News Archive

November 2021 - Dankesbrief von Die ARCHE Hamburg e.V.

In response to our cheque presentation this year in November 2021, we received this very appreciative letter from Sibylle von Nerée, Freundeskreis Die ARCHE Hamburg. It is too wonderful not to publish

November 2021 - Anniversary Cheque Presentation from Friends of Britain e.V at The Anglo-German Club, Hamburg
Friends of Britain e.V. hands over donations amounting to 17,500 euros

Sibylle von Nerée and Tobias Lucht from the Friends of Die ARCHE Hamburg e.V. accepted 13,000 euros on behalf of Friends of Britain e.V.. The Friends of Britain team, together with the teams from Freundeskreis Die ARCHE Hamburg and Klinik-Clowns Hamburg, eagerly sold thousands of raffle tickets at the Home & Garden Meets British Flair event last August 2021. The proceeds from the British Flair raffle and other activities - including sales by the LIONS Clubs Klövensteen and Altona - will now be donated to charitable projects in Hamburg. In addition to the main recipient, the Freundeskreis Die Arche Hamburg, the donations went to the Klinik-Clowns Hamburg, the Anglican Church St. Thomas à Becket and the Benita Quadflieg Stiftung.
In the past 31 years of British Day and British Flair, our association has succeeded in donating a total of more than 750,000 euros to charitable projects in Hamburg and the surrounding area. This has only been possible thanks to the tireless and dedicated volunteers who have supported us over the years. Together we are strong!

November 2021 - A warm welcome to our new Friends of Britain committee members!

We would like to welcome both Evelyn Lembach and Kai Pawlowski as our new committee members at Friends of Britain.
Both Evelyn and Kai have been actively involved within our organisation for some years. They have always made time to assist us practically at British Flair also in planning and seeing through other Anglo-German charity projects during the course of the year.
When recently asked if they would like to officially join our committee, they didn’t hesitate and immediately agreed and we would like to extend a warm welcome to them!

FoB Team from left to right: Wendy Sprock – Stefanie Nießen – Philipp Behre – Aimée Riecke – Patricia Behrens –
Eleanor Kamtsikis-Jones – Margret Franz-Zieske – Evelyn Lembach – Kai Pawlowski – Linda Struck

From left to right: Kai Pawlowski – Evelyn Lembach

November 2021 - Saying Farewell to FoB committee members Aimée Riecke and Stefanie Nießen

In Hamburg sagt man Tschüss, das heißt auf Wiedersehn...

Sad news for the Friends of Britain committee as 2 members have decided to step down from their duties after many years of dedicated charity work.

Aimée Riecke has been a cornerstone of Friends of Britain since 2013. Her many years of tireless dedication and support along with organising, networking and – in the last 10 years –one of the main organisers and dedicated tombola team members, has made her a truly valuable asset within our team. Understandably, she would now like to spend more time with her grandchildren and family, making way for new members to continue building the foundations of our charity organisation with special focus on the British Flair Tombola which has always proven to be a success and is our main donation source.

Stefanie Nießen has also decided to reprioritise her life due to her recent promotion within a global company which demands a lot of her time. This has led Stefanie to rethink her time and travel management.

After joining the Friends of Britain committee in 2008, she too has been an incredible support within our team. This was not just in the form of stepping up our successful annual tombola at British Flair, but also tirelessly focusing on organising the orchestra for the yearly British Flair Open-Air Proms Concert and many other additional musical charity events over the years since 2014. One such event which highlighted last year’s programme was “Tales & Tunes - a journey through the British Isles” which took place at the Heidbarghof in Hamburg.

Fortunately, we will continue to hear and see Stefanie in the future, as she will take on a lesser role and continue to organise concerts with her musical counterpart Ian Mardon, starting with Tales & Tunes in 2022.

When saying goodbye, we don't say farewell or adieu or goodbye:
In Hamburg, we say Tschüss, which means auf Wiedersehen...

After organising the British Flair field and stage programme for over ten years - and having been involved in other ways since the early 1990s - Jo Dawes has decided to hand over the baton to someone new as from 2022 thus allowing more free time for other ambitions in her life.
We are immensely grateful to Jo for always being reliable and a "sunshine" to work with. We will miss her level-headed approach with the programme logistics and her winning sense of humour, even when things got "hairy"!
We wish Jo well in all her subsequent plans and look forward to seeing her as a visitor at future British Flair events where she can simply soak up the atmosphere and just enjoy it!

The society, Friends of Britain e.V., was originally known as BCCG British Day e.V. and was founded in 1991 by the Hamburg Branch of the British Chamber of Commerce Germany. The aim of BCCG British Day e.V. was to give British companies in Germany and German companies selling British goods and services a high profile British “Lifestyle” event to present themselves and their products to the discerning and anglophile Hamburg public. British Day also gave the visitors the chance to experience the “British Way of Life” in the heart of Hamburg (whilst raising money for local charities) with demonstrations of British sport, humour, live music and theatre, and other recreational activities such as Highland Games, Sheep Dog Trials, etc.

Starting with a one-day event, British Day soon became so popular in the Western suburbs of Hamburg, along the banks of the Elbe river, that it was extended in 1996 to a 2-day, and a few years ago even a three-day event. As a particular cultural highlight “The Open Air Last Night of the Proms Classic Concert” was included on the Saturday evening. The exhibitors benefit from the opportunity to present themselves to the public over this extended period.

From left to right: Stefanie Nießen – Linda Struck – Patricia Behrens –
Sonny Pathak († July 2019) – Margret Franz-Zieske – Wendy Sprock – Aimée Riecke – (missing on the picture) Philipp Behre

with a one-day event, British Day soon became so popular in the Western suburbs of Hamburg, along the banks of the Elbe river, that it was extended in 1996 to a 2-day event, to include the cultural highlight, “The open Air Last Night of the Proms Classic Concert” thus giving the exhibitors two days to benefit from their presence at the event.

In 2011, when the original organising team of British Day wished to retire after 20 years, the event was sold to the organisers of the prestige event Home & Garden, benefitting the e.V. and local charities. The event is now run by Das AgenturHaus GmbH in Lübeck. Under the new management a new name – “British Flair” – was given to the event, and the BCCG British Day e.V. was renamed “Friends of Britain e.V.” Both the event, under its new management, and the society with its new committee of eager volunteers, continue to thrive.

Besides organising the commercial event British Flair, Das AgenturHaus GmbH has been kind enough to allow the Friends of Britain e.V. to continue its charity tombola at the event, supported by other fund-raising stands and activities such as The Caledonian Society and The British Club Hamburg who run the Welly Wanging stand, the Rotaract Club Hamburg-Alstertal, The Hamburg Players, the Anglican Church of St. Thomas Becket, the Anglo-German Club, the First Hamburg Toastmasters, The Lions Club Hamburg-Altona and Klövensteen, as well as several others. A new, preferably local charity is chosen each year and besides benefitting from the proceeds of the fund-raising activities, is given the opportunity to present itself to the public during the event. Another aim of the Friends of Britain e.V. is to promote German-British connections in Hamburg in particular through various extra events organised throughout the year, providing an umbrella for the various British societies and clubs in Hamburg and area to meet at and participate in communal events.