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ALBIN'S FUNERAL
DIRECTORS |
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May/June 2006 |
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Barry's News Page Hello again, This month sees me and all of the staff at Albins busily preparing for the convention where I am hosting people from 26 countries around the globe. You can imagine, I’m sure, the intense preparations - catering, hotels, registrations, not to mention translations! And all this amongst the usual work Albins face on a daily basis. It has also been a truly difficult and sad month with our MOD work, having to repatriate five soldiers including the first woman killed in action in Iraq after the crash of a helicopter near Basra. Our condolences go as always to their families who now have to face the re-building of their lives and personal family funerals. I am going to end the May notes on this sad theme and the thought that “All that is, is forever. Only the shell passes away.” JUNE Last weekend saw the successful conclusion to my two year presidency of FIAT/IFTA The World Organisation of Funeral Operatives with our conference at Canary Wharf, The Funeral Director and Disaster Management. It was a truly successful conference with people attending from all over Europe and the world, representing four continents and a vast cultural array of information and friendship. There were wonderful lectures from Todd van Beck, my old friend from the USA, Brian Parsons, an old friend and editor of the FSJ, Dr Jean Luc Poncelet of the Pan American World Health Organisation and Robert Jensen, head of the Kenyon International Emergency Services team. The excellent lectures were followed by a debate, chaired by Ben Brown of BBC News 24 with panellists representing the Met Police, the Red Cross, the world of travel and disaster relief management. Altogether it was a huge success in the opinion of all who attended. There was also a wonderful boat trip down the Thames with speeches given by myself and by Simon Hughes, MP. We enjoyed a wonderful procession of Horse-Drawn Carriages, a brass band, and a fantastic gala dinner where I handed the presidency for the next two years to Josep Cornet of Spain. It has been a great honour for me to be president and perhaps my highest accolade to date. When I took over the presidency there were 13 national memberships. I leave with some 21 in place and 6 pending memberships. FIAT/IFTA is going forward with good direction for the future, of this I am satisfied. After some two years where I have visited 11 countries, speaking at most of them, I am going to take a few months to reflect on the direction I will take next. This month also sees the arrival of our new fleet of hearses and limousines, the first batch of a new generation of Daimlers. I am very proud of them and they are simply wonderful. Next month we will be looking forward to the opening of our new branch in Sidcup and I know that the boys are busily preparing the branch for its opening. If you wish to see some of the photos taken at the conference click here. My best wishes to you all until my next newsletter
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