Celia Gilloway, event and show organiser par extraordinaire, quietly put together this most spectacular dinner!
Plenty of industry stalwarts attended, from Duimpie Bayly to Neil Ellis to Fiona McDonald, to Jan-Boland Coetzee, to Danie de Wet, to Allan Mullins, to name a few.
The evening was catered for by 4 of South Africa's top chefs, with MasterChef SA King Pete Goffe-Wood at the helm. Reuben Riffel, George Jardine and Bertus Basson worked alongside Pete to make the evening very special.
There were tons of wines to be auctioned, all donated by old friends and colleagues, to raise funds in a silent auction and also a very animated one run very ably and energetically by Mike Ratcliffe, who managed to knock everything up to R260 000! And this is not even counting the silent auction and the ticket sales on the night.
The room at Neethlingshof looked beautiful, all in white, with massive vases of bright colourful roses on the edges and on the tables, all donated kindly by Oak Valley.
Dave has clearly made many many friends over the years, and we were treated to wonderful stories by other legends, viz. Duimpie Bayly about Dave (the Great)'s arrival in the Cape centuries ago, and then Jan-Boland Coetzee on similar grounds!
Wishing Dave the very best for his birthday on Monday 12th June, with many more to come!
For those who couldn't be there on Friday, don't lose hope - Celia has another dinner up her sleeve, so watch this space!
George Jardine, Higgo Jacobs, Dave Hughes, Pete Goffe-Wood, Bertus Basson, Reuben Riffel & Mike Ratcliffe