On the evening of the Wednesday 28th of May, over 1,000 of the Industry’s finest arrived at the Grosvenor Hotel, Park Lane, London to enjoy a truly impressive Irish-themed evening at the ABFA Annual Dinner 2008.

After the success of last year’s Annual Dinner, expectations were high, and this year the number of attendees just goes to demonstrate just how popular this event is now becoming.

The evening began with a Champagne Reception on the balcony of the Great Room where guests were welcomed by promotional girls and toast master. The balcony was the perfect place to network and gave guests their first view of the magnificent Irish-themed room below where the evening would continue.

Once everyone was seated, Ted Ettershank (ABFA Chairman) kicked off the evening with a welcome speech which highlighted some recent achievements of the ABFA and touched upon strategies for the Association moving forward. One of the Association’s most recent lobbying successes is the lifting of ban of assignment and also on the agenda moving forward is the collaboration of the ABFA with other industry bodies to lobby for a standardised legal European framework for the industry to aid growth.

Dinner began and the Irish themed food was superb, proving the Grosvenor, once again, to be the perfect venue for this prestigious event. During dinner Ted took the stage to introduce a charity raffle, more of that later, but between the main course and the dessert the audience were in for a surprise with a touch of Irish entertainment in the form of a rendition of ‘Danny Boy’ and Irish dancing, performed by ‘Celtic Feet’. Everyone was transfixed by the talent of this dancing group and their performance certainly lifted the atmosphere of the evening.

After dinner we held our charity raffle in aid of The Gene Machine, a leukaemia charity founded by Hilary Craft at Regency Factors, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards. We are pleased to announce that over £10,000 was raised on the night. We can not thank you all enough for your generous donations in support of two such worthwhile causes.

Next our after-dinner speaker, Irish television personality and comedian Patrick Kielty, took to the stage. His non-PC humour received a mixed reaction from the audience, but finished off the evening with Irish roots nonetheless.

After a final thank you from Ted, it was time for our live band, Choice, to get the party into full swing with a great selection of modern and pop hits which encouraged many onto the floor to dance the night away. The party was lively and the music, drinks and dancing went on well into the night.

We hope that all those that attended enjoyed it as much as we did. We look forward to welcoming you again next year at Tim Corbett’s Annual Dinner! Details and location to be announced nearer the time.

More photos of this event will be available shortly from our photo gallery