And the winner is ...

The subject of this blog post changed as a result of events that took place on Friday 13th September. Contrary to common lore, it turned out to be quite a lucky day for the Egypt Centre as our Front of House Manager (Angharad Gavin) and I attended the Swansea Life Awards 2019. The awards are Swansea’s red carpet event of the year, which rewards individuals and businesses that have helped to push Swansea onwards and upwards, with regards to outstanding quality, customer service, and innovation. More than 450 guests packed Swansea’s Brangwyn Hall to celebrate this year’s awards (fig. 1). Thousands of votes were cast and those three businesses with the highest number of votes were shortlisted in each of the seventeen categories. The category winners with the most votes were revealed on the night, which was hosted by the Commercial Managing Director at Media Wales, Lisa Cameron, and Kev Johns.

Fig. 1: Angharad and I dressed for the occasion

The Egypt Centre had been shortlisted for the leisure and culture category, which was sponsored by BusinessLife. Perhaps rather fittingly the theme for this year was Africa, with excellent entertainment provided throughout the night in the form of singers, dancers, and drummers. The soundtrack to the Lion King also featured heavily. The dinner for the evening, provided by JR Events & Catering, was a Kenyan vegetable samosa for starter, oven roasted chicken breast with a South African pepper cream sauce for the main, and a delightful “Simba’s Pride ‘Lion Bar’ cheesecake and butterscotch sauce” (fig. 2).

Fig. 2: “Simba‘s Pride” cheesecake

The shortlist for the leisure & tourism category consisted of the LC Swansea, Plantasia, and the Egypt Centre. Having won the award last year, we were not expecting to repeat our success. However, we were delighted when our name was announced (fig. 3)! This achievement is down to the hard work and determination of our staff and wonderful volunteers, without whom it wouldn’t have been possible. We would also like to thank all those who have supported us over the years, and particularly to everyone who voted for us. Congratulations to all those shortlisted, and especially to the winners.

Fig. 3: Our framed award

Why not pop down to the Egypt Centre to see for yourselves why we have won this award two years in a row. You can even see our own “lion queen” in the form of this statue of the goddess Sekhmet (fig. 4)!

Fig. 4: Statue of Sekhmet (W496)