Welcome to the winter Special Edition, which, as is the custom, focuses on our recent Annual Lecture, Lunch and Awards – the 46th since the formation of the Society! 

We had a fascinating keynote lecture by Richard Humphrey, Operations Director, His Church, on its incredible work in redistributing food, drink and other goods to the needy in the UK and abroad. Richard illustrated how HIS Church’s charitable distributions are both direct and through a network of over 3,000 Charitable Organisations who help vulnerable people worldwide, including Foodbanks, Homeless Outreaches, Children’s Charities, Cancer Support Charities, Domestic Abuse Refuges, Hospitals, Schools, Local Councils and Football Club Foundations/Community Trusts. Yet again, it was to a full house at The Brewery, underlining the importance of booking early. So, save the date for 2026 to avoid disappointment. Further details of the lecture are in this issue for members who missed it alongside photos of guests who joined us on the day.  As always, this was a great opportunity to catch-up with former colleagues as well as members and leave the event with a warm fuzzy feeling. This is undoubtedly the industry’s best event for celebrating individual and team success and this edition highlights all of the winners and highly commended entrants – congratulations to all of you for your well-deserved recognition.  On the subject of well-deserved recognition our “Director in the spotlight” in this edition, is one of our new Directors, Zara Thomson. I hope you enjoy this issue and once again thanks to the team for producing another great edition, Our next edition will be the spring 2026 edition, members interested in submitting articles for that, or any future editions are encouraged to contact SOFHT (inclusion of articles is subject to acceptance by the editorial team). 2025 has been another busy year for SOFHT’s Director’s, especially with its new initiatives supported by our members; however, everything is made possible by the hard work of and with thanks to Karen Best and the office team who will be taking a well-deserved break between the 23rd December and 2nd January 2025, particularly after another demanding and successful Annual Lunch which has been our best yet. I hope members will be getting some valuable downtime too. Finally, may I take this opportunity to wish you a restful and happy festive period with health and happiness for the coming year!

 See you in 2026!