China Conference

The first joint conference betweeen CTIC, AATCC and SDC was held in Shanghia 23-25th July. It was a great success and congratulations and thanks need to be extended to the organisers, speakers and sponsors. We are planning another in less than two years. You will see all the pictures from the Colourist later but I have included a few photographs anyway. The SDC and AATCC speakers were from Clariant, Dystar, M&S, Levi Strauss & Co, Polo, Luen Thai, J C Penney, Rhode Island University. Thank you from me to all of you what excellent speakers!

Arrival in China

I arrived in Shanghai on Thursday 17th July to a phenomenal heat and humidity. Luckily I didn't have a visit that day just an update of the visits to date made by Ken, Clare and our Chinese consultants and translators Betty Hu and Prof. Dominic Lo. On the following day we went to Jiangnan University where it was my pleasure to present their accreditation certificate for their MSc course in Textile Chemistry, enabling the graduates to apply for the ASDC. In the afternoon we formally inaugurated the new Jiangnan region, the first in The People's Republic of China, and thanked and welcomed the new committee for all their efforts. Again congratulations to all of the committee for all their efforts. Professor Fang, the Jiangnan Chairman, was presented with the prestigious award, the Fellowship of the Society award, only the second Fellow in China and one of the elite group world wide to have had this bestowed on them for their contribution to the colouration industry.

The first seminar of the new region was then held in the afternoon. Ken McGhee and I gave presentations but what impressed us was that two Chinese speakers gave presentations in English on very technical topics, Dr Zhong, from Donghua University, and Dr Wang from Jiangnan University. You will see a report of this seminar when we return to the UK. I will also try and attach a photo of the region and attendees at the inauguration ceremony.

The Royal Garden Party

Well where do I start? The morning began with heavy cloud and it looked as if it was going to rain. The afternoon turned out to be sunny and hot. We entered Buckingham Palace through Grosvenor Gate in order to experience the gardens rather than queue at the Grand Entrance, on the recommendation of a previous visitor. Wow this was some magnificent garden, seemingly some 40 acres with a 3 acre lake. The whole experience is now impressed on my brain as we couldn’t take photographs! First of all, my partner Geoff and I met Adrian (immediate past President) and Mary Abel and we had soft drinks and finger sandwiches with cakes. It was obvious from the good organisation with no queuing that Buckingham Palace had run such an event before!! There were some 5000 people from all parts of society, military from UK, Australia and Canada, the church, , politicians, diplomats, local councillors and chartered societies such as ours.

The National Anthem greeted the Queen and the Royal Party flanked by the Yeomen of the Guard. We lined the ‘walks’ on either sides defined by the Gentlemen in Arms and hoped the Queen would walk down ours as we were at the front! In fact Prince Philip was the Royal who walked down our line. He was fantastic and looked younger than his photographs but he was smaller than we expected around 5 feet 7 inches. He could certainly ‘work the crowd and we were only two feet away from him, really exciting.
We then made sure we could see the Queen as several people again were presented to her, as with Prince Philip, as she walked down the walk way of guests lined on either side like a road. She wore essentially a delicate blue suit and hat that had a delicate brown leaf in the pattern and looked really lovely and relaxed. We walked around part of the grounds and lake seeing the rose garden, it was truly magnificent. Once the Queen and the Royal Party finished their tea they returned to the Palace and we were right at the front watching her walk back, again no more than 3 feet away! Prince Philip followed by Princess Ann, Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Princess Ann looked particularly nice and slim in a green dress and hat.

There were two bands playing at opposite sides of the garden. On the playing of the national anthem we left walking back through the Palace and exited through the Grand Entrance with many tourists pressing their faces to the railings expecting to see very famous people, but just us. Outside we came down to earth and walked back to the car via St James Park and Adrian bought us all an ice cream. What a wonderful day!

Now on to China!

A busy week

Last week was very busy with meetings in the Society but culminated in a wonderful Heriot-Watt University Gala at Galashiels on the 11th July. I wanted to travel by train but there isn’t a railway station at Galashiels so I had to drive the day before. That was an event as I found the A7 was blocked by landslides, due to our wonderful summer deluge of rain, the journey taking me over five hours. The intention was to meet Prof. Roger Wardman to see around his department, as he is the Head of the School of Textiles and Design, but unfortunately I arrived too late. I was met in the evening by the Prime Warden and the Clerk of the Worshipful Company of Dyers and David Blackburn, an ex President of the SDC and ex Prime Warden and we had a lovely meal. On the Gala day itself the rain thankfully kept at bay and the graduation awards were held at St Paul’s Church at Galashiels, which was an excellent venue. Earlier this year Vivienne Westwood was given an honorary Doctor of Letters in recognition of her outstanding achievement in fashion and design and it was announced at this ceremony. The students filed to be ‘capped and hooded’ and receive their certificates, mostly female graduates. Afterwards we spoke to the Best Final Student medallist, Alexandra Wild, who had a job at Johnsons of Elgin, and Grace Maran a University medallist for outstanding merit in her third year. We will have to watch out for these names.

Well today is exciting as I am preparing to go down to London to Buckingham palace to the Royal garden party, but I will talk about that later.

Holidays in Spain

Almost one hundred and fifty celebrations of "Moors and Christians" take place over the length and breadth of Spain. The origins lie in the battles following the re-conquest in the 16th and 17th century. As early as the 17th century, groups of "Moors and Christians" drove through town, accompanied by noisy bands. A "battle" ensued with skirmishes and dances, ending with the triumph of the followers of the Cross, who surround the Moors and defeat them. Then it's conversion or death for the Moors, and finally homage to the patron saint of the town. Everything goes on amidst the noise of fireworks and the ringing of bells. This was the case in Moraira where I went on holiday to my villa in Spain for two weeks. I have enclosed some pictures of the groups including Richard the Lionheart as leader of the Christian Crusades. The fireworks are unbelievable. I spent a relaxing time with three different sets of guests. The swimming pool temperature was 30 degrees centigrade!

The 5th International Conference in Mumbai

The conference title and theme was called Global Retail Logic or Magic. I attended last year’s conference and this one was even better. The organisation was fantastic and so professional. Well done Siva and the committee for making such as successful day. Although the monsoons had started that day and certain flights were cancelled there were still 300 delegates. Students from UICT University and College of Home Science, department of textiles and Fashion technology, volunteered as helpers, made the day complete. Well done everyone!!

The speakers were also excellent and you will be hearing all the detail in the Colourist and on the SDC website soon. We saw speakers from Ikea and H&M as well as our own Derek McKelvey and Phil Patterson. A panel answering specific questions ended the conference and was a wonderful educational experience. The theme was best practice and compliance. The lead speaker from Ikea, Mark Astley, actually came from one mile away from where I live in Stretton Warrington, how amazing was that.

Now we are on to the next conference in China on July 23rd to 25th July.

A very special saree

I wanted to honour the Indian SDC by wearing India’s traditional dress at their annual conference. Rakesh, the managing trustee, asked his wife Saloni to help. She did a brilliant job so I thought I would show you the saree. I am indebted to Saloni for making my dream come true and making my conference day special. I shall talk about the conference later, but thank you very much Saloni and Rakesh and I wish you well in London at your daughter's graduation.