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Representative on the English Committee: Mrs Josie Owens

1 The 1998 service held on Friday 6th March was prepared for us by the Christian women of Madagascar, with the theme ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Human relations are very important to the Malagasy people and they have a word - Fihavanana - which is used to describe the special bond that joins people together. This bond is very important in Malagasy culture. It expresses the feeling of solidarity between members of a family in times of sorrow or of joy, as well as the honesty that is needed in all such relationships. Starting with the family this bond extends to include the wider community. The ‘Fihavanana’ in this year’s service was most warmly felt, as we learnt more about this beautiful land named ‘The Red Island’. Through readings and prayer we shared with the people their joys and sorrows, and their hopes for the future of their land.

2 Services have taken place in Churches, Hospitals, Halls, Cathedrals, and the Chapel at Gatwick Airport. Over 320,000 orders of service are used throughout England, Northern Ireland and Wales, with one member of the committee translating all the material into Welsh for the Welsh speaking Churches. In addition there are copies of Together in Prayer, an informative booklet about the movement, with prayers, readings and background to the country the service has been prepared by. The committee were most grateful to the Council for World Mission, who provided much of the information on Madagascar used in this year’s Together in Prayer. There are also Bible Study notes, Children’s Services sheets, a cassette of the Hymns and Music used, and many interesting information sheets.

3 As well as the Service on the first Friday in March, there are many Day Conferences held, where preparation for this day take place. So popular have these become that, in 1992 there were just 10 conferences throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In 1997 there were 42. All this could not take place without much hard work, especially by the dedicated team at the office in Tunbridge Wells, where, 3 delightful ladies run this busy office, and, even with the volume of work they always find time to welcome anyone who calls in, or have a friendly chat on the telephone, as well as helping and organising the numerous tasks completed by the 21 members of this Interdenominational committee.

4 As I complete my first full year as the United Reformed Church representative, I reflect with great joy, and grateful thanks to God, for the fellowship, friendship, and the many interesting people I have met while serving on this Ecumenical committee.

6 Madagascar is an Island in the Indian Ocean. Several tribes inhabit the island but everyone speaks Malagasy.

7 In 1991-92 a prolonged drought brought untold misery and hardship to the southern part of the Island. A campaign was launched ‘Solidarity with the South’. People from all parts of the island helped. Neighbour alongside neighbour proving the saying you cannot be indifferent when faced with your neighbours misfortune.

8 It was against this background of love and concern that the Christian Women of Madagascar chose as their theme for the 1998 World Day of Prayer service - Who is my Neighbour?

9 The service this year was simple and warmed many hearts as it made us focus on all the goodness and kindness that surrounds us everyday. Unlike the press and media would have us believe with their daily reports on ‘Neighbours from Hell’.

10 The many services held through Scotland were well attended helped, I’m sure, by the unusually mild and Springlike weather for early March.

1 The activities and achievements of the Six Schools during 1997 and 1998 are outlined below.

2 Grants made by the United Reformed Church from its share of the Memorial Hall Trust and by the Milton Mount Foundation allow the Schools to exercise their responsibility to the wider Free Church community. While these grants contribute particularly to the education of the children of serving ministers and missionaries they also contribute to the education of the children of women and men preparing for ordination.

3 Acknowledgement is also made of the grant to the Six Schools by the Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust towards sixth-form scholarships. The Schools can provide details of these grants.

5.1 Caterham School is now in its third year of co-education, and the trauma of the merger with Eothen School has been consigned to history. It really is hard to imagine what the school was like without girls in each year group. Caterham now is well and truly co-educational pursuing a policy of equal opportunities for boys and girls equipping them to live and work in a co-educational world. It had been feared that the girls would have been a "bolt on" feature for the school. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both boys and girls have benefited immensely from being together.

5.2 This past year for the first time the school has had a Head Boy and Head Girl. Graeme Coates and Elaine Dunwoody (who is a member of the local United Reformed Church) have been good role models for pupils.

