LNBP Community Boating’s attendance at the Crick Boat Show also marked something of an end of an era for the organisation, and particularly where three of its long serving members are concerned.
To take up the story, here is a citation from incoming Chairman, Peter Page.
It falls to me to commemorate the stepping down from the Executive of the Project three people who have been absolutely crucial to the continuing success experienced and enjoyed by us all over the last twenty-five or more years.
Don, Derek and David have committed, it is not an exaggeration to say, a large part of their lives to ensuring that the commitment made some 35 or more years ago by a Group of Teachers in Lewisham to improving and widening the life-experiences of young people in Inner-City areas, many of whom would have very little knowledge or awareness of a life away from the City, has continued to this day.
This dream became a reality because of hard work and dedication and a determination to make it happen.
Don, Derek and David carried on this philosophy of life-enhancement by using their own particular skills to expand and extend the concept of the original acorn all those years ago into the flourishing oak-tree which it is now.
Over the 20 or so years I have been associated with the Project, they have been working away behind the scenes to ensure the Organisation created all those years ago runs smoothly.
We knew that one day they would want to relinquish that responsibility and hand over the reins to the next generation.
It is a measure of how well they have managed the Project that the next generation (or half-a-generation in my case and I am including Graham and Chris in this) never believed that this day would come despite protestations to the contrary.
Of the Senior management, only Brian remains, in a role which suits his IT advisory background, so the future of the Project lies in the hands of younger enthusiasts who, I hope, would be prepared to take up the cudgel on their behalf, together with expert professional advice in the areas which a modern go-ahead Company requires in order to succeed.
Please accept these embossed decanters as a small token of thanks from everybody here for all the years of work you have given. The main beneficiaries of your labours are the unseen changes to the lives of everybody who has experienced the Inland Waterways through the facilities you have helped provide.
Happy Retirement
