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Yet another successful SAIF event has passed. The annual SAIF AGM and Banquet weekend at the Vale of Glamorgan Hotel proved to be the usual mix of successful networking and social gathering. Even the formalities of the weekend - the AGM’s for SAIF and SAIF Charter proved to be very quick and efficient giving members more time to enjoy the leisure facilities at the hotel and the surrounding scenery. The banquet proved to be a fantastic evening for all with the surprise guest of honour being Ruth Madoc of Hi di Hi fame and also Vice- President of The Noah’s Ark appeal - Alun Tucker’s chosen charity. Alun was very pleased to be able to present Ruth with a cheque for more than £5,800 – the results of a year of hard work in collecting for the charity.

The appearance of Ruth was only one of many surprises during the weekend. A second celebrity – Darren Thomas – all rounder from Glamorgan Cricket Club - turned up on Sunday morning to present Alun with a bat signed by all of the Glamorgan squad in recognition of Alun’s superb term of office as President. Anyone who didn’t know Alun and was present over the weekend would have picked up on Alun’s great love of cricket as he was also presented with a 1955 (his year of birth) copy of Wisden – the cricketers bible – during the AGM on Saturday.

On the subject of surprises, Chas Nethercott was certainly surprised when Jeremy West presented him with Fellowship of SAIF on behalf of the board of Fellows on Saturday. As Jeremy mentioned during his short presentation speech SAIF wouldn’t have existed but for the hard work and long travels of founder members such as Chas.

Following on the example set by the 2004 AGM the theme of extending the weekend programme by having more activity on the Friday was continued. An excellent lunch for Associate members, past presidents and executive members was hosted by SAIF on Friday. In the evening an informal dinner was held with a wide range of entertainment being provided including the famous Ogmore Male Voice Choir – a true voice of Wales.

One very unexpected surprise on the Saturday morning was the arrival of the Welsh Rugby team at the hotel. For some reason (something about winning some rugby competition) some in the hotel seemed more interested in them than in the SAIF event – no accounting for taste.

The speed with which the formalities on Saturday were completed was very much down to a new format being tried this year. Copies of the various reports were given to delegates upon their arrival, and then rather than read through the report during the meeting the appropriate delegate presented their report to the assembled membership and asked if there were any questions on the report. Following Alun Tucker’s address as National President, Mervyn Pilley – SAIF CEO, Chas Nethercott as Chair of the Membership committee, Richard Edwards as Chair of the Standards committee, Roger Ferdinand as joint editor of SAIFinsight, Ian Barnett as managing director of Golden Charter, Brian Hilton as Chair of the SAIFCharter Trust and finally Richard Edwards again, this time in his capacity as SAIF treasurer, all presented their reports.

Following the rest of the AGM formalities there was an active debate under the Any Other business part of the AGM which was then followed, earlier than originally billed, by a lively open forum debate which focused on two key areas – Coroners Contracts and Doctors issues. Certainly not new issues these still appear to be important areas of concern for independent funeral directors.

Once the AGM had officially closed there were two sets of award presentations. Firstly the second year’s awards were presented for SAIF Community. Luckily three out of the four award winners were able to attend the ceremony to be able to collect their award and certificate from Luci Penn of the award sponsors – The Bereavement Register and Mervyn Pilley.

Following the SAIF Community presentations the Golden Charter Funeral Planner of the Year regional and National winners were presented with their awards. Unfortunately, in true Oscar night style, many of the winners were unable to be with us but in those cases the appropriate RSM for Golden Charter stood in for the award recipient.

For the Banquet on Saturday evening the guests enjoyed a very enjoyable meal with Welsh Black Beef as the main course. Formal speeches and toasts were kept to a minimum with Gwilym Price the first and so far only SAIF Fellow from Wales, saying Grace. Nigel Wright – National President of the British Institute of Embalmers proposed the toast to the National Society of Allied & Independent Funeral Directors. Alun Tucker responded. Christine Parker – 2nd Vice President of SAIF proposed the toast to Guests and sponsors and Ruth Madoc responded in the way that only Ruth could, including some very funny memories of Les Dawson and pantomime appearances.

To finish off the evening the ‘Welsh” band Y Band Glas Gwreiddiol AKA Original Blue fronted by incoming President Alan Smith blasted their way through some good old fashioned rock and roll. As the evening went on guests drifted upstairs to sit down in the bar area and start some good old-fashioned SAIF chin wagging. As hotels all around the Country should know by now there is no such thing as an early night after a SAIF function.

Sunday dawned and following a healthy breakfast many of the delegates and VIP guests gathered together to attend the inauguration of Alan Smith as the 14th National President of SAIF. Chris Parker was installed as Vice President and Ann Harvey from Suffolk was installed as 2nd Vice President. The event certainly proved entertaining and was light years away from the stuffiness and ceremony that can be encountered at these events.

And so as an Essex team was slaughtering a “rest of the World” team on the Championship golf course the other delegates set off for their travels to all parts of the UK all generally agreeing that a great weekend had been enjoyed by all.

Special thanks are due to the exhibitors (a small but perfectly formed exhibition) as well as the sponsors for the weekend:

Allsops, Auden Funeral Supplies Ltd, Batesville Casket UK Ltd, BINZ UK, Bradnam Joinery, Brook York, Coleman Milne, Golden Charter, J C Atkinson, H L Hawes & Son Ltd, London Casket Company, Peter S W Musgrave, Lyn Oakes, P & L Manufacturing, Thorley Smith, SAIF Charter Trust, SAIF Insure, Steve Soult Ltd, Wilcox Limousines and The Bereavement Register. Thanks also to all who contributed raffle prizes for the weekend.

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