Fireside Chat with John Smith
Monday 9th November at 18.30 | The Drawing Room and Zoom | £15.00 per person*
*Includes one glass Prosecco
*£10.00 for those joining via Zoom
Hostages today being held prisoner, comfortably number three figures globally. A report by Hostage Aid Worldwide, in 2023 estimated that 235 individuals were being denied their freedom of all ages up to and over 65 with nearly eight per cent female and 14 per cent in captivity for longer than 15 years.
John Smith is a central figure in seeking to liberate those separated from their homeland and loved-ones. He was chair of Hostage International (https://www.hostageinternational.org/ ) for a decade and is on the board of Hostage US, which he co-founded to help families and governments embroiled in situations that sometimes are no better than Hobson’s Choice.
For November’s Fireside Chat, take a seat with John in the Drawing Room for an hour of conversation on an international challenge as old as the hills with today an added edge and any number of modern-day, geo-political complexities. Hear how his involvement has featured both setbacks and success, such as the release of Anoosheh Ashoori, who actually joined members earlier this year to share his own story over lunch, of false imprisonment in Iran. Just one instances where John has represented an invisible hand.…
After 60 minutes in the Drawing Room, continue the conversation with John, a Sandhurst graduate followed by two decades of service in the Army, at a table in the Coffee Room for a select number of members to have supper over which a more informal and potentially broader discussion can consider matters of the evening in greater detail.
With hostages there is the official, public story and then there is the back story. Be part of an evening that takes a deep look into a complex world, politically and personally.