Past Events

On September 30th, the university alumni societies in Luxembourg of Oxford, Cambridge and the LSE held their much delayed, annual black tie dinner. The event was held in the Salle des Chevaliers of the romantic Château de Bourglinster, where we enjoyed a Michelin star meal and, more importantly, each other’s company.

Eighty five guests attended including the Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna and the British Ambassador, HE Fleur Thomas. The traditional speech was given by Dr  Hubertus von Morr, a former German Ambassador to Luxembourg and currently Secretary General of “The International Club La Redoute” in Bonn. He spoke on “The German Elections, what happens now?” mentioning the almost total absence of debate on international and European matters during the campaign. He also stressed how young voters strongly supported the FDP and the Greens, and the question mark hanging over the future of the large traditional parties, the SDP and the CDU/CSU who each only managed to garner around 25% of the vote.

David Clark, Chairman of the Oxford University Society of Luxembourg was Master of Ceremonies. Minister Gramegna toasted to HRH Grand Duke Henri and spoke of the importance of the foreign community to Luxembourg. Their presence helped significantly in promoting economic growth. HE Fleur Thomas toasted to HM Queen Elizabeth II. Martin Curwen, President of the Cambridge Society and Nigel Williams President of the LSE Alumni Association spoke briefly and thanked the Oxford University Society for undertaking the organisation of this year’s event.

More photos are available here, courtesy of John Speed, of the Cambridge University Society Luxembourg.

On an Indian Summer Sunday, September 26th, we played croquet in the Pescatore Park, with friends from the Luxembourg Cambridge University Society. Three mixed teams discussed strategies before employing their mallets to drive balls through hoops or making ‘roquets’ to earn additional ‘goes’.

Of course there was also a lot of catching up too, over crémant and snacks left over from our last outdoor event of before the summer. It was wonderful to meet up with friends again after the somewhat depressing second Covid-summer. We thank Fanny and Rakesh for organizing the event and John for making a wonderful photo album.

Last September 14th, we had our annual Fresher’s Dinner. Two first year bachelor students (Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry) and one beginning MBA student shared an Italian meal with two current students, and seven alumni, some of whom helped with practice interviews.

Stories, advice and directions were exchanged. In fact it was such an engaging evening that we once more forgot to make pictures! So here’s one from the restaurant.

On Saturday July 3rd we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the Schuman farm sipping pimm’s while catching up after a long time not seeing each other face-to-face.
After a lengthy picnic – barbecue we decided to have crocquet game on the lawn, rather than the traditional cricket, among others due to the lack of cricketers.
The crocquet game was a huge success, and we ended up playing with three teams simultaneously, each consisting of a changing number of members, the youngest being 3 years old.
We discovered crocquet to be a game of skill, strategy and teamwork.
The three teams battled for at least two hours, passing their balls through the hoops until finally, Gérard Schockmel scored the winning shot by placing his team’s final ball against the peg.
We thank Adrian for his hospitality, Fanny for her professional Croquet Set, and the organisers for the pimm’s and other drinks.

On April 7th, during the last days of confinement, our member Jos van Bommel gave an online seminar on the different approaches of investing in stocks, with an emphasis on Value Investing, a time-tested approach practiced by successful investors such as Warren Buffett. From our homes, we had an interactive evening, with plenty of discussion

After two Covid postponements, last October 14 we finally had the opportunity to host the dinner talk with guest speaker Professor Dr. Hardy Bouillon, former student of Jesus College and currently Extracurricular Professor of Philosophy at Trier University.

Prof. Dr. Bouillon enlightened us on the Austrian School of Economics, which in the early 20th century laid the foundations of Economic Thinking. We learned about the different subschools, of von Mises and Hayek, and the philosophical nature of work and their disciples.

The dinner talk led to lively debates at the different tables, easily overcoming the (Covid-) regulatory safe distancing of approximately OUSL 30 members and guests, which included the ambassador of Germany, and the consul of Austria.

On 28^th September in association with the British Luxembourg Society, the Cambridge and LSE Alumni societies in Luxembourg, we arranged a lecture at the British Ambassador’s Residence by Prof Catherine Léglu Vice-Rector of the University of Luxembourg about the University and its future plans. A film of the lecture can be found on the BLS website in the newsletter archive on the  web-address  https://b-l-s.lu/membership/members-resources#newsletter-archive

On 15 September we had our annual fresher’s dinner, where we invite Luxembourg-based starting Oxford students for an introduction to our Society and to each other. In the refugee run restaurant “Chiche” freshers, practice interviewers, current students, and committee members enjoyed a wonderful evening over a Syrian Mezze meal.

This year’s fresher’s will start different degrees (Ba, MSt, MSc, MPhil) in different studies (Mathematics, Creative Writing, Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, and European Politics and Society), at different colleges (Brasenose, Keble, St. Cross, and St. Anthony’s).

We wish them every success with their studies and hope to see them at our invents in Luxembourg, after graduation.

Our first post-Covid event was a wine tasting at the Dominikaner Weingut in Kasel near Trier. 

Carmen v. Nell-Breuning, owner of the family´s winery and wine-maker in the 11^thgeneration, gave us guided tour through the wine cellar, going from the fermentation vats, to the “Treasury” closet of old wines. Carmen explained us the history and reputation of the Mosel wines, and gave us an overview of the production from harvesting to bottling, for sparkling and non-sparkling wines. 

After visiting the cellar, we proceeded to the Weinzimmer, where we were treated on a “Sekt”, named Ludovic, after Ludwig van Beethoven, whom the Breuning family looked after when he grew up in Bonn. In the Weinzimmer we admired the many story-telling paintings of famous and less famous members of the wine dynasty. 

After the bubbly apéritif we walked over to Pauliner Hof, the adjacent restaurant of the winery, where we enjoyed lunch with an accompanying wine tasting.

After an excellent meal, we had a stroll to the the vineyards, where we enjoyed  the view over the Ruwer Valley, and the village of Kasel. 

Joint event with Conférence St. Yves and the Cambridge Society of Luxembourg, we had an interesting talk and discussion on the Luxembourg Practice of International Public Law with Maitre Patrick Kinsch and M Georges Friden as guest speakers. A “compte rendu” of the event can be found here