Professional services firms from across the South West gathered together at the ICAEW West of England Annual Business Dinner for an evening of networking and fundraising, on Thursday, 4th April at the Mercure Grand Hotel in Bristol.
The dinner, which was sponsored by Thrings and Brunel Professions, brought together some 400 of the region’s business leaders from the accountancy, professional services and wider business community and raised £3,000 for Snow-Camp, the event’s chosen charity this year.
Snow-Camp uses a combination of snowsports, life skills sessions, qualifications and work experience to support young people from inner cities.
A highlight on the night was National Geographic adventurer, Alastair Humphreys, who was guest speaker at the event this year.
Alastair, who is one of National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year, regaled guests with anecdotes from some of his most inspiring challenges and talked about the concept of ‘micro adventures’ - how small actions can have a big impact and the relevance of this in a business context.
One of his adventures, described by Sir Ranulph Fiennes as ‘the first great adventure of the millennium’, was a cycle around the world, covering 46,000 miles through 60 countries across five continents.
Parasnowsport skier, Chris Lloyd was also one of the special guests at the dinner.
Neil Cutting, President for ICAEW West of England said:
"Our annual dinner was once again a wonderful occasion for businesses to come together to strengthen current business ties and to build new ones.” “We are delighted that our chosen charity, Snow-Camp, will benefit from the monies raised and we hope our guests were inspired by our guest speaker, Alastair Humphreys. We would also like to thank our sponsors, Thrings and Brunel Professions for once again supporting our event.”
Simon Holdsworth, managing partner of Thrings, said:
“Thrings has worked in conjunction with the ICAEW in the West of England for the past 13 years, and we are very pleased to be continuing our support for an event which has become a mainstay of the regional business calendar. “The theme of tonight’s dinner has been inspiring young people, and it has served as a timely reminder to those of us in the businesses community of the responsibility we have to support and help the next generation achieve personal growth, and spur them on towards happy and rewarding lives and careers.”
Jon Filer, Director at Brunel Professions, said:
”Brunel Professions is proud to have sponsored the ICAEW West of England dinner again. Having worked with accountancy firms of all sizes across the UK, we found the dinner was an excellent platform for the South West business community to network with some familiar faces as well as making new contacts. We had the opportunity to meet some inspiring business people and thoroughly enjoyed Alastair’s talk. A fantastic night was had by all and we look forward to continuing our work with the ICAEW.”
Five members of the ICAEW West of England have been awarded an opportunity to have a special ski lesson with Snow-Camp as a thank you from the charity. For more information on the inspiring work of Snow-Camp, visit www.snow-camp.org.uk.