May 2015 - The Friends were invited to attend the Leamington Music Festival Weekend this year because of the major Czech emphasis of the musical programme and the longstanding association of Leamington Spa with the Czech and Slovak nations.
In between the superlative music making by various internationally-renowned Czech quartets, who provided a feast of Czech music for us, we were able to talk to members of the audience and engage their interest in our work. There was also time to stroll around the Jephson Park nearby and to contemplate the memorial to the Czech and Slovak airmen who assassinated Heydrich, the Nazi Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia.
Photograph: left to right Ian Kennaway, joint founder of The Friends, Peter Jamieson, Chairman of The Friends, Ivan Koenig and Daniel Lowbeer of the Lowbeer Trust, Richard Philips, Director of the Leamington Spa Festival. Photography courtesy of Ian Kennaway.