BBRC are pleased to announce that, following a recent ballot of County Records Committees and Bird Observatories organised by ACRE and BBRC, Brian Small from Suffolk has been appointed as the new member of the committee as from 1st April 2001. We are delighted to welcome him onto the committee and are sure he will be a great acquisition for us.
This is the first election since 1997 and the result was the closest for many years with Brian attracting 117 votes whilst Steve Votier gained 101. Several county members abstained as they were unable to choose between two such high-quality candidates and we received suggestions that we should appoint both. Unfortunately, the revised constitution of BBRC does not allow for this. However Steve should not be downhearted as both the nomination and the degree of support he received shows that he is held in high esteem. In addition, two members of the current committee were unsuccessful in their first election but were subsequently appointed. We have little doubt that Steve will serve on BBRC in the near future.
Brian takes the place of Andy Stoddart who retires as the longest serving member of the committee. Andy has been with us since 1993 and we are sure that he will now be able to bird Blakeney Point safe in the knowledge that he no longer has an in-tray full of rarity reports to scrutinise. We wish him a happy retirement and warn him that we will undoubtedly call upon him in the assessment of some of the groups in which he has particular expertise.
We are indebted to Judith Smith for her help in running this election.
Colin Bradshaw
