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On 4th July 2011 we teamed up with Canary Wharf to celebrate the life and times of Reg Ward who sadly died on January 2011 - click here for more of the tributes which poured in when the news seeped out. The Canary Wharf Celebration, held at the East Wintergarden, was also an opportunity to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the incorporation of the LDDC on 2nd July 1981. More than 200 people were there.

During the evening the gathering was addressed by:

• Lord Heseltine who couldn't be present but had paid a visit to Canary Wharf to record his remarks on video
• Eric Sorensen the LDDC's penulitimate chief executive,
• Kevin Wall of Barclays who presented a portrait of Reg Ward by Derek Chambers to take pride of place in Canary Wharf's Board Rooom and Howard Dawber of the Canary Wharf Group,
• Richard Desmond, chairman of the Northern and Shell Group who was one of the first investors in Docklands
• Stuart Innes, who spoke on behalf of the Corporation's staff and presented Reg Ward's daughter, Sarah Shearer, with the Attendance Book signed by all those attending
• Sarah's husband, Iain Shearer, an investor in Docklands

The Master of Ceremonies for this part of the evening was David Donoghue, who was the LDDC's Director of Communications in the early days. By clicking the links above you can see a video clip of each speech. The clips are taken from a video of the evening which sadly is too large to go on this website. But if you'd like a copy we'll be happy to send you one for a fiver to cover copying, postage and packing. All you need to do is to send an e-mail and we'll respond with details of how to obtain a copy.

Here is some of the press coverage of the event:

• The London Evening Standard
• The Estates Gazette - an article by Jackie Sadek in her Regeneration and Prpoerty column
• The Docklands
• The Wharf
• The East London Advertiser

Afterwards many of those attending went on to an “after party” at Wetherspoons in the Ledger Building on West India Quay (next to the Museum of Docklands). Reg Ward had his office in the Ledger Building during the early days of the LDDC and Wetherspoons very kindly agreed to name one of their side rooms the "Reg Ward Room". The Wetherspoons manager, John Wall, was presented with a picture of Reg Ward to be displayed on the wall of the Reg Ward Room along with a suitable plaque.

In addressing the gathering Stuart Innes paid tribute to the team which had organised the events at the East Wintergarden and at Weatherspoons including Pat Ward, Sue Brown, John Johnson and David Donoghue as well as Howard Dawber, Rosie Joseph, Dorothy Rugira and many others at Canary Wharf whose help had been unstinting.

These pictures were taken by Express Photo Services. Click the thumbnails to see the picture at 600 pixels wide. If asked, Express will no doubt provide full size copies of the photgraphs, including prints, but expect a small charge to cover printing and postage and packing costs.

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