JOHN BEDFORD: THE FIRST GREEN FEATHER PRESIDENT
Our new President John Bedford is the first Green Feather to be elected to that position, it having always been held by a Red Feather in the past. When the Rules were changed to make that possible, he was the only nomination put forward and noted that ‘the members had no choice really!’ John joined the Society over forty years ago and has been a prominent Green Feather holding a regular position on the Committee as ‘Honorary Legal Adviser’ (a position that no longer exists) and becoming Chair of the Committee some years ago. Starting National Service straight from school at eighteen, he served as a young officer in Cyprus during the EOKA insurgency (where his close friend and colleague was the first officer to be killed in that conflict) and coming to Bristol to start a career in the law, he continued service for ten years in the Territorial Army. On qualifying as a Solicitor in 1961, he worked in London in the Temple for a year or two before returning to his training firm in Bristol to become a Partner and, many years later, Senior Partner before mergers resulted in the eminent firm now known as Veale Wasbrough Vizards. As an occasional boy actor, he developed an interest in Theatre, becoming Chair of the Arts Centre Theatre in King Square (now the Cube Cinema), which led to the creation of The Watershed on dockside of which he was the Chairman for its first ten years. Now, at eighty-five, he is surprised to find himself our President, but is enjoying the challenges it presents.
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