170 members and guests gathered at St Peters church in Notting hill, London on The 30th November for an exclusive viewing of 'Lord Cochrane, Master and Commander'. The guests included the production team: Gilberto Villarroel (Producer), Adam Bruce (Presenter & great great grandson of Admiral Lord Cochrane) as well as at least 20 members of the Cochrane family, Mathias Francke, Deputy Head of Mission of Embassy of Chile in London and the Chilean Naval Attaché Ronald Baasch.
The Society's chairman Alasdair Grant gave an opening address and reminded us of the close ties between the UK and Chile which have stemmed from Lord Cochrane's exploits in the War of Independence.
The producers of the film thanked the society for all their support and the rest of the sponsors and in particular to Rocio Opazo for arranging access to so many historic buildings in several countries and Claudio Castro who owns Cochrane's house in Quintero and who flew in especially for the event.
The documentary which has been shown on Chilean Television is in 3 parts and we watched all of them together which showed Traced Lord Cochrane's adventures from when he was thrown out of the Royal Navy to helping Chile, Peru and Brazil in their independence struggle with Spain.
Adam Bruce presented the documentary which included fascinating insights into Lord Cochrane's mind, provided by a variety of historians. I think all of us learnt something new about this incredible character.
The venue provided an excellent setting for the event which ended with a customary glass of Chilean wines and a finger buffet. The Society would like to thank all those who attended and especially Monica and Mike Volpin who worked so hard to make this event a success. The society is very grateful to all those that left generous donations. We await a possible sequel on the legendary Bernardo O'Higgins.
