2014 Annual Dinner

Once night had settled, the bar started to fill with a glittering array of the local institutes members. The men in dinner suits and the women in a range of gowns, all taking the opportunity to catch up with colleagues rarely seen, and talking excitedly about the evening ahead.

We were called to dinner at around 7:15, with some of the members of the local council circulating and selling balloons to anyone who made the mistake of catching their eyes! The balloons were £1 each (all proceeds to the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, more specifically the Duchenne Breakthrough Research Fund ), with the instructions “tie it to the back of your chair and don’t worry about it, further details will be given later”. A great idea in that it got people wondering what was going on, and lending a festive and inviting look to the room.
With everyone seated, and balloons on most chairs (shame on those who tried to pay using credit cards!) the toast master called everyone to order for the speeches. Jon Dye – CEO of Allianz UK, Julia Hart – President of the Local Institute and Kaye Sydenham – Deputy President of the Local Institute. Much to everyone’s delight, the speeches were sharp and to the point, and even quite funny!

Following the dinner, which was very nice, it was time for the awards. The Keith Morphy award went to the RK Harrison Group for its excellence in supporting and delivering Professional Development. Stuart Gambier (the Insurance Institutes Charities Secretary) received the Phil Willis award for his fantastic and untiring work in supporting the CII charity.

With the formalities of the evening concluded, it was time for a bit of light-hearted entertainment. Julia Hart asked that everyone pop their balloons, searching for 3 tokens representing 3 prizes. The noise around the room was deafening, as was peoples surprise that each balloon also had a large amount of glitter in it! 2 of the 3 prizes were claimed, but the star prize, a weekend for two in a Jurys Inn (donated by the hotel) went unclaimed. That is until Victoria Hale, the institutes Social and Dinner Secretary (the mastermind behind the evening) suggested that an auction be held for the prize. A massive thank you to the person who won with a bid of over £250!

Unlike in previous years, the entertainment had been kept a secret from all but a select few. A group called Soprano Bella, the “singers in disguise” appeared and wow’d the audience with a mix of show tunes and classical opera, culminating in around a third of the audience joining a conga line! Everyone was clapping and cheering the 3 performers, who had snuck amongst us.

With the formal and planned element of the evening finished, people started drifting to the bar and mixing and chatting. An acoustic band performing in the bar area kept people in a party mood until the main room had been converted from dining room to disco! The traditional curry was served at 1.30am for the stalwarts who had managed to stay awake that long, and weren’t so drunk they could still work out how to use a knife and fork.

In summary, an excellent evening…but a big challenge to top this for next year!