My dear CADS,
Greetings from Javea! I’m sorry I missed the dinner on Wednesday 19th, but the appeal of some decent sunshine, my friends’ villa and companionship, and of course the delicious Rioja, was all just too much! Typical with me, the weather has been great in Amsterdam since I left! Been staying with Irish friends who live permanently here in Javea. I met several of their friends who all happened to be Dutch! There is a huge Dutch community here and other than Spanish I only heard Dutch voices. Maybe we should start an international arm of CADS – happy to volunteer to go on the first scouting mission for recruits!
June Meeting (contribution written by Peter Smethurst)
This month, we held a dinner rather than a lunch, although as the weather was – for once – bright and sunny on one of the longest days of the year, we were still able to leave in daylight. Our speaker was Richard Egarr, who was accompanied by his wife and musical partner Alexandra. He explained that his passion for music started as a young child and was nurtured by a teacher at primary school who suggested he joined the choir of York Minster. He continued his musical education at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and then at Clare College, Cambridge. He then entered on an illustrious musical career as a keyboard player and conductor.
He took us on a whistle-stop tour of the way music and instruments have evolved over the centuries and how audience conduct at concerts has also changed. He is a keen advocate of engaging with audiences rather than having them just sit there obeying the “rules”. There was certainly audience participation in the form of questions and discussion at the dinner.
Richard has just set up Stichting Music 4 All with the aim of presenting easily accessible concerts designed to attract a new public. He also distributed some CDs featuring him and Alexandra as Duo Pleyel. For those not able to attend the dinner, Duo Pleyel can be found on YouTube. They will also be giving a concert in Amsterdam on 22 September.
Lustrum Golden Jubilee
Our Lustrum (Golden Jubilee) celebration dinner will be on Thursday November 14th, 2024, at the IGC in Amsterdam. Fellow CADS member Maureen Adam has kindly agreed to help me create a wonderful night of celebration of CADS – anyone else like to join us on the organising committee?
Hopefully we can invite back some ex-members, our partners, some diplomatic guests and other guests who would enjoy such an evening. The venue can cope with 150 people so there is plenty of room! If you have any suggestions for the evening; perhaps on who should be on the guest list or how the evening might pan out, please shout! The date is now confirmed, so please pop it in your agendas and start making plans to be in Amsterdam on 14th November.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting will be on Friday 19th July at the IGC in Amsterdam. The guest speaker is Giles Slinger, one of our own members. Giles is a UK national who has been living here in the Netherlands for the last 9 years. He has provided these background points for his presentation to whet your appetite.
• Director of The Hague Tech, a community for approximately 150 startups in The Hague
• Bringing a UK software business to the Netherlands 2015-2020, recruiting and growing its NL team
• Director of an AI startup in the Dutch ecosystem 2022-2024
• Been working for 9 years in the Netherlands, and have integrated into the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, including some of the movements towards ‘managerless organisations’.
• Questions for the audience: what is special about the NL business model, and can it be shared back to the UK?
See our events page for the latest schedule of events for your agendas. Many of you are super busy so please put ALL these dates in your diary NOW!
Thank you for your continued support and engagement with CADS. I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.
