David Smith
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What a great honour and privilege to have been elected as Vice President of this wonderful Association! I shall do my best to serve the Association and all members during the next few years and hope to be able to meet as many of you as I can.
Firstly, may I give you a little bit of my background. I’m married – second time around – to Kay and have two children, Ben and Alix, and currently two grandchildren, Grace and Henry, with a third due this summer. I’m a solicitor in private practice in Long Eaton, a town between Derby and Nottingham, where I’ve worked for over 36 years. My hobbies include sailing and supporting rugby, cricket and football - sadly my playing days were over long ago – although I still try to play squash, but not very well.
I joined West Ealing Round Table in 1970, coincidentally 41 years ago, because a colleague at work was a tabler and he asked me to – something we used to do in those days. Later we got out of the habit of asking as we assumed Round Table would effortlessly continue to grow and grow – how wrong we were. I moved to the East Midlands in 1975 and transferred into Long Eaton Round Table and immediately had a new circle of friends. Table and Area office followed and when I was 40 and retired from Table, I seamlessly joined 41 Club – something we used to do in those days.
 But since then there has been a change – only a small percentage of retiring tablers join 41 Club and for the future of our Association we need to find out why and try to redress it. It seems to me that we need to provide them with an Association they want to join and be proud to belong to. That may mean change but we should not baulk at change so long as we remember who we are and what we represent.
Part of that change will result in a restructuring of your National Council, something the delegates at the recent National AGM in Ipswich made clear should be put in hand as soon as practicable. My brief this year is to oversee the debates and proposals leading to a streamlining of the Council which I hope to bring for your approval to the next AGM in Jersey.
On a lighter note, I’m looking forward to getting around the regions and meeting as many members as I can. I’ve already been booked to attend several functions and dinners in 2012-13 and a few this year which clash with President Vaughan’s own diary. I’m always delighted to visit any club or region if required – so if you have a date in mind please get in touch – if I’m free I’ll do my level best to get to you.
David Smith
Vice President
vice-president@41club.org |
