Completely OT, But It Is Amazing What One Stumbles Upon

I started out this post as just an interesting little tidbit of news to go along with other posts that have been written here, and I ended up stumbling on something that set the spidey sense off.  At this point, I do not have a total picture to put forward as I am still researching, but thought this might pique your curiosity.

When I read this news article this morning, I did not even have to wonder about who may be hosting the private reception.  My theory at the time of this writing is, of course, The Pilgrims Society.  As soon as I find confirmation, I will update this post.

Britain’s Prince Harry to visit New York

LONDON (AP) – Prince Harry is going to New York for his first formal overseas engagements outside Britain.

The third in line to the British throne will also attend a naming ceremony for the British Memorial Garden in Hanover Square, which commemorates the British victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, and visit the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Manhattan to meet with wounded veterans.

Harry is also scheduled to attend a private reception in support of New York’s British interests.

When one scroogle’s Pilgrims Society and Prince Harry, a list of different items come up with a few that have to do with the British Memorial Garden, which of course, leads to more questions…

It seems the British Memorial Garden is part of Hanover Square in New York City, and they host a soccer challenge every year.  Here is the headline and link for October-November 2008. Recognize any names?  I found more under 2007’s challenge which was sponsored by AIG with Fortress as a finalist and Deutsche Bank as a semi-finalist.

THE BRITISH MEMORIAL GARDEN TROPHY CHALLENGE WON BY LEHMAN ALUMNI

The Second Annual British Memorial Garden Soccer Challenge was won by Lehman Allumuni who beat Barclays Capital in a very close final match with a score of 16-12.

The Consolation Challenge was won 10-6 by Bloomberg in a hard fought match against the British Consulate’s team, which was decided in extra time.

Following the final matches at Chelsea Piers, teams and supporters travelled to Soho House in a Britsh double decker bus, courtesy of Grayline Tours, for an awards ceremony and celebration at Soho House.

The Soccer Challenge was played over several weekends and included teams from AIG, RBS, Bloomberg, ARUP, Fidessa Blue, Knight Financial , Barclays Capital, Lehman Alumni, ‘Foreign Legion’, and Nespresso.

The interesting fact here is that if the BMG is holding a soccer event to raise money for charity or the garden itself, why are the participants all Wall Street types with no other companies represented?

On another note, here is a list of societies for anyone that has the urge to go digging in this direction.

Twelve of New York City’s leading British-American philanthropic societies and organizations joined forces to celebrate the 82nd birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and to raise awareness of the restoration of the 19th c. clipper ship, the Cutty Sark, a project supported by Her Majesty. Thousands of dollars were raised at the event.

The organizations were: the American Friends of the Georgian Group, the American Scottish Foundation, the British Memorial Garden Trust, Inc., the British Schools and Universities Club, the Burns Society of the City of New York, the, Daughters of the British Empire, the New York Caledonian Club, The Pilgrims of the United States, the Priory in the United States of American of the Order of St. John, the Saint Andrew’s Society in the State of New York, the St. David’s Society of New York and the St. George’s Society of New York. Each society serves a charitable mission in the New York metropolitan area.

And last but not least, go here for an interesting article about bollards and the insignias of twelve of the societies that are linked together with the British Memorial Garden.

The Bollard is the first of fourteen being currently installed in the Park along its perimeter, which bear the shields of the leading Anglo-American societies and government agencies. Twelve of these are shown here…