Mick Blowfield, our National Show director, is scheduled to undergo surgery in April.  He has been advised by his surgeon to plan for three months convalescence.  This means he won’t be able to take on Show duties, including attending the Show itself.  After weighing up options, we’ve decided to do the following:

  1. Tom Rowland, Deputy Membership Secretary since he was co-opted to the Board late last year, will take over from me as Membership Secretary.  Tom and I have been working together since he joined us and he’s made terrific progress, now handling all the new member activity and having as much dialogue with members and Warners as I do.  I will continue to support him but both Tom and I agree that he’s ready to be the primary day-to-day interface to members and Warners.
  2. Tom taking over from me will enable me to take over from Mick and complete delivery of the 2022 National Show.  It’s our first full show since all legal Pandemic restrictions were lifted and we can already see that it will be a big one.
  3. I am also Chairman.  Alan Finch has indicated his preparedness to accept this position when I stand down, subject of course to being nominated by the Board (that’s the process).  No other Director wishes to put themselves forward for this role and all have indicated support for Alan taking it on.  The Board have formally appointed him as Deputy Chairman and he will take over from me in terms of all day-to-day activity and communication.
  4. To facilitate these changes, during tomorrow Saturday 19th March, changes will be made to our IT infrastructure so that emails to membership@16mm.org.uk will route to and be managed by Tom.  Emails to chairman@16mm.org.uk will route to and be managed by Alan Finch.  Mick and I will share access to show.director@16mm.org.uk and when Mick leaves for surgery, I will manage this email address and take over all Mick’s responsibilities vis-à-vis the National Show on Saturday 25th June 2022.  Mick will return to his role after convalescence, expected to be during July.

I will still be Data Protection Officer.  There is little day-to-day activity in this area, so I will be free to concentrate on the Show.

The Board feels that this provides an orderly transfer of responsibilities with existing role holders all available to help assure continuity, and also gives us the best chance of delivering a successful 2022 National Show.

Last but by no means least, we all also wish Mick the very best with his planned surgery and look forward to him returning to head up preparation and delivery of the 2023 National Show.

Alan Regan, Chairman & Membership Secretary