The South West Area AGM was held on Friday 12 March at Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water’s Longham Reservoir Study Centre and was attended by 21 area members including Simon Bennett (National Chair) and founder member of the Institute, Dr Allen Bolton.
Normal AGM business was attended to and Chaired by the Area President Ian Walker (WRc). This included the voting in of two new committee members – Mark Hitchmough (Cognica) and Helen Clay-Chapman (Wessex Water). Thanks were given to retiring Committee members Chris Muscat (Wessex Water), Steve Hodges (North Somerset Council), Chris Bewley (Gloucester County Council) and Tony Cooke (Bournemouth & West Hampshire Water).
At the end of the AGM a couple of special presentations were made on behalf of the committee and South West Area members. Tony Cooke was presented with a certificate marking his award of Honorary membership (you can read more about this in Members News). Tony was also presented with a Bristol Blue Glass vase as a thank you for his support of the Area. The Area also presented an early 100th Birthday present to Dr Allen Bolton. Allen, who will reach the 100 year milestone in December this year, always attends the South West Area AGM. After the completion of the AGM the attending members enjoyed a very interesting and informative presentation from Peter Ferenczy, Asset Management Manager at Bournemouth & West Hampshire Water. Peter’s presentation highlighted all the stages from concept to completion of Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water’s bankside storage complex at Longham.
The scheme consisted of two bankside storage reservoirs and the presentation revealed some of the lessons learnt over the 20 year project life including planning, environmental and archaeological issues as well as the expected technical complications that are normally encountered in large construction projects. The members were able to see first-hand the results of the project, as the meeting was held in the recently built study centre adjacent to reservoir 1.
