Dear Returners,

I write this gentlemen as I continue my recovery from another fantastic weekend in Lampeter that included the wedding of our own Ben Rogers to his Lampeter sweetheart Katie, a fair amount of time in the pub and union plus a very impressive 16 Club dinner. I found the club in brilliant, no spectacular health - filling the Castle Green dinning room with 30 plus gentlemen of great quality. Joining me at the meal from the Returners side was Mog Ward, Sean Slater and Emyr Morris (apologies if I missed any Returners) as well as the Chaplin from the university and I am sure they would agree that a brilliant time was had by all and a spectacular dinner. The College 16 have been inviting guests to meals on a regular occassion and I hear the VC is a little jealous he could not make it when he was invited.

I will address a couple of the points raised recently in turn.

Future of the Club.

I, as I always have been, think that the 16's Club should remain as it is - a dinning club for gentlemen. I say this for many reasons which I feel Mr Branagan has covered well but also for a couple of others. A dinner was tried, where ladies were invited, a few years ago and whilst their company was brilliant it just was not the same. I am very much in favour of keeping it as it is. I also think that this discussion should not be happening without the current 16, as it is not for us to say what the future of the College 16 is but to guide them. They have brilliant guidance from Emyr, Sean and Mog who are at Lampeter all the time as well as myself throwing in my two bob worth when I can, but more importantly when asked. I am a strong believer that the College 16 should take the Club in the direction they wish to, with our guidance and guided by our principles.

On to the issue of Trinity. At discussions last year of the future of the Club, noted in the AGM minutes and below, it was decided that the Club should stay a Club for gentlemen and a club for gentlemen of Lampeter College. I am happy for the discussion again at the AGM but feel the conclusions reached at the 2009 AGM are the right ones. Please see notes below.

'Since the future of the college has now been finalised it was decided that a discussion was needed to discuss how the College Club would fit within this new set-up and what it meant for the 16's. It is noted that the Returning Members were pleased that a decision had finally been made over the future of our beloved college, although the decision to merge with Trinty may not have been the number one choice for many of us the College at least we now know the path it is set to follow and has a basis from which to take itself forward. The Club will continue by its principles and support the College Club as we can and as we have - we see no change in this. The 16's Club, both College and Returners, would continue to recognise Lampeter University as a separate institution for the purposes of the Club. In this respect we therefore standby what has been said in that 'The Returning Members of The 16 Club exists to support both The 16 Club at Lampeter and to render what help and support that they can provide to The University. It is a society of mutual assistance and friendship, which dines together in the time-honoured customs of The 16 Club.'

As for a sister club in Trinity it was felt that whilst we would not object to anything like this it would not be for the Returners to fund, however verbal assistance could be offered if approached. It was thought that should a Club in Trinity be formed with the same principles as the College 16 then maybe links could be made but these links would be only links and there was not to be a 16 Club Lampeter and 16 Club Trinity that are one and the same bar location. An idea raised was that if a club in Trinity, with the same purpose, values and traditions, was formed then, once a year maybe, a joint dinner could be held to build a relationship between the two clubs (and allow our College 16 access to the ladies of Trinity) however the clubs would be separate. All members at the AGM agreed with this approached and raised the importance of keeping the 16 Club a Lampeter affair.'

Gift to the College.

I whole heartedly agree that a gift to the Chapel is a brilliant idea. It was delicately raised with the Chaplin over dinner on Saturday (by Mog and not my slightly tipsy self) and it appears they are currently looking into new candle sticks for the Chapel and have been in contact with the local ironmonger. May I suggest we move with pace with this and contact the Chapel as soon as possible with regard to what the costs are for these. I think we can be quite up-front about it and have a decent conversation with the Chaplin before Christmas if we wished. I do honestly feel that this is the best course of action and think we could present them as part of the 40th celebrations. I have no idea of what these may cost but cannot imagine it is beyond us at all. I think it is also a fitting thing for us to do and something that will ultimately benefit the students at Lampeter.

Burgess Ambassador.

I worry about this, whilst I would love to have our say I feel that our say would be fruitless given some of the rumors I hear about plans for campus. The most distressing is this absolutely crazy idea of lakes where the hockey pitch is! Not only does this take another sport away from Lampeter as there is no where to play (not that you can play on it anyway) but what use is a lake on campus. I really wish someone would take note and listen to what might actually attract students to Lampeter and out of a new hockey/playing surface (which could be rented out and used for other sports) versus a lake. The idea does make me so angry that the thought of contributing money that could ultimately be used for such a foolish idea sends shivers down my spine. I would like to know what the college are considering in the pipeline before any further thoughts on this. I would expect to see lakes crossed off the list and items in its place that heavily leant towards sporting facilities and accommodation for students. I feel at the moment they want a conference centre with a college bringing in some money the rest of the time - it should be the other way round.

Maybe we should invite a presentation from the college at our AGM as to why we should depart with some of our funds as a starter?

My thoughts, happy for more and looking forward to the 40th. I will hopefully have an electronic Connexion out before Christmas with a mail shot around the same time.

Andy