Hello everyone,

It was lovely to see so many BSG colleagues and friends at our annual conference in Bristol this year. I always find that the conference has an exciting mix of cutting edge research, policy and practice in which new ideas and perspectives can be shared, whilst at the same retaining the feeling of a supportive, friendly and engaging place to be. I would like to thank and congratulate the Bristol organising committee for such an excellent conference that captured all these attributes. I am very much looking forward to returning in 2009!

I am delighted to welcome our new administrative support officer, Rachel Hazelwood based in York, who started working with us in September. Rachel has already proven to be a first-rate organiser and an effective communicator who brings lots of energy, enthusiasm and ideas to our Society. Rachel will be a great asset to the membership, the Executive Committee, and the Society as we work towards our new vision and strategy outlined by Judith Phillips, our new President. I am sure you will get to know Rachel over the coming months.

The first roles Rachel and I plan are to review the membership databases and membership renewal / joining processes; to facilitate and promote communication with and between members; to enhance the website, including membership services on the website (with the continuing excellent support of our website manager Rachel Pitman); to review the BSG JiscMail systems; to promote the numbers of BSG members, currently 362; and to review administrative support needs and communication between different parts of BSG, including BSG-ERA, BSG Scotland, the working groups, Executive Committee and all our members.

We hope to improve and enhance our processes to ensure effective and meaningful communication and dialogue within BSG and with our associates, colleagues and organisations outside. This is a very exciting time and opportunity for BSG, a time when ageing issues and research are undoubtedly on the map, and we need to be able as a Society to respond to these.

Election Results

In 2008 there was a call for nominations for 3 positions on the Executive Committee. I would like to thank the membership very much for your participation in the online voting. The election results, announced at the AGM, are as follows:

Professor Miriam Bernard (Keele University): elected as President-Elect

Dr Kate Bennett (University of Liverpool): elected as Treasurer-Elect

Dr Sarah Hillcoat-Nallétamby (Swansea University): elected as a Member of the Executive Committee.

I would also like to congratulate and welcome Christian Beech (Swansea University) who was elected as BSG-ERA Chair-Elect by our emerging researchers and practitioners in ageing. Congratulations to you all – I welcome and look forward to working with you. The new Committee and BSG team can be seen at: http://www.britishgerontology.org/index.asp?PageID=38

Undoubtedly you will be hearing more from us all throughout the year, and please do contact us anytime with your thoughts and ideas.

New contact details:

Please e-mail us at britishgerontology@yahoo.co.uk or telephone 07532 248 835 and leave a message with your name and number. For any urgent queries please telephone Dr Wendy Martin on 0118 378 5842.  We will get back to you as soon as possible.

We look forward to hearing from you