November Business Lunch

After an 18 month absence owing to the Covid 19 pandemic, FIBA business lunches resumed in style on the 5th November!
 
We welcomed to the Lyinc the new British Ambassador to France, Menna Rawlings, the first woman to occupy this post.
Menna was accompanied by a team from Paris, including the Head of DIT, Paul Taylor; Isabelle Hurley, who runs the team in Lyon also attended with a full team from Lyon so 37 attended the lunch, a good turnout!
 
As already shared with the Committee team, Covid has had a significant impact on working and networking habits and we have much to do to encourage members to attend such events as life slowly returns to something normal!
It was a real pleasure to see so many friendly faces again and the lunch was a real success…the warm atmosphere and buzz of discussions at the different tables was a joy to behold rather than the staple diet of Zoom meetings !
We ran a Q&A session with Menna and her team answering some tough questions (in line with the current political climate) on UK – EU relations, the Northern Ireland protocol and the evolution of the Britain is Great initiative. Menna spoke with clarity and honesty, sharing the difficult nature of relations, but offering hope and positivity for future relations. We also had questions from the RBL ( with our good friend Simon Wesley present) and broader questions on the honorary consul position in Lyon.
Final point of note: with FIBA looking to develop relations with sister associations in Lille & Toulouse, the Embassy team are very supportive of such an initiative, so 2022 should offer some interesting developments for networking for FIBA members!!