Hello Everyone!
I am sure most of you know that Britweek kicked off this week to a flying start. They certainly chose the perfect day for their launch, as it was also Queen Elizabeth’s 89th birthday on April 21st – most of us are lucky if we get a cupcake but Her Majesty was honored with a 41-gun royal salute! It was also St George’s Day this week, and I only recently learnt that he actually never set foot in Britain – perhaps it is time to make someone else our patron saint? Who would you nominate if you had a choice? I quite like the idea of St. Stephen Hawking.
Back to Britweek, (which actually lasts a little over a fortnight) – they really have curated some fantastic events this year and several that feature Brits in LA members. I am most looking forward to ‘A Lad Insane’, an LA premiere exhibit of Brian Duffy’s Five Sessions with David Bowie, hosted by two of our favorite Brits, Martin and Mary Samuel. Martin is hairdressing royalty as is both an Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner (among many other accolades!), he got his start as a Saturday junior and ended up working on films such as Evita and Burlesque as well as on The Man Who Fell To Earth with David Bowie! Visit britweek.org for all the details. ‘Duffy Bowie : Five Sessions’ will also be available for purchase and signing on the evening.
I have really been enjoying our Meet A Member section – it has been a great way for us to get to know some of you a little better. I was quite surprised to see that a lot of you give a shout out to your favorite coffee or tea shop; completely dispelling the myth that Brits abroad love warm beer! We get so much good feedback from ‘MAM’ but also there are a few whingers amongst you, moaning that we only seem to feature actors/models or musicians. If you check out the archives you can see that is not strictly true. We have had financial advisors, website designers, headhunters, party planners and a quite a few realtors. Not to mention the reclusive Neil Fletcher who has been the publisher of this paper since 1990! However, it does sometimes seem that those of you not in the entertainment industry are a bit backward about coming forward! So if you have an ‘ordinary’ lifestyle and are brave enough to be featured, give us a shout at britsinla@gmail.com or feel free to nominate one of your chums.
My sister Sally was in LA recently for a fleeting visit and we had the pleasure of attending a fantastic performance from a few visiting students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – an amazingly talented group. If you have kids considering studying the arts I recommend you check out their courses. They often hold auditions in the USA, so visit their website for details at: www. www.rcs.ac.uk. James McAvoy thinks so highly of the college he is personally funding a 10-year scholarship programme at the RCS!
Pub Quiz was a lot of fun this week – Sandro Monetti and his gorgeous sidekick Emily wrangled the rowdy crowd extremely well whilst dazzling us with their snazzy coordinated outfits. You will be pleased to hear the reigning champions the Pikey Blinders were finally knocked off the top spot and came in third this week. My team came in last – so for those of you who think I get a sneak peek at the questions, think again! Big thank you to Arena Cinema for supplying some great raffle prizes!
Make sure to visit us on Facebook as we have lots of other events coming up. Craig and personal trainer Richard Parcell are hosting Brit Fit Club every Tuesday morning before Breakfast Club. Completely free and a fab way to work up an appetite, especially as Cecconi’s does the best Full English in town! We also have a Key Member dinner scheduled – to learn more about our key members program visit our website Britsin.LA
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions drop me a line at eileen@britsin.la , as I always love to hear from you.
Cheers!
Eileen
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