Convener’s Chat – Winter 2008-9
It is always sad when an effective member of the committee has to move on to new commitments. For the past two years Mike Kurtyka has splendidly carried out the onerous Practical Conservation job. This involves not only opening up Ha’penny Bridge House on the first Saturday of every month, but looking up and down the river for what needs to be done by the clean-up team.
We now have a new Practical Conservation person – Mariella van Veggel, a new FORK from Holand. She was unable to join us for the first Saturday in January as she had returned home for Christmas and the New Year. Mariella, I am told, wanted to do something positive somewhere and FORK happened to present itself, and the job of Practical Conservation came shortly afterwards. We are most grateful to her for volunteering and to Mike for introducing her to FORK in the first place. I have not yet had the time to explain the ‘job’ to her in any detail nor invite her to be a member of the committee.
However, I would like to thank Mike and his family very, very much for doing such a superb job. His positive, friendly presence every first Saturday of the month became respected and looked forward to by all FORKs who attended. I have rarely received so many delightful comments about any officer of the committee. Mike was able to spend the time cycling up and down the river, checking out the various suggestions made. His young team were quite spendid reporting various wrongs seen along the river. One of these was reported on and the school concerned saw fit not only to become a corporate member of FORK but also to make a donation of some £150 because they felt that we had been messed about by the building nearby. The reason that Mike quite rightly had to resign was his burgeoning jewellery business, The Bead Company, in Keith Street, Partick. We wish him very well and wish his training of people to run the shop in his absence goes extraordinarily well, so he can perhaps continue to join us occasionally on the first Saturday of the month.