A night to remember Cardiff & South East Wales CILEx Branch Dinner
A night to remember: Cardiff & South East Wales CILEx Branch Dinner
29 March 2018
The Cardiff & South East Wales CILEx Branch celebrated its 14th year by holding its annual dinner at the St David’s Hotel, Cardiff on Saturday, 24 March. Over 100 guests attended the dinner and were greeted with a sparkling drinks reception.Alexis Thomas, CILEx Branch Chair and Head of Legal at Penguin Legal in Cardiff opened the evening with a welcoming speech to all the attendees. Alexis was joined by CILEx President Millicent Grant, CEO Linda Ford and members of CILEx Council and Head Office. Local CILEx members, Solicitors and Judges, together with members of major law firms, colleges, recruitment agencies and others from the legal sector were also amongst the guests.
Before introducing CILEx President Millicent Grant, Alexis addressed the guests and spoke of the Branch and its success and the plans for the coming year. Millicent then went on to speak about the future plans for CILEx and also her pledges to CILEx in her year as President.
An award ceremony also took place to recognise some of the students within the Branch for their hard work and commitment to their studies. They were presented with their awards by the CILEx President, and the award sponsor Stephen Averill from Phoenix Legal Services.
The award winners were:
- Cardiff College Online Level 3 Student of the Year
Martin Crowley - Cardiff College Online Level 6 Student of the Year
Katy Evans from Admiral Law - Cardiff & Vale College Level 3 Student of the Year
Marysia Gayle from Admiral Law - Cardiff & Vale College Level 6 Student of the Year
Stacey McGrinder from NewLaw Solicitors - CILEx Law School Level 3 Student of the Year
Steve Robson from BBC Cymru - CILEx Law School Level 6 Student of the Year
Zak Sutton from DAC Beachcroft - Coleg Gwent Level 3 Student of the Year
Bernadett Hampson - Coleg Gwent Level 6 Student of the Year
William Jones
I would like to thank Phoenix Legal Services for their continued support and I appreciate their generous donation.
The Branch also chose to support 2 Make A Wish Charity. Sarah Morgan-Davies from the Charity spoke to the guests about the Charity and the wonderful work they do. An amazing £666.13 was raised on the night and thank you to everyone for the generous contributions, which will certainly help towards funding the wonderful work they do.
Once the evening formalities were finished, the guests could enjoy their fabulous four course meal and the evening’s events. Many people had fun in the Photo booth which was kindly sponsored again by Yolk Recruitment whilst a large number of people took to the dance floor and danced until the early hours. The guests did get the chance to rest their weary feet at midnight when they were served bacon butties, kindly sponsored by Brightlink Learning, which were a huge success.
The Branch would like to thank everyone who attended the dinner and special thanks again to the sponsors, as without your ongoing support these events would not be possible. The Branch look forward to working with all its members and sponsors again this year and thank everyone for their ongoing support.
If you would like to become a member of the Branch then please email Alexis Thomas, CILEx Branch Chair, on [email protected] or visit the Branch website.
Author: Alexis Thomas, CILEx Branch Chair and Head of Legal at Penguin Legal in Cardiff