As you will know, the Group had its 40th Anniversary on the 12th November and I hope you enjoyed the 40th Anniversary Newsletter I put together. To mark this fantastic achievement, members and family got together for a meal at the Quattro’s Itallian Restaurant on the evening of Thursday 20th November. It was nice to see so many attendees from past and present. The food and service were excellent and we were able to sample a 40th Anniversary cake! I’m sure that I speak for all who attended that it was a thoroughly good evening. Pictures from the event are shown on page 3 of the December newsletter. 

As I mentioned in the anniversary newsletter the Group has had to deal with many changes over the past 40 years. We always need to respond to change positively for staying in a ’comfort zone’ for the Group, or indeed, anyone will ultimately lead to problems. The past 12 months has seen an exceptional amount of change. We have changed our main Sunday morning meeting venue to the World of Glass to allow greater opportunity for social interaction between Observers and Associates. We are also doing our bit to support the World of Glass for it to continue as an inspiration al centre of excellence for St. Helens. We have also reviewed and updated our Following the notice we received from IAM RoadSmart that they would be closing down our website we had to do a lot of work to get a new website whilst retaining most of the design and content of the old website that was very comprehensive. This was achieved just before we lost our old website. Now is the time to catch our breath, to re-charge our batteries and, hope fully, find some relaxation over the Christmas and New Year period. I wish you all a happy and Safe Christmas and new Year.

Mark Farnworth

Group Chairman