10th Annual Dinner

RREF 10th Annual Dinner raises £44,000 and launches the 10th Anniversary Fund

On Wednesday 2 November 480 guests were welcomed to the Reading Real Estate Foundation 10th Annual Dinner at the Grange St. Paul's Hotel, London. The event is the largest specialist alumni event in the UK bringing together over 25 graduation years and corporate supporters from the property industry and is the charity's flagship fundraising event of the year. The black tie evening kicked off with a champagne reception where guests caught up with pals from their university days and networked with colleagues in the industry in the modern setting next to St. Paul's Cathedral.

Guests were officially welcomed by RREF Trustee and former Chairman, Bryan Laxton, CEO UK Cushman & Wakefield. Mentor of the Year, Nick Pemberton, a 1995 graduate and Partner at Allsop, graciously accepted his award and told guests how he supported his mentee to help achieve a First in his degree - and to learn about the best West End bars! Georgina Botterill, Mentee of the Year, a 2011 graduate now working at Cushman & Wakefield, impressed the audience with her commitment to the scheme and desire to go on and help other students.

The evening raised nearly 44,000 for RREF, breaking the 2010 record, and a great start to our 10th Anniversary Year. Funds will be spent supporting a significant number of bursaries for students in need next year and on other projects such as the Access Internship Scheme. Tessa Lynn, a RREF bursary recipient and now PhD student, thanked the 26 alumni donors in the room for their part in helping her to 'live her dream of being a research student in the School of Real Estate and Planning at Reading.'

Sponsors Avestus Capital Partners, Europa Capital Partners and Norton Rose all hosted tables, with the Europa Capital guests winning the bottle of champagne for the table that raised the most in the raffle.

A number of our recent (and not so recent!) graduates danced until the early hours in hotel's exclusive night club, and even a few Reading academics were seen joining in.

To view photographs from the evening, please see: http://gallery.me.com/johnjhunt#104115 and http://gallery.me.com/johnjhunt#104122

We would like to thank all of our guests and sponsors for their very kind and generous support and we look forward to seeing you all again next year for the 11th Annual Dinner.

Save the date!

RREF 11th Annual Dinner - Thursday 8 November 2012