BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (August 2025)

I have not been good at documenting my visits to the monthly BCSA "Get to Know You" Social but they have remained an important part of my calendar.

The process around them has changed a little over the years with me preferring to walk all the way there since retiring and more recently meeting a few people in The Railway pub beforehand to do a few Pokemon Go raids (Wednesday 6-7pm is always Raid Hour).

And for the last two months I have dramatically changed my standard food choice of many years, smazak/smazeny syr, to a half portion of the same. Obviously I am still drinking pints of Pilsner Urquell.

Unchanged were the good company and the conversations, the reasons for going every month.

BCSA Garden Party 2025

Somehow it has been ten years since I lasted posted about te BCSA Garden Party and while Covid carries some of the blame the main fault has been my laziness.

The intervening years also brought changes to the Czech and Slovak embassies which meant that when the Garden Party could be held it had to be held elsewhere. It was nice to be back in the Czech Embassy and in the shared gardens (that is the Slovak Embassy on the left).

The format was much the same as it ever was with food, drink, music, dancing and a raffle. Also the same as ever were the conversations that filled the afternoon and gave the party its purpose.

Towards the end this group photograph was taken. I think a few shy people hid and some may have left by then but I think that it includes around a dozen people that I spoke to at some point during the convivial four hours that the party lasted.

Not even the determined efforts of TfL (no District Lines, mainline trains severely delayed) could dent the simple pleasures of the afternoon.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (February 2020)

A few changes and a few familiar things at this month's British Czech and Slovak (BCSA) Get to Know You Social at the Czechoslovak Club in West Hempstead.

Firstly I had a meeting during the day in Bloomsbury so I walked to the club from there. The most direct route would have taken me through Regent's Park but I had gone that way a few times and so chose a longer route up through Camden Town and on to Hampstead before turning West to, er, West Hampstead. I arrived at the same time as Richard, almost spot on 7pm.

The beer was the same, thankfully.

The food was different. Despite not being on the limited menu they were able to do a smazak for me and this was more upmarket than the ones I had been eating there for years. Most importantly the breaded cheese was nicer and the boiled potatoes were a better option than chips. I missed the little bit of salad though. Overall this was quite a step up and the price reflected that.

Finally, the conversations were much the same. The topics were different, as were some of the people, but the friendly atmosphere and convivial batter were as they always were. And they were the main reason that I went.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (January 2020)

Some elements of this month's BCSA "Get to Know You" Social were very different, though the core components remained the same.

For the last few months I had been walking there and I did so again this month. That is always a good way to work up a thirst and an appetite. The cocktail we had in a nearby bar was nice but did very little to assuage our thirst, we needed beer for that.

The appearance of our usual room at the Czechoslovak Bar and Restaurant was the first indication of the major changes that had been made to the place in the month since we were last there. It had been laid out nicely for us and we were offered waiter service for the evening.

I took this picture at the start of the evening when the two of us were on our second pints well before the official start time of the social. It filled up quickly soon after that and we had to bring in additional chairs to accommodate everybody.

The menu was the other big change and we caught it as it went from one extreme, with probably over 100 dishes, to the other with just half a dozen or so, non of which was vegetarian. This month it did not matter as the beer was sufficient sustenance but I hope that the menu has gained a few more options next month.

While we talked about a lot of things over a long evening it was no surprise that Brexit was, again, the main topic of conversation and one group got quite animated on this subject. I was seriously impressed how a young journalist, there first time there, calmly dealt with my vociferous and argumentative friend who was passionately talking nonsense.

Other conversations were less heated and, as always, it was the steady flow of conversation that made the evening speed past, so much so that I ended up catching a train two later than the one I was planning for. The beers may have helped there.

I'll be back next month for more conversations, more beer and to see what further improvements have been made to the bar and restaurant.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (April 2018)

The months continue to whizz by with the regular BCSA socials marking their passage. In some ways that is depressing but it also means that I am going to lots of BCSA socials!

April 2018's social was much like all the others, and that is a good thing. The evening was another pleasing mix of conversations, beer and food. It's a recipe that has worked for years and there are no plans to change it, I am glad to say.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (March 2018)

The second Wednesday of the month keeps coming around with frightening speed and with it another trip to the Czech and Slovak Bar and Restaurant in West Hampstead for the British Czech and Slovak Association (BCSA)  Get to Know You Social.

I am scared to do the maths but I must have been to well over a hundred of these now and still I am keen, almost desperate, to go every month. March 2018 was no exception and I was at the club just before 7pm as usual.

