Dear Members
We held our AGM on 14th September. I would like to thank our committee members for their work during the past year. I am glad that many of them are staying on, and we also have 3 new committee members: Sue Milton, Richard Owen and Ann Wright.
I am delighted to announce the 2021/22 committee below:
Thomas Saltiel – Chair
Caroline Swain – Vice Chair and Marketing
Richard Owen – Treasurer
Susan Wallace – Membership Secretary
Ian Watkins – Social Media
Martin Knowles – Interim Group
Neville Sander – Sponsors/Partners
Peter Giles – IT
James Leeper – Country/Overseas members
Sue Milton – NED Group
Sue Milton will be leading the NED group, and Richard Owen is the new Treasurer and will lead a new Special Interest Group – Lifelong Finance. Martin Knowles leads the Interim group, but would welcome support – in the past, the Interim group has been led by three members, enabling them to share the commitment.
We have held 2 Remo sessions during the past year (December and March), and the online sessions of the past year have enabled some longer term XTEND members to reconnect with XTEND – proving there are some positives to online meetings.
Speakers since the last AGM up until September:
• Linda Doe
• Julie Langkraehr
• Zoe Bailey
• Ann Wright
• Sat Pillai
• John Mardle
• Heather White
• Michelle Veasey
• Colin Wilson
• Heather White
• Julie Quick
You can see from the above list of speakers that we have continued to have an active programme and good attendance at meetings. Our online meetings were mainly held by Zoom, but we also used Remo and Wonder.me.
Although the group would like to return to face to face meetings and enjoy meeting up and networking, in the current circumstances we recognise that we have to continue to be careful. Therefore, the rest of this year the meetings will be via Zoom- but we will plan for meeting up in person in 2022.
At the AGM I suggested organising small groups to meet for self-funded lunches and am pleased to confirm the first self-funded lunch time meeting for members is this week on 3rd November. Details have been sent out via a broadcast from Sue Milton – the lunch has been organised by Sue Milton and myself, primarily for those interested in the NED group – but any member is welcome to attend. It will take place at the Paternoster (near St Paul’s tube station).
The first meeting of the new Special Interest group led by Richard Owen – Lifelong Finance – will be held this week on Thursday 4th November at noon via Zoom. This group will discuss the financial decisions members have to make throughout their lives and the first meeting will be on “The Budget and what it means for lifelong finance.”
We also hope to have a small group meeting for networking drinks in December and will announce that as soon as plans are confirmed.
Our 2021 programme is now complete, and the next few meetings are below:
3rd November lunch – organised by the NED group, but open to all members. Venue: The Paternoster, a traditional pub in the heart of the City of London, boasting a stunning view of St Paul’s Cathedral and situated a short walk from Bank and the River Thames. To reserve a place email [email protected] and [email protected]
Thursday 4th November – first meeting of the Lifelong Finance group via Zoom. See Richard Owen’s XTEND broadcast for details – to book click here
17th November – Monthly Meeting with XTEND member Andrew Wainstein “Lessons from Three Decades in the Hotseat” – book here
December (date tbc) – small networking drinks in London
Having listened to members, we are returning to mixing the days that we meet, Monday to Thursday. We are interested to hear from you about:
• Speakers that you might recommend
• Topics you would be interested to hear about or if you have a topic that you would like to speak about to the group.
• Interest groups you would like started – and if you would volunteer to lead a group or small networking session (around 6 people) either online or in person.
• We are also on the look out for new but affordable, interesting venues to use – if you know of any please do contact us.
Please do email me – Thomas Saltiel: [email protected] or [email protected] if you can help with any of the above.
And finally, this is YOUR network group. We want to hear what YOU want from XTEND, and to hear your suggestions and ideas. Even better, if you would like to be more active in XTEND, let us know where you can help.
See you all soon,
Thomas
Thomas Saltiel
XTEND Chair