reply to this email and let us know.

We are thrilled to meet you on 8 November at Woburn House.

Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom

Citizens, Social, Justice and Home Affairs Section

    Photo: Uroš Hočevar

The Slovenian Embassy cordially invites you to a lecture and performance by Boštjan Gombač. He will introduce you to the world’s oldest musical instrument, a flute made by Neanderthals who inhabited his home country of Slovenia. Estimated to be 50,000 – 60,000 years old, it is carved from the thighbone of a cave-dwelling bear.

28 October 2022 at 7 pm

Edinburgh Society of Musicians
Recital Room, 3 Belford Road, Edinburgh EH4 3BL

RSVP by 26 October 2022: rsvp.vlo@gov.si

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception, courtesy of the Slovenian Embassy.

Boštjan Gombač will give a talk about the discovery of the flute in Slovenia’s Divje Babe cave and its evolutionary and cultural significance. He will explain its features and acoustics and play a reconstruction of the original flute, which originates from a time when there was only one human species on European soil – the Neanderthal. The discovery of the flute more than 20 years ago disproved outdated ideas that Neanderthals were primitive humans, incapable of artistic, spiritual and abstract expression. This ancient flute is probably the oldest evidence of musical creation in human history.

Music played on the bear bone flute can also be heard in the David Attenborough BBC documentary series “Prehistoric Planet”, which also features Hans Zimmer, Anže Rozman and Kara Talve.

Boštjan Gombač is a renowned multi-instrumentalist, live performer and composer of music for theatre, film and television. His work of the last 20 years comprises of about 140 albums playing classical works from all over the world, as well as original music for more than 50 theatre pieces and about 40 TV documentaries. In addition to the clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone and other wind instruments such as tin whistles and ocarinas, alghosazi and fujara, Boštjan also plays the trumpet, fluegelhorn, musical saw and the theremin. He also produces a range of surprising and strange sounds from objects rarely seen in concert venues. As Boštjan Gombač puts it: “The sound itself is my guide and inspiration. The more unusual the sound, the greater the challenge, the more expressive the possibilities and the deeper the joy.”

As a member of the critically acclaimed Terra Folk group, Boštjan Gombač won BBC Radio 3’s World Music Award and many other accolades.

Boštjan Gombač is a current Artist in Residence in London, a programme which aims to contribute to the international mobility and visibility of Slovene artists.

The programme is supported by the Cultural Fund run jointly by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and aims at promoting Slovenian culture abroad.

The Slovenian Embassy in London is delighted to invite you to a concert in its series Musical Bridges Slovenia & the UK performed by the Slovenian Flute Trio:

Brina Kafol Žust, Marko Zupan and Boris Bizjak
with Yoko Misumi, piano

Saturday 1st October 2022 at 7 pm

St Giles Cripplegate, Barbican
Fore Street, London EC2Y 8DA

RSVP: rsvp.vlo@gov.si

You are welcome to invite your friends.

For information about the musicians see: https://tinyurl.com/5922j3s5

The Office for Slovenians Abroad has sent us the following information about courses of Slovene for future students in Slovenia, and subsidies:

Center za slovenščino kot drugi in tuji jezik vabi na Tečaj slovenščine za dijake, ki želijo študirati v Sloveniji. Spletni tečaj, ki bo dvakrat tedensko po tri šolske ure potekal med 18. oktobrom 2022 in 5. februarjem 2023, je namenjen dijakom zadnjih letnikov srednjih šol, ki se nameravajo vpisati na univerzo v Sloveniji, in bi radi osvežili in nadgradili svoje znanje slovenščine.

Urad Vlade RS za Slovence v zamejstvu in po svetu namenja za udeležbo na tečaju za udeležence iz zamejstva in izseljenstva posebne štipendije. S štipendijo, ki znaša 650 EUR, se krijejo stroški udeležbe na tečaju. Prošnja za štipendijo mora vsebovati osebne podatke o kandidatu in utemeljitev. Obravnavane bodo le prošnje, ki jih bodo napisali kandidati sami. Prošnje za štipendije pošljite do 1. oktobra 2022 po pošti (na naslov Centra za slovenščino kot drugi in tuji jezik) ali po elektronski pošti (mladinski.tecaji@ff.uni-lj.si). O rezultatih boste obveščeni do 8. 10. 2022.

Več informacij najdete na naslednji povezavi: https://slovenci.si/tecaj-slovenscine-za-dijake-ki-zelijo-studirati-v-sloveniji/

Zavod Mars Maribor za mlade slovenske družine, ki živijo v tujini, ponovno pripravlja Spletne Fletne – celoletni program spoznavanja slovenske kulturne dediščine skozi ustvarjanje.

Kreativne in poučne Spletne Fletne pomagajo v tujini živečim družinam ohranjati stik z maternim jezikom. Otroke pa poleg slovenskih šeg, navad in kulture učijo tudi veščin ročnih spretnosti.

Prijave so možne še v prvi polovici septembra.

Več informacij o delavnicah najdete na povezavi https://www.marsmaribor.org/dogodek/spletne-fletne-delavnice/