I was the first one there which left me with a few moments to enjoy the Mucha prints on the wall, and my first pint of Pilsner Urquell, before some company arrived and the conversations started.

As usual I was too busy enjoying the conversations to make any notes as to what they were about but suffice it to say that those conversations went on beyond the bar's closing time, helped along the way by some more of that bar's wares, and he had to be gently eased out of the premises around 10:45pm.

It also goes without saying that somewhere in the evening I found time for some smazeny syr and posted the mandatory photograph of it on Instagram.

It was another great evening and only four weeks until the next one.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (February 2018)

After missing January's British Czech and Slovak Association (BCSA) "Get to Know You" Social due to an unwanted business trip to Calgary it was good to be back in the groove in February.

The regular second-Wednesday slot happened to fall on Valentine's Day but that did not deter a healthy number of people from choosing to spend the evening in a group rather than a couple.

There were several of the regulars there, including myself obviously, and it was good to have the opportunity to catch up with Ruzena, Richard and Colin.

It was also good to see a couple of semi-regulars, Mirek and Veronika, who had not been for a while. One of them had last been there just after the Brexit vote, I do not know how Ruzena remembers things like that, and that started the evening off with one of our regular topics.

After that the conversations went all over the place; somehow we spent a long time talking about driverless car with the young computer professional making the case for human drivers and a trio of oldies arguing for robots to do all the work.

Somehow we got on to a possible maximum age for driving which led to the reasonable suggestion of having a maximum age for voting. That could have stopped Brexit!

At one point Ruzena produced some hand cream, which several of us used, and that changed the direction of conversation.

Along the way I had a few pints of Pilsner Urquell to drink and the now mandatory smazeny syr to eat.

It may not have been a traditional Valentine's Day celebration but it worked for me.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (December 2017)

December's British Czech and Slovak Association's Get to Know You Social was every bit as good as expected for all the expected reasons.

Sadly illness kept our unofficial host, Ruzena, away but the rest of us regulars tried to make up for that by welcoming the first-time visitors even if we were limited to doing that in English. As usual there were several first-times, or long-time-since-they-last-camers, and it was they that really made the evening for me. Of course, it was nice having some friends and regulars there as well.

Zdenek grabbed out attention immediately by announcing that he manages a Czech-style brewer, Bohem Brewery, in the UK. He told a great story about how a Pilzner Urqell expert gave a demonstration on four different ways to pour beer and the way that it made the same beer taste quite different We all took his business card and pleaded to be allowed to taste some of his beers soon.

I had known Gabriela for many years, mostly via social media, and even though we had been to several of the same events, such as the BCSA Garden Party, I had never had a decent conversation with her before. We talked about Kosice and how some homes are naturally unhealthy places to live and what can be done about it.

Finally I got to talk to Frantisek who I first connected to on MySpace! He is a Czech cellist and won the t-shirt of the night competition for his Bach Fest one. We had to talk a bit about Bach, because his cello suites are definitive works, but we talked about lots of other things too.

Conversations are the point of these BCSA socials and these conversations were special. 

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (November 2017)

This new job (if it still is a new job after eighteen months) is working well for me in that I am working almost exclusively in London and so there is little disruption to my social life. This means that I can go to a lot of theatre and also that I can attend the BCSA "Get to Know You" Socials almost every month. I like that.

It was a smaller group than usual this month which meant that for a lot of the time we could have just one conversation. For reasons that social scientists can probably explain, when we have a dozen or more people we break up into conversational groups of two, three or four people but with seven people we remained in a single group. I liked talking in a larger group as it added more perspectives to the conversation and also meant that I had to do less talking!

This month we talked a lot about bad weather, prompted by various people travelling to Czechia or Slovakia in the next few months. One of those was a first-timer to the socials and Ruzena did a fine job in persuading him to join the BCSA and to come to the following week's Annual Dinner.

Everything else about the evening was enjoyably familiar from the Pilsner Urquell to the Smazeny Syr. I'll be going back on Wednesday 13 December for another helping.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (October 2017)

The months seem to be very short at the moment and so the monthly BCSA BCSA "Get to Know You" Socials, every second Wednesday since you asked, come along with brisk regularity, and a pleasing regularity.

October's social had all the usual features, including the now mandatory picture of my smazeny syr and plenty of good conversations. It also had something a little different.

One of the guests (if that's the right word) had just been to a workshop associated with World Values Day (20 October) and was keen to do something with the BCSA. That something started with an unnecessarily heated discussion on what "values" are, which was entirely my fault.

