Cambridge Society of Luxembourg

Posts in the “exPOST” category refer to past events. They are meant as a reflection of the Society’s activities and undertakings.

The Society was very pleased to welcome to its Freshers Party four undergraduate Freshers and one new graduate, who will be going up to Cambridge University from Luxembourg at the beginning of October. The party was held on Tuesday, 16 September at the Restaurant Bacchus in Luxembourg city.

This is an exciting – and in some respects a somewhat nervous – time for the students as they prepare for the great experience of living and studying in one of finest universities in the world. The alumni of the Society were able to chat to them about their own experiences, and to give advice. And we were very pleased that Alice Walpole, the British Ambassador in Luxembourg, joined us during the evening to speak to all of the students, congratulate them on their success in gaining admission to Cambridge, and wish them well.

Three of the Freshers are graduates of the European School: Emilia Radley, who will be reading Law at Queens’ College, Judit Talas (Natural Sciences at Churchill College), and Kristian Sutt (Law at Homerton College). Ben King, who graduated from the International School of Luxembourg, will be reading Law at Homerton College. Léonie de Jonge is a graduate MPhil student of Politics and International Relations at Pembroke College.

As the accompanying photograph shows, we all had a most enjoyable evening together at the Bacchus, and we look forward to staying in touch with the students during their time at Cambridge and afterwards.

John Speed, Secretary.

Posts in the “exPOST” category refer to past events. They are meant as a reflection of the Society’s activities and undertakings.

About twenty people journeyed to the lovely house of Anna and Chris Vaudrey in Useldange on Sunday, 6 July for the annual Varsity Croquet tournament. The weather forecast was rather unpromising, and indeed the first drops of rain fell as the first glasses of Pimms were being imbibed.  The heavens opened for a while, forcing participants to retire to the large covered terrace, where the barbecue was getting going. The gas-fired barbecue pan provided courtesy of the Church Fête was soon supplying the hungry would-be croquet players with delicious pork kebabs, marinaded chicken fillets, pork slices and various sausages, accompanied by salads and a range of beverages, followed by a selection of tarts and fruit.

Duly fortified, the players noticed that the rain had ceased and the sun had come out, so teams were picked, descended to the expansive lawn and the serious matter of croquet was engaged. Croquet can be a wickedly aggressive game, but our Croquet Master, John Davis, who had been kind enough to supply us with splendid professional croquet equipment, advised a more gentlemanly version as befitting the occasion. The matches were nonetheless keenly fought. I am not sure that the actual scores have been recorded for posterity, but the overall result was that honours were even between Oxford and Cambridge.

Everyone had a splendid time, and it just remains to thank Anna and Chris for their outstanding hospitality, John for the supply of the equipment, the Church Fête for the loan of the barbecue pan and all the participants for making the event so enjoyable.