Leslie

Off to London on a beautiful morning. The train was half an hour late arriving so there was no time for lunch before my first meeting. We sat in one of our meeting rooms which was like a sauna. Luckily I'd taken my fan.

Then off round to Brick Lane to check ion at the hotel. A new one for me but it was fine - large room and later the double glazing turned out to be very effective. I ducked out of a meeting and went for a walk round Spitalfields Market to buy a present and a chocolate ice cream, which i then left smeared on my face. Back to the office via the inside of the beautiful 18th century Christ's Church.

We were all in London to say 'farewell' to our outgoing CEO, Leslie Morphy. It was a really good night but again like a sauna. Beautiful weather in London but a night to be out, not inside alternating between the heat and the noisy aircon. There was fizz and canapes and speeches and song and a moving couple of speeches from Shakespeare by one of our London members who has just won a place at RADA. Fantastic! And there were presents and flowers, handed over by J and I and then some dancing before quite a few of us adjourned to The Culpepper. By that time I was on water, having had no lunch and no tea, apart from the ice cream and the canapes that is.

End of an era after nearly 8 years and on 18 September a new era starts, new CEO that is.