SAIMC: Durban branch – Annual dinner - January 2024

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SAIMC: Durban branch – Annual dinner

January 2024 SAIMC

The Durban branch of the SAIMC held their much loved and well supported annual year end dinner at the Mount Edgecombe Country Club in late November.

The weather was the complete opposite to the previous year’s – with a beautiful warm and balmy (okay sweaty) evening, which meant that the welcome drinks were held on the gorgeous deck overlooking the greens. This proved to be a perfect start to a wonderful evening.

As always, formalities were kept short, with Howard Lister standing in for Mark Calvert on the general manager front, and also multi-tasking as the very efficient MC. After welcoming and thanking everybody, Howard gave a brief run-down of the year that was, highlighting the success of the monthly technology evenings and the branch’s goals to become even more involved with our education system and universities. He presented Donald Hlubi of DCK Projects with his regional member certificate before introducing SAIMC CEO, Johan Maartens.

From left: John Owen-Ellis, SAIMC Honorary Member, and Donald Hlubi, DCK Projects, receiving their awards.

Johan told everyone what the SAIMC had achieved during 2023, culminating in the new slogan, Inspiring Automation; but the highlight of his part of the proceedings was awarding John Owen-Ellis Honorary Member status in recognition of his 44 years as a member of the SAIMC. Records show that John first joined the SAIMC on 6 November 1979. Since joining the Durban branch management team in April 2001 he has worked tirelessly in a variety of roles, and in fact, he is still one of the most active members of the team today. Daleen Filbey from RX gave a short presentation about AATF 2023, and what’s in store for 2025, and this concluded the formalities.

Dinner was a delicious buffet of Durban chicken curry and roast lamb with crispy roast potatoes and sautéed vegetables, which everybody tucked into while enjoying some background music provided by our musical entertainment for the evening – Angus. The committee decided that fixing something which isn’t broken wasn’t a good idea, so unanimously voted Angus back for another year – a decision which was not regretted once they got the party started a little later.

Conrad Koch and Chester Missing were undoubtedly the firm favourites of the evening, with some additional guests (well puppets) making an appearance during the 40 minute act. Conrad’s clever brand of humour and skilful puppetry allows him to cover a variety of topics with impunity. Anthony Hittler from IFM provided the piéce de résistance and was awarded ‘best sport’ of the evening by being the managerrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

The Durban management team would like to thank all table sponsors, and the following additional sponsors of the evening:

To view all the photos from the evening please go to: https://saimcdbn.co.za/zen/SAIMC-Durban-Annual-Function-2023

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SAIMC: Durban branch – Annual dinner

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