We hosted the CECA Wales Annual Dinner and Awards 2023 on Friday 3rd November at the Cardiff Hilton and it turned out to be a great occasion and an opportunity for members and guests to get together to enjoy good company, good food and maybe a drink or two!
Here’s a few photos of our guests.
Our headline sponsors were Scott Parnell, product and material suppliers, and our pre-dinner reception was sponsored by Future Valleys Project Co.
Our guest speaker was former England rugby star and sports pundit Martin Bayfield and our chosen charity was the Sir Gareth Edwards Cancer Charity.
We were entertained by musician, Sarah Brown, during the pre-dinner reception which got everyone into the mood!
It took a while to bring everyone to order (I’ll put it down to excitement!) but we got there in the end.
Our Chair, John Griffiths, started proceedings with some thought provoking comments around the state of the industry and a few ongoing challenges that we all have with our image and how others perceive the industry, none of it particularly helpful when it comes to attracting new people!
With this in mind we also launched our new initiative to change these perceptions. Our Foundation Group of young CECA Wales members have produced a new short film which we hope to share with schools and colleges as well as politicians, policy makers and other stakeholders. You can view it here in Welsh, https://youtu.be/Q0-JRKE2Xxc and here in English https://youtu.be/VYnzJisBWOw. And it would be great if you and your colleagues could engage with the Foundation Group via : Linked In www.linkedin.com/in/ceca-wales-foundation-group, X (Twitter) CECA Wales Foundation Group X (twitter.com) and Instagram: CECA Wales Foundation Group Instagram. We’d all really like to hear your feedback.
Our chosen charity, the Sir Gareth Edwards Cancer Charity, was represented by Gareth’s daughter in law, Eirlys Edwards, who appealed to the audience for their support for such a fantastic cause. I’m delighted to say that we raised over £3000 for the charity.
The highlight of our evening was our Awards when we celebrated our “most promising” young people. Here’s a summary of the winners for those of you who couldn’t be there or who were but just can’t remember!
Most Promising Trade Apprentice 2023
The award was sponsored by Griffiths Ltd, represented by their Managing Director David Parr, who presented the award with Martin Bayfield. Let’s face it, without our trade apprentices, our groundworkers and machine drivers, nothing much happens does it! And the award for Most Promising Trade Apprentice 2023 went to :
Fletcher Walkley of Tarmac
Most Promising Trainee Quantity Surveyor 2023
Jonathon Davies, another great rugby star but representing our sponsors Andrew Scott, presented the award with Martin Bayfield. Given how high the standard of applicant was in this category the judges wanted to recognise one applicant with a high commendation and that was :
Jenson Mark Jenkins of Forest Traffic Services
But the winner was :
Chloe Gore of Encon Construction
Most Promising Trainee Civil Engineering Technician Award 2023
Antonia John of sponsors Encon Construction, presented the award with Martin Bayfield. Once again, whilst the judges did identify a winner in this category, there was such a high number of great candidates that they did also want to recognise one further candidate with a high commendation and that went to :
Ben Cort of Encon Construction
However, the winner of the award for Most Promising Trainee Civil Engineering Technician 2023 went to :
Harri Morgan of Walters UK
Most Promising Trainee Civil Engineering Graduate Award 2023
Our sponsor for this award was Walters UK and their Regional MD, Gwyn Pardoe, presented the award with Martin to:
Gruff Rowlands of Jones Bros Ruthun
Llongyfarchiadau iddyn nhw i gyd
Congratulations to all of them.
Unfortunately we couldn’t host our Leadership Challenge this year with the Armed Forces. However, we will be hosting two sessions next year, one in the north and one in the south and all our Awards nominees will be invited.
We also had one other award, which we don’t always do every year but we felt it was appropriate this year. It’s a Celebration of Industry Award and this year it went to Kevin Llywelyn. Kevin has made such a great contribution to the sector and, as I said on the night : “In an industry which can be fairly “robust” at times his calm, almost unassuming, but totally professional behaviour shines through. We need more people like this in our industry.”
And last but, at 6′ 10″, definitely not least, our guest speaker, former England rugby star and sports pundit Martin Bayfield, entertained the crowd with a load of stories and anecdotes from his past.
It was great to see so many at our Awards but especially an increasing number of younger people and women. Hopefully this is an indicator that things are gradually changing across the industry and that we are starting to see changing perceptions too?
Ed Evans
Director CECA Wales
And here’s a few more photos of our members and their guests :
