WAPI News

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

Ian Withers

The WAPI Annual Banquet for 2004 took place on Saturday October 16. 2004 at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Watford. The final tally saw 199 Guests sat down and served a four course Meal by the Hotel Staff, I heard no complaints as to the quality of the food, and whilst service took some time, this was understandable given the number and layout of the Tables. The Tables catered for Groups, based on Company Bookings, Language or Nationality - the idea being that Guests were able to inter-relate at their Table with Friends, or at least chatter in their own languages. Many of our Overseas Guests were surprised and hopefully impressed by our Toastmaster, resplendant in the Red Uniform - and quite handy with his Gavel !

The Champagne Cocktail seemed to put everyone in the "mood" for the evening, and a number of the 199 Guests who took a PI Magazine Lucky-dip envelope received a voucher for two drinks at the Bar! The Photographers worked overtime to get everyone photgraphed and the prints were ready later the same evening for those who wished for a Memento of the evening.

The Formal parts of the Banquet were short and sharp, and Guests were warmly welcomed. Our Guest Speaker Rupert Allason aka Nigel West gave a most interesting account of his work is the identification and later honouring of probably the most important Spy of World War 2.

Our Guest Celebrity - Alex Best representing the Charity "Aids 2000" was warmly received, she kindly spent some time visiting Tables and talking to Guests , signing over 70 Autographs in the process!

The Raffle raised UK£1500 for AIDS 2000 which was later presented to Alex and Colin by the WAPI Treasurer Stuart Withers.

Aids 2000 is a Charity which provides Support to the innocent victims of the scourge of Aids - those children infected through Blood Products, and born with inherited Aids. The joy of youngsters normally confined to homes or hospitals when being taken for weekend trips to the countryside is priceless!!

The WAPI Awards were staged with appropriate musical backing!! and in all this year's Winners were both popular and supported by the asembled Guests. One lucky Winner will be enjoying a Romantic Weekend in a European City - donated by the WAPI GC !!

The Band "The Fugitives" were outstanding - as last year!! and it was a real pleasure to see so many Guests, young and not-so-young swinging away on the dance floor until 1am, when it all came to a stop, the hardy drinkers continued to imbibe in the Hotel Bar, which I understand was still open past 5am!!

This year we were delighted to have so may Overseas Colleagues as well as Home Grown Guests, and we are now begginning to plan for the next Banquet in 2005!!

Finally, I would like to express personal thanks to my GC Colleagues for their support and effort, invested into the WAPI Annual Banquet of 2004

Ian (D. Withers)
Chairman - WAPI

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