After arguing over the difference between principles and worth we agreed that we could do something with the question, "What do you value about the BCSA?". Having reached consensus I was happy to go first and you can see the result below.

Other people came up with similar themes like "Friendship" but perhaps the most imaginative response was "Czech Beer".

The values idea worked well and we are looking to do something similar at the Annual Dinner. When I say "we" I really mean "Agata" whose idea it was an who did all the work. Thank you, Agata.

The rest of the evening was as good as you would expect an evening with a community of interesting people to be, especially one fuelled by excellent Czech and Slovak beers (4 x Pilsner Urquell and 1 x Zlaty Bazant).

Wednesday 8 November is not very far away.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (September 2017)

This Wednesday was a particularly blustery day and I was a little surprised to see so many people jostle with the weather and the resultant travel difficulties to get to West Hampstead for the BCSA  "Get to Know You" Social. We had to add an extra table to the group to accommodate every one and even then there were a few people standing, though I believe that was more out of preference than for a lack of chairs.

I had left work early to get to the social early but my travel difficulties meant an unexpected detour via Waterloo and the Jubilee Line rather than taking the direct London Overground. Plan B worked well and while I was not as early as I had hoped I was still early. Other people were too.

The evening went much as usual and much as expected with many interesting conversations, a few beers to drink and some smazeny syr to eat. Two of those are featured in the photo above.

There were several new people there and I made a point to talk to them. The opening gambits in these conversations was me asking them where they came from with Czechoslovakia (as it was) and them asking me if I spoke any Czech or Slovak (I do not). Pleasantries exchanged, the conversations then took on their own lives as good conversations do.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (August 2017)

The second Wednesday in August 2017 was ridiculously wet in south-east London but a few hardy souls still made it to West Hampstead for an evening of talking, drinking and eating at the regular BCSA "Get to Know You" Social.

There were a few new, or rare, faces there which helped the conversations take a different tack this time. There was no mention of politics and it was nice to have a long chat with Jana about dance at Saddler's Wells instead.

Other things were much the same; I started the evening on Pilsner Urquell, topped it off with a bottle of Zlaty Bazant on last orders and had some smazeny syr somewhere in the middle.

Another excellent evening and only five weeks to the next one.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (July 2017)

The monthly British Czech and Slovak Association (BCSA) "Get to Know You" socials continue to come around with remarkable speed. They are scheduled for the second Wednesday of each month but it never seems like a month has passed before I am back at the Czech and Slovak Bar and Restaurant in West Hampstead for more beer, more food and more conversations.

Now that I work out of the same office (in Teddington) all of the time that travel has become an easy ritual too. I leave the office around 5:40, well before most people, and walk to Strawberry Hill Station. Teddington Station is a lot closer but I like the walk and I am under no time pressure. I catch a train to Richmond just before 6pm and from there take the Overground to West Hampstead. I get to the club a few minutes before the start time of 7pm.

Richard is normally already there and has rearranged the tables and put the sign on the door. His final preparatory act is to buy me a Pilsner Urquell.

After that people drift in and the conversations start. Somewhere around 8pm we realise that we are hungry and order food. I always have smazeny syr and try to compose a different photo of it.

In July we talked about Brexit again but this time with some hope (for some of us) that it might not actually happen, the perils of budget airlines, the delights of Munich, the progress of Czech and Slovak players at Wimbledon, and the history of women jockeys.

Somebody also sang the Jeremy Corbyn song at some point. It was probably me.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (June 2017)

The months seem to be whizzing past at the moment and every month has a second Wednesday and every second Wednesday there is a British Czech and Slovak Association (BCSA) social and I always go for the Czech and Slovak beers, the Czech food (always smazeny syr) and the conversations and camaraderie with the other people there.

June was just like every other month and that is a good thing. If it's not broken, don't fix it.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (May 2017)

Another month another excellent BCSA "Get to Know You" Social.

The evening started with a shock, the layout of the beer taps in the bar had changed. The main impact of this was that they could pour two pints of Pilsner Urquell at the same time, something that I asked them to do a couple of times. That apart, it was a fairly typical BCSA "Get to Know You" Social and I had a fantastic time.

The conversations were a little more serious than they sometimes are, inspired by me mentioning a picture that I saw on Instagram of a protest in Brno. We did not discuss the protest itself but we had a lot to say in how the Mainstream Media ignored events like this to leave most people ignorant of the situation in other countries, including some quite close to home. I pride myself that I am better informed than most in world news and I only learned about the Czech protests thanks to a photo from somebody by somebody that I follow because of their photos of pretty Czech towns.

