MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF SOSA

It is with great sadness that I remember Sinclair Buchan in this Chairman’s letter. Sadly, Sinclair passed away in September of this year after an illness that severely constrained his latter months of life. Sinclair hailed from Fraserburgh in the north-east of Scotland and began lecturing in marine geosciences at the Marine Science Laboratories (as they used to be called) in Menai Bridge in 1969. And many readers of The Bridge will fondly remember Sinclair’s help and support during their time in North Wales. Sinclair was a great communicator and a great character who treasured his students.

Amazingly, Sinclair kept in touch with alumni many years after they departed Menai Bridge, and it is testament to him that he hand-wrote 100+ letters to former students every Christmas. I for one used to look forward to my letter that was always full of news and good cheer.

Some of you may not know that Sinclair, together with George Floodgate, founded the School of Ocean Sciences Alumni Association (SOSA) in 1994. I have had the great honour of Chairing SOSA for the past 12 years and Sinclair has been a rock in supporting everything we did and have achieved. I, and I am sure many others will miss Sinclair’s cheery smile and ‘how you doin’ Mick?’ greeting delivered in his broad Scottish brogue each time we met. My only regret is that Sinclair failed to covert me to the delights of Scotch Whisky during his full life; despite trying very hard to do so!

My wife Christine and I have just returned from a very pleasant week in North Wales. Despite the inclement weather forecast, we were not prevented from enjoying the beautiful countryside that the area has to offer. Whilst there I took the opportunity to meet up with Taryn Rock and Bethan Perkins of the Alumni and Development Department and with Head of School, John Turner.

All were interested to hear of my plans to resurrect the SOSA committee after the constraints of COVID these past 30 months. Since we last met in 2019, a lot has happened. People have retired, some have moved away and sadly Sinclair has passed away. Over the past 12 months or so, I have been successfully canvassing alumni to ask if they are interested in joining the committee; especially now we can hold hybrid face-face and online meetings thereby precluding the need to be located close to Menai Bridge. I am just in the process of putting the new committee together and our first two activities will be to organise a 30th anniversary alumni reunion in 2024 and to work with the Graduate Employment and Work Experience department to assist current students.

In my own work-life, the Energy Transition is now in full swing and the demand for marine science graduates is ever-increasing. In this respect, my presentation to the Oceanology International Exhibition & Conference in London earlier this year (referred to in my previous letter) highlighting the impacts of the Energy Transition on offshore site investigation provoked a reaction and I am currently working with The Crown Estate to address the issues raised in my presentation; the most significant of which is the lack of marine science personnel resource.

If you are interested in getting involved in any of the activities raised above, please contact me mick@mickcook.com +44 7593 233633. I always look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,

Mick Cook

Chairman - School of Ocean Sciences Alumni Association ( mick@mickcook.com )