As we approach the calendar year end it strikes me how quickly the Presidential year flies by. I have now completed my first quarter as President! Since last writing to you there have been developments in several of the key areas.

We have held our first meeting of the new junior forum. The enthusiasm of the group was fantastic and it was wonderful to see young professionals from all different companies sitting and talking about how we can improve our industry and encourage more youngsters to join. The group quickly found themselves a new title and henceforth they will be known as “Future Focus”. Andrew Considine was elected as Chairman and I wish him the very best for the year ahead.

I’m pleased to report that our strategy document is now complete and will be given to Council at the January meeting. Now the hard work begins in ensuring that we achieve our goals.

On the examination front Jackie Chadwick has worked miracles in arranging a vast number of ACS reviews and as a consequence we have an extra 11 qualified Associates in the last quarter of the year. The Certificate has taken off and over 100 papers have now been sat. The Diploma is now “good to go” and will be launched in January.

Congratulations to Malcolm on reaching 100 followers on twitter, this has seen a significant increase in the last few weeks and if you are not yet following us then please sign up (@TheCILA or via the link on the home page).

The social highlight of the last couple of months was an invitation to the Belfast luncheon. This is an event hosted by the Adjusters in Belfast to which the President and Executive Director are invited. The welcome and hospitality was fantastic and I had a great time. There were, I think 60 or so Adjusters at the lunch, they clearly enjoyed the opportunity to see each other at this annual event and I was left wondering why other areas don’t adopt a similar occasion. Many thanks to Steven Wallace for organising the occasion.

May I wish all the members a happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year.