Review: BCFA Annual Luncheon 2019

Nine Kings Suite

Guests arrived at the Nine Kings Suite entrance and collected their badges before heading into the reception room for a glass of bubbly and a chance to meet and greet their clients. The reception room quickly filled up, and there was a buzzy atmosphere as everyone enjoyed a drink with our Swing Band in the background. There were also photo opportunities with our Sponsor back drop, and our Balloon photo wall.

House Band

The guests were then called to lunch at 12.50pm by our Toastmaster and impressively the walls then lifted in front of the doors to the Nine Kings Suite and the room was revealed. With dazzling chandeliers creating an enchanting ambience the excited guests began making their way into the room to find their seats.

BCFA Chairman Lee Marvin welcomed guests with an opening speech, reflecting on highlights from the year at the BCFA and looking forward to new events and opportunities for 2020. After the speech, guests tucked into a delicious 3-course meal, which included an amazing flaming crème brulee.

Lee Marvin, Chairman of BCFA, Speech

Flaming Crème brûlée

Following the lunch the Panaz/BCFA Lifetime Achievement Award was presented by Mr Tony Attard OBE DL and CEO of Panaz. This years’ recipient was Jack Pringle, co-founder of Pringle Brandon, which became one of the UK’s leading architects designing and specifying practices for some of the UK’s biggest companies in banking, professional services, TMT and Hospitality. In 2012 Pringle Brandon became part of Perkins and Will with Jack being the London Principal. In his very sincere acceptance speech, Jack covered his journey and the people who had inspired and motivated him along the way. It was a well-received speech as many guests in the room recognised his significant contribution to the contract furnishing industry. To read the full press release on Jack Pringle and the Lifetime Achivement Award, click here.

The Panaz BCFA Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Jack Pringle by Mr Tony Attard OBE DL, and CEO of Panaz

The lunch was concluded with a dance routine from ‘Frobacks’ who had appeared on BBC’s “The Greatest Dancer”. The four-piece male street dancing group wowed the audience with their energetic routine, bursting into action at snippets of different songs covering disco, soul, funk, pop and hip-hop. The Froback’s energy fed into the socializing, which continued into the early evening in the Nine Kings Suite and the bar areas.