DINING WITH THE AMBASSADORS
For more than two decades, the biennial Dining with the Ambassadors has been a celebrated signature spring event, bringing Rockcliffe neighbours together and raising funds for our community’s programs and events.
Dining with the Ambassadors returned after a four-year hiatus on Friday May 12th 2023. Our next Dining with the Ambassadors will be held spring 2025.
WHAT IS DINING WITH THE AMBASSADORS?
Dining with the Ambassadors is the Rockcliffe Park Foundation’s principal fundraising event. It is a special evening during which dinners are generously hosted at more than a dozen of the official residences of ambassadors and high commissioners who make Rockcliffe their home away from home. A unique twist on the “dinner at an official residence” format, Dining with the Ambassadors is as much as anything else, a celebration of neighbours.
The evening begins with a pre-dinner reception for all guests and hosts – the largest gathering of Rockcliffe neighbours - at the Rockcliffe Community Hall. It is only at this reception that our diplomatic neighbours and dinner hosts are revealed! Memorably elegant dinners follow and friendships are made. Over the years, this fundraiser has grown into a favourite neighbourhood tradition.
Funds raised fund the Rockcliffe newsletter and RPRA events including our neighbourhood’s Heritage Walk, Movie Night, Rockcliffe Community Tree Day, Speakers Program, and the Children’s Holiday Party. Funds raised also support the Foundation’s commitment to ongoing environmental and conservation programs in Rockcliffe Park. These include water testing at the Pond and McKay Lake, tree planting to preserve our maturing tree canopy, maintenance of the sports field at Rockcliffe Park Public School and Jubilee Garden, and conservation initiatives including the data collection project this summer on Pond use so that efforts at both conservation and continued access to the Pond can be maintained.
Our sincere thanks to our diplomatic hosts and event partners: Marilyn Wilson Dream Properties Christie’s International Real Estate Cocktail Reception Presenting Sponsor; The Minto Group and Foundation WCPD.
Dining with the Ambassadors is an event for residents of Rockcliffe. For a look at Dining with the Ambassadors 2019, see below.
Dining with the Ambassadors 2023
2023 Organizing Committee: Sarah Baxter and Fiona Murray (co-chairs), Marilyn Collette, Robert Collette, Joseph Cull, Cynthia Cusinato, Jill Dickinson, Marianne Feaver, Kristen Healy, Jane Newcombe, Jane Panet, Sarah Waters, Marilyn Wilson
2023 Diplomatic Hosts: Heads of Mission for Algeria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Cyprus, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and Thailand.
2023 Event Partners: Reception Presenting Sponsor, Marilyn Wilson Dream Properties Christies International Real Estate, and Village Friends, The Minto Group and Foundation WCPD.
ROCKCLIFFE CHEER STATION - NEIGHBOURS GIVE A HUGE WELCOME TO MARATHONERS - MAY 26 2024
A fun and festive crowd of neighbours lined Lisgar Road at Mariposa on Sunday May 26th, holding signs and cheering on the leagues of runners passing by.
The jubilant neighbours danced to music, roared with excitement, and held out signs as the marathoners raced by. Some runners visibly flexed with pride in response to the crowd’s cheers.
Joseph Cull hosted the Rockcliffe Park Foundation Cheering Station at the 29-km mark of the marathon once again this year.
“I’m so impressed with the physical feat that these people are able to accomplish,” Joseph said. “And the crowd cheering on strangers - it feels really good.”
Not all those taking part in the 50th anniversary of Ottawa Race weekend marathon were strangers, however. Warm congratulations to our neighbours who trained and accomplished this incredible feat, including: Father and son duo, Jean and Pierre Boivin, Pablo Castro, Marie-Lyne Desjardins, Jack Gibson, Devon Hanson-Wright, and Emma Kerr. “
Check out the fun we had cheering on the Ottawa marathoners (links below)!
