And now, some early social news. On 14th April 1948 we held our first Spring Golf Meeting at Ashford Manor, Middlesex, which was the club of the golfing society captain D H Strathern. This – and the annual autumn meeting – was a regular event, and 21 years of Golfing Society cup-winners are appended to the minutes of the FETA Council meeting of 15.5.68.  A delightfully gentlemanly farewell is recorded to a retiring Council member in ’62, FETA responded to his resignation with regret and ‘hoped he might find time occasionally to attend a Golf Meeting’. The real interest of the golfing society is that from 1916 to ‘65 all Council meetings and AGMs were held in London, and we had trouble attracting member companies from the north, and when we did they were unable to be represented in Council. This, remember, is the era of the train, not the company car. The first ‘provincial’ FETA meeting was in ’65 and only happened because we fancied golfing in Harrogate. We booked a golf day, then coupled it with a council meeting at which members from the surrounding area were welcome to attend. After that, there were occasional northern meetings, usually combined with golf, though it’s not until ages through the BFPSA records (1970’s or later) that regular meetings, and that only of one of the special committees, are held outside the south.
 
The FIA Board have decided to invest in a ‘northern’ property to provide training and meeting rooms (probably in the Manchester area) and we are currently seeking suitable premises.