2017 Annual Dinner

As the Jersey Boys said, “Oh what a night!” At least I hope you all feel that way!

With a capacity attendance of 280 people plus top table, this was one of our biggest and most ambitious Dinners and the feedback from members has been very positive.

A huge well done and thank you to everyone involved, but particularly to Richard Hope and Mike Williams for organising the Dinner and also to Joanne Kirkby for her efforts and co-ordination of the Charity appeal which raised in excess of £3000, one of our largest ever collections – and you now know the sort of excellent cause that this money goes towards.

The venue were also really good in terms of their management of the event throughout the evening and I thought the quality of the food was high – a noticeable improvement since Heathcote’s have been involved.

I am very grateful to all of the speakers, Grant Scott from the CII, TV personality John Virgo, who was a real gent and insisted on contributing to our chosen charity, and also Graham Elliott, who rounded off the evening on a high and hilarious note. Who knew he had it in him!

On a personal level, I just wanted things to go smoothly and for all of the guests to have an enjoyable evening with good wine, fine food and good company. From my observations of the tables and also speaking to as many people afterwards as possible, those goals seemed to have been achieved.

I particularly enjoyed giving out the various awards to very worthy winners and we intend to keep this focus on development and excellence going over the coming years.

Overall, I really enjoyed the evening – in particular my first beer after the speeches – and would to thank everyone for their good wishes, their engagement and their courtesy shown on the night.

To paraphrase from a well known cartoon character, Wallace, “It was a grand night out!”