British - Irish "Bri-Rish" National Week 2015-2016

"Bri-Rish National Week” (British / Irish), 14/03 – 19/03
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Events:
•    British biscuits (Tunnocks’ Caramel) at lunch
•    Afternoon tea
•    National lunch
•    Films x3 (Trainspotting; Pride; the Wind that Shakes the Barley
•    Conference: Britain and the EU: Past, Present, and Future?
•    Bouncingham Castle
•    St. Patrick’s Day Bar Night
•    Traditional Ceilidh, with Harry Potter theme

Description: 
We British and Irish, inhabitants of rainy northern-lying islands, pride ourselves on our warmth, sense of fun, and accepting and welcoming nature. So it was that our British-Irish national week (or ‘Brirish week’ for the initiated) focused around a mix of serious debate and being a bit silly, proving no one is too old to play fight on a bouncy castle.

On the culinary front, the week kicked off in a traditionally understated way with delicious Scottish Tunnock’s Caramel biscuits as a surprise dessert to cheer up the canteen lunch. We also put on a popular Wednesday afternoon tea, which struck the balance between being fancy and homely. The edible nature of the National meal surprised even the most hard-hearted of the College’s French culinary experts. 

Culturally, the British and Irish like to think we punch above our weight, and we showed this off to great effect with screenings of three classic films, Trainspotting provided a gritty and hilarious view of youth culture and drug addiction in Glasgow, Pride told the story of London-based gays and lesbians supporting striking miners in 1980s Wales, and the Wind that Shakes the Barley told a darker history of the British-Irish relationship. We supplemented all this with a soundtrack of British and Irish classic tunes and the Spice Girls even made an appearance.

For the serious bit, we put on a conference on Brexit with three big name speakers: Jonathan Faull, one of the highest-ranking Commission officials, Lord Liddle, a former advisor to Blair, and Sir Stephen Wall, former Permanent Representative to the EU, all chaired by the BBC Brussels correspondent. 

On Thursday, we took off our thinking hats and let our hair down at ‘Bouncingham Castle’, a bouncy-castle strategically placed in the sunny library courtyard, along with enough iced tea to quench the thirst of a small country. That evening, we donned our Guinness hats and coloured our beer green for St. Patrick’s Day bar night. The partying was capped off with a beautifully decorated and unlikely-themed Harry Potter ceilidh, where Europe’s future leaders learned traditional Irish and Scottish dances whilst pretending to zap each other with magic spells. 

Our week captured the spirit of fun, warmth and irreverence that we think Britain and Ireland are known for, and it was a testament to the affection our islands are held in that throughout the week everyone joined the Committee in spontaneously posting clips from their favourite Brirish comedy shows and music videos. Your spirit of inclusion and fun made us a very proud national week committee – so thank you for ‘having a laugh’ with us island folk!