After a 3-year break due to COVID, an anniversary celebration finally took place on 13 January 2023.
All employees who were able to celebrate 25 or 40 years of service in 2022 met up in a casual atmosphere in the Panorama Restaurant. After an aperitif, AVR President Robert Gray welcomed the guests. The Tavero team conjured up an excellent menu, and between the various courses the AVR board members Susanne Löffler and Andreas Winkler recounted some special facts and figures from 1982 and 1997.
1982: Did you know that……
- Roche introduced the products Dormicum and Rocephin (among others)
- Argentina occupied the Falkland Islands, a British territory
- Nicole won the Grand Prix d’Eurovision with the song «Ein Bisschen Frieden»
- the film «E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial» came to the cinemas
- Roche had 46,484 employees and generated sales of approx. CHF 7.1 billion
- the AVR had 2388 active members
In 1997 the newsflow was as follows:
- Roche bought Boehringer Mannheim
- Introduction of, inter alia, Mabthera and Posicor
- The first cloned sheep was born (Dolly)
- Within a few minutes, the Zurich post office robbers grabbed 53 million Swiss francs
- The number of employees rose to 51,643 and sales to 18.8 billion Swiss francs
- The AVR had 3882 members
At the tables, there were numerous conversations about the «good old days», and many of the attendees had amusing anecdotes and funny stories to tell. When the evening came to an end – as such wonderful get-togethers have to at some point – the guests left satisfied and with memories of some enriching encounters.
On behalf of the entire AVR Board, I would like to thank everyone involved for the great evening. I’m already looking forward to the 2023 celebration!
Written by Michael Tilly, AVR site Representative Kaiseraugst