5.3 Caterham has suffered as a result of two government initiatives. We have lost a number of very able and highly experienced staff because of changes in the Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme. Colleagues who might have stayed for a while longer found themselves having to retire early in 1997 or having to stay until they reached sixty years old. A number have chosen to go early and they have been missed. In their place have been recruited younger men and women who have brought a breath of fresh air into the common room. The phasing out of the assisted places scheme has presented the school with the moral problem of how it manages to educate children from poorer families. Governors have thought long and hard about this and have devised a Caterham School scheme to take its place. Sadly this cannot be as wide ranging as the state scheme but at least some children from poorer backgrounds will be able to benefit from the education Caterham has to offer.

5.4 Caterham was inspected during the year by a team of inspectors from the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference. The inspection, which is recognised by Ofsted, was full of praise for the way in which the school strives to be Christian and for the high quality of the pastoral care given. It also congratulated the school for the way in which average and less than average pupils were helped to achieve well. Overall the Headmaster and Governors are very happy with the excellent inspection report and are considering the positive recommendations made so that the school can strive to be better.

5.5 The international nature of the school continues to be highlighted with the ‘Melting Pot’ Society bringing together pupils and students from nearly thirty different countries. Of particular concern recently have been pupils from Hong Kong. This large contingent went back to Hong Kong for the handover from Britain to China not knowing what was ahead of them. The changeover does not seem to have made much immediate difference. The economic downturn in the Far East has affected our Malaysian students and it looks as if the present contingent may be the last. This will be a shame for they bring a maturity and a culture of hard work which has helped enrich our sixth form.

5.6 The school has experienced moments of happiness and also of extreme sadness. One of our sixth form leavers, who had gained a place at University, died as a result of a car accident. As one teacher said at his funeral, ‘Teachers do not expect to outlive their pupils. When it does happen people’s instant reaction is to say, "What a waste!" Surely life is only wasted if no effort is put in and no achievement comes out and it fails to touch people or make them smile. Richard did all of these.’

6.1 Looking back on 1997 the single event that had most impact on the school community was undoubtedly the tragic death of one of the pupils during the Easter holidays. When the School returned the Headmaster and Chaplain helped the pupils reflect on this tragedy and the nature of Christian hope. Later in the year fellow pupils offered rich and varied tributes at a very moving service of thanksgiving in the Chapel.

6.2 Local links with United Reformed Churches were strengthened through invitations for the Chaplain to preach, and through groups attending the three Sunday evening services held in the College Chapel. The speaker at the Lent Service was the Secretary of the USPG, Canon Peter Price. He drew on his experience with that Missionary Society to remind the congregation that, although the response to the missionary task may have changed, the challenge remains. Canon Price is now the Bishop of Kingston.

6.3 The Chapel was also full with pupils, parents and friends for the splendid Songs of Praise Service in October and for the end of year Carol Service. The school continued to receive local ministers and clergy to speak occasionally in the weekday assemblies, and the year also saw a significant increase in the pupils’ giving to charitable causes.

6.4 In more general terms the school has continued to flourish. The tradition of academic success in public examinations was maintained, with fourteen pupils gaining places at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. These days it is most unusual for a pupil not to move on to Higher Education on leaving, though an increasing number opt to take a GAP year, in which to work or travel, first.

7.1 At the beginning of 1997 our three schools - Silcoates, Sunny Hill House and St Hilda’s - were formally established as The Silcoates School Foundation by the Charity Commission.

7.2 Pupil numbers at all three schools are at record levels and our public examination results were pleasing, with a 92% pass rate at GCSE breaking a further record.

7.3 The election in April of Mr David Dinmore, our Bursar, as Chairman of the Independent Schools’ Bursars’ Association was a high honour, both for him and for the school.

7.4 Our A level programme has been enriched by the introduction of Business Studies, English Language and Sports Studies. Latin has returned to the Silcoates curriculum after an absence of more than a decade and a group of second formers have embarked on a course leading to GCSE. French has been introduced in the third form of the Junior School.

7.5 Three highlights of a busy extra-curricular programme have been our participation in a performance of Brahms’s Requiem, an excellent production of An Inspector Calls, and the achievement of our intermediate boys’ freestyle swimming team in reaching the national finals.

7.6 Social and fund-raising events promoted by the Junior and Senior Parents’ Association and the Old Silcoatians’ Association have been unprecedentedly well supported and productive.

8.1 It has been an eventful year. The School proudly celebrated its 150th Anniversary with the publication of its history and a number of special events during the Summer Term culminated in an open-air Thanksgiving Service in front of the School.

