Summer Meeting, Solent 2010
Dear Colleagues,
It gives me enormous pleasure and pride to introduce this account of the Solent 2010 Summer Meeting. This has been written to fulfil three main purposes:
To be a record of what, by common consent, was a most successful Society event To be a window on the Society at work, indicating as it does the wide range of subjects we engage in, and particularly the interaction of members, in serious discussion and in fun and relaxation.
To be part of our communication package to encourage people to join the Society.
The Solent Area proved a very fruitful source of interest, and I am sure that everyone who took part had an instructive week, learning lots of new things, renewing and making friendships. For this we are deeply indebted to those companies and other organisations who hosted our visits, going to some length to show us their facilities, informing us of what they did, and exercising considerable patience in handling the many questions we raised.
We are also grateful to our visiting speakers for giving us informative and entertaining presentations. It was good that so many of our hosts and guest speakers were able to join us at the Dinner.
I am particularly pleased that we were joined by our Patron, His Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester, on what was an extraordinary visit to HM Naval Dockyards, Portsmouth: our thanks to the Royal Navy and BAE Systems for their kindness and hospitality.
Finally, I wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the project team which organised this week, namely John Downer, Bob Otter, Jim Cockburn, Martin Gregory and Maxwell New. They put a lot of time and effort into organising and delivering what proved to be a comprehensive learning experience.
With very best wishes,
John Russell
