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- Editorial
- Presidential Message: ABS Event Restart
- Rest in peace, Your Royal Highness, Duke of Edinburgh!
- Great British Cuisine
- Know your Board Members: Wolfgang Geissler
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EDITORIAL
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Dear Members and Friends of the ABS,
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First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to express our highest appreciation for the numerous motivating and outstandingly positive feedback we received concerning our new webpage and the new design of our newsletter! Many thanks indeed! Your feedback shows us: It's worth the effort! All praise goes to the team of ABS Boardmembers, who made this relaunch possible! Among all content contributors, let me mention Frido Richter, who took care of the technical implementation.
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Secondly, for sure, you have heard that a not yet clearly defined but announced re-opening of our societal life should be possible shortly. Please read the Presidential Message, where Dr Kurt Tiroch indicates what you as an appreciated member can expect from the ABS. Detailed invitations will follow as soon as the legal framework for events is clarified by the government.
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We are looking forward to meeting you all in person very soon. Meanwhile, enjoy our incredibly interesting ABS Blog articles, our Policy Papers and the rich communication we provide on our Facebook- and Instagram channels!
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PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE
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Auf los geht`s los... Die Austro-British Society wird - wie bereits in den ABS-News April angekündigt - unmittelbar nach der offiziellen Freigabe mit Live-Events beginnen. Bevor ich jedoch aufliste, welche Einladungen Sie in Bälde erwarten können, liegt mir eines besonders am Herzen: Ich möchte mich bei Ihnen allen bedanken, dass Sie bis jetzt so intensiv mit uns auch außerhalb unserer Live-Events in Kontakt und uns treu geblieben sind, unsere digitalen Angebote so umfassend nutzen und dass Sie Ihre Wertschätzung für all unsere Bemühungen auch so reichlich zum Ausdruck bringen! Vielen Dank!
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Nun aber zu den Events, die sich jetzt in Detailplanung befinden. Der Schwerpunkt wird im ersten Schritt auf Outdoor-Veranstaltungen liegen - einige Termine sind schon fixiert, andere noch in Abklärung. Hier der aktuelle Status quo:
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- Ende Mai (Termin in Endabsprache): Weingut Kracher - Verkostung in Illmitz.
- 5. Juni (Termin fixiert!): British Car Excursion im östlichen Wienerwald mit Sparbach, Laaben und Pressbaum als Zielpunkte. Details folgen in der zweiten Mai-Woche.
- 11. Juni (Termin voravisiert): Queen`s Birthday Party - Trooping the Colour & 5 o`clock tea in einer Top-Outdoor Location - mehr wird noch nicht verraten!
- 13. Juni (Termin fixiert): Polo Picnic in Ebreichsdorf. Mitte Mai folgen alle Details zu diesem ABS-Event-Klassiker.
- 2. Juni-Hälfte: Vortrags-Event mit einem hochklassigen Repräsentanten aus der Wirtschaft bzw. der Öffentlichen Sicherheit. Wir sind gerade dabei die Details abzuklären.
- 1. Juli-Hälfte: Vortrags-Event mit Dr. Thomas Szekeres, Präsident der Ärztekammer Wien, zum Thema „Corona-Pandemie“. Detail werden aktuell fixiert.
- 22. Juli (Termin fixiert): Die traditionelle ABS Prince George Birthday Party wird auch heuer wieder stattfinden.
Sie sehen: Wir waren trotz des Lockdowns nicht untätig und haben vieles bereits sehr konkret für Sie vorbereitet. Sobald alle Rahmenbedingungen klar sind, freuen wir uns, gemeinsam mit Ihnen den ABS-Event-Restart zu feiern!
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Ihr Prof. Dr. Kurt Tiroch,
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REST IN PEACE, YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS!
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The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, sadly passed away.
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There is hardly anything, which hasn't been said and mentioned with regard to Prince Philip, his outstanding dedication and support he has given to Her Majesty The Queen and to all the Commonwealth as well as to his family. Heart-touching photographs have been published showing the loving affection he had for his great-grandchildren. Although it is publicly known that his relation to the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, wasn't always without frictions, Prince Charles' TV address has shown deep affection and private photographs of the two Royal Highnesses paint the picture of having succeeded in sorting out challenges of the past and have given evidence of their unity as a family.
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From my point of view it is outstanding for a society like ours, having so many personalities in its board, who met The Duke of Edinburgh personally. Beside all of our six Honorary Presidents, who held Ambassadorial positions in Austria or the UK, two additional Boardmembers met His Royal Highness and we asked them for there personal impressions which we love to share with you:
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Click photograph to enlarge the perfect Royal hand kiss execution of Dr. Christiani.