8.2 The Anniversary coincided with the retirement of the Headmaster, Barry Sutton, after ten years of unstinting service. His successor, Julian Whiteley, has spent the last four years as Deputy Head of St Paul’s School in Sao Paulo and before that he was Head of Physics at Sherborne School. In addition there has been a change of Bursar.

8.3 The Science Department has continued to innovate and, as the year drew to a close, they were in the process of commissioning a microwave Internet link which will permit unlimited, high speed access to the Internet at a fraction of the running costs of conventional links.

8.4 Academically it was a sound year, the Upper Sixth not quite matching the exceptional results of their predecessors. Drama, public speaking, and music continue to flourish, and on the sporting front the girls’ hockey team enjoyed an unbeaten season.

9.1 The highlight of 1997 was undoubtedly the opening of our new library and its attendant festival. Built in mansard style as a top storey to an existing block, it provides a vast, light, airy space to house our books and new computers, with magnificent views across the valley to the North Downs and Knole Park. Comfortable work-stations for study, armchairs on the sunny balcony for sitting and reading, and an atmosphere of calm and warmth have made it a favourite place: the heart of the school, as a library should be.

9.2 The writer Susan Hill performed the official opening and spent much time with the girls, discussing her books and extolling the pleasures of reading. She was one of many writers and poets who visited the school during the celebratory Library Festival to talk about their work.

9.3 The Friends and Parents’ Association of Walthamstow Hall also celebrated: their 21st Anniversary was marked by a ball held at Leeds Castle and the Hale-Bopp comet put in a timely appearance in the sky over the floodlit castle. Appropriately, the Friends’ major gift to the school during the year was an astronomical telescope.

9.4 Drama productions include Sophocles’ Ajax, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and a Christmas double bill of Ted Hughes’ The Coming of the Kings and Tony Horitz’s Good King Wenceslas and the Chancellor of Bohemia. In addition to our regular concerts and recitals, the Choir sang Haydn’s Creation with Tonbridge School in their newly rebuilt chapel.

9.5 Public examination results were again excellent, with 29% of our Advanced Level candidates gaining three or more A grades, and ten girls achieving all A or A* grades at GCSE. The nursery department of the Junior School received a superb report for its Ofsted inspection, commending the excellence of its provision for three and four-year-olds.

9.6 The work-experience programme for linguists has been extended to Germany. The French and German exchanges involved about sixty girls, and the Lower Sixth French group made a week’s study visit to Paris. We welcomed a German orchestra, Fidelia, from Sevenoaks’ linked town of Rheinbach.

9.7 The Millennium Bursary and Leavers’ Scholarships scheme has been launched to counteract the loss of Government Assisted Places, so that children from poorer backgrounds can still come to Walthamstow Hall, in accordance with our traditions.

9.8 The Headmistress was busy all year as President of the Girls’ Schools Association, but despite a very full programme was determined not to miss the stimulating Six Schools’ Conference at Taunton School. The contact with schools of similar history and outlook is of great value for heads, governors and staff, as is the fellowship engendered.

10.1 The last academic year (1996-97) was special for Wentworth College and all those who are associated with the school. We celebrated the 125th anniversary of our foundation with a variety of events culminating in an Anniversary Weekend at the end of the Summer term. Parents and senior girls enjoyed a Summer Ball and many old girls, including Miltonian Guild members, were able to join us for a Garden Fete the following afternoon. A history of Wentworth, Beyond the Best, has recently been published.

10.2 Also in the summer of 1997, the twenty six UVI students entered for a total of eighty Advanced levels in seventeen subjects and achieved an 85% pass rate. These young women have now started their degree course in a variety of subjects including: archaeology, art and design, business studies, chemistry, computer science and management, law, medicine, multi-media communications, oceanography, physiotherapy, sports science and tourism.

