Celebrating York at the Annual Dinner

More than 200 business leaders from across the region gathered at York Racecourse for the annual York & North Yorkshire Annual Dinner.

Staged on a glorious summer’s evening, the event attracted a huge cross-section of the region’s business community, as well as representatives of North Yorkshire’s civic, sporting, cultural and media institutions.

In a break with tradition, the old formal black-tie rules were jettisoned in favour of a more casual and inclusive tone.

And rather than opt for a formal speaker, attendees instead were entertained by a panel consisting of some of York’s leading figureheads.

Cherie Federico from Aesthetica, Clint Goodchild of York Rugby League Football Club, Nigel Poulton from The Island charity and Simon Mahon from The Grand Hotel were quizzed on what makes the region so special by Chamber president Laurence Beardmore and CEO James Mason.

The most emotive moment of the night came when Mr Beardmore announced the creation of the Andrew Digwood Award, set up to honour the memory of the much-loved former Chamber president who so tragically passed away last year. The award will honour businesspeople in the region who have demonstrated commendable leadership in the region and, in its inaugural year, was awarded posthumously to Mr Digwood, an announcement which drew a standing ovation.

Elsewhere there was top-notch entertainment from students at York St John University and from legendary party band HUGE who had the crowd dancing into the wee small hours.

The event was presented by compere par excellence, John Hammond DL.