Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

Y ou have worked hard, time for a big break. Time for the 3 Cs: Charity, confer- ence and congeniality. In Feb- ruary you have the opportunity to travel to Cape Town in South Africa for the Clinical Innovations Conference and tour in associa- tion with Smile-On and the AOG. The AOG is well known for its packed dinner dates, fun fam- ily days, international trips and worldwide charitable projects. Last year’s trip to India was a re- sounding success; if you missed that then this year’s trip to South Africa is a must. The AOG trip to South Africa is not the only option for a fundrais- ing awareness visit, it is a chance to see some outstanding sights. During the last 40 years all AOG activities have led to a charitable contribution as a matter of habit. As well as supporting a cleft lip and palate treatment centre that provides facilities for 500 villages with respect to dental care, the AOG involved in building of a rehabilitation centre for disabled people in Musoma. You will have truly unique ex- perience in South Africa with an international conference and din- ner, a major themed occasion, a significantcharitableact,toursand dances. Thereisalsolotsoftimeto devotetorelaxingandunwinding. For further details on forth- coming trips, or to join, visit www. aoguk.org. DT Working for a greater good A young entrepreneur based in Cardiff has do- nated £500 to SmileTrain a charity that provides free cleft surgery to hundreds of thousands of poor children in developing countries. Clefts are currently a major problem in developing countries where millions of children are suffering with unrepaired clefts. Most cannot eat or speak proper- ly, aren’t allowed to attend school or hold a job. They face incredibly difficult lives and their clefts usu- ally go untreated because they are poor – too poor to pay for a simple surgery that has been around for decades. UKloupes donates £3 from every sale to SmileTrain and have, through other fund raising events, donated more than £1500 to the charity. Dave Stone, founder of UK- loupes and a newly qualified den- tist, comments: “In such a tough economic climate, it’s easy to for- get about others in the world who may be suffering more than just financial difficulties.” The UKloupes donations will have provided cleft lip and palate surgery for 10 children as well as training surgeons and providing medications and equipment. DT UKloupes donates £500 to keep children smiling Surveys recognise Wesleyan as top industry performer January 23-28, 2012United Kingdom Edition W esleyan Assur- ance Society, the Birmingham-based financial services specialist for doctors, dentists, teachers and lawyers, has again topped a leading industry survey for the performance of its with profits bond. The bond was named top performer in a Money Man- agement survey* published earlier this month giving Wes- leyan savers the best payouts on their investments and out- performing similar products from larger firms such as LV= and Prudential. The survey looked at the ‘cash in’ value for a £10,000 initial investment over one to 10 years. Wesleyan took the top spot not only for ten years – which saw a return of £16,805, with an AGR (Annual Growth Rate) of 5.3 per cent, compared to the 1 per cent net from an average 90 day depos- it account over the same pe- riod – but also over six, seven, eight and nine years. These results come on the back of Wesleyan being rated a ‘rock solid 10 out of 10’ in an independent survey of with profits offices by Cazalet Con- sulting, making it the only life office to achieve this feat for seven successive years. The report said: “[Wes- leyan] continues to top the charts with regard to impres- sive with profits financial strength, good investment flexibility and relatively very strong underlying investment performance, added to which the Society has managed the rare feat, compared to the sector as a whole, of attract- ing more in premium income than it has been paying out in claims during the past couple of years.” Wesleyan Chief Executive Craig Errington said: “With the uncertainty in the econ- omy, reports like this high- lighting our track record of financial strength and invest- ment performance reassure our customers that Wesleyan is a safe place to invest their money. “We can expect the next 12 months to be another dif- ficult period for savers and investors, especially with in- terest rates expected to re- main at record lows, but we are confident customers will continue to benefit from our financial strength and our mutuality.” * Results taken from Money Management magazine study published 01.01.2012 ‘With profits bonds: latest results’. Results tracked cash in values to November 2011. DT