Sad times and happy times

Over the past two weeks I have had the great pleasure of attending the conferences that I most looked forward to in this Presidential year - the Benefits and Benefits Fraud Conferences held consecutively in Southport. Southport was a new venue for these conferences although some of you may recall that we have used Southport for annual conference in the past. Indeed Frank Newton reminisced that he spoke at his first IRRV conference there 26 years ago!

A little time after Frank, my first benefit conference was Bournemouth in 1994 and Fraud came along later at Blackpool. As benefit is my primary discipline, these two conferences were really a proud moment to open and address my peers. I mentioned in my opening that I have been in benefits for 20 years. Actually it will be 20 years on 6th March ... it seems a long time ago in some respects, but I still remember my first day, when I was given the job of fetching the tea on the 2nd floor and promptly dropped the tray just as I arrived back on the ground floor. I think it is safe to say that on that day, none of my colleagues at Great Yarmouth Borough Council expected me to end up as President of the Institute !!!

Anyway, back to Southport... The new Ramada Hotel and renovated conference centre provided an excellent venue and although the hotel only has 135 rooms, there were plenty other hotels nearby and I heard delegates remark that it was nice to get out for a few minutes each day even if it was only for a brief walk between the venues.

The conference was a great success, with papers presented on many topical subjects. The Institute launched its new occasional paper on welfare reform where we are challenging the Government to consider our practical proposals on improved welfare delivery, not just limited to Housing and Council Tax Benefit. The paper will be available on the website shortly and we shall do further work on the areas that we hope will be taken forward in time. If you agree with our proposals please do help to raise the profile of this paper through your local MPs and pressure groups.

Sadly, I had to leave Southport on the last morning of conference, at the slightly unsocial hour of 6.00 am as we had learned of the death of Honorary Institute Member Frank Wright the previous week and his funeral was scheduled for the Thursday.

Frank was a very early member of the Northern Ireland Association and was pivotal in its development and successes over the years. I was able to meet Frank last year when I was in Belfast for a conference and he was indeed a worthy holder of the title of Honorary Member, Frank was hospitable, charming and kind. I felt honoured to have met him and I think it was only right that I should have attended the Thanksgiving Service with the Chief Executive.

For those of you who are unaware of the Honorary membership, we have very few of these. They are conferred by the Institute's Council to those that have given so much to the Institute, without self interest or reward. Should you meet one of our Honorary members you are indeed in privileged company.

I am looking forward to a full week in the office this week as we start our annual billing process, although I do have a dinner on Thursday night (CIPFA) and then the Lancashire and Cheshire Association dinner next Saturday night (providing all is well with billing!), so a quiet-ish couple of weeks to follow.

Still at least I am at home, Chief Executive David is flying out to Pakistan this week as the Institute has won some work advising on property rate scheme review. This is an excellent opportunity as we continue to broaden our commercial presence in other countries, sought after because of our expertise and abilities in billing and collection works. I wish David well on his travels!

Benefits Conference 2009 - photos

First 2009 updates!

Blog update time folks!

I have spent the last couple of weeks in the wonderful sunny climate of the Caribbean, therefore there has been no blog update for nearly a month.

I arrived back in the very cold UK on Wednesday this week and after a quick bit of shut-eye, I had repacked my bag and headed off to London for the January Council round. We normally meet on a Monday and Tuesday but as I had some committee meetings at work at the end of the first full week of January I couldn’t have fit in a holiday without a bit of manoeuvre.

Before I went on holiday I had visited the Bournemouth International Centre with Caroline Hopkins and Gary Watson to walk through the venue for annual conference in October. It looks set to be a truly memorable conference as once again we are looking at doing some slightly different things than when we were there last time.

Council round was busy as usual with Professional Conduct Committee starting at 9.30 am, followed by standing committees at 11.00 (working lunch) and then Policy and Resources at 3.30. We finished at 4.30 giving us 2 hours to get ready for our evening out, but I had a separate meeting with senior vice president Geoff Fisher and signed some certificates following the recent examination round. I feel that it is important that final qualification certificates are signed personally to recognise the achievement and work that the students have put in, well done to all those that are due to receive a certificate over the next few weeks.

We had an inter-institute wine tasting quiz with the Rating Surveyors Association as Tom Dixon (one of our council members) is also the President of the RSA this year. It was tough but great fun and it was two IRRV teams that finished first and second, I am not sure what that says about the IRRV council members and wine, I think I will leave you to make your own minds up!
I ended the evening with a couple of presentations to Bill Lovell and Alan Titheridge who had stepped down from Council in October but had joined us for the evening and also to Bob Trahern (Immediate past president) and a special presentation to Charles Partridge to congratulate him on having been awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List.

Council was at 9.00 on Tuesday morning, finishing around 11.00. It was nice to welcome the five new members to Council to their first meeting since the elections in October. They all demonstrated that they were keen to take part in the workings of the Council, joining in votes and debates. I also presented Bob with his past president badge, as a memento of his year in office.

I was able to spend most of Friday afternoon working through the mass of emails that accumulated during my absence from work as we were staying in Town for the London and Home Counties Association annual dinner. It was held in the magnificent surroundings of the Innholders Hall, the current building that dates back to just after the Great Fire of London in the 1660’s. It was truly a splendid evening in the company of the Chairman Kevin Sutch along with members of the association, sponsors and guests. There were also four other Council members present so it was indeed a glittering occasion. Kevin held an auction to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Research, and also a sweepstake based around the time that he hopes to run the London marathon in. As a result over £700 was raised on the night for his very worthy cause.

On a sad note, I intend to attend the funeral of Brian Hill this week. Brian was the Secretary of the Institute (now the position we call Chief Executive) prior to 1990. Brian was with the Institute for many years and there are many members that will remember him well. Brian’s funeral service will take place in Brighton on Tuesday, should anyone want details please contact the Chief Executive's office at the Institute.

I have this week in the office before I am off to Benefit conference in Southport, I hope to see many of you there. In the meantime, wrap up warm and let the preparations for annual billing keep you busy!

Caribbean photographs!