Firstly, I would like to wish that 2008 holds all its promises for everyone in BSG. We’re hoping that the Society goes from strength to strength in terms of membership and its national and international profile. Last year was a period of change and consolidation: the move to CAF for our membership subscription administration, the further development of the Society’s website, so excellently administered by Rachel Pitman in York, and of course, the launch of GR online which has proven to be such a great success with the membership. Very special thanks go to the University of Reading editorial team who have worked their wonders with the electronic journal. I would like to offer my thanks and appreciation to Sally Richards who recently stepped down from the editorial team. Her contribution during the first year has been invaluable. Congratulations too to Wendy Martin who has not only contributed above and beyond the call of duty in her editorial role in the team, but also succeeded in being awarded her doctorate AND is the Secretary Elect. Our gratitude to her knows no bounds.

The Alan Walker Prize

It was with enormous pleasure that the BSG instituted the ‘Alan Walker Prize’ in Sheffield in September. The plate will be awarded annually to someone who has made a substantial contribution to British gerontology. We are in the process of creating a panel of academics and practitioners, chaired by Alan Walker, who will scrutinise proposals for the first award to be presented at BSG Bristol in September 2008. The process and deadlines will be notified in GR online, on the website and through the britishgerontology mailing list in due course. It will not be essential for a candidate to belong to the BSG, but all encouragement will be made for the prize winner to do so if not already a member.

Fellowship of the BSG

The award to Alan Walker for his exceptionally outstanding contribution to gerontology stimulated some thoughts about how other ‘luminaries’ of BSG might be acknowledged. The Executive Committee agreed that we should inaugurate a system of ‘Fellowships’ of the BSG. Many learned societies, particularly those in North America, have such a system of rewarding loyal/outstanding members though applications which are scrutinised by a panel of current Fellows. In the case of the Gerontological Society of America, a certificate, badge/pin is sent to the new Fellow and at conference there is a special ribbon attached to the GSA badge for all to see. Such an award is then appropriate for inclusion on a CV. Fellows will be listed on the web site, and in the conference procedure books.

What I am proposing, therefore, is a block invitation of a number of senior members of the BSG to start the ball rolling. We are keen to acknowledge founder members, past Chairs/Presidents and a selection of senior academics in the first instance. Over the next few weeks, I will be contacting some of the ‘old and bold’ to invite them onto a Founding Fellows panel. Following the 2008 Bristol conference, proposals and seconders will be sought for candidates to become a Fellow of the BSG. Deadlines and criteria will be notified, but for information now, candidates must have belonged to the BSG for 5 years, and have made a valuable contribution to the Society. We are especially keen to include members at all levels within academic, practitioner and policy fields. We will keep you informed through GR online and the website.

British Council on Ageing (BCA)

There hasn’t been as much activity on this front as I had hoped, although the three societies (BSG, BGS, BSRA) under the BCA banner put in a report to the IAGG European Region, with a directory of all our activities including research, teaching, meetings, collaborative work and so on. We plan a joint meeting in Spring when I will report back any action we will be taking in terms of responding to policy and papers.

BSG conferences

We are delighted to learn that the Sheffield conference managed a healthy unintended surplus and although the amount has yet to be confirmed, we are well in line with the previous 5 years. Congratulations to all at Sheffield.

The Bristol conference organisation is hotting up and once more we are on track for an excellent meeting. One lesson we have learned recently is that conferences will only really be financially successful if the scientific programme is hosted within a university setting. With this in mind, we have had to reconsider the 2009 conference due to be held in a hotel in Glasgow, organised by a team from Paisley University. We will let you know what is happening over the next few weeks.

BSG-ERA

Further development of the emerging scholar section has contributed greatly to our student and early post-doc profile. If you know of students and post-docs, please do encourage them to look at the website and to contact Ian Sidney, Keele University, at i.sidney@ilcs.keele.ac.uk for more information. Revitalisation of the student section owes much to the hard work and dedication of Kelly Fitzgerald and Karen Baker and I would like to acknowledge the gratitude of BSG for their unstinting work.

President and President Elect

Judith Phillips and I have been communicating electronically as well as meeting periodically so that we can ensure a seamless handover after the AGM in Bristol. Debora Price will be taking on the office as Treasurer after the Bristol conference, and she and Mark Faulkner have also been in frequent contact. It has taken a little while to ‘bed down’ the Elect, Current and Past Officers posts, but it seems that they are all working well now, with excellent communication and commitment from all the personnel.

As with nearly all learned societies in the UK, our membership rolls are shrinking and we want to reverse the trend. I urge you to consider encouraging membership to students and colleagues in whatever field you work. I do, however, finish on as high a note as I started: the changes we have made over the last year or so have given us a sound basis to take the Society upwards and onwards. I hope 2008 will turn our membership numbers around and that our national and international profile continues to be highly valued.