The President writes…

In the last issue I said that it had been a hectic few months and I would like to thank all of the Executive and in particular the Officers for their enormous contributions, considerable amount of time and tremendous support. Quite a few things have been achieved and many more are still in progress.

Dr Jim Burnell-Grey continues to be a outstanding Hon Secretary and I very much appreciate his support and the enormous workload he had recently undertaken while always providing prompt replies and actions.

It gives me great pleasure to congratulate Don Harrop who becomes President of the European Federation of Corrosion later this year and we wish him every success during his term of office. Don’s commitment to the Institute was clearly demonstrated when he took up the post of Hon Director of Standards following his term as President. In order to free up some time, Don has stepped down from the Executive, but remains fully supportive behind the scenes. I am pleased to have found a very able replacement in Dr Paul McIntyre who has taken over as Co-ordinator for Technical Committees and Standards (TCS). Paul will have his own regular column in this Journal and he more fully explains this in his article.

Another new member of the Executive and a Trustee of the Institute is David Deacon who has accepted the position of Vice President. David is well known to many of you and is highly respected in the coating industry. He brings a deep knowledge of the Institute and keen business skills to the Executive which makes David an excellent President Elect. Already he is actively supporting the Branch network and is drawing up a central list of possible speakers / topics and suitable technically biased visits. We would be most grateful for anyone who would like to be included on this list to contact David at Head Office.

Our new Hon Assistant Secretary has been very active on a number of fronts. Marian Challis, studying for engineering doctorate at Swansea is developing better contact and communications between the Executive Branches and Divisions. As a co-ordinated exercise, David, Marian or I will visit all Branches and look forward to receiving invitations to contribute or just attend and listen.

Corrosion Odyssey 2001 being held in Edinburgh this September promises to be one of our biggest and most successful conferences for many years. I am very pleased that we are running this in conjunction with the UK section of NACE and we have had an overwhelming response world-wide to our call for papers. Here again Marian is playing a vital part as Chair of the Social Committee. Those of you who know Marian will agree I am sure that organising a social programme in a place know for its range of whiskeys and entertainment will provide no difficulties. Our immediate Past president, Dr Robert Edyvean is also very busy as Chair of the Technical Committee as his report details in the central pages of this Journal. As exhibition stands will be limited to 24, early booking is very advisable.

Marian with Flavie Moulinier from Birmingham University has formed a Younger Members Committee within the Corrosion Science Division (CSD). Further details are given in the article. Please encourage all your student contacts to respond and perhaps even join the Institute.

The CSD is also under new management with Dr Alison Davenport of Birmingham University as Chair and Dr Sue Impey of Cranfield University as Hon Secretary.

I am very pleased that Dr Anne Neville of Heriot Watt University Edinburgh, has agreed to become the Editor for new publications and books while remaining as Chair of the Scottish Branch.

The membership survey has been well received with a good response. It is not yet too late to complete your form and it is still available by e-mail from Leighton-Buzzard. I hope Steve Barke will be able to publish some preliminary results in the next issue.

The Financial Team of Eddie Field and Dr Tony Collins have made great advances in revising our financial procedures and controls. Tony hopes to launch a Benevolent Fund in the near future and we hope to produce an annual financial surplus for the first time in many years.

Among a number of recent major new initiatives underway two deserve a mention at this stage.

We had a very fruitful and encouraging meeting with the Engineering Council and we hope to apply for Affiliate Status before Easter. All the signs are that this will be successful and that we should be able to progress to nominated status for CEng, IEng and EngT within 3 to 5 years. We should also be able to support any such applications in the meantime with the co-operation and in conjunction with one of our sister Institutes. However we need to introduce a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme as soon as possible and this is being handled by the PDC lead by Peter Morgan who has been instrumental in all of this.

The second initiative has a number of high priority end products, namely to provide better funding for Branches and Divisions, increase the number and value of Company subscriptions, increase membership, improve the Source Guide at the back of this journal and develop closer links with industry. Discussions should be finalised at the Council Meeting on 19^th April when more details will be announced.

Finally can I encourage everyone to be proactive in recruiting new members. This is an ideal time as subscriptions paid now are valid until June 2002 and I know that there are many people just waiting to be invited to join. A Business Card sent to HO will guarantee an application form and a Membership Pack by return of post.

John T. O’Shea, President.