Commonwealth Bank announced as new Principal Partner of the Tait Memorial Trust

The Tait Memorial Trust is delighted to announce its new partnership with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The Commonwealth Bank is a long-standing and passionate supporter and corporate partner of some of Australia’s leading arts organisations.
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Their partnerships with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Bangarra Dance Theatre and Opera Australia aim to make the arts more accessible to all Australians. This partnership with the Tait Memorial Trust is a further demonstration of the Bank’s commitment to enabling the progress of talented Australian artists, by supporting them as they pursue their careers in the United Kingdom.

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The Bank has a dedicated team in the United Kingdom whose focus is to support people who are relocating to Australia or to New Zealand. If you, or any of your network, are planning a move in the foreseeable future, please let us know and we would be pleased to put you in touch.

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On Tuesday, October 14th Tait Friends met at Australia House in the Downer Room. The evening was joint hosted by the Tait Trust and the office of the Victorian Agent General. Sadly the night before Mary, Lady Downer, the mother of the Australian High Commissioner, passed away. The Downer family were to have been our guests of honour. Lady Downer, the wife of Australia’s longest serving High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, was greatly loved and had very recently enjoyed a special lunch with many of her friends at Stoke Lodge. All of us at the Trust are deeply saddened at the loss of this great lady.
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The evening, with the blessing and support of the High Commissioner, went ahead with Geoffrey Conaghan, Victorian Agent General stepping in for The Hon Alexander Downer AC. Geoffrey gave an impassioned speech where he warmly acknowledged our new Principal Partner, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and then congratulated our sponsors and applauded our Friends for being so vital to the Trust’s success. We also wish to thank him for providing the delicious wines from the State of Victoria.For the Tait Memorial Trust this was already a significant evening.  We had invited our Friends to join us as we welcomed our two new Patrons, John Frost AM and Leanne Benjamin OBE. The agreement with the Commonwealth Bank came about a few weeks before the event plus the selection of Josephine Frick, to be the inaugural recipient of The Leanne Benjamin Awards, had only recently been decided. Josephine was presented with a cheque for £8,000 being  given to her to contribute towards her fees at The Royal Ballet School .We were entertained by three outstanding young Australian artists, Lauren Zolezzi, Gerard Schneider and Chad Vindin. Their performances truly were world class and gave us all further proof in the value of our support and the need to help these talented artists.