Dear Members,
When this venerable institution held its first meeting in our town it was more than a decade before the first horseless carriage drove down Victoria Road. And when Georgine and I moved here from north Durham, at a time when you could insure a Morris Minor for £2 3s 9d, I could not know that 49 years later I would have the honour of being the Lecture Association’s president.
My choice of references is not random. I was in the insurance business all my working life and would drive some 50,000 miles a year around this region and beyond in my Morris Minor and its successors. When the time came to set up on my own as a chartered commercial insurance broker, the office was in Victoria Road, opposite Feethams; it was once a Pease building where behind mysterious locked doors
at the rear we discovered stables for that great Quaker dynasty’s shire horses.
Over the years we have done our best to be part of this welcoming town. A few years ago I became your treasurer – and it’s good to report, even as speakers’ fees keep rising, your committee’s housekeeping has meant no increase in subs this year. Other treasureships have been for the Operatic Society (also singing in some 70 shows from White Horse Inn to Titanic) and I do the sums too for my freemasons’ lodge. These days I’m singing more with Darlington Choral Society. For St Teresa hospice, year-round events include spinning the Easter tombola and my grizzled face has come in handy as the town’s sleigh-borne Santa.
It’s rewarding being involved in making our Darlington world go round. Peter Shuker, who has been the Association’s general secretary
for six years and is stepping down at a significant birthday, has found that too. Our thanks go to him for his wise guidance at the helm and
also for 30 (continuing) years on the committee.
Ian Whitfield
When this venerable institution held its first meeting in our town it was more than a decade before the first horseless carriage drove down Victoria Road. And when Georgine and I moved here from north Durham, at a time when you could insure a Morris Minor for £2 3s 9d, I could not know that 49 years later I would have the honour of being the Lecture Association’s president.
My choice of references is not random. I was in the insurance business all my working life and would drive some 50,000 miles a year around this region and beyond in my Morris Minor and its successors. When the time came to set up on my own as a chartered commercial insurance broker, the office was in Victoria Road, opposite Feethams; it was once a Pease building where behind mysterious locked doors
at the rear we discovered stables for that great Quaker dynasty’s shire horses.
Over the years we have done our best to be part of this welcoming town. A few years ago I became your treasurer – and it’s good to report, even as speakers’ fees keep rising, your committee’s housekeeping has meant no increase in subs this year. Other treasureships have been for the Operatic Society (also singing in some 70 shows from White Horse Inn to Titanic) and I do the sums too for my freemasons’ lodge. These days I’m singing more with Darlington Choral Society. For St Teresa hospice, year-round events include spinning the Easter tombola and my grizzled face has come in handy as the town’s sleigh-borne Santa.
It’s rewarding being involved in making our Darlington world go round. Peter Shuker, who has been the Association’s general secretary
for six years and is stepping down at a significant birthday, has found that too. Our thanks go to him for his wise guidance at the helm and
also for 30 (continuing) years on the committee.
Ian Whitfield