The SCTE Dinner and Awards, 2006

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The 2006 SCTE Annual Dinner

The annual dinner and SCTE Awards ceremony were held on Saturday, 4th March, 2006.

The venue this year was the Old Palace of Hatfield House in Hertfordshire.

Graeme Young, Deputy Editor of 'Broadband' the SCTE journal, was there. Here's his report.

The Old Palace of Hatfield House in Hertfordshire.

Another Good Turnout

The 2006 Annual Dinner of The Society was held in the Old Palace of Hatfield House in Hertfordshire on Saturday March 4th. In the region of 200 guests attended the Gala Dinner to enjoy a five-course meal and to witness the presentation of numerous awards the Society bestows upon individuals and companies that are outstanding in their various fields. The evening's proceedings began with a champagne reception, then guests moved into the Great Hall for the meal, speeches and entertainment. At the start of the meal, Grace was said by Mr David Hall, and there was a welcome speech from Dr Roger Blakeway, the Society's President.

Thanks to the Sponsors.

The SCTE gratefully acknowledges the support of the following companies who sponsored aspects of the dinner.

Wine	Sponsored by Harmonic Inc
Live Band (The Technetix Broad-Band) and Place Cards	Sponsored by Technetix plc
Flowers on tables	Sponsored by Teleste UK
Brandies, Liqueurs and Chocolates	Sponsored by Scientific-Atlanta Western Europe.
Menu Cardss	Sponsored by Swires Research

Entertainment at the tables during the meal.

Chris Swires replies to the President's address.

Speeches and Toasts

Dr Blakeway, in his address, spoke of the success of the Annual Dinners and attributed that to the efforts of Beverley Allgood and her staff at Wembley, thanking them for their hard work. He also thanked Patron members for sponsorship of the dinner and, together with IBC, for their support in sponsoring tables. The Society, now 61 years old, was going strong with a sustained membership. It was significant that one-third of the membership is now from outside of the UK, reflecting the Society's outward-looking philosophy. The Society's involvement with IBC has been highly beneficial, IBC grows in size every year with more exhibitors and visitor numbers and exceeds expectations.

The Anniversary Year was a great success and culminated in a Conference held at an hotel in Hartley Wintney last November to review the Society's activities and aims, and to propose new ways forward to match the times. Resolutions were made to drive the membership figures up, involve a wider spectrum of the cable telecommunications industry, and to involve Major System Operators more in the Society's activities. A lengthy discussion about the Society's quarterly journal 'CTE' resulted in largely qualified approval of the style, composition and content. A major change is to the title of the journal which abandons the old 'CTE' for the rather more appealing and relevant 'Broadband', a change that takes effect with the March 2006 issue.

Dr Blakeway ended his address with a toast the 'The Society'. A reply to his address was given by Mr Chris Swires, the Society's Vice-President. He had taken a poll of his table's guests and their conclusions were that the venue, food and company were good, but that the Society should concentrate on being a Dining Club! He finished his short speech with a vote of thanks to the Society's National Secretary, Mrs Beverley Allgood, for her sterling work in organising this and many of the other functions of the Society.

SCTE Awards

The Awards ceremony followed, this being the Society's own 'Oscars' for excellence and achievement. The Awards fall into four categories:

The IBC Bursary that sends two engineers to IBC every year, total value of about £2000.

Honorary Fellowships, bestowed on members who have served the Society or Industry with distinction.

The SCTE Achievement Awards, re-instated after a pause of several years, given to four recipients as follows:
a) Technician of the Year.
b) Member of the Year.
c) Technical Innovation of the Year.
d) Product of the Year.

The Tom Hall Award, made to an individual for outstanding service to the Society or to the Industry.

This year's worthy recipients were:

IBC Bursary: Mark Connelly of ntl and John Callas of Telewest.

Honorary Fellowships: David Woollard of Accenture, David Keeley of Motorola BCS and Tony Ley of Harmonic Inc.

SCTE Achievement Awards:

Technician of the Year to Stephen Ingram of Telewest.

Member of the Year to Ian Jackson of Telewest.

Technical Innovation of the Year to Teleste for Ethernet to the Home.

Product of the Year to Harmonic Inc for their Network Service Gateway.

Finally, The Tom Hall Award went to Gerrit Weelink of Technetix. Gerrit was unable to be there in person but appeared on-screen via an internet link from Brazil where he is currently on business.

Tony Ley receives an Honorary Fellowship from Roger Blakeway.

David Woollard receives an Honorary Fellowship from Roger Blakeway.

David Keeley receives an Honorary Fellowship from Roger Blakeway.

Steve Ingram receiving his Technician of the Year award.

Technician of the Year

The award for Technician of the Year went to Steve Ingram of Telewest. It was presented by SCTE President, Dr. Roger Blakeway.

Innovation and Product of the Year.

The award for Technical Innovation of the Year went to Teleste for Ethernet to the Home. It was presented to Kevin Barrie by Stuart Thompson of Cable & Satellite Europe.

The award for Product of the Year went to Harmonic Inc for their Network Service Gateway. Stuart Thompson presented the award to Alistair Crook.

Kevin Barrie of Teleste receiving Technological Innovation award from Stuart Thomson of Cable & Satellite Europe.

Alistair Crook of Harmonic receiving Product of the Year award from Stuart Thomson of Cable & Satellite Europe

Dancing to the Technetix Broad-Band.

On With The Dance

Dancing to the music of 'The Technetix Broad-Band' followed until 12:45. This was another glittering occasion held within the ancient and historic walls of Hatfield House, home of the Marquess of Salisbury.

Thanks to the Organisers

Successful events don't organise themselves and the dinner would not be possible without the determined efforts of SCTE National Secretary and Honorary Fellow, Bev Allgood, and the office team to whom everyone present expressed their thanks.

Bev is already thinking about the 2007 dinner and would be pleased to receive any suggestions for venues.

Bev Allgood and the SCTE staff.

Photo Gallery

There were so many great pictures from the event that we've created a separate gallery containing many photographs.

Please note that this gallery is in the 'Members Only' part of the site and you will be asked for your username and password if you are not already signed in.

Click here for the gallery.