At our meeting in London on 10th June I summed up my year as Chapter President, and I'd like to take this opportunity of sharing my thoughts with those of you who weren't able to be at that meeting. (Anyone who was there can skip this page - I won't be offended!)

Being Chapter President gave me the opportunity to work alongside some really great volunteers without whom we simply wouldn't have been able to do so much. I want to thank all the members of the Chapter Board for all their hard work, and in particular I want to mention the help I received from two people who are not continuing on the Board this year. They are Brian Keith, who has stepped down as Treasurer, after several years of fine work, sometimes at an incredible distance; and Mark Clifford, who in STC terms, has moved on to bigger and better things. There is no doubt in my mind that Mark's election to a leadership role in the STC is of special significance to all STC members outside the USA.

This year, for the first time, a member of our Chapter has received the STC's Distinguished Chapter Service Award. The recipient is Liz Hale, who has held so many jobs in the Chapter that it is difficult to remember them all, and is now joining the Board again in one role she hasn't held before, as Membership manager. Since the last one-day conference in London in June 2005, we have held a range of events: a strategic planning weekend for Chapter leaders; an evening meeting in Cambridge; a two-day seminar on XML and DITA in Coventry; a really enjoyable Christmas party in London; half-a-dozen regional LIG meetings in the Manchester area, in Reading and in Dublin; we also hosted the Awards day for the Trans-European Technical Writing Competition, and finished the year with another successful one-day conference in London.

The Awards day in January brought together Chapter leaders from Belgium, France and the Netherlands, and was attended by three STC Board members including Paula Berger who is now STC President. The plan for the Region 2 Conference began at that meeting, and is now well on its way to fruition. The Conference will coincide with a meeting of the STC Board, and I am proud of the leading role that our Chapter is taking in organising this major international event.

I know that I am handing over the Chapter leadership not just to one, but to two safe pairs of hands. Both Nancy Halverson, our new President, and Nick Rosenthal, our new 1st Vice-President, have already shown how much they care about out Chapter by the amount they have done to support me in the last year. It is therefore a great pleasure for me to see so many new faces joining the Chapter Board this year to support Nancy and Nick, because that's the way to guarantee our continued to success.

David Farbey