You are kindly invited to take part in the British-Slovene Society’s Annual Prešeren celebration. The Slovene singer and songwriter Vlado Kreslin will once more perform for us.

• Saturday 28th February 2026. Drinks from 5:30, Dinner at 6:30 pm.
• The Memoir Club (previous name Ambassadors Bloomsbury Hotel), 12 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0HX (undergrounds Euston, Euston Square, King’s Cross, Russell Square)

Booking will close on Friday 20th February end of business day. We recommend you book without delay, as the capacity of the venue is limited. It’s first come first served.

Rates:

– Paid up BSS Members £69, non-Members £84, students and under-18s £49.

For that you will enjoy a drinks reception, a three-course dinner with wine, Vlado Kreslin’s concert and a tombola with all sorts of attractive prizes.

Note: if you become a Member now, you benefit from the Member’s lower rate. Membership costs £25 per year, and £40 for families. You can pay for membership and the event together.

Reserve your places now using the online Application form

If you wish to make up your own party, you can indicate this in the Application Form. You can also advise any special dietary requirements.

We look forward to welcoming you!

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

From the Slovenian Government Office for Slovenian Abroad we have received the following information about scholarships for courses of Slovene language for descendants of Slovenians

Jutranji in Popoldanski tečaj slovenskega jezika na spletu, pomlad 2026

• rok za prijavo: 1. februar 2026

Poletna šola slovenskega jezika v Ljubljani 2026

• rok za prijavo: 15. maj 2026

Jesenska šola slovenskega jezika v Ljubljani 2026

• rok za prijavo: 15. maj 2026

Jutranji in Popoldanski tečaj slovenskega jezika na spletu, jesen 2026

• rok za prijavo: 31. avgust 2026

Zimska šola slovenskega jezika v Ljubljani 2027

• rok za prijavo: 31. avgust 2026

Spomladanska šola slovenskega jezika v Ljubljani 2027

• rok za prijavo: 31. avgust 2026

For more details see the pages of the Centre for Slovene Language below:

https://centerslo.si/tecaji-za-odrasle/

https://centerslo.si/za-otroke/

https://centerslo.si/tecaji-za-odrasle/stipendije/

Dear British-Slovene Society Members and friends,

I wish you all good fortune for the New Year we have just started.

I politely remind Members that your 2026 Membership is due to be paid now: £25 for an individual, £40 for a family (max. 5 members), and £15 for a full-time student. If you have already paid by Standing Order or bank transfer, many thanks.

If you are not yet a Member, I urge you to consider joining us – see https://britishslovenesociety.org/membership/ . We offer a range of events throughout the year — the next is the Prešeren Evening in London with Vlado Kreslin on 28th February.

Your support is much appreciated. Trustees give their services pro bono, but organising activities always requires some expenditure.

With warmest wishes,

Trustees of the British-Slovene Society

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