Dear Members and Friends,
This has been a challenging year for us all. Thank you to all of you for your support and encouragement in these difficult times. We have been busy planning lots of exciting things for you for 2021 including special benefits, treats and, most importantly, some spectacular events. Next year sees the 50th anniversary of the Britain-Australia Society. Our most important asset is you - our wonderful group of supporters. We will have lots of ways for you to connect with us and each other during the course of the year. All will be revealed next year so watch this space... With everyone being stuck at home, we have lots of special Christmas treats this month with offers and prizes galore - cases of wine, luxury foods and even a television subscription! Read on for entry details... First, our friends at Lantana Cafés have an exciting idea for your Christmas shopping - fabulous Aussie-style hampers to order for your friends and family here in the UK (or just to enjoy yourself!). Lantana have also generously offered one such gorgeous hamper as a prize for a lucky BAS Member as a special early Christmas present. Crosstown Doughnuts are giving all our supporters a Christmas discount on their home-delivery service for the whole of December and January. Enjoy these while watching gripping thriller Operation Buffalo set in the South Australian Outback available on newly launched subscription service Acorn TV. Acorn TV has offered one lucky BAS Member the chance to win a year's free subscription. Finally, we are thrilled to announce our BAS Christmas Draw for our Members as a huge thank you for all your support this year. Thanks to Frontier Wines and Bird in Hand, we have not one but TEN cases of award winning sparking pinot up for grabs to make your Christmas Day extra special. So, as the nights roll in, and on, you can spoil yourselves and your loved ones with these lovely offers. And while you are at home, we are delighted to announce we have three extremely interesting webinars being released this week on the Members' only section of our website. First is the recording of our First Eight Lecture on the Life and Times of Prime Minister Alfred Deakin with a wonderfully informative introduction from HE the Hon. George Brandis QC (himself a Deakin expert). Next, we have the captivating "conversation about conservation" from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. Finally, we are grateful to our corporate partner the Australian Studies Institute for granting us permission to stream their Annual Lecture for 2020 by the inimitable Pat Turner AM. On behalf of the team here at the BAS offices, I wish you all a very happy Christmas. We are an organisation for people who share a love for the deep and lasting connection between Australia and the United Kingdom. For those of us with friends and family in Australia, we asked some of our Members (both young and old and from in and outside London) to reflect on their memories of an Aussie Christmas... For more details of all of the above, please see the monthly newsletter email that would have been sent to the email address associated with your membership. We look forward to seeing you in 2021! Best wishes Damian J. Walsh Chairman