10.3 During the last academic year we had the privilege of educating six daughters of United Reformed Church ministers, four daughters of United Reformed Church members and the daughter of a former missionary. These girls and our other students had the chance:

• to enjoy the annual Science and Technology Dinner, with Dr Mary Harris, the Director General of the Year of Engineering Success, who was our speaker this year;

• to travel to the Pasteur Institute in Lille on Eurostar, as guests of the Neighbourhood Engineers;

• to act either in the senior drama production of Lady Audley’s Secret (a flamboyant melodrama) or the junior drama club production of Bright Society;

• to gain a LAMDA Speech and Drama Award (most with Distinction) and to compete in the Bournemouth Festival (seven girls gained first place, eight second place and ten third place, in their chosen classes);

• to play, sing or dance in Oceanworld (our first school musical) or in our fifth Creative Arts Evening;

• to achieve Royal School of Music grades (including Grade 8 and the Trinity College, London, Performer’s Certificate);

• to be successful public speakers;

• to be members of the badminton squad, who enjoyed another exceptional season, to be one of the lacrosse and netball county players, to swim for the school or to compete in our first mother and daughter tennis tournament;

• to improve their standard of skiing in the Swiss Alps;

• to spend a day at sea aboard HMS Loyal Chancellor or join a group of Royal Marines for an exercise in Poole Harbour;

• to help provide sailing and canoeing sessions for the Victoria School (which is specially for children with physical disabilities) as a member of Task Force;

• to prepare for Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards;

• to participate in Young Enterprise and to attend an international trade fair in Belgium - one of our students won the new award for Best Achiever in East Dorset and one of our companies was the first East Dorset group to reach the South West Regional final in seven years.

10.4 As our Head Girl said on Speech Day: ‘Just to reflect on the successes of the past twelve months is proof enough that Wentworth brings out the potential in each and every girl’.

Convener: Mike Playdon Editor: Keith Green

1 Since the report to General Assembly in 1997 a number of matters have become clear and some remain unclear! While we remain firmly within the Church and are represented on the Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee, the Network and its core group have been administered and serviced from outside the structures of the Church since the beginning of 1998. We are particularly grateful to the Aston Tirrold Centre for Reflection for their help. The production and mailing of our journal Windows have gone smoothly and we have received many appreciative comments from within and beyond the United Reformed Church. The core group has been strengthened by the addition of the Revd David Bunney who now serves as our treasurer.

2 We are now dependent upon subscriptions to Windows for our finances. In the early part of 1998 the number of new subscibers was most encouraging; but the mailing list we inherited has proved to need considerable pruning. So we need more new subscriptions to ensure financial stability: £10 for individuals and £20 for churches, retreat centres and groups, brings Windows two or three times a year, the National Retreat Association’s annual ‘Retreats,’ and information about retreats and training opportunities. Donations are also welcome.

3 At the end of April there was a consultation at The Windermere Centre between the members of the core group and the provincial Silence & Retreats link persons. This enabled us to explore together ways in which we can better serve the Church as a whole, to hear what is going on around the country, to share ideas, and to provide mutual support. There was time for prayer, reflection and training, and the 48 hours concluded with a 24 hour retreat.

4 We recognise that the picture country-wide within our Church remains patchy. In some Provinces there are regular quiet days and retreats, for Ministers, Ministers’ spouses, lay people, and all together. The Wessex Province, for instance, is looking forward to the dedication of the Aston Tirrold Centre for Reflection, as a place of quiet and retreat, a resource to serve all who are looking for space and quiet. The South West province, in addition to its regular quiet days and retreats, is looking to lay on ‘taster days.’ The Eastern Province has appointed its ‘link person’ as an ‘advocate for the encouragement of prayer and the development of spirituality.’ There are Silence & Retreats ‘link persons’ in every Province except the Southern and we look forward to an appointment there in the near future. We have to confess, however, that little appears to be happening in some areas - this may be because our communications are not very good!

5 Through the national network the core group wants to provide support and encouragement, respond to needs and requests, and promote silence and retreats for the spiritual growth and building up of the community of faith. We remain committed to resourcing Provinces, Districts, local churches and individuals, to keeping a high ‘Silence & Retreats profile’ within our Church, and to working ecumenically as far as possible. We value our membership in the National Retreat Association and welcome the prayers and support of all who walk the way of faith with us.

6 The National Retreat Association came into being in 1990 in the belief that the Holy Spirit is at work in our society, creating in many people a desire to discover inner peace and harmony. The same Spirit is making people more open to a wealth of deep insight which has developed within our separate Christian traditions and is giving us a desire to learn from one another.

