Well the nights are drawing in and the heating’s coming on earlier and earlier, but I love this time of year. First nature has its vibrant say with the changing of the leaves, time to spend happy moments crunching through nearby woods. Then the colourful lights go up in the towns and houses; I have to admit to being a real kid and get just as excited as my children as Christmas approaches. Following that, if we are lucky enough, a covering of clean, white snow to throw, make snowmen with and slide down slopes on; also good inspiration for some Grisaille enamelling.

This leads me nicely onto next year’s conference in York (5^th-7^th April 2013) and the exciting tutorials available; these are elaborated on elsewhere in the journal. Once again highly gifted enamellers have given their time and enthusiasm to provide a wide range of tutorials and talks, to whom I would like to send a huge ‘thank you’ in advance. Without them, conference would not be possible. I hope many members will find a tutorial of interest and be able to attend, and that many of you will share your creations in the members’ exhibitions, including the themed exhibition, which will be ‘All the fun of the fair’. I look forward to welcoming our bursary winner Scarlett Cohen-French to conference and seeing her work exhibited; many thanks once again to our joint sponsors WG Ball, Craft&design magazine and Vitrum Signum for continuing to fund the bursary award.

Sadly I have to announce that David Alexander-Smith of Vitrum Signum, one of the most longstanding supporters of our Guild, passed away in October this year. Our thoughts are with his wife Mo and family, who I know have been very grateful for all the well wishes they have received from Guild members. Mo has advised us that Vitrum Signum is open for business as usual.

I have been lucky enough to meet many of you at your regional meetings, thank you for making me so welcome. Since my last letter, Region 3 gave me the opportunity to ‘go big’ and create an A4 piece at M&CT’s factory. Thanks to Chris and Mary Taylor for opening their factory to let us all have a go. This is something I have wanted to try for ages so I was thrilled to be able to attend and am quite pleased with my final piece; thanks to Tilly for her design advice! As I write this I am about to attend the Region 1 & 2 annual weekend meeting so am rather excited, having been told I’m ‘in for a treat’.

Along with the opportunity to start to understand how the Guild works, get to know the executive committee members better and learn how much work goes on behind the scenes, I have most enjoyed my trips to regional meetings in my time as Chair. These visits have allowed me to meet Guild members and see what everyone is doing.

As a Guild member you are welcome at any of the regional meetings, all that the regional reps ask is that you phone to let them know you are interested in attending a meeting as some venues are pushed for space. Full details of what’s on in the different regions and how to contact the regional reps can be found in the journal or on our website www.guildofenamellers.org.

Hopefully you have all found time to put towards activities you enjoy over the summer. A new term is about to start and, as usual, the holiday period has flown by with only half the targets set in our household being achieved. I expect we’re not the only ones who underestimate the time available during the summer to squeeze in work, family fun and that precious ‘me’ time.

Thankfully there have been several lovely days and the summer hasn’t been a complete wash out. On sunny days we have, like many of you I’m sure, enjoyed walks in the woods and days on the beach. During those times I have been reminded of talks by designers such at Ruth Ball and Sarah Macrae at past conferences when they spoke about how artistic inspiration can come from everyday observations of different colours, effects of light and shade, shapes and textures. A notebook accompanies me on such days, in the hope that amongst the sketches an enamelling ‘masterpiece’ may be forthcoming.

Enamelling makes up much of my ‘me’ time, and being chair of the Guild has given me permission to indulge myself a little more over the past five months. Attending Art in Action near Oxford was a highlight as it gave me the opportunity to view a wide array of arts and craft and get together with many people I met through the Guild. If you haven’t been yet, keep your eyes out for next year’s Art in Action, it really is a must see event.

While at Art in Action, I was able to thank Angie and Paul Boyer from craft&design magazine for their continued support of the Guild. They have agreed to once again part fund the 2013 bursary prize (along with WG Ball & Vitrum Signum) which is worth over £1,000 and awarded to students/graduates who want to develop their enamel skills and careers. The closing date for application this year was 31^st July. Results will be published later in the year.

The Pannett Art Gallery at Whitby and the Danish Jewellery Museum have also had Guild members’ work exhibited over the summer. A list of events, exhibitions and courses involving Guild members can be found on our comprehensive website www.guildofenamellers.org.

