Norwich Insurance Institute 2023 Annual Dinner

On Friday 10th November, the Insurance Institute of Norwich hosted its Annual Dinner at the Assembly House, Norwich. With 90 guests in attendance, the night was a great success, full of laughter and networking, and some casino dabbling, with representatives from key Norwich insurance-related businesses, including Marsh, Howdens, PIB, and Crawford and Company.

The Dinner represents the IIN’s main annual fundraising effort of the year, and the night was dedicated to raising money for worthy charities; the Big C, a charity supporting and improving the lives of local people affected by cancer and The Insurance Charities providing support for current and former insurance employees.

Our President, Sharon Theobald hosted the Top Table with distinguished guests including: Roger Sanders OBE (Chair of CII Audit and Risk Committee), Robert Walne Chair of Norwich PFS, Phil Hayes (Peterborough President), Mark Hassall (Cambridge President), Oliver Watson (Ipswich Deputy President), Rachel Karn (Luton and Herts President), Caroline Martin (Chelmsford President) and Jo Leah (Head of Fundraising, Marketing and Communications at the Big C).

The night started with speeches from Sharon Theobald (IIN President – current year), Bob Walne (Chair of the Norfolk PFS Society), Alycia Thomson (IIN Deputy President) with focus on highlighting the development of young talent and mentoring of the next generation. The CII have a digital mentoring platform called Connect for all CII members, and for any members who would like to register as a mentor or mentee, please click here: Connect e-mentoring programme at CII

We were privileged to also be joined by Roger Sanders from the CII non-executive director of the Chartered Insurance Institute and Chair of its audit and risk committee who provided an insightful speech on current CII plans.

During the evening, guests were kept entertained with a light-hearted, yet competitive, game of Heads or Tails and a raffle. We thank the following companies who kindly provided prizes: The Restaurant Associates, PIB, Phil Holmes Engineers, Just Financial Planning, Adnams, Edmundson’s Electricals and Two Feathers Hair and Beauty

Following dinner, the casino tables opened up with some Roulette and Blackjack – it’s a good job it was only paper money at stake, with some rather risky gambling taking place! The guest with the most chips remaining at the end of the night won a bottle of fizz! The band Sarah Ballard Music also provided entertainment and music until carriages at midnight.

The Insurance Institute of Norwich’s President, Sharon Theobald and council members had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and were delighted to welcome faces, new and old. Our gratitude extends to the evening’s sponsors with special thanks to Amaia Robbins (Dinner Secretary) and the dinner committee for their support in arranging the event.

The Insurance Institute of Norwich hopes all attendees thoroughly enjoyed the event, and are looking forward to the next annual dinner in 2024! Thank you to all those in attendance, and we look forward to seeing you at future events soon!