3 Months To Go

The last month has probably been the busiest so far and now there are only 3 months left of this fabulous year.I'm afraid my carbon footprint was particularly large as I flew up and down the country.Well here goes with a whistle stop tour of the last 6 weeks.
Unfortunately,June started badly with my partner Dee's son,Mark, seriously ill meaning we were unable to attend the West Midlands Association dinner.By all accounts it was a good night.
Mark spent most of the month in hospital,mainly in intensive care and Dee was not able to join me for most of my duties.Thankfully,he is now well on the road to recovery and I'd like to thank all of those who sent their good wishes.
The second week in June was particularly hectic.I had to be in the office on Monday,Wednesday and Friday for new Mmebers' training so getting to both the Fraud and Welsh conferences was particularly challenging.The first training session was at night so I ended up flying down to Bristol then driving to Kenilworth.I made the first day of the Fraud conference and then flew back up to Fife on the Wednsday only to fly back down so I could drive to central Wales.On the Thursday afternoon I drove back to Bristol then caught the plane back to Scotland.
In between the travel we had 2 excellent events.I thought the papers delivered at the fraud conference were first class and whilst delegate feedback has been good it is our only event which has seen a reduction in the numbers of those attending which is a concern.
The Welsh conference was also a great success with only a small number of Councils not represented.This is a great example of hard work being put in locally as this is still a relatively new event in our calendar.My thanks and congratulations go to Association members who helped to put this day together.
If that week's travel wasn't enough I flew back to London on the Friday night to see Mark in hospital and the following day flew to Vilnius (alone!) for our international conference.
This year we ran the conference with the International Property Tax Institute (IPTI) and there is no doubt it was a huge success with representatives from 23 countries attending.Mind you,it was really 24 as I had a delagate badge saying I was from ENGLAND.I'm still getting over that one!
I know that some of you will question why the Institute gets involved in overseas issues but I cannot overstate the high regard other countries have of us and whilst so many questions are asked here about our local taxation systems our European colleagues in particular look at us enviously.This was a really splendid event and I felt so priviliged that it fell in my Presidential year.
On my return I spoke at the Scottish Rates conference but only after the Scottish Parliament had voted in favour of Local Income Tax to replace council tax.This decision promises to generate significant debate and I look forward to the Institute playing a prominent role in this.Hopefully we will get the First Minister to address the Scottish conference in September on this highly sensitive and major issue.
The month ended with the London and Home Counties dinner.This was particularly timely as,with Mark out of hospital,Dee was able to attend the dinner with me and I have to say we both had a great night in the splendid surroundings of the Innholders building in London.
We are now in July and it has already been busy.Last week I had the good fortune to attend the garden party at Holyrood House and have afternoon tea with the Queen.Well,she was only a few yards away!This was followed by the East Anglian Association AGM,yet another example of a vibrant Association benefitting from the hard work of willing Association Executive volunteers.The meeting was followed by an afternoon at the races where I discovered something else at which I am useless,betting on horses.I did have a winner in the second last race only for my horse in the last race not getting out of the starting gate!
The week ended with a reception at the House of Lords at the Rating Surveyors Association reception,another enjoyable event.
With the full Council round the following week we stayed in London over the weekend taking in the Tour de France (in London??).The highlight of course was our Annual Reception at the Royal Courts of Justice.This is our opportunity to thank all those who work hard for the Institute and from my perspective it was a fantastic evening in a great setting.Thanks to all those who attended in making it such a great event for me.
The event also gave us the opportunity to celebrate our 125th year along with the launch of our celebratory magazine.Our magazines is another area where we are making great strides thanks to the sterling work of our very own "Scoop" Roberts although there are some dodgy photos in the latest Insight.Make sure you get your copies.
The last duty was to host the Past Presidents lunch.It's great to see so many of them still talking enthusiastically about the Institute.The most common factor,however,is how well they all look in retirement.I can't wait!
Well that was my whistle stop tour of the last 6 weeks.It's a bit calmer now as I go into my final 3 months in office but the time is being filled with Performance Award judging.What a great success our awards scheme is with record numbers of submissions.Unfortunately we can only have one winner in each of our categories but reading all of the submissions you cannot help but be impressed at all the good work being done in our industry throughout the UK not to mention the fact we also receive submissions from overseas.I'm looking forward to the inspection visits.I'm sure I will learn a lot.
We're now in the holiday season so I hope you all have the chance to have a good break.Mine won't come until after Ocober!