About the London & HC Branch

About Us

The Branch is run by a Committee of five members elected at the AGM held early annually under a Constitution approved by the RSA Central Committee. An additional two members may also be recruited under the constitution. Committee meetings are held as needed to discuss organisational, financial and social programme matters and usually take place 2-3 times a year.

The Committee report to the Branch members at the AGM which is held in February/March each year and warmly welcomes all members of our branch to attend this important event. It is normally held in the Freemasons Arms (upper bar) starting at midday. This is followed by a buffet and catch up for the attendees.

The Committee provide updates on pensions etc at the AGM, and consult members on Branch activities (publicised here and in Contrail) including approving the Committee members. The members review and approve the minutes of the previous AGM and a report is produced for the AGM prior to approval of the formal minutes at the next AGM. It also introduces the forthcoming social programme with an opportunity for early booking.

A branch delegate is sent to the main RSA AGM raising matters of interest arising at our own AGM. All members of the Branch may attend the AGM or any of the social activities of the Branch which are publicised in Contrail and this website.

Visit the following pages for more information related to our Constitution or AGMs.

Previous AGMs

Access all documents related to our previous LHC AGMs

Our Branch Committee

Richard Wright

Chair

I love our heritage, and explaining it to visitors, from the Magna Carta right through to a 1960's house for a 20thC art collector - and of course taking care of the nine-block estate where I live in London.
I trained and qualified as a teacher and taught for six years before moving on to work for a gold importer in Mayfair - as you do! When that global business collapsed following the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1981, I joined CAA Airworthiness Division as a document editor before moving 'up to town' in 1985 to work for our RSA chairman Anne Noonan in the CAA/NATS PR team. I learned a lot from her! Many years later, I took early retirement as NATS' Senior Press Officer and was subsequently elected as Chair of the RSA London Branch in 2010, later London & Home Counties. Loves 'interesting' cars but that's so not the point at the moment.

Paul Clayton

Secretary

Hello, I joined the RSA shortly after leaving NATS in 2006. I took on the role of Honorary Secretary a few years later and have enjoyed doing it. I now live in Cambridge with my wife and an increasing number of grandchildren. I enjoy socialising, cycling, swimming, going on holidays and lately cooking. I can be contacted at

Bruce Critchley

Treasurer

I was elected Treasurer in 2012 after a career with CAA/NATS in the Chief Scientist's Division during which time I studied a wide range of issues including aircraft noise and risk analysis. I am currently involved with management of Epsom Common, a Local Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Ian Johnson

Communications

I joined the Committee in 2009 after retiring from NATS and took responsibility for the development of a website for the then London Branch. Since then I have maintained the site regularly for the information of members. Since 2016 I also became the RSA Membership Secretary and a member of the RSA Central Committee on which I also have responsibility for Data Protection. In my personal life, apart from grandchildren care, I like attending exhibitions and walking, giving some historical walks in London for friends.

Paul Artiss

Social Secretary

After retiring from NATS in 2005 I became a member of the RSA shortly after, joining the Committee in 2012 as Honorary Social Secretary. I organise our Branch Social Programme and am keen to put on a wide and varied Programme with the aim of appealing to as wide a cross section of the membership as possible. Suggestions for this are always welcome, either by E Mail or at Branch outings where I can almost always be found.

Branch Policies

Members needing help at social occasions

We want as many members as possible to attend social events and try to ensure venues can cater for people with difficulties. The Social Secretary can advise access requirements and suitability of specific events, details of which will also be shown on the Social Programme page on the LHC Branch website.

If a member needs care or supervision, a relative or carer can accompany them to any organised event although any entrance charges will need to be paid. That person will need to be present the whole time and take responsibility for the member’s care needs as unfortunately we are not able to fulfil them ourselves.

Data Protection

  • The Branch Secretary receives a subset of the main membership database twice a year. Only members who have opted to be part of the LHC Branch are included in this update. This list consists of the membership number, type of member, name and title, postal address, telephone No. (not ex directory) and email (where available). The date of joining, leaving and date of any change is also included. The Social Secretary has a spreadsheet for each event with the name of attendees and payment status. These names are not shared unless required for security purposes by the event location security staff.

  • The Branch Secretary maintains the contact list for the purpose of communication with branch members. This might be about the AGM or other meetings, social events or other branch communications.

  • The Branch Secretary will only share data with a nominated deputy when that person covers the absence of the Branch Secretary. The Data is held in a password protected Excel spreadsheet on a personal computer.

  • Yes. You can apply to the Branch Secretary at any time to print out and send to you his electronic data record on you. If there are errors then you can write to the RSA Membership Record with an update to your information. (S)he will ensure correction.

  • Yes. You can ask for your data to be removed from the Branch Secretary’s records at any time. To do this you should contact the main RSA Membership Secretary since the updated data comes from that official and (s)he will liaise with the Branch Secretary. The Membership Secretary is involved since your main membership record will have to be updated to avoid a further distribution. As all contact details are held electronically. Unfortunately, as all contact details are held electronically, removal from the database is a resignation from the branch since there is no alternate manual system. Similarly, removal from the RSA membership database of all your record is deemed to be a resignation from the organisation.

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