This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Ukraine

27th June 2012

In praise of Brits in Ukraine

A tall tree shades the audience from the sun.  An orchestra and choir wait in silence.  A huge derelict building, windows broken and decorated with (fake) radiation warning signs, towers over us.  The conductor raises his baton and exquisite baroque music rings out.

I am at “Master Klass”, a cultural centre and language school in central Kiev.  The performance of Henry Purcell’s 1691 opera “King Arthur” is one of several cultural events I have been to there including concerts and a film club.

The unassuming Brits (you know who you are!) behind Master Klass and the opera are amongst the innumerable UK citizens I have met during four years in Ukraine.  As well as the business people about whom I’ve often written they include technical assistance experts, language centre managers and teachers, artists, charity workers, architects and construction experts (including those working on the new Chornobyl Safe Confinement), accountants, newspaper proprietors and journalists, lawyers and practically anyone else you can think of.  They can be found in Kyiv, Cherkassy, Donetsk, Lviv, Odesa and other towns and cities large and small.  Many of them, like the people at Master Klass, are contributing to the community in their spare time, doing everything from organising charity balls and Scottish country dancing to promoting children’s rugby. It’s a great thing to see.

It has been a pleasure for me to work with a lively and vibrant community which has contributed so much to Ukrainian society.  Good luck to all of you.

British Embassy welcomes British charity work in Ukraine
On a visit to UK charity Hope Now working in Ukraine to support vulnerable children. Cherkassy, 26 May 2009

2 comments on “In praise of Brits in Ukraine

  1. Thank you for all your work during your time in Ukraine, and especially in bringing the British community together as much as possible. I am sorry you are leaving, but wish you all the best in your new post, wherever it may be.

  2. The deep and underlying thought was, and I think I speak up for all the Brit comm’ here, well done Leigh. Ambassadors come and go in every country and we thought you done a good job here. And we hope the new one can continue where you left off. Though personally i’m still very very disappointed in the help i’m trying to get from the UKBA here (for the past mth now). They seem to be a machine outfit, not an organisation with a personal touch. Good luck in your new position.

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About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.