August 2004
Dear Member
Welcome to the 2004/2005 program of the Oxfordshire Branch of the BCS. I am pleased to be starting my second term as branch chairman, and hope that you enjoy the program that we have prepared for you.
Last year has been a remarkable year for the BCS. At the recent EGM, members voted by a huge majority in favour of the changes to the BCS charter, and May saw the launch of the new membership structure and the Chartered IT Professional (CITP) post-nominal title.
Since these changes, there has been a significant increase in membership, while retaining the professionalism and quality members the society requires to prosper. More details of membership structures and benefits are available at www.bcs.org.
At a Branch level, we had a very successful program of events. The last of these events was the visit and tour of Bletchley Park. This was well attended and everyone had a good day out and it was another excellent networking event.
The Branch committee has been working hard over the summer months preparing the program for 2004/2005. Regulars will notice that that a couple of events have been moved. Our annual trip has been bought earlier to Easter time, and the program now concludes with the branch AGM. I am really looking forward to the upcoming program, as I believe it contains a varied selection of relevant and interesting topics. Details on these and all our events are on the branch website, along with any program updates if they are required.
Over the summer months, we have also started the preparation for the third Schools Web Competition which we run every other year. The competition has been very popular, and some Oxfordshire schools are already showing lots of interest. Thanks to Adrian Walmsley and the rest of the web committee who have already put in a lot of work for this year’s competition.
The Branch has also grown in the on-line world. Adrian, who is also the branch webmaster, has been extending the branch web site into the key information source for branch business. He has been investigating the use of new technologies, such as discussion boards and WIKIs. The branch site has also moved to the hosting facilities of the BCS, and now resides at the new URL www.oxon.bcs.org. If you have not recently looked at our website, I would encourage you to take a look and let us know what you think.
I would like to express my thanks for the hard work and the support the committee members have given me over the last year, and for the year to come. At the AGM, I was pleased to welcome Tim Lambertstock who chose to join the committee. Please visit the website where you can find more about the committee members.
If you have any feedback for us, please let us know. You can speak to us after any branch meeting; fill out the form on our website; or send an e-mail to the address below.
Eur Ing Robert G M Ward. CITP CEng MBCS MSc BSc (Hons)
BCS Oxfordshire Branch – Chairman
robert.ward(at)bcs.org.uk