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Dr. Alexander Christiani, former Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the United Kingdom:
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"I have met Prince Philip several times during my stay in London. Once it was not Price Philip who made a joke, but I and he seemed to enjoy it by judging his rather amused reaction. At a reception for the Diplomatic Corps in Windsor one day in November we we are lined up to wait for the Royal family to appear and great the guests. Every Chief of Mission was allowed to bring 5 members of his staff who were placed behind the Ambassador. When Prince Philip appeared, he looked over my shoulder asking 'Tell me, Ambassador, is this ALL your staff?' I shot back: 'No, your Royal Highness - just the 'creme de la creme'. Philip burst into laughter and thus made my evening."
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Click photograph to enlarge, which shows Frankfurt's Lord Mayor, Andreas von Schoeler, talking to Prince Philip. Colin A. Munro in the middle as Consul General.
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Colin A. Munro, former UK-Ambassador to the OSCE and former Private Secretary to the UK's Minister of State:
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"I first met HRH when my Minister (Peter, Later Lord Blaker) accompanied the Queen on her state visit to Switzerland in April 1980. I was impressed by the way he sought out the African Commonwealth Heads of Mission at the Diplomatic reception. He worked just as hard as the Queen. He came to Frankfurt regularly to visit Princess Margaret of Hesse, who was the (British) widow of Prince Louis to whom he was related. She had spent the war in Germany and did a lot after it to revive cultural life and links between the UK and Germany. The official visit to Frankfurt comprised the traditional Golden Book ceremony, a meeting with von Schoeler and a reception for the leading lights of banking and industry. We had a very active British Chamber of Commerce. Prince Philip impressed with his impeccable German, his energy, and genuine interest, particularly in the prowess of German manufacturing industry. He was convinced that we in the UK had much to learn from the Chamber of Commerce system. He took a lively well informed interest in German politics. Of course he had to make small talk. But in one on one conversation he was a really great interlocutor, down to earth."
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Many thanks to the gentlemen for sharing their personal first hand experience meeting The Duke of Edinburgh. During the Duke's funeral the ABS was very active in the media as well, as ABS Boardmember Prof. Melanie Sully was asked from the TV broadcaster Puls24 for her comments, whilst our President Dr. Kurt Tiroch and the ABS Boardmembers Joanna Godwin-Seidl and Colin Munro gave interviews to ORF2. Please find more information about it by clicking the link below.
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Requescat in pace, Your Royal Highness, Duke of Edinburgh! Your support to Her Majesty, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth as well as all your good work will not be forgotten.
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GREAT BRITISH CUISINE
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Prince Philip’s Mushrooms à la Crème recipe
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According to Dinner at Buckingham Palace, this is a recipe which Prince Philip himself came up with.
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- 1 lb mushrooms
- 2 oz flour
- 2 oz butter
- milk
- 2 tablespoons cream
- croutons
- salt and pepper
- Clean and dry the mushrooms but don’t peel.
- Slice them into a pan and simmer in butter for 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle with flour, stir gently, and cook for a further 2 minutes or so.
- Season, add heated (but not boiled) milk and simmer for a further 3 minutes.
- Now stir in the cream, immediately reheat well, and serve scattered with croutons of fried bread.
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INVITATION TO "1001 NIGHTS"
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The Vienna Theatre Project of ABS Boardmember Joanna Godwin-Seidl and her project partner Saman Giraud has started the "1001 Nights" reading project during the first lockdown a year ago. Since they started, more than 3 million (!!) contacts on Social media have been following the readings of this special poetry.
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On May 21st, 2021, another "Special Reading" online event takes place, which will be streamed out of Palais Hansen Kempinski, one of Vienna's most luxurious hotels, with live music and outstanding styles of the two reading ladies.
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If you are interested to join this special cultural initiative, you will receive all details by clicking here:
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In this series, the members of the ABS Board introduce themselves to the members - with an entertaining reference to their personal connection to the British way of life, to society, community, the United Kingdom in general. Whether current or from the past, always with an emphatic reference to the present, Brexit or not.
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Click photograph to enlarge
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- Our today's guest: Wolfgang Geissler, former Hotel General Manager in Scotland, who worked and lived in the UK for 40 years.
"In August 1980 I took over the Green Hotel, Curling Rink and Golf Courses in a still very feudalistic Kinross, Perthshire, Scotland as General Manager from a somewhat eccentric Basil Fawlty character in a kilt. My employer was the Laird, Sir Basil Henry David Montgomery, 9th Baronet, Vice-Lord-Lieutenant of Kinross-shire, and Lord-Lieutenant of Perth Kinross. It was understandable that my arrival in the summer of 1980 in Kinross caused a stir. I was the first foreign (Austrian) General Manager in the hotel's long history, and I did come directly from the famous Turnberry Hotel in Ayrshire. The leading regional newspaper 'The Dundee Courier' phoned me to ask for an appointment to get an interview and a photo shoot."
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Österreichisch-Britische Gesellschaft
Austro-British Society (ABS)
Georg-Coch-Platz 4, 1010 Wien
office@oebrg.at
www.oebrg.at
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Für den Inhalt verantwortlich: Jochen Ressel
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