We were honoured to welcome author Luccia Gray to lead our lecture and discussion on the subject of migrant women during Franco’s reign.

Lucy García Magaldi or Luccia Gray as she is also known writes in both English and Spanish led the first part of the evening’s proceedings for our event, help in collaboration with Instituto Cervantes in London. Luccia drew on her experiences as a student and mature adult in the UK, and family memories straddling both countries to craft ‘Antes de que nacieras’ a well honed work of historical fiction based on real characters and situations.  Covering the personal trauma of the Spanish Civiil War the story follows the story of a mother and daughter who emigrate to the UK in the challenging post-war years. Luccia shared a moving and convincing narrative, with beautifully conveyed extracts from her novel, of the challenges women migrants faced during the Franco years.

Luccia was joined by Blanca Cano, the wise and well-informed immigration and social policy attaché at the Spanish Embassy who gave an equally illuminating fact based report on the more recent patterns of immigration and how Brexit has impacted on the Spanish population in the UK.

Luccia and Blanca were joined by BritishSpanish Society, trustee, journalist and author Jimmy Burns Marañón, who chaired the evening’s discussion, and shared stories from his own family’s ‘bi-cultural migrant’ history, offering commentary on the UK government’s changing relationship with the EU.

We were delighted to welcome members and friends from many diverse fields including the education sector, voluntary organisations, and Spanish Embassy, all of whom contributed to a lively and incisive Q&A following the presentations.