News Article
ATLAS Conference and Social Weekend June 3-4-5&6th 2010
Posted Monday 05 July, 2010 | Permalink
The 2010 ATLAS conference and social meeting was held in the historic city of Lisbon the capital city of Portugal. Our base for the duration was the spacious and comfortable Trivoli hotel, those who arrived on the Thursday were able to explore the city and sample the bars, restaurants and nightlife.
On the Friday a guided tour was arranged and after boarding our tour bus with our guide we set of to the Alfarma area which is the oldest and ancient part of the city with its narrow and stepped alleys, the streets and alleys were decorated for the local saint day festivities. A guided tour of the city followed with a running commentary from our tour guide, we then made the short journey to Belem, and this was the area from which the famous Portuguese explorers and navigators departed. We visited the Jeronimos Monastery, the Belem Tower and the Discoveries Monument, after much sightseeing and wandering about in the hot weather we were ready for lunch and a few drinks and so we had a long enjoyable lunch at a riverside restaurant. On the Friday evening every one went out to eat, drink and sample the delights of the City.
On the Friday morning the ladies were let loose with their credit cards to “do the shops” whilst the men attended the business meeting, the topics of the meeting was:
- A presentation was given by Graeme Fisher on the “Past, Present & Future of the Training Group
- Steve Pettitt (a TG council member) gave a talk on the current situation and what benefits available TG members and also participated in a question and answer session with those attending the meeting.
- The rest of the meeting was given over to an Open Forum where everyone present was able to discuss many diverse subjects.
The Presidents Dinner was held on Saturday evening, the venue was a recently refurbished building by the hotel pool, the setting was marvellous and the dinner excellent with much local Portuguese wine taken. At the end of the dinner Graeme Fisher the President thanked Roger and Beryl (Church Conservation) for their hard work in organising the event and making it so enjoyable for the rest of us, Graeme presented a gift of local earrings and a bouquet of flowers to Beryl as a token of our appreciation.
A presentation was also made to Sally who for the past fifteen years has been our ATLAS secretarial contact, sadly due to the CFA giving us notice we are moving to the NSCC who will in future provide our secretarial services, Sally is also moving on to pastures new. The President thanked Sally for all her hard work and patience in dealing with ATLAS members and businesses and said we would all miss her and her husband Carl at future events, on behalf of ATLAS Graeme presented Sally with a gift of Portuguese Pottery and a bouquet of flowers, everyone responded with a rapturous round of applause.
We would like to extend our gratitude and thanks to the following sponsors without whose help this trip would not have been possible.
Menus Nimbus Lightning Protection Ltd
Pre Dinner Drinks / Canapé’s R C Cuttings Ltd
Pooled Donations Dehn UK Ltd
Best Services Ltd
Omega Red Group
Beaumont Technical Services Ltd
Orion Lightning Protection Ltd
Earthing Equipment Supplies
Horizon Specialist Contracting Ltd
Furse (Thomas & Betts Ltd)
P C Richardson Ltd
