President's Introduction

Welcome to the Autumn Edition of the Pears Magazine.

Recently the WLS came together to celebrate professional excellence within our county at the Annual Awards Evening held once more within the beautiful settings of Grafton Manor on Friday 23rd September 2022. Fortunately, the weather was fine and it was very well attended such that we could have filled the marquee twice over such was the demand for tickets. Those lucky enough to be there were treated to a “steam punk” style choir on arrival at the drinks reception, a magician of the magic circle performing amazing close-up tricks and the exceptional hospitality of the hotel. All those who were nominated, shortlisted and, of course, the winners were well deserving of the Society’s recognition and reward for all their achievements which culminated in the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Maynard Burton of mfg Solicitors LLP. We are certainly surrounded by some especially talented legal professionals in this county. Special thanks must go to the sponsors of the event without whose continued and valuable support we would not be able to put on such an event in such surroundings. A personal thank you from the committee and I is due to Laura Osborne whose tireless work and efforts behind the scenes ensures time and again that this event never fails to impress. As well as celebrating the achievements of the previous year the evening was also an opportunity to raise much needed funds for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity whose good works were described by Pam Hodgetts who kindly accepted our invitation to attend and represent the charity. I am pleased to confirm that your generosity on the evening in purchasing raffle tickets raised a substantial sum which the WLS rounded up to £1,841 (to match the year of the founding of the WLS). The committee and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at next year’s Annual Awards Evening so please do save the date when it is announced!

Our next event is a cheese and wine tasting evening led by Lee-Anna Rennie-Johnson (aka The Dairy Made) aptly named “Pour Decisions and Perfect Pairings” to be held at the Royal Porcelain Works in Worcester which promises to be a very enjoyable evening. If the evening is as successful as we hope it will be then this too is likely to become an annual fixture in the WLS events calendar!

For the football fans amongst us I am sure that all eyes are now focussed firmly upon Qatar and, of course, the WLS is wishing that both England and Wales have a tournament to remember for all the right reasons (not least because yours truly has drawn Wales to win the World Cup in the work sweepstake!).

In the run-up to the end of the year the committee and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for a prosperous New Year in 2023.

Kind regards,

Andrew Chandler

President, Worcestershire Law Society 2022-2023