I start by wishing you all a Happy New Year. I’m certainly looking forward to the next six months of my Presidency in 2019. This blog a busy December 2018 in which I attended an amazing regional dinner held by the Cymru Wales committee and spoke at perhaps the most important event of my Presidency, the CIHT Annual Luncheon 2018.
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The last regional dinner of 2018 was held in Wales with around 180 guests. For once, Susan and I were able to extend our stay over the weekend in this beautiful part of the country rather than just have to rush away to the next event. As Susan spent some of her childhood in Bangor, I persuaded her to give the welcome introduction in Welsh which she did perfectly and received a really warm response.
Well done to Cymru Wales Committee member and the former Chair Kerry Evans who worked tirelessly in organising this event, ably supported by the Regional Chair Sion Williams. It was a privilege to give a special award to Bob Diamond in recognition of his outstanding service to the region. The former Welsh rugby captain Ryan Jones, a twice grand slam winner, was the perfect speaker!
On Sunday morning Kerry Evans organised an of the Menai bridge - museum and heritage centre facilitated by Bob Diamond Heritage Trustee and founder.
Enjoying the weekend break in North Wales with my Dalmatian dog on Conway beach.
What an amazing day in which I really enjoyed despite all the pressure of making a speech to 1800 people! My first duty was a nice one to award a good friend of mine Dr Andrew Murray Deputy Secretary Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland the well deserved CIHT Institution Award and to welcome our VIP guests.
It was a pleasure to meet one of our speakers Baroness Newlove who was such a lovely lady. Thanks for Sue Percy for doing the introductory welcome and to the Baroness for telling her tragic story and how from adversity, she has found the strength to champion the ONSIDE initiative. She certainly was a hard act to follow. I deliberately tried to reach out to the audience in my speech and had a mix of anecdotal stories as well as giving details of how CIHT is doing. If you weren’t at the luncheon and would like to hear my speech you can watch it here.
Finally, our entertaining speaker was the Irish comedian Ed Byrne who pitched his humour just right and was absolutely hilarious.
After such a hectic few months it was great to have a break over Christmas and the New Year from work although we were busy hosting family and it was lovely to get all the grandchildren together for the day on a trip to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park which is on the outskirts of Doncaster not far from our home.
Susan and I enjoyed a real winter break in the Austrian Alps and despite the record snowfalls I did manage to put on my skis on most days. So I now feel rejuvenated for the rest of my Presidential year.
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