Page 2762 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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In the evening I attended a function that Mr Coe has already covered in great detail but I just want to touch upon two aspects of the presentations that were made at the AHA dinner. Mark Sproat was last night recognised as the Australian Hotels Association’s ACT member of the year. Mr Sproat is the general manager of the Brassey of Canberra and the AHA accommodation division president. He is an old friend and I was very proud to see him honoured in such a fine fashion last night.
There was also a recognition of the outgoing general manager of the AHA ACT branch, Steven Fanner. Mr Fanner was the recipient of the president’s award, which was presented by the ACT president, Michael Capezio. The award recognises an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to tourism and hospitality in the industry in the ACT. Steven Fanner certainly deserves that.
While it is a competitive environment and obviously people compete for the various prizes, I thought it was very interesting the way that most of the people, while competing, also found time to recognise, I guess, the issues that face the Diamant Hotel of Canberra. Mauritis De Graeff was given a lot of support by all the people present. The Flint Dining Room and Bar at new Acton suffered fire damage in the restaurant. It won an award. Obviously the award was a bittersweet victory for Grant and his team as they worked hard to put their restaurant amongst the best in Canberra. So I congratulate them in particular from last night.
Cranleigh school
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (10.49): I would like to pay tribute to the parents and citizens association of Cranleigh school who put on a quiz night last night. This is the second year in a row that I have attended the Cranleigh quiz night, and I have to say that my team is going to have to do better because we were a long way down the field. It was a great night and it was much better attended than last year when we had about 100 people. This year there were close to 200 people at an extraordinarily well organised quiz night, which was ably emceed by 666’s Greg Bayliss. There was a strong musical theme and people were invited to come along dressed as their favourite singer or band. Luckily, no-one told me that, because I then did not have the anxiety of thinking about whether I should go in fancy dress or not.
Mr Coe: Who might you have gone as, Mrs Dunne?
MRS DUNNE: I did not even think about that. But there was a strong preponderance of Wiggles—I think the entire Wiggles team was there. Dorothy the Dinosaur was beautifully decked out. The lady who went as Dorothy won the best dressed on the night. I want to pay tribute to the extraordinary principal of Cranleigh school, Karin Westelaar, who does a fabulous job and is so well regarded by the whole school community.
One of the highlights of the evening was one of those dreadful things that you have to do at a quiz night where they give you a pile of paper and bits and pieces and say, “Make something out of it.” You had to turn one of your team members into a rock star of some sort. The winner was the lady who was dressed as the Pointer Sisters, and
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