See below information about a course of Slovene for children (aged 10 to 14 years) of Slovene origin living abroad, which will take place on ZOOM between 25 and 31 July 2021. Organised by the Slovenian Ministry of Education.

Center šolskih in obšolskih dejavnosti in Zavod RS za šolstvo bosta v času od 25. do 31. 7. 2021 v spletnem orodju ZOOM organizirala Poletno šolo slovenščine, ki je namenjena otrokom in mladostnikom slovenskega porekla iz tujine (starost od 10 do 14 let). Pokrovitelj in financer šole je Ministrstvo za izobraževanje, znanost in šport RS.

Prijavna dokumentacija (Informacija o Poletni šoli slovenščine v letu 2021, prijavni postopek, pogoji in kriteriji izbora ter povezava na e-prijavnico) je objavljena na spletni strani Stičišče: https://www.zrss.si/mednarodno-sodelovanje/slovenci-izven-meja/slovenci-po-svetu-sticisce/poletna-sola/.

Rok za prijavo je 15. 5. 2021.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, founded in 1956 by the late Prince Philip, is credited as one of his greatest achievements. When he died last week, many Britons remembered how the scheme empowered them as youngsters to build skills, confidence and resilience. But who knows that the Awards are also hugely popular abroad – not least in Slovenia?

Živa Alif is a Slovene who entered when she was still at high school in Ljubljana. She completed her Silver and Golden Awards just before gaining admission to the University of Oxford, where she graduated in Biology. She always liked hiking and camping, so she eagerly tackled tests of physical endurance which took her on arduous camping expeditions – three in Slovenia (picture below) and one in Finland.

“Walking 20 km and climbing 1,000 m in altitude for four days in a row carrying a 20 kg backpack is never an easy task. But the feeling when you reach the end is absolutely fantastic, as there is a true feeling of victory. In addition, you become more grateful for small things. Like a shower. After four days of hiking at 30C with no option to clean yourself whatsoever, a shower feels more refreshing than ever. Besides that, the expeditions are where countless new memories and friendships are formed.”

Music and gymnastics gained her further qualifications, but her other favourite part of the Award programme was the Residential project, for which she went to a camp for nature conservation volunteers in Austria.

“Spending 10 days with a group of 12 people from all across Europe was a memorable experience, as we became like a family in this time. It was a cultural eye-opener for me, as you learn so much about other people’s countries in a friendly and open environment. Being forced to communicate only in English also greatly boosted my confidence in my language skills. And lastly, that’s where I met my best friend, who has been standing by my side every day for the last five years despite being hundreds of kilometres away.”

Her conclusion:

“The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is an excellent programme, as it makes young people leave their comfort zone to meet new people, get new experiences and ultimately expand their horizons in real life.”

Živa (second right in picture below) with other Slovene participants:

Zoran Predin who performed at the British-Slovene Society’s Prešeren Evening, will give a concert on 13th march at 8pm Slovenian time broadcast by Zoom from  Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana.

For details of the programme and to buy tickets click:

https://www.cd-cc.si/en/culture/music/zoran-predin-damirov-django-band-zoran-poje-arsena-zoran-sings-arsen

Over a 100 people took part in this year’s Prešeren Evening of the British-Slovene Society, held for the first time on Zoom rather than in a hotel in London. Shirlie Roden, Zoran Predin, Aleksander Mežek, The Lakeland Voices, the Plamen Choir from Canada and Vlado Kreslin treated us to a brilliant concert of music and song.

Vid Kocijan, John Dawton and Barbara Predin presented and recited Prešeren’s poetry. Andrej Rozman Roza gave us an amusing satirical sketch poking fun at Slovenes’ stingy attitudes towards culture.

A collection was taken for the Barka charity supporting people with special needs in Slovenia.

If you missed the event, which took place on 13th February, you can catch up on the YouTube link below:

Pred kratkim je bil na Valu 202 pogovor z Lanom Artisom. Jeseni je z odliko opravil magisterij za pisce scenarijev in si utira pot v svet filma. Pri tem pa ostaja prizemljen in si s kuhanjem služi svoj vsakdanji kruh.

Tukaj je posnetek pogovora:https://val202.rtvslo.si/2021/01/globalna-vas-115/

Dear Members and Friends,

Don’t miss the British-Slovene Society’s online Prešeren Evening on Saturday 13th February! At 1800 UK time, 1900 Slovenian time.

This year, no cocktails, dinner and mixing in a London hotel. We’ll be online on Zoom, and we’re making the most of it!  We’ve lined up an array of Slovenia’s finest popular singers and moving recitals of Prešeren’s poems (one sung by our own Shirlie Roden).

Plus two great choirs. One from Sedbergh in Cumbria, twinned with Zreče in Slovenia. The other is group of Slovene singers from Canada.

After the performance, we’ll have Zoom »chat rooms« on which you can socialise with friends old and new.

Here’s the Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2784357597?pwd=czdsdHI3TWhQNC9IY3JKVXVEekhzZz09

Meeting ID: 278 435 7597
Passcode: Preseren21

Here is the link on YouTube where you can view the event: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TUI4tMOrJk

The chat rooms will only operate on Zoom.

Don’t forget: Saturday, 13th February at 1800 UK time, 1900 Slovenian time, 1300 Canadian time. Thanks to Zoom, you can join in from anywhere!

You can take part for free. If you wish, you’ll be able to make a charity donation through this link, which will also be displayed during the event. The proceeds will be equally divided between the Barka charity we support and our Society

 https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=ZY36WP8H5CYM6

As published earlier, the British-Slovene Society will celebrate France Prešeren on 13th February 2021 with a performance of poems and songs online. The Zoom link will follow shortly.

The Slovenian Embassy in London is meanwhile also celebrating the Slovene national poet and Slovenia’s Day of Culture on 8th February.

See the invitation from the Slovenian Embassy below:

You can further explore the richly diverse cultural programme made available online by cultural institutions in Slovenia in celebration of Prešeren Day, details of which are available HERE

Please note that the programme is primarily in Slovene language.

Reserve time at 6pm on Saturday 13^th February for the British-Slovene Society’s special online Prešeren Evening. We are preparing an attractive programme of recitals and singing to mark the 220^th anniversary of the poet’s birth. We will inform you of the link nearer the time.

Due to the Covid pandemic we will not be able to meet in person, and so we will produce our Prešeren Evening in the same way as the last Christmas Carol Service.  For those who could not attend that, here is the link to the recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hDtKUwsmoVE.  

The Christmas event caught the attention of the Slovene Radio Prvi channel which featured it on the evening of Christmas day: https://4d.rtvslo.si/arhiv/slovencem-po-svetu/174742304. We collected £275 for the Barka charity we support in Slovenia.

Also, you may know that the traditional Slovene hayrack (kozolec) in Harcourt Arboretum has been dismantled but we are making arrangements for a new one to be set up in Henley-on-Thames. We hope to be able to celebrate 30 years of Slovenia’s independence around the new hayrack.