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ILEX, Bournemouth & District Branch Newsletter
10 April 2008
As usual, this is a little overdue owing to the tawdry inconvenience of work, holiday and life generally but please do read on as (I'd like to think) there are some good things coming up.
Contents
- AGM Report
- Bournemouth & Poole College
- Branch Meetings
- Italian Wii Night
- Visit to Royal Courts of Justice
- Chinese Meal
First of all a BIG thank you to everyone who came along. With about 120 people it was the biggest Quiz ever and I am sorry that this was rather reflected in it taking much longer than usual. To be honest our organisation was not quite up to the numbers who took part so (in the hope next year's can be as successful) that will be addressed next time.
The official function of the evening was to deal with the AGM formalities not least of which is the appointment of your hardworking officers and committee. Thankfully, Angela Jones agreed to continue as treasurer for which she deserves a medal as the amount of transactions we manage to achieve is staggering for what is really quite a small outfit. Needless to say this takes a lot of monitoring and checking as we are always mindful that we are dealing with what amounts to your money.
Sadly, Sue Jones stepped down as Chair to be replaced by some glory seeking nonentity who similarly insisted on staying on as secretary. Evidently on some sort of power trip the slimy, conniving bas-[er, that's quite enough schizophrenic abuse. Ed]
The committee saw some changes with the welcome return of Mel Marvin and the addition of 2 new members, Yasmin Jennings and Sundeep Johal. It is so important that you younger folks get involved as otherwise we oldies are trying to guess at what you want and need. It is immensely pleasing therefore to have these new members and we old timers are really looking forward to working with them.
On a sadder note, Tony Dolbear has hung up his boots after, well, shall we say 'some' years of unflagging support for the branch. Tony loathes to have any fuss made so I won't embarrass him too much but suffice it to say he has been a cornerstone of the branch for a long time and he will be sorely missed. Thank you Tony from all of us.
The function of the rest of the evening of course was to raise some money and we did a pretty good job of it. Taking account of ticket sales and after counting up all the money in the collection pots, the total raised was a creditable £660.43 (plus 1 Euro and 10 Jamaican Dollars thanks to someone!). The branch committee has made the decision to round this up to £1,000 so that is the amount we will formally donate. All being well, we will have a formal presentation 'ceremony' within the next couple of weeks which will hopefully make it into the Echo and thus highlight both the Osborne Day Centre and the ILEX branch and therefore all ILEX members.
Unhappily, there was an unfortunate 'loss' on the evening. An envelope containing numerous cheques which was due to be handed to Angela for banking disappeared and, following desperate but unrewarding searches, is believed to have been thrown away by slightly over-enthusiastic hotel staff.
Thankfully, I have a record of the cheques it contained but it affects quite a number of you as there was a large number of membership renewals and some Quiz ticket payments. I will be contacting those affected separately but if you already know that you sent a cheque to me before the AGM Quiz and it has not cleared yet then it would be really helpful if you could send me another one now.
Please do not stop the original cheque (unless you really want to) as this risks costing quite a lot. Instead, please accept my personal undertaking that if both cheques get presented for payment I will reimburse you for the duplicate payment. Honest. Cross my heart etc.
In spite of all our efforts (and thank you to everyone who wrote to or emailed the College) the decision at B&P is final; they will run off the current Level 3 course (i.e. do the second year) but not offer any new Level 3 courses nor any Level 6.
Much as that is hugely disappointing, it does not prevent people completing their qualifications nor new students starting off as there are other means. The obvious option for the moment for those wanting face to face tuition is Southampton which, as I understand it, will continue to offer a wide range of ILEX courses. In the future, although early days, it is possible that a dedicated ILEX tuition service might be created locally.
The other option is flexible learning via ITC. Besides reminding everyone that ITC is an ILEX company, I should also declare an interest as being a member of the ITC Board (albeit an unpaid member). ITC specialises in the delivery of what used to be rather disparagingly called 'correspondence courses'. However, the entire teaching and learning process has changed radically over the last few years and ITC is at the forefront of these developments offering all sorts of extra support such as podcasts, online forums (hmm; should that be fora?) and face to face induction and revision days. The days of sitting alone and exchanging essays for comments from a remote tutor are long gone and on top of that, at branch level we are committed to setting up a locally based support system if there is no other face to face service.
