Friday last I attended the Association of Chief Estates Surveyors' centenary luncheon. It was a lovely lunch in the crypt at the Guildhall. However, I think I was most impressed over the comparison with our own Institute. We celebrated our 125th Anniversary in 2007, so we are of a similar age of ACES. However, in comparison with our 5000 membership, ACES has only 400 members. We must step back on occasion and consider the attributes of our Institute. We often say what a small organisation we are, but, in comparison with others, we must appear actually quite large.
This week saw a rare attendance at a Forum day on Monday. As always I was really pleased to see that many of the attendees are happy to contribute to the information exchange and that the coverage was as good as ever. I am sure that those of you who do subscribe to the Forum really find them of value and those of you that don’t - maybe it is time to give it a go?
Tuesday - we had a syllabus review group at Doughty Street and got our teeth in to the format of the new corporate examination structure. Most of you will be aware of changes to the certificate examination are being finalised and it was time to turn our attention to the remainder of our qualification to make it relevant and adding value to our members and potential members today. We have some audacious aspirations for the qualification with each stage resulting in a recognised level of qualification with transferable elements for outside qualifications at the higher levels. I shan’t say anymore other than it is quite exciting and this will be driven forward over the next few months.
Wednesday - I travelled to Birmingham in the evening for the World of E-learning Awards, where the ESA module of Euclidian was up for a rapid learning award. Sadly we didn’t win but it was a fun evening (including service highlights such as the plates were piled up in front of diners on the table to be cleared and the poached pairs being so undercooked that they were all but pinging off the plates as diners attempted to carve them by spoon or fork, perhaps we would have been more successful with a chain saw? - must remember to pack one for future events).
Thursday saw a very early start as we left Birmingham on the 8.00 am train in order to make it back for the Examination and Assessment Board meeting at 10.15 in London. I was able to do some e-mails and work on the laptop on the way so it was 2 hours well spent. The Board was considering the final tweaks to the certificate syllabus and discussing matters such as transition for existing students who may be caught up in the change. You see, when you change a syllabus or structure, there are many elements that have to be considered to ensure as smooth a path of change as possible.
After the board meeting, David Magor and I met with the Institute's accountants for an update on our financial position and then we had a lunch date with past president Tom Dixon, to talk about a liaison event between the RSA (of which Tom is the current President) and the IRRV in January. The day did not end there as after lunch David, Rachel, Colin and myself met up at a potential venue for the annual reception in June to see if it could meet our requirements. As you know the venue is kept as a surprise until much nearer the date, but I will say that I hope that those of you who attend will have a fun evening and if David's and Colin’s reaction at the venue was anything to go on, I think it is safe to say that you will!
Colin and I finally got out of London at 5.30 (having arrived at 9.40am!) and had to hope the train wouldn’t be delayed as we were due to meet Colin’s Brother and sister-in-law from Gatwick and then go out for dinner. As it turned out they hopped on to our train at Gatwick so we all arrived home at the same time!
Friday was my 10th day and so I did not have to fly off to work first thing - a good job as we were off at 12.30 to attend the East Midlands Association dinner that evening. What should have been a 3 hour drive turned in to 4 and a half, largely due to the volume of traffic and roadworks along the M1 but also as he instructions we had to find the hotel told us to take the third exit off the roundabout (or Traffic Island as they call them in the Midlands). However, not only do we call the “roundabouts” by different names in the south we seem to have a different method of counting. Now I know that maths is not my strong point, but I defy anyone to exit on Junction 24 of the M1 and find the Hilton Hotel on the third exit! It is actually the 2nd exit, but, because there is a dual carriageway entry and exit on the roundabout for the prior exit (which I count as one not two) it is somewhat confusing! There are four roads that lead off this roundabout and I am now well acquainted with all of these roads as it was “Murphys” law that proved the last one that we tried was the right one! We arrived at the hotel a little frazzled but with plenty of time to unwind and relax before the dinner.
The black tie dinner was excellent with over 130 guests. We were all delighted to see that Gary Watson was able to join us, looking fit and well and very much on good form! The band and disco after the dinner were really good and the dance floor was full most of the night.
Our table nearly set off the fire alarm as the CEO managed to place his charity envelope a little too close to the tea light and it was only when we saw the plume of smoke rising that we realised he had actually set fire to it! David didn’t win in the raffle I suspect that his entry was somewhat charred!
The Raffle raised over £700 for Alistair Townsend’s chosen charity of the paediatric unit at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham, a worthwhile charity and fabulous support from those in attendance. I have asked that Presidents/Chairs of the Associations do adopt a local charity for any fundraising at their events as I think that local people are happy to support local charities and this was an excellent example of this.
I was very pleased to be part of the event and I would like to say a big thank you to all who were there for making us feel very welcome, especially the exec members who proved (especially in comparison with the events from earlier in the week) how very brilliantly the IRRV stages social activities.
Below : Past President Allan Traynor and Scottish Association President Hillary Kelly
Below : Julie addresses the IRRV Scottish Association and Forum Joint Meeting
