Posted:  Sunday 29 January 2012

South East Associates
Annual Wentworth Lunch

- Wednesday 18th January -

On a grim, grey day, 93 South East Associates and spouses, plus two Company guests enjoyed the warmth and conviviality of Wentworth – for the twelfth time of asking!

The committee had a frantic last few days, as illness and unscheduled hospital appointments took their toll and as the cancellations mounted, Peter Nel was redrawing the table plan every few hours – right up to five minutes before we sat down!!

Maybe next year we will breach the magic 100 mark!

The attendance, despite the cancellations, being a record for any SE Associates event, was particularly pleasing, given that our main aim is to involve as many Associates as possible, to help them stay active and connected to each other and the Company.

It was particularly pleasing to see so many new Associate faces, folk who had retired this past year or so from Reading, Egham or Brooklands.  Many of these seem keen to get involved with our activities through the year.

Our guests this year we were delighted to welcome, Nathan Homer, P&G’s Sports Marketing & Olympics Project Director for the UK & Ireland and Samantha Phillips the new Associate Scheme Manager.

Before lunch, Nathan gave us a brief update on the state of the business in the UK, showing that despite the tough economic times, that the Company is still doing well.

The UK remains one of the strongest businesses in the P&G world.

Sam Phillips introduced herself to the Associates, and expressed her pleasure at being involved in the scheme.

As usual, Wentworth treated us very well indeed.  The lunch, service and the ambiance were excellent.  Wentworth is a really wonderful venue.  We are indeed fortunate to have it on our door-step.
 
Over coffee, I reviewed our 2011 activities - all 25 events including an away break in the New Forest in May and Bath in September; an overnight break in the wonderful Chatham Historic Dockyard, where we sailed the Medway and ‘made rope’; took a charabanc trip to Brighton for the day, and visited the grand houses at Nymans and Standen in Sussex.

The summer and pub lunches are more popular than ever, with the new Windsor venue for the summer lunch a particular hit.

The monthly walks all over Berkshire, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire (including a fascinating walk around Roman London), were well attended and the Magic Circle in London, an energetic Ten Pin Bowling session and the Golf Tournament at Burhill completed a busy roster for the year.

In addition, there were two ‘off-programme’ events; Clay Pigeon Shooting, which was again a joint event with Freetime (P&G Sports & Social Club) at RAF Odiham and for the energetic few, longer walks with the ‘Adventurous Walking (!)’ group.

With virtually all active Associates now on email, any such additional events in 2012 can be opened to all.

In 2012 we again plan 25 events, including in addition to the usual walking, pub lunches, heritage and golf events; two away breaks to Ironbridge and (by train) Edinburgh, for which we already have a strong level of interest.
We will be repeating last year’s successful format with a FREE coach trip to Stowe Landscape Gardens and House (recently featured in the National Trust magazine).

Two London events are a bit different: a visit to the Museum of Brands will take many back to our earlier days, plus a visit to Sir John Soanes House - the amazing home of the ‘grandfather of architecture’.  

Over coffee, Nathan told us of P&G’s major Global sponsorship of the London Olympics, which is for obvious reasons being led by the UK.  The programme spans all brands, and for the first time in P&G’s history, is a corporate-led campaign

Before everyone departed, we enjoyed a ten-minute slide show of the events of the past year filled with Associate activities.

This can be viewed on YouTube!!!

A great afternoon was enjoyed by all, though with the ever larger group it was difficult to chat to everyone you wanted to!

Kevin Williams

(ph  29/01/2012)

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