Letter from the President - February 2019

Dodgy landings, bingo, and of course the odd Welsh connection, Louise Freeth’s year is already full of the unexpected! 

Welcome to the second of my letters as national President. Things have become a little busier since I last sat down to write to you, both personally and professionally. You may recall that, in my last letter, I spoke of the role of the Associations as being something close to my heart. For this reason, I’d like to visit as many professional meetings and social occasions as possible during my tenure. 

Since my last missive to you I’m please to say that I have been to Chesterfield to support the East Midlands Association on the occasion of their annual dinner. It was a privilege to get to know the local President, Claire Moses, a little better and my thanks go to the whole Executive Committee for a very well organised and entertaining evening. Words won’t be able to do justice to the skills of Andrew Solley as resident bingo caller for the evening, but clearly all that experience with numbers in revenues was put to good use. So impressed was I with just how entertaining bingo can be, I even ordered a set from a well-known internet shopping site to keep the Freeth clan entertained after the Christmas meal! 

Talking of clans, it was also my pleasure to take not one but two trips to support the work of the Scottish Association recently. Initially to open the Scottish Benefits and Welfare Reform Conference in Grangemouth in November and then in December to attend the Forum Meeting and Scottish President’s reception. I have to say that I’m not a nervous flyer but the second trip did cause me to recite a few “Hail Marys” as the pilot suddenly aborted the first attempt to land, despite being directly over the runway with wheels down ready and waiting. Apparently, the approach was somewhat “unstable” - well that was the technical description for it anyway. Alarm bells should have started ringing when I saw that the plane was a very small prop job, not something you see too often at Heathrow. 

There is always a lot happening in our profession, whichever field you work in. Whether it is an official conference, professional meeting or a social occasion, the opportunity to network with like-minded individuals is invaluable. Having worked my years in revenues and benefits, whether from within local government or the private sector, I can still appreciate the challenges faced by colleagues in the rating profession. Representing the IRRV at events hosted by both the Rating Surveyors’ Association and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Diploma Holders recently provided me with an opportunity to discuss these in more detail with their representatives. It also turned up an unknown Welsh connection – well, with a name like Tom Emlyn Jones there was a fairly good chance of the RSA President having some Welsh heritage, but it turns out his grandmother was from the same part of South Wales as myself! 

Yours, 

Louise

Louise Freeth IRRV (Hons) is President of the Institute