L&NW Regional Group: a catalytic conversion
Liverpool and North West Regional Group: Launch party at Catalyst Science Discovery Centre
 On Monday, 3 April some 40 distinguished guests, including the Mayor and Mayoress of Halton, Councillor Peter and Mrs Martha Lloyd Jones, met at the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Widnes, Cheshire, to launch the SCI Liverpool and North West Regional Group. The guests included senior industrialists and academics as well as members of the SCI Liverpool and Manchester Regional Groups whose merger gave birth to the new Regional Group.
SCI staff and members present included Hamza Ali, Director of Finance and IT and Jon Poole, Acting Director - Business Development, from Belgrave Square Headquarters and Professor Jenny Mordue-Luntz, Chair of the Regional Groups Support Committee, and her husband Bill from Aberdeen. We also welcomed colleagues from the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Group, the Environment Group and Kenneth McGee, CEO of the Society of Colourists and Dyers in Bradford.
After an opportunity to view the exhibits and facilities at Catalyst the formal part of the evening was divided into four parts. Following an introduction, including an announcement that we were the first to use the new hi-tech lecture theatre, built with £650k of Heritage Lottery funding, the 125th and final anniversary of the Liverpool Regional Group, the founding Regional Group of SCI, was celebrated by the Mayor and Mayoress cutting a special cake.
 The Chairman for the evening, Prof Alan Heaton, introduced Derek Heywood, to present two stalwarts of the Manchester Regional Group, Drs David Cornforth and Tom Jones, to receive their Distinguished Service Awards. This was particularly pleasing for Alan since he had initiated this award whilst serving on the Awards Committee. The Mayor presented David and Tom with their certificates.
Following a brief overview of the history of the merger to form the new Regional Group, Alan stressed that the Liverpool and North West Regional Group was keen to collaborate with kindred bodies. Joint meetings of the Liverpool Regional Group with RSC North Wales and University of Wales Bangor were cited as current examples. Already links have been built with academia in Manchester, resulting in both Manchester University and MMU offering to host meetings. Guests were presented with details of future meetings as well as with the current SCI Liverpool Regional Group Programme Card to show them the range of activities.
In addition to being the second largest UK Regional Group both geographically and in terms of number of members, Alan Heaton, the Liverpool and North West Regional Group’s first Chairman, was confident that it would be one of, if not the, most dynamic and active Regional Groups in SCI.
Following a short speech, during which he expressed his concerns regarding the number of young people studying science, the Mayor officially launched the SCI Liverpool and North West Regional Group.
The fourth and final part of the evening was a talk by Carol Boyer-Spooner, formerly CEO of Chemicals NW and now CEO of Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Networks. Carol described the work of and plans for CIKTN and indicated that she wished SCI to have a role in this. She also strongly supported the point made earlier of the importance of networking and collaboration in the North West of the UK.
Alan Heaton drew the proceedings to a close, with thanks to his colleagues Marie Seddon and Mike Pitts for helping him to organise the event, as well as Catalyst staff, and everyone then enjoyed a buffet.
Professor Alan Heaton
Chairman
SCI Liverpool and North West Regional Group
|
