University Prize Giving

Great Western Branch's AGM dinner was a typically entertaining evening for the 415 assembled guests at the Thistle Grand Hotel, Bristol. The first order of the evening was to elect the new chairman, with Mark West (Hoare Lea) taking the reins from outgoing chairman Terry Langdon (Gleeds). Mark appointed Louise Brown (Clarke Wilmott) as his vice chairman for the year. Both Terry and Mark delivered amusing speeches relating to their year in office before Terry commenced with the prize-giving to students from the University of the West of England (UWE). Undergraduates from the school of the Built and Natural Environment were tasked to prepare and deliver a presentation relating to sustainable development as part of their course. Out of 450 students, five teams were asked to present to the Dean's Conference to select a final winner. Terry, who sat on the judging panel, presented the £600 prize money (a donation of £300 from fbe and £300 from UWE) to Nathalie MacGrath and Lauren Deakin.
The remainder of the evening was devoted to fundraising for PolioPlus, a division of The Rotary foundation which supports the organisation's goal of the certification of the eradication of the wild poliovirus, for which a remarkable £3600 was collected. This was followed by the pinnacle of the entertainment, guest speaker Ardal O'Hanlon (of Father Ted fame) who caused much hilarity with his act!