British Week 2012

I can’t believe it’s December! The Christmas trees are up and here in Guatemala the skies are beautiful and sunny. In the British Embassy, preparations continue for two massive events next year. I’ve written quite a bit about the first event and today marks 50 days until we join in the first human chain ever to be seen in a volcano! This is to support the domestic violence campaign “Rompe el Ciclo“, with which we have been proudly working since the campaign’s launch in 2010. So I wanted to use this blog to tell you a bit more about our second big event coming up: British Week 2012! It’s our third and our biggest yet. We’re holding it from 2-10 March 2012 and it’s getting exciting!

So what’s on the menu this time round? Well, we’re repeating some key and popular events. This includes our Queen’s Birthday Party - a proud moment any year but particularly so in 2012 as we celebrate the Queen’s 60th year as our monarch. We’ll also be hosting the British Charity Ball, for which tickets go on sale on 16 January 2012. Watch out for the advert on facebook as these tables have traditionally sold out in less than a week! The theme for 2012 is “British Film and TV” so get thinking about Sherlock Holmes style pipes, Harry Potter broomsticks, Lawrence of Arabia robes and Bridget Jones style big…jumpers. Watch out too for our alternative Olympics corner!

In addition to above, our charities will get an extra boost this year as we’re holding a second charity event during British Week, which is a Beatles Tribute concert in Tikal Futura. Tickets are already on sale via Todoticket. This is the same tribute band that came last year – they sound and look spookily similar to the Beatles and so unsurprisingly we think they’re brilliant! Perhaps tickets might make a great Christmas present for someone?! Last but not least, we’re repeating our fun day out with British cars and motorbikes. This time round the event will be held down in Antigua, alongside touch rugby and football matches as well as curry, fish ‘n’ chips and British music. Keep following facebook for all the details to come.

As well as all the fun stuff, we’ve got some serious commercial work on the agenda. Two trade missions are coming from the UK during British Week to get to know better the investment opportunities in Guatemala. They will visit both the Capital and Xela. 5 British universities will also be coming out to host two big fairs that aim to help students here get to know what the UK can offer – afterall, 4 of the world’s top 10 universities are British. This university team will also bring with them knowledge of scholarships. Speaking of which…. on January 17th (our official launch for British Week), we’ll be opening this year’s competition for scholarships that offer a year’s training in English, thanks to Trevor Clayton from the International Business Academy.

And there’s even more… We’ll also be cramming into one action-packed British Week a reception for Lloyds Private Banking; a launch event for British giant Diageo (home to Johnnie Walker and Guinness) whose investment aims to help Zacapa Rum become an even more successful and global brand; and some exciting developments among our British security experts here in the region.

All in all, it will be an amazing week. Much of it would not be possible without our sponsors, to whom I’d like to give our sincerest thanks: HSBC, Yantarni, Groupo CSC, Grupo Progreso, Lloyds Private Banking, AICA, British Telecom, Grupo Los Tres, Transequipo, Fairey Ceramics, Distribuidora Marte and last but definitely not least our amazing friends from Cervezeria Centroamericana. Huge thanks too to Danny from the Rattle ‘n’ Hum whose help will ensure that the 2012 Ball is another big success.

I’m only conscious as I sign off that many of you in Honduras and El Salvador may be wondering why we haven’t yet done a British Week outside of Guatemala. To date, in honesty, we have simply lacked capacity to do so. But the great news is, with the opening of our new Embassy in El Salvador next year, we’re aiming to boost the activities that we do in Honduras and El Salvador and continue to strengthen our relations across the region. We’re really looking forward to being able to replicate some of what has been so successful here and I’m looking forward to my upcoming visits in both Honduras and El Salvador to take this all forward.