A fantastic evening was had by all at the exclusive Seafarers’ Midsummer Night Gala on 24 June, held in the magical surroundings of the Underglobe, situated under Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
Principal guest and speaker, Kate Adie OBE, was joined by principle military guest, Major General G Robison, Commandant General Royal Marines, The Hon Jim Fitzpatrick MP, Minister of State for Food, Farming and Environment (Latterly Minister for Shipping), The Hon Paul Clark MP, parliamentary under Secretary of State for Transport, and guests from leading shipping and defence companies including Braemar Seascope, Lloyds Register- Fairplay, MBDA and BVT.
Kate Adie made a heartfelt speech about the significance the maritime industry has had on her life from growing up in a shipping town to her times onboard Naval and Merchant shipping vessels. She said, “Though times have changed there is still a huge sense of pride in our seafarers, we are still an Island, nothing changes that and we need our ships and we need our seafarers. It is important our seafarers are supported and helped which I hope this evening will go towards contributing to.”
Everyone delved deep into their pockets during the live auction and the Boeing sponsored, silent auction, with the auctions and raffle raising just under £30,000. Some of the prizes snapped up included, a trip on board the Trinity House owned, THV Galatea, won by Mr Alan Marsh from Braemar Seascope, an exclusive bottle of Whisky signed by HRH Prince Charles, by Mr Alan Johnson from BVT and a team building day with HMS Collingwood, which went for over £3000 to Mr Keith Garden from MBDA.
Seafarers UK Director General, Commodore Barry Bryant, said:
“The evening was a great success and we were delighted by the support of all our guests who entered into the auction spirit with great gusto. In times of hardship it is fantastic to see people will still get behind our seafarers and show them support. We are already looking forward to next year’s event.”
Seafarers UK also presented a Platinum Corporate Benefactor Award to Deloitte, in appreciation of their particularly generous support. Major General G Robison presented the award to Phil Sandford, partner at Deloitte.
MBDA also presented Seafarers UK with a cheque for £5,000 on the night, raised from their 2008 Charity Dinner event.
Photography for the evening was provided by David Trotter, uniquekidproductions@me.com