Welcome to the Anglo-Swiss Club of Locarno!

The Anglo-Swiss Club of Locarno (ASCL) was founded in 1934 to promote good relations between Swiss and English-speaking people. We now have become very international with members from all countries. Quite amazing!

The ASCL is mainly a social club, which helps people meet each other, enjoy each other’s company and, most importantly, speak English, the language of the Club.

The ASCL does this through a programme of several events throughout the year. Rather than specialising in any particular type of activity, the ASCL tries to give it's members as wide a choice of activities as possible. Cultural outings, walks, lectures, lunches and dinners! We celebrate in style!  Halloween, Fish & Chips, morning coffees and great aperitifs.  We try to hold events within a reasonable radius of Locarno, rather than going farther afield.

The Club also has its own library of books in English. The library is run by volunteer members and is open on coffee mornings during the Club season. 

The Club is open to members from all backgrounds and ages, and the only two conditions of membership are to be socially congenial and have a reasonable command of English.

We try to combine the best of Swiss, Anglo and international cultures - the good organisation and frugality of the Swiss with the more relaxed, less formal Anglo approach.

For further information, programmes and application forms please contact:

Stefanie Bertoneri Amrein
President


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 Event calendar:
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Coffee Morning - Clubroom
10:00
in the clubroom
Date : Saturday, 5th November
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a new and "feel good" activity for our club members!

A big THANK YOU to our club member Bob Ronay who had this great idea!

We will be offering a selection of timeless

"Oldies but Goldies"

musicals in our clubroom.  Snacks and drinks also offered by the club.

Please register for the event with Stefanie: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
Due to our limited seating capacity we have 20 seats available on a "first come - first served basis".

Please join us!

Very best wishes

Stefanie

President
Anglo-Swiss Club Locarno

So far this year within 10 months including a June, July and August summer break we have enjoyed 18 different events! Coffee mornings, aperitifs, walks, outings, lectures, dinners.  An abundance of different activities! Each activity was very well attended and we are happy and pleased that our club members continue to attend and enjoy each other’s company.

I am rather sad to have to write that it is impossible to find volunteers and I ask myself if, in future, it will be possible to offer so many different activities, if we do not get some much needed help from our club members. 

We were looking forward to a great Halloween Party on Monday, 31 October 2022 in the clubroom. Of course the clubroom would have been decorated like in 2019 but this year, after two years because of Covid, when we decided we could celebrate again, there were no offers to help us decorate. We therefore cancelled the event.

2022 is indeed a momentous year.  As most of you know our club was founded in 1934 by a group of British citizens and was at that time called the "English Club". We still have the founding document in our archives and I have attached a copy for those of you who are interested. We were for a number of years looked after by the British Embassy in Berne and we also received invitations to celebrate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II birthday party, which was held in the grounds of the Embassy. A few years ago we received notification that the Embassy did not have the funds or the personnel to "look after us", so our link to the Embassy and to the UK are not that strong as they used to be. We have in the past few years indeed become a very international club with members from all continents! Quite amazing!

Please join us at the Hotel La Palma au Lac, Muralto:


Thursday, 20  October 2022 at 6pm

for a special evening/recital.

 We are delighted to welcome

Victor Vertunni di Albanella.

Victor is a London born actor and singer-songwriter and educator, now living in Italy. After graduating in theatre studies at the University of East Anglia he worked on a variety of theatre productions before co-founding the international theatre ensemble Theatre of Eternal Values. Victor comes across as an old musical soul; speaking and singing from some deep ancestral or universal memory that has never required remaking. He has performed his original musical adaptations of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience in venues and festivals across Europe and in the USA. The song Ah, Sun-Flower is featured in the award winning motion picture, The Italian Key. Other songs are part of the theatrical production Eternity in an Hour, first performed at the Helsinki International Arts Festival 2008 followed by performances in Italy, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA at The New York International Fringe Theatre Festival 2010.

Victor will introduce us to William Blake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXsRl31A4yg

William Blake (1757-1827) is one of the key figures of English Romanticism, and a handful of his poems are universally known thanks to their memorable phrases and opening lines. Blake frequently spoke out against injustice in his own lifetime: slavery, racism, poverty, and the corruption of those in power.  Blake's Songs are a conduit to a space beyond words and music – the inner landscape of our own soul.

After the recital you are invited to an aperitif which will be sponsored by the club.

Please register no later than 13 October 2022:

Stefanie: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Very best wishes

Stefanie

President
Anglo-Swiss Club Locarno

We would like to thank our club member,
Edit (Meera) Szegvary for contacting Victor Vertunni.

I am sure you will all remember or will have read the brilliant poem by Amanda Gorman (Poet Laureate, poem for the Inauguration of Joe Biden).

"The Hill we climb"

I have copied the first few sentences, which for me, personally, reflect the current situation worldwide. 

When day comes, we ask ourselves,
Where can we find light
In this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. 

We`ve braved the belly of the beast.
We`ve learned that quiet isn't always peace,
Ant the norms and notions of what "just is"
Isn't always justice.

At the beginning of 2022 after two years of "angst" due to the pandemic, we were all so looking forward to a peaceful year. A year to recharge our batteries, a year in which we could maybe travel without restrictions, a year of good news and peace. As we all know we were in for a surprise.

It is precisely during these troubled times that our wonderful club fulfils an important task: Bringing our members together and spending a few hours relaxing and socializing. We will resume our club activities in September. Please take note that our traditional coffee morning will not be on the first Saturday in September but on the second Saturday due to some absences. We have a great outing planned and if you have not registered, I strongly suggest that you do so as we only have a few seats left. We will enjoy a traditional "Fish & Chips event at the Casino Locarno. And we have not yet given up on the 10'000 steps! For those of you who enjoy a brisk walk and a chat, followed by coffee or other refreshments, this is probably the simplest way to combine two activities and also meet new and long-serving members (I did not want to write "old"!). I look forward to meeting you all again. Please do join in! It gives great satisfaction to the people who organize the events, outings, walks, lectures and coffee mornings! Always at your service!

Stefanie

President
Anglo-Swiss Club Locarno