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For our new 2010 programme, see the Events page.

Members - please note: subscriptions for 2010 are now due.

The High Wycombe Russian Club follows a variety of cultural interests including history, art, music, dance, literature, science and language. Through talks, meetings and informal interchanges, the Club aims to provide a mixture of education and entertainment, aimed at promoting an awareness and understanding of Russia and its people.

Visitors are welcome at any time. Whilst meetings are conducted in English, several nationalities are represented among the membership, so please come along and join in.

The Club holds meetings each month, usually on a Tuesday evening.

A small charge is made to cover meeting costs, and membership is available for those wishing to attend regularly.

To find out more, explore the links on the left of this page. If you would like to make contact, email us at the address at the foot of this page. We are particularly interested to hear from you if you are overseas, or if you are involved with a similar organisation elsewhere.

This Club started modestly in 1986, soon after Gorbachev had burst upon the international scene. He aroused a huge and often sympathetic interest in all things Russian, both the contemporary Soviet society and many centuries of history and culture. Since Gorbachev was ousted in 1991 Russia has ceased to be a major world power, and much of the interest now taken in her by today's big powers is prompted by anxieties relating to her nuclear arsenal, which is apparently rather poorly secured, and by her export of highly organised international crime.

In the Club's short life there have been three Russian Presidents - Gorbachev, Yeltsin and now Putin. Each of these has presented a very different personality, and the first two pursued very different policies at home and abroad. It is a little early to know how Putin will be viewed, but people in Russia and across the world are hoping he will do a lot better all round than his immediate predecessor. Clearly the President of Russia, whoever he is, generates important global consequences, whether Russia is a world power or only a has-been on the international stage. The President's outlook also exerts a significant influence on this Club, so we are likewise very interested in how he will tackle Russia's huge problems and restore her international status.

The first two of our three Presidents, with their different images and policies have had a big effect on this Club since 1986. It was Mikhail Gorbachev, who emerged on to the world scene conveying very different messages from the earlier Soviet leaders, and who thus stimulated a big interest in all things Russian - including learning the language. This presented Nadia with new opportunities as a teacher of Russian. Her classes at Adult Education Centres and at Wycombe Abbey School expanded, and there were also many private students, including singers and business people. The Club grew out of these classes, assisted by the curiosity shown by her students to learn more about Russia than just the language.

The overthrow of Gorbachev in 1991, and the arrival of Boris Yeltsin, brought about huge changes at home and abroad. At home, the collapse of the economy, the rise of lawlessness, the devaluation of the rouble, and the development of great inequalities, between the mass of the population and a fabulously rich new 'mafia' minority, have all contributed to making foreign investors and other visitors reluctant to become involved. These changes, plus the horrific war in Chechnya, and Russian dominated international crime and corruption, have reduced interest in Russia, in learning the Russian language, and in this Club.

The Russian Army is now but a shadow of the Red Army which defeated Hitler, and together with her depleted economy, this means Russia is no longer the world power she has been. Nevertheless, the other big international players cannot afford to ignore her, partly because she remains a nuclear power, and moreover, one presenting huge problems of nuclear pollution (that does not stay within her borders), partly because of her new role in international crime and corrupt finance, and partly because she represents a huge potential market. Thus, there remains a great incentive to understand both the contemporary Russian scene and the history and culture from which it has sprung.

One thing is fairly certain. Presidents and revolutions come and go, but in Russia, as in all other nations, the present and future always contain much that is distinctive that is a legacy from passed centuries. So whatever Putin's successes or failures, the Club's meetings, dealing as they do with many different aspects of Russian history and culture, will remain of interest, not just in themselves, but also as perhaps offering greater understanding of new developments as they unfold.

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