From the Secretary

FROM THE SECRETARY

It was great to see so many happy and familiar faces at the SLL AGM, Awards and Presidential Address in May at RIBA (right). It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. We gave a big thank you to Andrew Bissell for steering the SLL during the previous year, and welcomed Helen Loomes as the new SLL president (see p5).

We also announced the new SLL elected council members, Michael Grubb and James Poore, and thanked Emma Beadle and Karoliina Helin for their contribution to SLL council as they stepped down from their roles after serving their three-year term. Carolina Florian was confirmed as SLL vice president and Les Thomas as SLL honorary treasurer. We're very pleased to welcome all four of them.

As well as the AGM, the evening as usual included the SLL awards, including the President's Medal, Lighting Award and honorary fellowship (see p7). Thank you to all the individuals who provided such brilliant citations, and to the SLL awards winners themselves, all of whom were there in person. We must give a special acknowledgement to Yukio Akashi from the University of Fukui, Japan, who received his Leon Gaster Award and watched the event live streamed in Japan at three o’clock in the morning his time.

We are very pleased with the response to the SLL Young Lighter 2023 competition and would like to thank all those who have entered. At the time of drafting this column, the competition judges were making their final comments and tallying up their scores. I hope soon to confirm the names of the entrants who will move on to the second round of the competition. The competition final will take place on 21 or 22 November at LiGHT 23 (Building Design Centre) and the winner will be announced and will present their winning paper at Light2Perform on 5 or 6 December (Light2Perform will take place alongside CIBSE’s Build2Perform at ExCeL, see p4)

On a sad note, we were recently informed that David Holmes, CEng HonFSLL, passed away late last year. David was a brilliant contributor to the SLL technical and publications committee for many years and will be sorely missed. I gave David’s citation for his honorary fellowship in 2020 and it was a privilege to do so.

When informed of David’s passing, Sophie Parry, SLL technical and publications committee chair, said that 'David was a conscientious and active author, and often the voice of clarity and common sense at T&P meetings. He leaves the following legacy – SLL LG1: The Industrial Environment, LG13: Lighting for Places of Worship and LG19: Lighting for Extreme Conditions.'

The previous chair of the technical and publications committee, Simon Robinson, worked with David Holmes for more than 10 years on SLL publications. 'Of his numerous contributions, the creation of a guide to the lighting of places of worship is a standout example,' he said. 'David spent over two years meeting with different faiths, researching their history, to ensure his guide would give lighters the best advice on the subject. His devotion to helping the SLL publish the best lighting guidance possible will really be missed, and I’ll miss him as a friend.'

Another former chair, Paul Ruffles, said 'he was a good man to know and to have on the committee – he was both dedicated and very productive. His work and knowledge will be missed.'

'David will be greatly missed by us all,' said John Fitzpatrick, SLL technical and publications committee technical coordinator. 'He made a great contribution to the SLL output and discussions, always with clarity and wit.'

Brendan Keely - bkeely@cibse.org