On Friday 13th December the Rail Forum team and Board welcomed some 160 guests to our annual members’ Christmas Lunch at Pride Park Stadium.. With over 60 different organisations due to be represented it was clearly going to be another great networking opportunity as well as a celebration of everything we have collectively achieved in 2019.
Guests were welcomed into Igor’s Lounge with carol singing from the Derventio Community choir where they enjoyed pre lunch drinks sponsored by RFM silver member Ward. Thank you for your support!
Lunch was served in the newly refurbished Dave Mackay Suite which looked spectacular thanks to the hard work of the DCFC hospitality team. We were joined by Sir Patrick McLoughlin as guest of honour. Sir Patrick retired in November following 33 years as an MP including four years as Secretary of State for Transport under David Cameron. Sir Patrick told our guests that he had thoroughly enjoyed his time in transport and shared a couple of personal insights during his time in office. Our speaker this year was Neil Robertson of NSAR. Ever popular, Neil entertained everyone with stories of Glasgow and his beloved Derby!!
We would also like to thank our wine sponsor Jobson James – a longstanding member of RFM – for their support. This has helped us to maximise the cash we raised for our chosen charity. Thanks also to East Midlands Railway, Hitachi Rail and DCFC for providing prizes for our charity collection. Winners are pictured below with Neil.
Festivities went on well into the evening (following morning maybe for some?) with many members taking over The Yard then Seven but finally and most importantly through donations on the day and a small contribution from ticket sales we raised £1600 for the Mission Christmas Cash for Kids Appeal. This is an amazing amount of money enabling us to buy gifts for children that would otherwise go without on Christmas Day. It shows what the industry can achieve when we work together. So a massive THANK YOU to all those who contributed and to our sponsors.
We look forward to welcoming everyone back for Christmas 2020!
