The activity of the Society in 2020 and 2021 was seriously affected by COVID. For 2022/2023 we have mercifully been able to operate normally, and all our activities have been in person. It has been good to get together again as the Society exists as much to provide networking opportunities and to engage face to face with our speakers.
In November we held our Annual Dinner and Presentation of the Rawabi Awards at the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall. It had not been possible to hold this in February / March due to ongoing COVID restrictions. The worthy winners of the 2022 Rawabi Awards were Dr Ghadah al Harthi and Dr Thalia Kennedy.
Ghadah is a Middle East specialist and cultural consultant who is a senior lecturer at Central St Martins, University of Arts London. Thalia is a founding director of Turquoise Mountain Trust’s artisan programme in Saudi Arabia. We congratulate both our worthy winners. We are grateful to Sheikh AbdulAziz al Turki and Rawabi Holding for their continued support and sponsorship of these awards.
Since our AGM in 2022 we have had two Ghazi al Gosaibi memorial lectures. The 2022 lecture was held in December and was delivered by Faisal Abbas, Editor in Chief of the English language Saudi daily newspaper Arab News. Faisal gave a fascinating insight into modern day journalism in Saudi Arabia. In a lively question and answer session he was asked about the constraints under which he and colleagues operated. Faisal proved to be as much of a diplomat as he was a journalist, and we were grateful to him for his contribution to an interesting event. We were also grateful to the Saudi Ambassador for agreeing to host the event at the Embassy and for their generous hospitality.
It was decided that instead of hosting two major events within a few weeks of each other that we would have future Ghazi al Gosaibi lectures in the first half of the year and the Rawabi awards in the second half. To effect this change the 2023 Ghazi al Gosaibli lecture was brought forward to June this year. We were honoured to invite Venetia Porter, former curator of contemporary Islamic and Middle East Art at the British Museum to deliver the lecture about the Amakin cultural festival in Jeddah which she had curated.
In February the Society hosted Dr Ibrahim al Muhanna a former Adviser to successive Saudi Oil Ministers going all the way back to Ahmed Zaki Yamani. Ibrahim has written a book entitled “Oil Leaders” based on his decades of experience and he gave a fascinating insight into the impact each of these leaders had on the global oil market.
The Philby Arabia Fund which was agreed at the last AGM has now been established on the back of the successful “Heart of Arabia” Expedition led by Mark Evans to retrace the steps of Harry St John Philby’s epic east/west crossing of Saudi Arabia by camel. The Fund which can now receive
donations via the SBS website will in future provide grants to young people undertaking expeditions of research in fields related to those pursued by St John Philby. When the Fund has reached a sufficient level we will invite applications for grants.
There has only been one change of trustee since the last AGM. Abdulrahman al Ghannan is no longer a trustee. All other Trustees remain in place. The SBS X/Twitter continues to be very active thanks to Najah Al-Otaibi. Peter Harrigan and Karen Worcester as Hon Secretary and Hon Treasurer respectively continue to bear the brunt of the work in keeping the Society running. I am also grateful to all the other Trustees for their voluntary contributions without which the Society could not function.
We were pleased that the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies remains a Gold Sponsor for the SBS. We would welcome sponsorship from other companies either Saudi or British who have an interest in promoting greater cultural understanding and cooperation between the two countries. Details are on the Society’s website.
Sir William Patey
Chairman
September 2023