Aberdeen Branch AGM and Dinner
07 December, 2011
Aberdeen Branch AGM and Annual Dinner
7 December 2011 Aberdeen, UK
Sponsored by BP, Framo, Fugro and Wood Group Kenny
Report
The Aberdeen Branch of SUT held its Annual AGM and dinner on the evening of Wednesday, 7 December 2011 in The Ballroom at The Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen.
This year, the weather was in our favour which made travel and logistics so much easier for the 276 extremely well-dressed members and guests who attended!
Stuart McBride (father and namesake of the well-known northeast author) did an excellent job as our Master of Ceremonies for the evening, which was kicked off with a champagne reception.
Sponsorship of the event took on a rather different format this year. Eight 42” plasma screens were placed around the walls of the ballroom and were used to film and display speakers. Prior to and during dinner, these screens were also used to continuously stream promotional material from our sponsors. SUT wishes to thank our sponsoring companies, BP, Framo, Fugro and Wood Group Kenny, for their support.
This year’s after dinner speaker was Eric Thompson, MBE. Eric is a Royal Navy submarine commodore, chartered engineer, after dinner speaker, stand-up comedian and poet. During the Cold War, he served in five submarines charged with the management of nuclear reactors and sewage disposal. With a biography such as Eric’s, it goes without saying that he was always going to deliver an extremely interesting and entertaining after dinner speech!
The Martin Richmond Award was again presented during the dinner. The award, in its sixth year, was set up between J P Kenny and SUT in memory of Martin who died from cancer in January 2006 at the age of 52. Martin was employed by J P Kenny at the time of his death and was Chairman of the Aberdeen Branch of SUT.
The award is made to a mature postgraduate student who has performed most diligently throughout the course under demanding and mitigating personal circumstances.
This year the award went to Onyinye Reginald-Ugwuadu who graduated with distinction in MSc Drilling and Well Engineering from Robert Gordon University (RGU) in December 2011. Onyinye is married with three young children and also holds a BSc in Mathematics with Second Class Honours. Living in Lagos and employed by Halliburton as a drilling consultant and trainer across Africa, Onyinye took the decision to study for her MSc after experiencing lesser opportunities and financial rewards than her male counterparts due to not holding a requisite Engineering degree. Onyinye’s studies started in January 2008, with the arrival of her second baby in the same month. She then went on to encounter and overcome many challenges during her studies – completing coursework assignments whilst working full-time, moving house to another city, taking care of three sons and dealing with health complications during the birth of her third son. Onyinye’s determination, along with support from her husband, family and school of engineering team, has led to Onyinye achieving her desired result.
The form of the award is derived from a separate competition involving RGU’s Gray’s School of Art students submitting pieces of original artwork. These pieces are judged by Anne Richmond, Bob MacDonald (J P Kenny) and Nicola Taylor (SUT). This year, the winner of the art competition was Adesina (Ade) Ibraheem, who received a monetary award sponsored by J P Kenny. Ade is in his final, fourth year, of the Printmaking Course.
The Award of Merit was also presented during the dinner. This award is given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to SUT branch activities, underwater technology, the underwater industry and the aims and objectives of the Society. The Award of Merit for 2011 was awarded to Mr Bob MacDonald of J P Kenny.
The traditional game of ‘Heads and Tails’ raised an outstanding amount of £3620 for SUT’s Education Support Fund. Thanks are given to all who contributed.
SUT wishes to thank all who attended and contributed to a fantastic evening.