As I am retiring from my three years as chairman of the association I should like to look back not only on the last year but on all three years.

I think it has been a hard-working time for the executive and me. We have moved forward in a number of ways during these last three years. We have established the Directory which lists all our very varying roles and which will soon, I believe, also list all publications that have been produced by the Adviser and any contracts or procedures that are in place in regard to working practices. This information is then available to other members so that duplication of effort is not necessary and to a diocese which is planning the appointment of an adviser. It will also form part of an induction package for a new Link Bishop should the association find itself relating to someone after Bishop Tim.

We have set up (with considerable outside help) a web site which if you have not yet visited it you will be able to do so during this conference. Alongside the website we have, after much deliberation, chosen a logo about which there may well be much discussion. Also the web site necessitated a choice of  other design details. Please do not underestimate how much time it takes for 10/11 people to agree on these matters. But I think that we have succeeded in producing a very suitable and agreeable “camel”. Some pictures are already on the website and any thoughts you have about other content will, I am sure, be well received by the new Executive Committee. Hopefully further development will flow fairly easily now that the foundation is established.

More recent work has been focused on changes to the constitution. The original was a feat of organisational structure mainly by Ronald Smythe but practice has shown that certain rules need to be amended and these will be presented to you to-day at the AGM.

As you will realise none of this progress would have been possible without a great deal of effort by several people. The energy, commitment and painstaking work that colleagues on the executive committee have put into the directory, the website, the reworking of the constitution, the planning of one day conferences and the three day Launde conferences is considerable and we all owe them a great deal.

I was one of those who felt strongly that a national organisation was the way forward in 1997 and that excellent as the biennial Launde Abbey conferences were they were not offering enough support or recognition to those of us who worked full or part time as advisers in pastoral care and counselling. I have hoped to see the profile of the AAAPCC grow on the national stage. One innovation which would facilitate this is the collection of statistical data. If we are, as an organisation, to be taken seriously I think we need to be able to point to the work we do. Much of our work is non-recordable and most of it is confidential but a national database of the tangible work we are engaged in such as counselling sessions and training would help, I believe, to give us credibility on the national scene. Some of you have kindly furnished me with your annual reports and the statistics that you gather but so far this has not been embraced by many advisers. I can only commend these ideas to my successor.

More recently I have been delighted that the Executive Committee has endorsed my suggestion that we invite Michael Jacobs to become our Honorary President. He was delighted to be asked and although unable, at short notice, to attend the conference, will, I am sure, be pleased to be contacted and included in future events. The names so far put forward to become Honorary Members are Sue Walrond-Skinner, Peter Liddell and Ronald Smythe. I think it is important that any organisation both honours those who were responsible for shaping it and maintains contact with its roots.

Bishop Peter Selby retired from his role as Link Bishop at the same time that I became chairman. It has taken time and effort to create a working relationship with our new Link Bishop. He came willingly to us but has naturally wanted to establish his own manner of connecting to us. Not having an adviser per se in his own diocese has meant that he had much to learn from practices elsewhere. This will be an ongoing learning curve for both sides but hopefully the two visits to Leicester I have made have in the last year have set the foundation for this.

As I said, on opening the conference, Launde and my experiences at the conferences and my work on the Executive Committee have a very special place in my mind and my heart. When I attended Launde for the first time there were very few females present and I was possibly the only lay one. Many changes to the Church of England have occurred in the last 18 years. The conjunction of my professional work as a counsellor and my faith which has been made manifest in my role as Bishop’s Adviser, has been fed, extended and enhanced by the contacts made at Launde and through the AAAPCC. I thank you all for your part in that and for the very distinct honour I have felt in being chairman of the association for the last three years.

There will be several departures from the Executive committee this time. Our treasurer Brian McAvoy has given unstinting service; not only with the accounts but also organising a One Day Conference and AGM in Leicester and giving sterling service to this year’s conference planning group. John Ruffle similarly organised last year’s Conference and AGM in Bristol but has always been very willing pick up a task when he could see the need. I am very sorry that other work commitments have meant that he has been unable to attend the conference and be present to hear how much his efforts have been appreciated. I know I leave the association in good hands with Jeff Leonardi at the helm and I wish him and the committee every blessing on their deliberations.

Cynthia Harris, June 2006