Well, I'm very pleased indeed to confirm that I'm not going to be serving the rest of my Presidential term on crutches as I survived my short trip to the Aosta Valley unscathed or almost unscathed............I did take a tumble on the last day but the only injury sustained was to the funsize bag of maltesers I had in my pocket. As you may be able to detect from the picture, this may have been less to do with the red run I was descending and more to do with the red wine I had with lunch. Well, it was a holiday after all and I'd like to thank fellow Council member Ian Ferguson, his good lady Karen and son Matthew for adopting me for the short break. 

But, back to the serious affair of the day job and IRRV Presidential duties.  The first of the Association dinners of 2019 was the West Midlands Association annual dinner held in Bromsgrove. As always, the local Association did themselves proud with a wonderfully well organised event. I’d like to formally extend my thanks to the Association President – Neil Jinks and the entire Exec who made the event such a success. However, I have to admit that things were a little fraught in the Freeth car initially as we struggled to find the hotel. I think the sat nav was having an off day as we checked the post code several times and still ended up driving in ………….and then out…………..of the centre of Bromsgrove more than once! Luckily Kerry decided to try the map app on his phone which took us back the way we had come for 2.5 miles. I must admit I was somewhat sceptical but, to be fair, it worked and we found the hotel which actually couldn’t have been much easier in terms of how close it was to the motorway and indeed how far it was from the centre of Bromsgrove where we had been initially. These things happen of course but we had carefully planned our departure in order to ensure that we arrived at the hotel in time to watch one of the most crucial matches of the 2019 Six Nations tournament – England V Wales. Sadly our plans and hopes were dashed as we arrived, flustered, with the first half well underway and the score sadly against Wales. Nervously waiting until half time to get a drink to calm the nerves we did then manage to watch a glorious victory for Wales. Apologies to all those English supporters!

Before we knew it, it was time to get changed and join the West Midlands association for their dinner and official photographs. After a wonderful meal, and a few obligatory speeches, the night concluded with a disco and a casino! I was a little concerned about the latter as my luck had probably been used up for the day with the Welsh victory. However, it turned out to be played with fake cash. Not that it helped me much though as I didn’t do very well at all.    

In addition to attending association dinners and other social events, the President is also responsible for chairing the national Council meetings and moving forward on any strategic issues. The first meeting of Council in 2019 was held on 28^th January at HQ in High Holborn where there was one agenda item which dominated i.e. responses received to the consultation on the future of the IRRV. It was heartening to see that there were 17 responses in total, some from individuals but many more from Associations representing the views of numerous members. Unlike some other consultations, we are genuinely interested in the views of our members and it was decided, after quite a lengthy discussion, that the best way to move things forward would be to have a smaller meeting with the chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive, President, Senior and Junior Vice Presidents, Honorary Treasurer and chairs of the standing committees. This took place on 21^st February, largely by conference call in order to keep costs to a minimum. A list of action points will be taken to the next Council meeting in April for approval unless there is a requirement to have them approved at the AGM. An extraordinary meeting was considered but decided against therefore the AGM will see changes approved in Telford in October. So, watch this space!