President’s Page- Chris Flavell

It’s a glorious sunny, cold November afternoon in the run-up to PETEX as I sit and write my final editorial. Is that really my year as President over already?? Quite incredible how the year has
flown by, largely I’m sure a result of the frenetic state of the industry within which we all find ourselves swimming fiercely to keep our heads above water (not quite mixing my metaphors, I think). Firstly a brief review back over the year, followed by the inev itable ‘thank you’ list. Several editorials this year have discussed the activities of SCID, as we strive to disburse society funds for the good of our members and the general teaching and promotion of geoscience.
Without going into details which have been previously described, it has been a real eye-opener to me as to the range of causes that have been considered for funding , spanning museums, technical atlases , heritage site improvement and most importantly in my view, education, both at university level and in schools. The work of ESTA is to be commended, and I hope that this is a
cause that will continue to receive our financial backing.
The usual hectic year of courses and conferences, thus far 100% successful , has been a great testament to those organi sing. By the time you read this , PETEX 2006 will have come and gone.
Judging from the interest in pre-registrations , the content of the technical sessions, the quality of the exhibition and the range of soc ial events, I cannot see anything other than another great success for PETEX 2006.
Again , by the time this is published , the incoming PESGB Council will have been elected. Whilst half of the current Council members remain in place for the coming year, the other half will step aside to make room for new faces. To all those who have given up so much of their VERY valuable time over the past 2 years, very many thanks.
As usual however, principal thanks from me go to Gail and the rest of the PESGB team at Berkeley Street, without whom things would literally grind to a standstill. It’s this team which deals with all the routine day to day running of the Society, and does the vast majority of the organisational work behind the numerous conferences with which we are involved . Make sure you buy them all lots of drinks whenever you see them!!!
So what challenges face Steve Pickering and the new Council into 2007?? Clearly, the principal challenge is being able to dedicate sufficient time to the PESGB role to do justice to it, with
everybody’s day jobs taking on a greater and greater work load . The society gets stronger month by month, with many new applications received monthly. Both short term and long term , this has got to be good for the UK oil and gas exploration business, and underlines the importance of the UK as a centre both for local exploration and also as a base for companies focus sing on international.
The final editorial wouldn’t be complete with a sporting sign-off, and with the mighty Wolves poised just below the play-off places, I’m almost starting to dream of Premiership football at Molineux next season (dream on! I i). This winter will see the retention of the Ashes by Freddie’s boys (so most explorationists are optimists!!), and the return to successful ways for the England rugby team (OK, now I’m being silly!!!I)
And finally, I’d like to send my best wishes to Steve and the 2007 Council. It ‘s been a pleasure.