A.O.S.A. 2009 ANNUAL REPORT

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Officially this is my fourth edition of the Mag; how time flies. I say officially as I have had very little input to the Mag you are now reading. Last Autumn it became clear that I was going to find it difficult to put the Mag together, as changes at work meant I had to spend increasing amounts of time away from home. Fortunately, Dick Dennis and Gill Jackson stepped into the breach and took over the production. I am extremely grateful for this help, which also proved doubly important, as during what should have been the busiest time for the Mag, my wife was taken ill. As I write this she awaits a further operation and tests that will hopefully be over and behind us by the time the presses start rolling. To quote many a politician “I wish to spend more time with my family,” or to put it another way, they need more of my time. As a result, I will not be standing for re-election as the Hon. Editor at the AGM. I would like to thank Gill Jackson and Dick Dennis for their help with putting the Mags together, and especially taking over the production of this current issue; I also thank the Executive Committee for their support.

James Slater (1974-78)

Gill Jackson and James Slater

Although I continued to write and edit the News for James Slater since I ‘retired’ in 2005 I never, in a million years, thought I would ever end up back in charge. That is until October of last year and a change in James’s circumstances. A case of one of those ‘best laid schemes’ etc.

Without the enormous amount of help I received from Dick Dennis, who has, almost instantly, transferred every article, item, photo I have sent him into PDF format (i.e. as they will appear in the finished AR), I simply could not have managed. How James coped last year when Dick’s health prevented him from any involvement and he, James, had to put the entire Mag together, photos and all, entirely on his own, I cannot imagine. I take my hat off to him. James has indicated that he will not be standing for re-election at the AGM in June. I would like to thank him very much for all the hard work he has put in over the past three and half years to ensure that members of the Association continued to receive their Annual Reports each May. I hope he and Pam and their family will still come and visit us at reunion times.

Dick’s work on the website is also of enormous value to anyone editing our Annual Report; again, without it, much of the News which appears year on year, would just not materialise. After Christmas Dick sent me an update on the ‘visits’ which the website received during 2008….‘the full 2008 year visitor figures on the Ayton website were 214,000 in round numbers, which is an average of 586 people visiting for each day of the year’: a truly staggering statistic.

This year, Suzi Scaife has been working against the clock on our behalf (the birth of her third grandchild is imminent) to ensure that what I actually write makes sense, and resembles in no small measure what I intended to put down on paper. I am most grateful for her continued vigilance and hard work.

We already have a date for a ‘sort, and delivery or post,’ from Wendy Smith, the printed final product has to be with her by the 5th May. Wendy is hoping that her usual team of Mary Banks, Clifford Wesch and possibly her husband Nat will be on hand on the day to help out. Without the work done by this long-standing and dedicated team, we might as well not bother to publish a Mag at all. Thank you all very much indeed.

Gill Jackson (Hinds 1950-55)

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