7 The traditions which are represented on the NRA are very varied (Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Society of Friends, United Reformed Church), but over the years the member groups have learned considerably from each other, and have discovered more about themselves. The riches of the Church which have for so long been kept separately become more obviously the inheritance of the whole Church.

8 By prayer and the deepening of spiritual life, and in the daily getting on with its varied activities, the National Retreat Association demonstrates Christian unity in practice, and undergirds us all in our ‘intention to go on praying and working with all our fellow Christians for the visible unity of the Church in the way Christ chooses, so that people and nations may be led to love and serve God and praise him more and more for ever.’

Joint co-ordinators: Mrs Lindsey Cole, Revd Bob Day

1.1 This year the WCC Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women reaches its climax with events all round the country to mark its end and to assess its effectiveness. The major celebration takes place in Durham after Easter called Forward to the Promised Community. Here about 350 people will come to share their stories of the Decade and their future hopes and visions for The Community of Women and Men in the Church. The United Reformed Church is well represented and is participating in the preparations. From here images and issued of the Decade will go forward to the WCC Assembly in Harare. England will focus On Josephine Butler, Ireland on Bridget, Scotland on groups of women, and Wales on Anne Griffiths. Thus a four nations response can be made.

1.2 Stop for a moment and ask yourself how your awareness of issues particularly affecting women, your own practice in this area and your understanding of the deeper challengers has changed throughout the Decade.

1.3 This is what was attempted at the AGM at Swanwick as the SPIN group sought a way forward. Rosemary Wass, a former Vice President of the Methodist Conference, led the thinking by bringing a world perspective to the economic, political and sexual struggles that continue to dehumanise women. The aim for further work was clarified as:

To ensure that issues that primarily diminish women are tackled effectively in the United Reformed Church by communities of women and men working together.

1.4 We suggest this could best for forwarded by means of a permanent sub-committee of Discipleship, Stewardship and Witness Committee so that the issues would be seen as mainstream, affecting the whole of our church life. The provision of a staff person with special responsibility for attending to networking, information sharing, keeping these issues as main stream and as a concern of every committee, was seen as essential to promote continued change. We recognise that proposed union with the Congregational Union of Scotland will require a particular input from the Women’s Union in Scotland to this process (see Part 4 G of the proposals).

1.5 The publication of SPIN-OFF comes to an end but individuals can still subscribe to Insaka and Magnet. This is a good opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to all those who have given their time and expertise to SPIN during the Decade and have seen progress in some areas of the work, many of which have understandably been very personal and emotive ones.

1.6 The SPIN Core Group wants to high light some ongoing issues:

a) Violence and Abuse. The need for national guidelines that have been understood, accepted and put into practice by each local church. (This needs to be monitored by District Councils).

b) Gender parity, the removal of subtle discrimination in selection procedures.

c) The use of inclusive language especially among lay preachers.

d) The world wide trafficking of women and their treatment as a commodity.

e) The need to work alongside government initiatives and with Joan Ruddock, the Minister for Women in the Department of Social Security.

f) The nature of ecumenical staff resourcing for the new 4 nations groups in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and networking between them.

1.7 What is required now is a continuing implementation of and a commitment to Good Practice in these areas and a determination to enable our churches to become more equal and just communities of women and men in order to facilitate both witness and dialogue with the wider society.

1.8 Overall the Decade has moved us positively in the right direction and it is our hope that this process will continue to inform the life of our church.

1 ‘When, in our music, God is glorified’ - so begins the hymn by F Pratt Green which is so apposite to the views and aims of the Guild. It is therefore often sung at Guild meetings using the fine tune by Charles Villiers Stanford. The last verse of the hymn - ‘Let every instrument be tuned for praise! Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!’ - embraces all who take part in music in worship. Similarly the Guild (which contrary to what many people seem to think is not just for Organists!) aims to be for the interest and benefit of all who sing or who play an instrument of any sort.

