About 200 actuaries with family and corporate friends enjoyed an evening at Bafta's headquarters in Piccadilly on 12 March organised by the Worshipful Company of Actuaries (WCA).
To kick off, an award-winning film of Noel Coward's play Private Lives was shown in the Princess Royal Theatre. Following this, an excellent meal was enjoyed by guests at Bafta's David Lean room immediately below their cinema.
During the evening a raffle and silent auction took place. This, together with other generous donations received from WCA members, raised a magnificent £20,000 for the WCA Charitable Trust. This will go to supporting our two newest educational projects.
The first of these is the Royal Institution's maths masterclass programme for post-GCSE students. Through our help, the Royal Institution has managed to more than double its reach in the hope that those with latent mathematical ability do not remain lost in the maelstrom of the UK education system.
The second project is very new. The WCA wishes to assist schools with strong mathematical departments to take their skills and enthusiasm into the community through a range of outreach programmes, so that it is not just those lucky enough to be in the good schools that have their talents nurtured and extended. The first school we are supporting is St Olave's School in Orpington, which is already setting a great example. We hope that, with our help, it will be able to expand those activities even further.