Technology was talked about, as it often is, and I found myself alone in not wanting, or needing, to work surrounded by several large computer screens.

One person there was having major work done to her flay, about six weeks' worth, and it was fun to look at pictures of the plans and of the work in progress. The enthusiasm she had for the project was infectious,

I was there just before 7pm and left not long before 11pm, and loved every single moment in between.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (April 2017)

For some reason the monthly BCSA social was especially busy and there was a struggle to get seats for everybody. A nice problem to have.

The conversations, as always, were the point of the evening and, as always, they covered a wide range of subjects. I was sad enough to take brief notes of some of the topics covered and these included the Rough Guide to Czechoslovakia, bottled beer and yoga. There were also several conversations about the internal mechanics of the BCSA ahead of the Annual General Meeting.

The BCSA "Get to Know You" Socials are always good and this one was a bit special.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (March 2017)

Even by the usual high standards of the monthly BCSA monthly Get to Know You Socials, March was a great evening. It was not just that it was busy, though that helped, but something about the combination of people there made the conversations flow even better than the beer did, and that flowed well.

One highlight of the evening was a discussion on Physics that moved onto a Czech physician who I had become Facebook friends with ten years ago to the day and who was known, surprisingly to me, by a few other of the people there. I had a quick chat with her on Facebook to let her know that we were thinking about her. These evenings are called socials for a reason.

The hardest part of the evening was finding a different way to photograph my smazeny syr and in the end I settled for playing around with the mayonnaise. The smiley face is exactly how I felt.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (February 2017)

I was disappointed to have to miss the monthly British Czech and Slovak Association (BCSA) in January due to illness and delighted to be back at the The Czech and Slovak National House in West Hampstead in February.

I have a settled routine from my new workplace in Teddington that starts with a decent leg stretching walk to Strawberry Hill Station where I catch a train to Richmond and then the London Overground to West Hampstead. Simple enough though the connection at Richmond does not have much contingency. When things work, as they did this time, then I get to the venue just before the official start time of 7pm. As always there were already some people there.

The rest of the evening went to plan too with a few Pilsner Urquells concluded by a Zlaty Bazant, some smazeny syr to eat and to immortalise on Instagram, and lots of interesting conversations with interesting people. I do not keep track of numbers, it is not that sort of evening, but I think we had a higher proportion of new faces than usual which was a great excuse to repeat some old stories from my Prague days, which were 24 years ago now.

The evening had everything that I expected, and like, from the monthly BCSA socials. No more, no less.

Pielarks present a jolly evening of seasonal songs

This is the time of year for jolly evenings filled with seasonal songs served with good cheer and so I went to see the Pielarks at the Canbury Arms. I knew about the event from two friends, Peter and John, who were part of the around twenty singers collected to entertain us and their presence was another encouragement to go.

It seemed easiest to eat there beforehand and while the veggie options were somewhat limited, as is the rule in gastro pubs these days, the curry was excellent. All three of us who were eating at that time chose it. The beer was fine too and by the time the band started I was comfortably fed and watered.

The music was, as expected, reassuringly folky like the songs we all learned to sing at primary school  thanks to Singing Together on BBC Radio. I knew none of them which mattered not one whit as the style of the songs was familiar and there was plenty of repetition to breed new familiarity with the words.

Each song was introduced with a short story saying something about the origin of the song and how it had been rediscovered and/or kept alive in recent times. There was a variety of soloists, choruses and musical instruments that kept the evening lively and interesting as well as simply enjoyable.

We were in the covered overspill from the main bar and that was packed with people who had come to see the Pielarks and that produced quite a buzz in the room and lots of applause after each song.

The combination of the songs, the people, the food and the drink made it a rather jolly evening and I had a great time.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (December 2016)

The only disappointment in December's BCSA "Get to Know You" Social evening is that I managed to compose my usual picture of my food almost exactly the same way that I did in November. I'll have to try harder next month!

Other than that it was a fabulous evening. There were about fifteen people there at one stage and while I did not get to talk to all of them I managed to speak to quite a few and had another evening of excellent conversations on a range of subjects with intelligent and interesting people. That is why I go every month.

The food and drink are a nice addition to the evenings too. The food was the mandatory smazeny syr (the clue is in the picture) and the drink was the usual Pilsner Urquell topped off with a final Zlaty Bazant. I was thirsty for some reason and was on my second pint by 7:15pm and I bought the Zlaty Bazant after 10pm and still finished it comfortably by the time the bar closed at 10:30. Don't worry though, I did drink a lot slower in the middle of the evening!