President's
Message
“A really good night and fabulous to see people
with Kiwi affiliations having a great time together” – James Manthel
“The organisation, the entertainment, the
speeches, the venue plus food and wines – all a huge success” – Liz
Irvine
“A very successful event….never before have I
experienced people who have such a love for their homeland as
evidenced on Friday night” – ANZ Bank guest
Well what can I say? Thank you for all enjoying yourselves at the
magnificent Drapers’ Hall last Friday to celebrate Waitangi Day
2008.
The
evening would not have happened without the invaluable support of
our Gold, Silver and awards sponsors, our food & beer suppliers and
also to the companies providing raffle prizes.
Our team on the committee and a few others worked hard to make
sure the event was as successful as possible, and your positive
feedback confirmed that to us.
Martin Conway,
President
_______________________________________________________
The Waitangi dinner
2008 was held at Drapers' Hall on Friday 8 February.
Located by the Bank of England on Throgmorton Street, the original hall was purchased from Henry VIII
in 1543 and later became the house of Thomas Cromwell.
Renovations and rebuilds occurred throughout the centuries, often
following fire, with the hall as it is seen today last altered in 1898.
Once again we were
overwhelmed with the generosity of our meal sponsors - importers of New
Zealand produce.
We had NZ Farmers
spring the lamb, PPCS Brooks hunted out some venison, Sealord fished us up seafood including mussels, Barfoots of Botley
dug deep to provide
kumara and kabosha squash, J.O.Sims Ltd were fruitful with
boysenberries and Fonterra were "cheese-y" on our behalf. Monteiths
drank us under the table, with Bullet coffee caffeining off
a magnificent meal.
[Editors note to self : Martin is going to punish
me for these puns]
Our
Sponsors and Producers page
lists more details of our generous sponsors, without whom, the NZ
themed meal and the raffle prizes would not be possible.
Martin Conway, our
president, introduced our
speaker for the night - Sir Graeme
Davies. Sir Graeme has pursued an academic career in both NZ and the
UK, with a focus on development of universities. Read more about him
here :
www.lon.ac.uk/vice_chancellor and
read the speeches.
At the dinner the Air
New Zealand New Zealander of the Year award was awarded, as well as
two new two new awards - the New Zealand Inspired Lifetime
Achievement Award and the Global Kiwi Young Achiever Award. Read more about the winners & nominees
Winners of the
special raffle held on the night were :
1st Prize: Alison Need
Two return Air
New Zealand, Pacific Economy Class tickets to New Zealand
www.airnewzealand.co.uk
2nd Prize: Mr P Harris
Sailing Holidays Flotilla Holiday for two in the Greek Islands
www.sailingholidays.com
3rd Prize: Lynette Herd
Dinner for two at
Suze in Mayfair
www.suzeinmayfair.com
4th Prize: Rachel Broadmore
The Vault Design Store voucher to the value of £150.00
www.thevaultuk.com
5th Prize: Phil Ross
Mud House Wines New Zealand - Box of mixed wines
www.mudhouse.co.nz
All proceeds from our
raffle benefit our NZ Society
charity fund.
The evening
concluded with a live band
and dancing until 1am.
