Speaking at the AGM Andrew Wynne reflects upon his term as President
"It is my
pleasure to present a report on the activities of the Wolverhampton Law Society
over the past 12 months.
The
Wolverhampton Law Society Council has continued to hold regular meetings which
have been supported by members of the Council.
The prime focus
over the past year has been to run three successful social events.
The year started
with a summer social held at the Novotel Hotel in Wolverhampton. Although some cajoling was necessary to
achieve the required numbers, all who went to the event thoroughly enjoyed it
and it was a successful evening. There
were many positive comments afterwards about the room decoration, food and
entertainment.
The early autumn
saw the Society hold its Annual Quiz which raised over £550 for charity. This was widely supported and again enjoyed
by everyone who attended.
The social highlight
of the year was the annual dinner and awards ceremony which was again a highly
successful event. The innovative idea of
holding an awards ceremony proved extremely successful. The Society attracted some positive press
coverage. There was an enormous amount
of goodwill generated by the event.
There was great interest in the nominations for the awards and the
eventual winners. All thought that the
idea of the awards ceremony, although extremely ambitious, was an excellent one
and creates a blueprint for the future as to how the annual dinner can continue
to grow and attract more guests.
I have to say
that having attended the Birmingham annual dinner a month later, I strongly
believe ours was better!
All of you who
will have attended the events I have described will have been incredibly
impressed by the efficient organisation, room decoration, choice of venue and
smoothness with which the events were run.
An enormous amount of work goes into achieving this and the entire
credit for this goes to our two excellent Social Secretaries, Charlotte Clode
and Laura Jones. In last year’s Annual
Report, Tracey Davies said how they were a credit to the Society and I could
not agree with these comments more wholeheartedly.
Apart from
social activities we have continued to be active discussing changes to the
legal world. In November 2014, we were fortunate to have a visit by Robert
Bournes, the Deputy Vice President of the national Law Society for England and
Wales. The afternoon began with a lunch
held at Molineux for senior partners and managing partners of local firms and
was followed by a seminar event where Robert answered various questions about
the challenges facing our legal profession.
Throughout the
year we have also continued to foster links with the University and the Law
School.
Besides our
social secretaries, there are other people who have made a vital and important
contribution to the running of the Society over the past year. I am grateful to Tracey Davies for her
unstinting support as a past President and also for her acting as
Secretary. I am also grateful to Richard
Ennis, my Vice President, and Andrew Lund for the excellent blog which does so
much to raise the Society’s profile and keep members informed of activities.
Also the work of Gareth Ruddock as Treasurer is much appreciated
The Junior
Lawyers Division is a vibrant and well supported part of the Wolverhampton Law
Society and my thanks go to all those involved in organising their excellent
events.
My final thanks
go to Guy Birkett who several years ago suggested I come onto the Law Society Council
which led to my being Voice President a year later. I very much appreciated that Guy,
I have found the
last year has been hugely enjoyable and although it is a well used phrase, it
has been a pleasure and honour to serve as the President of what is the oldest
voluntary society in the City.
My very best
wishes go to Richard; I hope you have a successful year. I wish (without being presumptuous about the
elections to follow – assuming there is not a stampede of candidates) you and
Alison as your Vice President all the best.
Thank you to all
in this room and outside who have supported the Society and ensure its
continued well-being."
