This year’s Britsburgh will be the 10th annual celebration of the city’s British connections

Next week’s Britsburgh events mark the 10th annual celebration of Pittsburgh’s British accents.

Under the flag of a Union Jack of black and gold, the “festival of Britain in Pittsburgh” launched in September 2015, the idea of some British-born business people in Pittsburgh for a way to have fun celebrating those and many other connections, present and past.  

After all, the city’s very name comes from William Pitt, the British secretary of state for whom Fort Pitt was named after the British wrested what we now call the Point from the French in 1758.

History always is a big part of Britsburgh, which the not-for-profit British-American Connections Pittsburgh has grown into a year-round “society experience” — programs and events “about British history, tradition and culture that give participants opportunities to engage with one another in a lively spirit of camaraderie.” But the capper is always a September week of events.

“I think it’s craziness that we’ve lasted this long,” says BACP’s co-founder and president, Robert Charlesworth, who was born in Leeds in England and now works as a director at KPMG US providing accounting advisory services to companies in and around Pittsburgh. He’s one of the volunteers who continues to drive the eclectic programming, which he describes as “whatever tickles your fancy.”

“What’s cool about this is, the people who come to it find it almost addictive and valuable,” he says. “It enhances their knowledge of stuff” — stuff that can appeal to more than just ex-pats and Anglophiles.

On Monday, Britsburgh kicks off with the planting of four British trees to honor King Charles III at Allegheny River Park in Aspinwall. The free event begins at 11 a.m. with a talk by Charlesworth, who’ll give a brief history of the fest, and others who will talk about the king’s environmental work as well as the trees and the park, where attendees are encouraged to spend some time.

Later that afternoon, “A Right Royal Afternoon Tea” will be served at Shadyside’s Mansion on Fifth, where participants, who are encouraged to dress up and wear hats, will learn about another figure from the Leeds area: Benjamin Henry Latrobe, a renowned 18th- and 19th-century Anglo American neoclassical architect. That event costs $75. The scones will be made by Charlesworth himself, because he wants them to be authentic and good.

“I can make a great scone,” he says, in his authentic and good accent. “So I’m going to make them and see how they get on.”

Tuesday evening is much more casual, as Charlesworth will be present for the tapping of a proper cask of Britsburgh Ale at East End Brewing Co. in Larimer. This year’s is a British-style India pale ale brewed with all U.K. malts. It’s the eighth annual tapping of true British-style cask ale in honor of the late Tony “Beerman” Knipling, who made, sold and promoted good beer in this region. Another keg of this year’s brew will be tapped at East End Brewing’s Mt. Lebanon taproom on Thursday evening.

Wednesday there’s another “substantial tea” and a presentation marking “60 Years of BBC TWO,” the British broadcast channel, at The Fabled Table on the North Side ($70).

On Thursday, there’s a “Commonwealth Dinner” with a South Africa theme at the Duquesne University Africa Room ($65).

Friday morning there’s a “Walking Tour of Oakland Highlighting British Connections,” starting outside the Carnegie Museum of Natural History ($15).

Saturday Oakland’s Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum Hall of Valor will host a program, in honor of the 80th anniversary of World War II’s D-Day, titled ” ‘Say Hello to Your Cousin’: An American Soldier in Britain” ($30).

The festivities wrap up Sunday evening as people go “Behind the Curtain With The Pittsburgh Savoyards” at the group’s studio theater in Bellevue, where it will perform Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Patience.”

That event is free, but like the rest of them, you’ll need to register first on the Britsburgh events page. Britsburgh members get discounts and free access to video recordings of some past events.

Looking back on the first decade, Charlesworth might not have expected all this, but he says, “We’ve made something of it.”

Learn more at https://britsburgh.com.