Christmas Wishes

On behalf of the Chair, Committee and Members of the North Staffordshire Local Section, we would like to wish you a happy Christmas and to offer you our best wishes to you for a healthy and prosperous New Year.

After many years of sterling service as the RSC benevolent Fund representative for North Staffordshire Dr Peter Borrell has decided to retire.  Peter Calder is in the process of taking over from him and  should be up and running in the new year. Peter has been associated with the RSC for over 40 years and has been on the local section committee for over 20 years. He worked in education, teaching at Leek High School and Newcastle Under Lyme school before retiring 3 years ago.

Local Section Activities

The local section continues to support a variety of activities in the field of chemical education, including schools workshops involving practical work, and an annual Top of the Bench competition. We support several prizes for chemistry students and some visiting lectures at Keele, and also have links with the Keele Sustainability Hub. 

Communication with members

The local secretary (Katherine Haxton, nstaffchem@gmail.com) would be keen to hear from retired members and in particular those who are willing to contribute to the running of the local section. In order to facilitate such an approach and to minimise the cost of postage all direct correspondence with members will now be done by email. If you would like to stay in touch with the local section could you please let us know your email address. The Annual General Meeting next year will be held in April, at Keele University. It is hoped that you can attend.

Lunch for Retired Members

A further enjoyable lunch for retired members was held at the Upper House Hotel in Barlaston, which nearly thirty members with their spouses enjoyed on a lovely spring day in March. Thanks to the generosity of the local section, we shall hold another lunch on in the Spring of 2015 to which retirees will be invited on a first to reply basis. Details will be announced shortly.

The RSC Benevolent Fund

Happily, few members in our section need recourse to the RSC Benevolent Fund, but the services are available to all members, to their spouses, and to former members who left the Society in good standing. The Fund Officers at the RSC in Cambridge are happy to try to help members and spouses who may find themselves in unexpected difficulties whether through unemployment, ill health or bereavement. The usual first contact is with the RSC Benevolent Fund Office (01223 432 227; http://www.rsc.org/Membership/Benefits/BenFund/). My own role is to act, when needed, as a link between the RSC Office and members; I would be happy to field any preliminary enquiries from local members.

With very best wishes

 Sue Blake (Chair), Katherine Haxton (Local Secretary)
            and the Committee of the North Staffordshire Local Section