Where: Renaissance Chancery Court, Central London

Index

• Event Description
• Programme
• DS Statistic
• Interview about Dialogue Society (Video)
• Relevant Links
• Photos

Event Description

The Dialogue Society celebrated ten years of intercultural dialogue and community cohesion at its 10th Anniversary Dinner and Awards Ceremony at the Renaissance Chancery Court on 17th November 2009. The event was a great success and hailed as “an excellent mix and balance of good company, meaningful speeches, wonderful entertainment and humbling hospitality”.

The event hosted a total of 300 guests: 35 Parliamentarians including Ministers and frontbench members as well as senior civil servants, opinion-makers, pre-eminent academics, editors, Ambassadors to the UK, community representatives, and many other public figures.

The event featured keynote speeches by Mr Shahid Malik, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for DCLG; Mr Bill Rammell, Minister of State for the Armed Forces; Dr Julian Lewis, Shadow Defence Minister and Mr Chris Huhne, Shadow Home Affairs Secretary. All four speakers united in their praise for the consistent and utterly important work of the Dialogue Society and their joy for being at the event.

Following dinner, Awards of Appreciation were presented to those who had shown outstanding support and encouragement to the Dialogue Society in its work and efforts.

The first Award was presented by Lord Methuen to Bill Park and Prof Paul Weller on behalf of all members of the Dialogue Society Board of Advisors. The second award was presented by Sir Hugh Orde OBE, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers to Prof Anne Gregory, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University on behalf of Leeds Metropolitan University. The third award was presented by Lord Carlile QC to Mrs Hazel Marshall QC on behalf of her husband Dr Harvey Marshall, Former Lord Mayor of Westminster. David Burrowes, Shadow Minister for Justice presented the fourth award to Cllr Fiyaz Mughal OBE, Director of Faith Matters, followed by Lord Judd who presented the fifth award to Dr Can Onal, an entrepreneur who has provided tremendous support to the Dialogue Society over the past decade.

The final award was presented by Prof Ted Cantle CBE, Executive Chair of ICoCo and Associate Director for IDeA, to Mrs Seval Gokce on behalf of all the invaluable volunteers who are the backbone of the organisation and play an incredible role in bringing to life the many projects. Mrs Gokce, who received the award said, ‘It is an honour and a privilege to receive this award on behalf of my many hard-working friends and colleagues who invest so much time and energy into the work of the Dialogue Society.’

The event also included a pleasant surprise in the form of entertainment by three singing waiters during dinner. Guests sang along to the opera and were clearly moved by the experience.

Ozcan Keles, Executive Director of the Dialogue Society, summarised his views about the event by saying: “We wanted the event to be joyful, refreshing and relaxing. And from the feedback I’ve got so far, I think we’ve achieved just that. The mix of policy-makers, community representatives, civil servants and academics is also something we are very happy about. I’d like to thank all our volunteers for making this event so meaningful and a great success.”

Programme

• 6:30 Drinks Reception
• 7:00 Main Ball Room
• 7:15 Main event commences
  Live instrumental music recital
  Video Presentation
  Key Note speeches
  -Mr Shahid Malik, Parliamentary under Secretary of State, DCLG
  -Mr Bill Rammel MP, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
  -Dr Julian Lewis MP, Shadow Defence Minister
  -Mr Chris Huhne MP, Shadow Home Secretary
• 8:20 Dinner & Entertainment
• 9:30 Awards ceremony Tea/Coffee & Petit Fours Service
Live instrumental music recital
• 10:15 Closing remarks

2008-2009

Interviews about Dialogue Society

Relevant Links

• Rewarding Dialogue
• Chief Executive's Message
• İngiltere'de Diyalog Topluluğu'nun 10. Kuruluş Yıldönümü (Turkish)