My dear CADS,

I hope you are enjoying this festive season. Just a short missive from myself this month – I’ve been busy enjoying too many Christmas parties; great fun, but terrible for the waistline!!

CADS held its annual Jokathon on Friday at the K.I.G.C.. We had a really super attendance, and as always there was a high standard of joke-telling and an excellent time was had by all! Many of our guests joined in with the joke-telling, and even the staff at the IGC remarked on what a fab time we were having! Last year’s winner, Carol Waters tried valiantly to retain her crown, but she was pipped to second place by John Cameron-Webb who is a past master at the Jokathon anecdote. I’m a keen joke teller myself, and it was hilarious to hear the quality of my repertoire diminish as the glasses of wine imbibed increased! (the photos give a good account!)

Thank you again for your vote of confidence in electing me as Chair for another 3 years. I am really looking forward to 2024 with CADS. Peter Smethurst and I are already working on a super program of speakers for the year, and I am also hoping to organise other events and trips in addition to the monthly lunches (anyone fancy a weekend wine tasting?).
Our January meeting will be on Friday January 19th at the IGC from 12 noon. I am delighted to report that our guest speaker will be our very own Abel Rasterhoff, who will be telling us all about the history of the Dutch Stock Exchange. Please pop the date in your agenda to ensure we give Abel a high quality CADs support.

I’m spending Christmas in Amsterdam with my 3 sons and the dog Otis, eating and drinking too much wine and chocolate. With all that is going on in the world, I feel so blessed that we can be together and simply enjoy life! I hope that you are all able to enjoy the holiday celebrations in the way that you want, with the people you want to be with! Wishing you all a very merry relaxing time, and all the best for a healthy and happy 2024!