President Ken McLeod confirmed the event will now go ahead on Tuesday, April 24, at its original venue of the Crowne Plaza hotel in Glasgow after the polar vortex dubbed the "Beast From The East" brought heavy snow and blizzards to Scotland and large parts of the UK.
He thanked SPAA secretary Janice Hogarth and the dinner committee for their “sterling work” in rescheduling the event, as well as Dominic McVey, general manager of the Crowne Plaza, for his “patience, support and understanding in what has been a very difficult 24 hours”.
The dinner’s speakers, Travel Counsellors founder David Speakman and comedian Jo Caulfield, have confirmed they will attend the rescheduled event.
Revellers had been set to travel to Glasgow for the 88th edition of the event last night (March 1) but the hazardous weather created travel chaos with large swathes of flights and trains cancelled and drivers stranded on motorways.
On Wednesday, February 28 the Met Office issued a red weather alert warning of “damage, widespread disruption and/or danger to life” in Scotland.
McLeod said: “Cancelling the SPAA Dinner for the first time in its 88 year history because of bad weather was not a first I was looking for, especially in my debut year as president. However, the safety and wellbeing of all our guests was paramount, and although we delayed the decision until the last possible moment, we had little choice but to postpone.
“We would like to offer our sincere apologies to all those who were trying to attend. We are very aware of the time, trouble, and obviously cost that many friends and colleagues would have incurred.
“We very much hope that as many of our original guests as possible, plus those that could not attend this week, will be able to join us on the new, revised and ‘improved’ date,” added McLeod, who joked that the “improvement” would be because better weather was more likely in April.
