AUGUST 2005 BROADSHEET - Annual Garden Party

The annual CETC Garden Party was held in the grounds of Jesus College on Thursday August 4^th and was attended by over 70 members and guests. Although the weather was overcast, the rain held off for the duration and it was 9pm before the party broke up.

The short, formal part of the evening began with CETC chairman, John Read, welcoming the members and their guests and particularly the speakers from the past year’s events. Then Valerie Dring of NatWest presented the club with a cheque for £1,000 as part of their sponsorship. Valerie was thanked by John and she then said a few words about the reasons for NatWest’s support and congratulated the club on its program and the networking it provides.

The chairman then said that the past year’s programme had been extremely successful with several record attendances of over 50 and expressed the hope that next year’s program would be as popular and well attended. The program for 2005/6 was handed out during the evening. It was noted that the CETC committee had changed during the year. Roy Cuthbert stepped down as chairman after over 5 years in the post. Tracey Stephens, Simon Kite and Ken Dickson all left the committee due to work commitments. They had been replaced by Nicolas Dennilauler (as Hon Treasurer), Ke Yang, Jamie Murray and David Gillett all joining the committee. John thanked the committee on behalf of the members for all their work on the programme and events and the speakers for their excellent contributions. He also thanked Jesus College and the staff, the Cambridge Trombone Jazz Band (leader David Read) who provided the outstanding accompaniment for the evening and Roy Cuthbert for organising the event.

John then introduced the President of the Club, Walter Herriot, who entertained us with his usual incisive and acerbic wit and views on the state of the start-up scene in Cambridge and around the UK and how this might be improved over the coming year. He closed his comments with best wishes for the club for the coming year and a promise to attend more events.

We then closed with final thanks from the chairman to our sponsors, NatWest, St John’s Innovation Centre, TWI and Webtec.

Next year’s Garden Party is set for August 3^rd. Put it and the other events in the CETC program in your diaries now!