ANNUAL DINNER - 9th FEBRUARY 2006

18h30 - 22h30

The Cambridge Society of Belgium’s Annual Dinner was held on Thursday 9 February 2006, at the Club du Premier Regiment des Guides.

Once again we were able to use the premises thanks to the presence of one of our members who is also a member of the Club – Peter Hollenfeltz du Treux, who was accompanied by Jacqueline Annez de Taboada. Some 43 people sat down to dinner under the banner of the University. The loyal toasts were proposed by Ludo de Vleeschauwer and Claire Craddock de Burbure, and the toast to the University was proposed by Richard Nobbs. In answering for the University, the retiring President William Seddon Brown said that for those present the shared values instilled by their time at the University was what brought everyone together in the Society. During his time as President the Committee had made an attempt to broaden the spectrum of activities to cater for all tastes, and continued to be able to attract speakers of the very highest calibre. He thanked the Richard Nobbs, who was also stepping down from his role on the Committee for his organisational efforts, and  Ludo de Vleeschauwer  and Kurt Haegeman for their valued and continuing role as Treasurer and Membership Secretary. He added that he had every confidence that the new members of the Committee and the new President would continue to develop the Society. He then proposed a toast to the Society, which was answered by Andrew Tank, who has agreed to be the new President.

In his address Andrew thought there was an excellent financial and organisational base to move forward. In particular he metioned the launching of the Lecture series with Nobel Prize Winner Prof. Amartya Sen which would kick off on March 16 with a talk by Professor Nick Stern on the “Economics of Climate Change”, and for which there were already over 200 registered. He called for new ideas from all those present, and there followed a lively and open discussion amongst the various dinner tables. Andrew promised to consider all suggestions, and said all volunteers for the Committee would be welcome. As usual the dinner proved to be lively and very enjoyable evening..