1.1 All such forms of music making have featured in the events organised by Branches of the Guild during the last year. For example the Yorkshire Branch gave a concert of anthems they had rehearsed including also Pergolesi’s Magnificat with organ and instrumental music as well. The Southern and Wessex Branch sang Faure’s Requiem during a meeting at Guildford and the Eastern Branch had choral, instrumental, organ and choral music during a day visiting two United Reformed Churches in Ipswich. Other events have included visits to the Anglican and Roman Catholic Cathedrals at Liverpool (Merseyside Branch), exploring new and varied music with a Regional Director of the RSCM (East Midlands Branch), an afternoon of singing, organ and instrumental music at Morpeth (North Eastern Branch) and a visit to Buckfast Abbey with organ music and a singing practice led by the Devon Chairman of the RSCM (South Western Branch). By way of variety the latter meeting included rides on a vintage bus and steam train! Most of these events have been very well supported and appreciated.

1.2 Two areas have held events aimed at helping organists. The North Western Branch under their Chairman, who is also the Provincial Minister for Music, arranged several sessions at different venues dealing with suitable organ music for all levels of competence, the accompanying of services etc. The Eastern Branch held a day for ‘Reluctant’ organists with Janette Cooper at which a group of organists were given helpful criticism and encouragement.

1.3 The Annual Celebration Day of the Guild was held at St Giles, Cripplegate where we received a warm welcome. The day had been arranged by our member Anne Marsden Thomas who unfortunately was prevented from being with us having had to undergo an operation. Nevertheless her colleagues and our Chairman gave an excellent day of singing and organ music including a session with advice on accompanying and singing hymns.

1.4 The Guild was again represented at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown Park in May where literature was distributed and the excellent Guild Magazine was displayed and available.

1.5 As we continue to pursue our aim to make the music of our worship more worthy and meaningful we again ask for your support and prayers. Please show your support by joining us or encouraging individuals or Churches to do so.

1 The Society met for its Study Day on 20th September 1997 at Dr Williams’ Library. The Annual Lecture was given by Mr John Creasey on the topic of Patience and Perseverance: Joshua Wilson 1795-1874. In the afternoon, visits to the former Catholic Apostolic Church, Gower Street Memorial Chapel and Bloomsbury Baptist Church took place.

2 Dr Clyde Binfield, the editor, continues to gather excellent articles for the journal. Those in the October 1997 issue began in eighteenth-century Bedfordshire and ended in twentieth-century Liverpool, but their main thrust lay in the United States and Canada. A Supplement, Reformed and Renewed, eight essays to mark 25 years of the United Reformed Church, was issued in September 1997. The cost of this has been met by a generous gift from Mr W S G Johnstone. It is planned to publish a Supplement marking 250 years of the Coward Trust in early 1998.

3 The Library is largely the property of the General Assembly and, after consultation with the General Secretary, it was decided to move the bulk of the collection from the basement at Church House to special rooms at Westminster College. The basement had been damp and proper conservation work can be done in Cambridge. The collection will eventually be entered on the University Library’s electronic catalogue and thus be more accessible to users on a world-wide basis. The books were due to be moved in March 1998 and the archives in July 1998. This had led to a temporary interruption in the Library services. Those wishing to make use of the Library are being advised to telephone the Principal of Westminster College first.

4 Written enquiries and visitors have continued to come to the Library in London until it closed in March. We remain very grateful to the volunteers who helped there, especially Mrs Mary Davies, who has attended every week. We still continue to receive published histories of local churches and occasional books by members of the Society and welcome these additions to the resources available to researchers. In future these should be sent to the Society c/o Westminster College, Cambridge.

5 The moving of the Library and the fact that the Society is a voluntary organisation without paid employees has made the swift implementation of the 1997 General Assembly’s Resolution One difficult, but it will be carried out as soon as possible. The General Secretary has been in correspondence with various Local Record Offices regarding the deposit of marriage registers. It is important to make arrangements for researchers to have ready access to all deposited materials and for churches to have access to their own records without charge.

6 At the Society Lunch during the General Assembly at Portsmouth the Revd Canon Alan Wilkinson spoke about ‘J N Figgis and Christian Socialism’. A lively discussion ensued.

7 After serving on the Council of the Society since 1972, including five years as President, the Revd John Taylor retired at the 1997 Annual Meeting. He was warmly thanked for the way he had always kept the Society’s interests at heart and for his willingness to help with whatever needed to be done. Dr Elaine Kaye was chosen to succeed him as President.