Members are informed that each region is now making preparations for its Annual General Meeting (AGM), to be held in March 2005. About three weeks prior to the AGM you will receive a letter of invitation from the region chairman, an agenda and if necessary a ballot form.

Many of you have probably considered offering your services to your region committee but have not done so due to business or personal commitments or possibly you have hesitated due to not knowing what is involved.

Region committees work within published guidelines, known as ‘The manual of procedures for the administration of regions' and if you are interested in assisting your region and would like a copy of the manual, please contact ICES and request one. Alternatively, or additionally, speak to your region chairman who will be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Crossrail
15 members of the region attended a presentation on Crossrail given by their Senior Information Manager, Ian Harris, at the Toby Laker, Redhill on a traditionally wet and windy London winter's evening. Crossrail was first mentioned in 1904, and was restarted under its present guise in 2001. When completed, 10 car trains carrying up to 1,500 passengers each and at 200m long will run through dual 6m diameter tunnels, with a peak time frequency of 24 trains per hour.

Crossrail has its own transverse mercator projection to take into account the curvature experienced along its 11km route, the ‘Crossrail coordinate system', which is tied into Ordnance Survey. The route has been covered by 3D mapping along its entire length with an accuracy of at least 10cm, and includes rendered station surveys of underground stations, as well as all underground services encountered. Tied into these surveys is property information of all affected properties, which is combined into a verification and approval system and is continuously updated by two companies who have been allocated half of the route each.

10 Feb 05: Law Review of the Year
A commercial event entitled ‘Law Review of the Year' is being held at Masons Solicitors, 30 Aylesbury Street, London EC1R 0ER at 4.30pm, followed by a drinks reception. To register please confirm your attendance to Linda Quint at Masons (e) [email protected] and (f) 020 7490 2545. Further details will be available on the ICES website.

17 March 2005: Region AGM
To be held at the Toby Laker Hotel in Redhill on Thursday 17 March. Guest speaker will be Ling Davies, who is the recently appointed Marketing and Public Relations Officer for the ICES. Ling will be speaking about her role within the Institution in marketing and the PR of the ICES. Meet at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.

21 April 2005: A site visit to the Stratford box of the CTRL
Further details to follow.

19 May 2005: Oman Presentation
Alan Roberts will give a presentation on his field trip to Oman to carry out an archaeological survey, completed in March. Event to be held at the Toby Laker, Redhill.

June 2005
A presentation on expert witnesses.