As I reflect on the past two years as your Chairman, of the many good things that have happened three stand out.

The first is this Branch magazine News & Views, which provides a forum and a focus for members’ thoughts. We should be extremely grateful to that small band of editors and subeditors who have kept this publication going in a continuous stream since its inception in 1986. And we should enthusiastically embrace this facility to express our views, and lighten the task of the current editors, Roger and Peter, where possible, by for instance making our contributions well in advance of the printer’s deadline (unlike the writer in the present instance!).

The second particularly good thing is the education subcommittee, which under the inspiration of Rod O’Driscoll has really taken off. A very productive and enjoyable Arbitration Problem-Solving Workshop was held in March of this year, but the real achievement has been the three very successful Branch entry courses we have run during the past two years. Participant numbers rose each time, and last time reached an amazing 27 delegates in all. This venture has not only won new members for the Chartered Institute and the Branch, but it has also had the spin-off of creating tutoring strength in depth within the Branch, which currently has 8 active entry course tutors, and the potential to create more from other members who may be interested.

The third good thing of particular note, of which we can all be proud and even prouder, is the growing groundswell of support for our monthly meetings at Reigate Manor Hotel. We have been very fortunate with our speakers, and I was fortunate to inherit the meeting venue move from Croydon to the Bridge House Hotel on Reigate Hill in January 2001. It has to be said that this venue move did not suit everybody at the time, particularly the train travellers, but the road access and accommodation quality we sought was not available within our means in Croydon. Indeed the move to the Bridge House was recognised to be somewhat outside our means on a long-term basis, but within our capacity to fund for a couple of years until we saw how things would turn out. Happily the further move lower down Reigate Hill to the Reigate Manor Hotel in May 2002 has eliminated the budget deficit of the previous year. Since then I have become more convinced that the moves have been well worthwhile, particularly when new faces kept pitching up meeting after meeting, and even better when they became regular attendees. And now that we seem to have got the buffet sorted out at Reigate Manor, I look forward to continued growth in numbers attending regularly.

My thanks to the committee for all their help during the past two years, and my very best wishes and support to Harvey, who has taken over the reins. I am looking forward to a somewhat quieter involvement for a while, and am somewhat surprised at how quickly my seemingly endless stint has passed.