OR55 the gala dinner

The last night of OR Society conferences is the time for the gala dinner.  We dined at Holland Hall at the University of Exeter, with a panorama of the evening sunset over the hills beyond the window.  Several years ago, the ORS did away with guests giving after-dinner speeches on these occasions, so the only speech (short) was by the ORS president, who awarded the President's medal to the paper from Ernst and Young, describing their work with New Zealand Post.  He also thanked everyone who had made the conference happen.  The two co-chairs were given goodies from an Exeter delicatessen as a "Thank-you"; fortunately, Tina was there to take these home for me, as I was planning to go home after the conference by bus;  Phil had to pack his into a suitcase for his train journey home.

After the dinner, there was a ceilidh dance, with Mrs Midnight from Exeter (Mrs Midnight was a four-person band with a dance caller).  Some of the delegates escaped being dragged onto the floor, others pretended to be deep in academic conversations, and a few dozen joined in with half a dozen dances.  We ended with a madcap dance that the caller said was the Circassian Animal dance, a new one to all of us, where some of the Circassian moves had to performed in imitation of animals.  There was considerable laughter around the circle as men and women imitated kangaroos and mice.

So the second day ended happily.