Since my last entry I have attended a number of Committee Meetings along with the Council Meeting in September. The Events Committee is pulling together a very full schedule taking us all the way to 2012 with a few ideas beyond that. There is always an incredible level of feedback following any of our events and several ideas for future topics which we always try to take on board. We are already putting together the initial programme for the AGM in May which hopefully will be well attended as usual. We have a working title of "Radiation Protection - Meeting the Challenge" and expect to line up some good papers and speakers. One innovation we are looking to introduce is the idea of a memorial lecture which will be a little more special; more details will follow later.

The Strategic Planning committee met in my absence (I was on holiday!) and it is clear that we still moving forward on the commitments we have made so that it good to see that we have that level of commitment. Shiela Liddle does an excellent job in chairing that committee.

Among the things discussed at the Council Meeting I was pleased to endorse the appointment of Ludovic Chevallereau to the Awards Committee directly to the position of chairperson, replacing Iain Devine. Iain has been carrying out that function over a number of years and he felt that it was time to stand down to allow some "new blood" to take over. I'm particularly grateful to Iain for his work on that committee which does not always get the recognition it deserves. Having Ludovic in that role will form a good link to the Rising Generations Group since he is also a member of that committee which could prove mutually beneficial. Are people aware of the awards we give? If not have a look at the Awards Committee webpage and if you need any more information contact myself or a member of the awards committee. We rely on members promoting colleagues to ensure we are not overlooking worthy cases.

I am pleased that the SRP has sponsored the production of a video on "The history of IRPA" in which we agreed to split the costs with IRPA. My thanks go to Chris Englefield who was largely instrumental in ensuring this was done and identified the venue and the Company able to make the video for relatively small cost. The video idea came about after Geoff Web gave an excellent presentation at the third European Conference in Helsinki which on the face of it could have been a dull recount of the formation and structuring of the Association to the present day. Geoff presented in a very interesting, highly relevant manner with personal anecdotes from someone who had experienced some of the history first hand. It was Interesting also to see how some of the politics played out even in those early days. The video was taken to recent African Regional Congress and will hopefully be shown at South American Regional Congresses during October and will be available via a link for members to view. SRP's contribution is recognised in the video which we hope will be viewed by many people worldwide supporting Goal 2 of the Strategic Plan which is to "Raise the profile and status of the Society".

It was with sadness that I note the recent death of Keith Boddy. He made a great contribution in the area of radiological protection particularly in the medical sector and in 1999 was presented with an Honorary Fellowship of the SRP. I was touched by the many sentiments from those that knew Keith and was happy to endorse a donation to St Benedict's Hospice in Sunderland where he spent his last few days.

Richard I Wilkins