2011 HSBC Rugby Charity Dinner

On Friday night Queenie and I had the privilege of attending the annual rugby charity dinner whose guest speaker was none other than dual code (union & league) international rugby player John "Bentos" Bentley who featured on the 1997 Lions tour to South Africa.

Paul, Queenie & John Bentley

The dinner is an annual event now and was first initiated after the Bali Bomb Blasts in 2002. The dinners were aimed at raising funds for the families of members of the Taipei rugby community that were murdered in the bomb blasts and also helps those who suffered injury. The charity has also expanded to assisting a young man that was injured playing rugby here in Taiwan, The Harmony Home Aids Orphanage in Taipei and the development of rugby in Taipei. All worthwhile causes. We went with some of our friends including Andy, his wife Julia, Hector and Mark as well as a bunch of other friends we have got to know over the years watching rugby at the Brass Monkey.

The main speaker at the event was John "Bentos" Bentley. John was a dual-code international playing both Rugby Union and Rugby League at the international level. He was a member of the British & Irish Lions team that toured South Africa in 1997 and beat the Springboks. John was an amazing speaker and entertained the audience for an hour with his jokes and perspectives on rugby. It was truly a pleasure meeting him. I have linked to two videos on the history of the tour below:

Lions Tour 1997 - Part 1:


Lions Tour 1997 - Part 2:

The event was amazing and we had a lot of fun. The best part was catching up with all our friends. Pictures of us and our friends are below.

Queenie and Hector


Andy and Julia


Hector, Mark & Paul


Queenie and Julia


John Bentley & Hector


John Bentley and Hector


Paul and Bernie


Table Center Piece


Hector


All of Us


Some of the Taipei Baboons

Queenie and I had a truly awesome time and we will be sure to attend the event next year. It is for a worthwhile cause. The food was awesome and the speaker was great. We had a truly wonderful time with our friends.