In short, bitterly disappointing but out of our hands and we must work hard to ensure that it does not prevent those wanting to pursue a career in law are denied that opportunity.
A reminder that the Committee meets on the second Tuesday of every month and any member is welcome to attend. If you'd like to come along then please let me know and I can confirm date and time etc. The meetings usually last about an hour and a half and most of our time is spent assessing how recent events went and planning future events.
We also decide how best to spend our funds for the benefit of the membership and ILEX as a whole. One of our normal practices is to make an annual donation to the ILEX Benevolent Fund and this year we are donating £500. Rather than keep quiet about it, we aim to try to do a formal presentation of this cheque too so that we can publicise both the branch and the Benevolent Fund in the Legal Executive Journal, so look out for that.
On the subject of the Journal you may have noticed there is a new editor, Neil Rose, who has big plans to change the tone and content of the magazine. This began in the March edition but was truly to the fore in the most recent, April, edition. Besides recording your distaste for the ridiculous photo of that attention seeking, smug looking git [I said, enough! Ed,] I'd welcome any feedback about the new styling together with any comments or requests about what the Journal should (or should not) cover. Like the branch, the Journal is for you so I'm happy to pass on any views or of course you can contact the Journal direct.
Having pretty much recovered from the AGM Quiz, it is time for some more fun and games this time with some proper food thrown in. On either 10 or 17 May (both are Saturdays; we had decided on 10 May but there is a possible problem with that date so it needs to be confirmed) we will hold an Italian night with, for added spice for those wish to join in, some competitions on the Wii.
This will be hosted at The Atlantic Bar on Parkstone Road in Poole. The owner, John, will lay on a 3 course meal along the lines of Garlic Bread or similar, pizza and pasta and Neapolitan ice cream. His bar is well stocked with Italian wines, Italian beer on draught as well as espresso and cappuccino for the drivers.
There is also a nice big screen TV to which we will hook up a Wii and run some fun competitions. We've not decided on which games yet but obvious candidates are tennis, boxing and bowling. More fun would be cow racing (yup, cow racing) or some Olympic sports. Prizes will be given out to the winners and perhaps even some losers if we've still got those pickled eggs . . .
Tickets, which MUST be bought in advance and will be limited to about 35 or so, will cost £10 (after branch subsidy) which is excellent value so if you'd like to come along please let me know ASAP.
Royal Courts of Justice and Legal Charities Garden Party.
This is a really special event and again offers exceptional value. On Wednesday 11 June we will run a coach trip, no, I lie, a luxury coach trip (I think that just means there is a toilet on the bus) up to London where we will be given a guided tour of the Royal Courts of Justice, have a chance to wander around Temple and then join the great and the good of the legal profession at the Legal Charities Garden Party before being whisked home again.
If you want to see those steps that are often in the news 'in the flesh', clock the photographers which will probably be waiting outside for someone famous to appear, peer into the many High Courts which sit there and perhaps even see the Court of Appeal in action then this would be unmissable in itself but the Garden Party is also a real treat. The actual cost of these is £15+ per person without the coach but, with a branch subsidy, the ticket price is a mere £20 per person. OK, 'mere' is a bit strong as £20 is a fair amount of money but it is, I respectfully submit, exceptional value.
As such, again, there is a limited number of tickets available as the maximum number for the RCJ is 30 so if you want a ticket, please let me know ASAP (unless you have already booked through Sheelagh at College) and they MUST be paid for in advance.
Last (for now) but by no means least, following the successful foray last November, we intend to pay another visit to Mak's Garden on Ashley Road in Poole. The proposed date for this is Wednesday 16 July.
For those who don't know, for £12.40 (as at November), you can eat as much as you like (or can) of freshly cooked food from the menu; so long as you finish what you ask for you can order more and this includes all starters, Peking Duck and all main courses.
The beauty is that all food is cooked to order so you are not having to make do with stuff that may have been hanging around for an hour or more at perfect bacteria breeding temperature but can have fresh, hot food. Coupled with friendly, unfussy service, it is always a delight and highly recommended. The branch will subsidise some of cost to make the member's price £7 per person.
If you would like to come, please do the usual and get in touch.
c/o RWPS LLP, 48/50 Parkstone Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 2PG