The last year has been a difficult time for all with a multitude of changes and challenges, the majority of which few, if any, could have predicted and for which there are unlikely to be solutions in the short to medium term.

For our members the need to consider their future strategies is paramount at a time when the pace and depth of global and national change is impossible to predict.

We very much hope that we can help our members to consider the many options and to help them achieve some measure of direction and certainty at a time when little or nothing is truly certain.

Against this background, we have sought to provide a real community of mutual support with a range of supporting services and opportunities and to put together a conference programme which will be both informative and enjoyable.

For the conference, we have an excellent line up of gifted and knowledgeable presenters and will be providing some relevant and helpful input on the issues faced by our members.

There will also be a number of opportunities for members to spend time together with other members and our great team of affinity partners who are there to help on a range of relevant areas.

We are also grateful to our sponsors who have enabled us to add a number of features to our programme and whose support we truly value.

The next few days will help us to achieve what is effectively the primary objective of CharterGroup which is to create and sustain a supportive and communicative community from which members gain benefits (and enjoyment!). It will also give us, the CGA team an opportunity to get to know you all better, which we are very much looking forward to.

As a team we remain passionate about the profession and in particular about CGA and we are determined to create and maintain an alliance of quality firms from which all members gain real benefits and in which they take real pride.

ENJOY THE CONFERENCE!!

Derek Smith