Record attendance at annual dinner

The Airmic annual dinner drew a record attendance of nearly 1,000 guests to the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, with the party going on well into the early hours.

Patrick Smith

In his welcome, chairman Patrick Smith pledged that the association would continue to put members at the heart of its activities. “It’s an exciting time to be part of a global change programme. For sure, defending the status quo or, at best, inertia cannot be good enough,” he said. “All of us involved in risk and insurance have to develop a flexible, adaptable, creative and imaginative edge to keep up with the rest of the global society.”

The Stig

Guest speaker Perry McCarthy, better known as the original Stig from Top Gear, then entertained diners with his behind-the-scenes tales of life on the world’s top motoring TV programme. Although the formal dinner ended well before midnight,  most of the guests retired to the main bar, confirming the event as the risk and insurance world’s greatest place to network and catch up with old friends.