Chair’s Message

Ken Burkett in his Glasgow 2024 officials uniform.It is a real honour to have been elected your Chair at the recent AGM/Conference. We have been lucky to have been led by Sue Smith following the sad passing of Peter Lee soon after the AGM last year. I hope to ensure that the association builds on its strengths as we move into a new era.

I would like to thank all members that participated in last weekend’s SEAOA Annual Conference. The conference gave us the chance to meet up with old friends and make new ones. In addition, members were able to learn new things from the extensive range of workshops that were staged in nearly every case by members of the association. Thank you to the presenters for sharing their knowledge with us to help us understand more about being the best officials we can be.

Without the tireless work of Sally Delgado, our Conference Secretary, it would not have been possible. To coordinate all aspects from publicity to registers and putting together the range of workshops and market stalls, we are indebted to her for her passion, expertise and energy. THANK YOU, SALLY. She would not forgive me if I did not remind you to complete your evaluations if you have not already done so.

I would also like to formally welcome Sarah Nancollas to her role as Secretary, Helen Isaacs as Minutes Secretary and Charlotte Bruce on to the General Committee of the SEAOA. In addition, thanks to Sue Smith (Vice Chair), Julie Dew (Treasurer), Charles Bromley-Gardner (Membership Secretary), Stuart Pugh (Communications), and to Hazel Bates, Tamsin James and Sharon Herbert as general members elected for 2024-25.

Finally, as your elected Chair I thought I would share a final few thoughts with you. I want the SEAOA to share its strength across the country, to influence decision makers about officiating in England and to help shape the next generation of the best athletics officials that can be found. We will be looking at ways in which we can:

• support the technical development and mentoring of officials in our region
• engage with and help new officials establish themselves within our region
• pass on the latest ideas, news, rules, methods, and information related to every discipline within our remit
• structure our committees so that they are more efficient and effective in delivering for our members
• be even more open to your thoughts, ideas, concerns, suggestions, and recommendations to improve the work of the SEAOA and our core objective – to support our members and the development of officiating across all its disciplines.

I look forward to working with and for you all in the coming year.

Ken Burkett

Chair, SEAOA.