by Liliana Baltra
Our last activity for the year 2016 was Formal Hall held at Club de Industriales, Hotel Marriot, Polanco, on December 5th. It was a very well attended event where guests sat at tables installed in the Club’s library and enjoyed an excellent dinner.
The main speakers were Anjoum Noorani, an Oxford graduate and First Secretary at the British Embassy, and Clive Bayne, a graduate of Southampton University, who both attracted the audience’s attention with informative and amusing speeches.
A big surprise for most of us was to listen to Alex Mahoney asking questions to Anjoum in Russian. Particularly interesting was to hear Anjoum tell us about his career in the diplomatic service and how his Oxford education had proved very important for his professional career and also personal life.
Clive Bayne, our second speaker, had the audience in stitches with his collection of amusing stories, including particularly apt descriptions of how certain British characteristics are perceived by foreigners.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)
A brief AGM took place before dinner where Carla Fuentes, as treasurer, informed us of the state of our accounts. One of the most significant aspects was the announcement of Stephen Douglas as the new president of our association, after being elected by a clear majority of the votes cast last summer.
The whole assembly thanked John Gibbs for his great contribution to the success of our Association, and for having conducted so many successful events over the last six years. Then, to demonstrate our gratitude, we all sang “For he’s a jolly good fellow…” to him. All the members of the new committee were introduced to the attendants as well.
To see more photos of the event, please visit our Facebook Page here!