Dear Members,
I am delighted to write to you for the first time as your Chair for the 2017-18 season.
I want to pay a warm tribute again to David Wheldon, who has hosted a wonderful and varied season with elegance and charm combined with a healthy dose of irreverence- I can’t promise the elegance, but those that know me would probably back me to continue with the irreverence!
Great thanks also go to the incomparable Clare Russell who does such a wonderful job for us all as
the MGGB’s administrator. To help Clare could I please ask you all to update your biogs on the website so that the Directory can be updated for the new season. Once again our thanks to David Pemsel, David Magliano and The Guardian for agreeing to update and reprint the directory.
Our new season will set sail on Wednesday Sept 13th with a sporting legend. Sir Ben Ainslie will be our first speaker. Sir Ben, as many of you will know is on a mission to win the America’s cup for Britain, and whilst his team were not successful this summer, he is far from down and still committed to achieving his goal. As a 4 time Olympic gold medallist, this is a man who doesn’t give up. We are in for a fascinating evening with him where I’m sure he will give us an insight into how he has maintained his competitive edge over such a long career of achievement, how he picks himself and his team up from disappointment and what it takes to be a winner. It will also be a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues post summer– Booking is now open, either online or via Clare. Tickets for this will go fast so do book before you head off on your summer holidays.
The rest of the 2017/18 season is taking great shape with Matt Frei, Presenter and Europe Editor C4 News in October and Sir Malcolm Walker- CEO Iceland Foods in November. Looking further ahead Jayne-Anne Gadhia- CEO Virgin Money, Dominic Barton- Global MD McKinsey, Kath Viner-Editor The Guardian and Gavin Patterson-CEO BT have all agreed to share their insights with us. Details of these and other events will follow over the coming weeks. Dinner dates are included below.
Club subscriptions are once again £300 + VAT for members, and £200 +VAT for Emeritus members. Subs are due in August and invoices will be sent via the website for immediate payment. Claridge’s continue to manage our costs as tightly as possible but have advised us that we need to increase the price for dinner by £3 this season to £115 plus VAT. Thank you for your understanding on this.
It just remains for me to thank all of you who have sent me best wishes and your support and to wish you all a great summer- I hope you all have some time to relax with your nearest and dearest. I am looking forward to seeing you all in September.
Best wishes
Jude Bridge
Chair 2017-28
MGGB