Date: Thursday 15 October 2026
Time: 11:30am
Venue: The Union Jack Club, Sandell Street, London SE1 8UJ

The Union Jack Club is in Sandell Street, directly opposite the Waterloo Station Jubilee Line ticket hall. Cross Waterloo Road at the traffic lights; Sandell Street is 10 yards to the left and the entrance to the Club is 15 yards along Sandell Street on the right-hand side.

Lunch will be served at 1:15pm, with drinks available at a pay bar. The charge for the two-course curry meal is £31.00. Bookings must be made by Tuesday 6 October. Requests received after this date may not be accepted.

Registration and Lunch:

If you wish to attend the meeting and have lunch, please either:
• Book and pay via the Events tab on the �鶹��ýwebsite, or
• Make your cheque payable to BACSA, and email the General Meetings Officer (at gmo@bacsa.org.uk) for further instructions.

If you wish to attend the meeting, but not stay for lunch, please notify the General Meetings Officer by email (at gmo@bacsa.org.uk).

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Date: Friday 23 October 2026
Time: 11:30am
Venue: Foreign Office, King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (“the Foreign Office”) was built by Sir George Gilbert Scott between 1861-8 in Victorian Italianate style, at the insistence of the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, at broadly the same time as St Pancras Station, which Scott designed in his favoured Gothic style.

The building originally also housed the India Office, the courtyard and interiors of which were designed by Sir Mathew Digby Wyatt. Scott was responsible for remaining interiors.

After the Mutiny in 1857, the British Government decided to wind up the East India Company and to demolish East India House in Leadenhall Street. Its contents, including the Indian Museum, the library, the paintings and sculptures, were temporarily housed in Fife House in Whitehall before moving into the newly completed India Office in 1868. Thereafter parts were sent to the British Museum and the South Kensington Museum or scattered elsewhere but much was integrated into the India Office or the greater Foreign Office.

Our Tour will be conducted by Dr Luke Gibbon and/or Dr Richard Smith, historians at the FCDO and will cover the architecture, the art work and the history of the of the India Office building. It will last about 1½ hours and will start at 11:30am.

Numbers are limited to 15 but, if there is sufficient demand, a further tour may be organised in early 2027. The tour is free and available to members of �鶹��ýonly.

Travel: You will be expected to make your own way to the Foreign Office at King Charles St, London SW1A 2AH. The nearest underground station is Westminster.

Lunch: It is anticipated that there will be a party going for lunch afterwards which you would be very welcome to join.

Booking will open on the website on Thursday 24 September. If you prefer not to use the website, please e-mail chairman@bacsa.org.uk. Bookings will be taken on a first come, first served basis.

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Date: Thursday 12th November 2026
Time: 6.00pm
Venue: The Army & Navy Club, (“The Rag”), 36 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5JN

An Illustrated talk by Nigel Johnson-Hill entitled ‘From Hell With Love … the secret diary of a Burma Railway POW’, based on the diary which his father kept in secret while a prisoner of war of the Japanese building the Thailand-Burma Railway, often known as the Death Railway, between 1942 and 1944. Meanwhile his pregnant mother escaped from Singapore to Australia with her young son, ignorant for a long time whether or not her husband was alive.

The author will also be selling copies of his book.

Drinks & dinner The talk will be preceded by drinks from 6pm and followed by a curry dinner at the club.
Prices:
Talk and dinner (without drinks): £70
Talk only: £15

Drinks before the talk and to accompany dinner may be purchased separately at the club.
Booking will open on the website on Thursday 1 October. If you prefer not to use the website, please e-mail events@bacsa.org.uk.

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(Suggestions for �鶹��ýwebsite news items, volunteering opportunities and diary entries, are always welcome – please send them to ‘comms@bacsa.org.uk’.)

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