December 04, 2013
Published on tags: General GPVWC Day

 

The best-ever turnout for any GPVWC Day was a fitting tribute to an incredible year for our community, as more than twenty league members gathered in Amsterdam.
The 2013 GPVWC Day, held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on the weekend of November 30th/December 1st, saw more than twenty members of our community participate in the most successful annual meeting ever.

Hosting the meeting outside the UK for the first time in the league's 14-year history was expected to create new challenges for the organisers of the popular event; the effort, however, was rewarded with an excellent turnout and lasting memories for everyone involved.

The majority of the attendees made their way to Amsterdam between Friday and Saturday morning, with this time well spent with some sightseeing and a healthy dose of socialising. With all of the members now convened, the action moved to Cafe Heffer, straight in the middle of the city, for the official part of the proceedings.

The presentation, which saw members of the GPVWC Administration Will Ponissi, Dave Carr-Smith and Philip Cullen take to the stage to present the features of the new 2014 season - the 15th in the league's history - lasted well into the night: it featured the victory ceremonies for all the official GPVWC series of 2013, the handing out of the newly-reformatted GPVWC Awards and a new edition of the popular GPVWC Quiz, skilfully crafted by Phil Cullen.

Videos by Giuseppe Rainieri, Tom van der Voort, Lukas Euler and Pavel Loknovski helped the audience relive the emotions of the 2013 season, celebrate the achievements of the winners and teasingly introduced the new features for 2014.

The evening also saw the presentation of the first ever Sean Edwards Memorial Award, meant to celebrate outstanding individuals within our community and their positive contributions to it. The first two winners of this award were revealed as Chris Williamson and Dave Carr-Smith.

Throughout the evening, the GPVWC Administration treated the audience to Dutch bitterballen, with plenty of beer accompanying the meal.

The bulk of the GPVWC gang reunited on Sunday for a day of informal chat, sightseeing and casual strolling before all attendees returned home: the successful experience in Amsterdam will surely contribute to even higher numbers attending in 2014, when the GPVWC Day will return in a location yet to be confirmed.