Last night Friday 4th September the 55th Annual General Meeting took place in the Derby Room of Leigh Library. Much of the focus of this meeting was around the election of our committee considering recent retirements. We are more than happy to report that following his application, Mr. David Shallcross is now firmly back in the position of Chairman. Another new face on our committee is Mrs. Megan Swales who is to take over Joan’s role as Editor, welcome to the team.

Leigh Ornithological Society (LOS) have been honoured that Joan dedicated so much time to the role of Editor. Her work is prodigious. Not only did Joan edit the Newsletter, but Joan also sits front of house at our meetings collecting raffle money and purchasing the gifts for the raffle. Joan has also used her expertise out in the field, leading Nature Walks on behalf of LOS around Pennington Flash. Joan has also done work behind the scenes, chasing up memberships. It seems that with the amount of work and time that Joan has put into her role on the committee we may need to recruit another two people to equal it. Not only does Joan edit our bi-monthly newsletters, but she is also an integral part of Pennington Flash Volunteer Group providing morale boosting fruit cake. In all types of weather, you may see her with her litter picker sometimes escorting the younger members who attend in the holidays.  Yesterday it gave me great pleasure that I was able to recognise Joan’s dynamic commitment to LOS with over thirty years of service. Thank you, Joan.