It was possible for me to attend some regional workshops recently, two local to me in Shropshire, region 4 (‘torch firing’ with Maureen Carswell and ‘beads’ with Janet Notman) as well as meeting up with some of region 6 members in Somerset (‘pewter backing’ with Jeanne Crosse); thank you to all those who made me feel so welcome.

I look forward to attending more events and workshops and meeting more of you over the next few months.

I am honoured to take on the role of chairman for this coming year and would like to thank those who nominated me.

I have gained so much from the Guild and am grateful for the opportunity to ‘do my bit’ to promote the wonderful work the Guild does for enamelling.

I had my first taste of enamelling in 1997 while attending a course run by Bonnie Mackintosh and will be forever indebted to her and Louise O’Neil for opening my eyes to the world of enamelling. The range and breadth of uses to which enamel can be put never ceases to amaze.

I am not an enameller by trade but enjoy it as a form of relaxation, though must admit to many hours of frustration when pieces don’t quite go to plan. Still, it allows me to focus on something artistic and quite different from my working week as a Speech and Language Therapist.

In retrospect, my first conference in 2000 was a real turning point. Only knowing one person made me a little nervous, but I shouldn’t have been worried as I was soon made to feel welcome, learnt so much and made some good friends. This Guild is always welcoming to enamellers, irrespective of length of time enamelling or level of ability.

This year’s conference was another resounding success, thanks to the team for all their hard work in organising it, with particular thanks to Tilly and Liz. The facilities were excellent and the workshops, speakers and masterclass were thought provoking and stimulating.

It was good to meet with the tutors and speakers, especially Carmen Lombardi and her husband who travelled from Brazil to join us. Also to meet David Bainbridge who was awarded Honorary Membership at conference for all his work related to the proposed EU restriction on the use of lead in jewellery. We have recently been informed that the derogation for vitreous jewellery enamel is now official which, in lay terms, means that leaded enamels can continue to be used within jewellery production.

I look forward to meeting as many members as possible over the coming year, especially those who are not able to make it to conference, and to attending more of the events and exhibitions represented by the Guild across the country. A list of events, exhibitions and courses involving Guild members can be found on our comprehensive website www.guildofenamellers.org. This website has gone from strength to strength: thank you to all those involved in its creation and upkeep.

Lastly a date for your diary for next year as the conference returns to the Thorpe Underwood Estate in York (Queen Ethelburga’s College) over the weekend 5^th-7^th April 2013.

In my last letter I was resisting the onset of winter, the dark nights and low temperatures of the previous two winters were still uncomfortably easy to remember. However, here in the North West at least, the season so far has been a mixed one with the wind making itself felt far more than Jack Frost. To those members who I know had property damaged some weeks ago, I hope both the insurance assessors and your builders have made life easier for you rather than harder. Thankfully the nights are slowly starting to lengthen and the cotoneaster outside the window has 5 Field fares busily guzzling the fruit in between arguing with each other over whose tree it is.

In an attempt to get what passes for sunlight at this time of the year we took a walk up to our local Art Gallery the Williamson in Birkenhead. On entering one of the rooms we came across a large, striking, abstract painting that on closer inspection turned out to be an enamel panel by Stefan Knapp. After a bit of research we discovered that Knapp was responsible for the largest mural ever produced in Paramus New Jersey and 17 enamel murals at Heathrow. There are more details about this fascinating artist on the Guild website with a link to a more detailed piece from Glass on Metal.

Preparations for our Annual Conference are well underway. As I write, our tutorial workshops are almost full and Liz and I are working hard contacting speakers, tutors, selectors and suppliers to finalise the programme details. I’d like to thank all members of the Executive Committee for their help this year but particularly Liz who puts in an enormous amount of time and effort ensuring that Conference runs smoothly. This will be Liz’s final year as Conference Secretary.

We also wave goodbye to Mary Ford who is stepping down as Awards and Selection Officer. Many of us have been cajoled, encouraged and gently bullied by Mary to enter our work for selection. Whilst it can be a daunting prospect to submit one’s work for scrutiny it is also a very valuable exercise. On behalf of the Executive Committee I would like to offer sincere thanks to both Liz and Mary for all their hard work during their time as Officers of the Guild and look forward to seeing them both in April.

Still on the subject of Conference our suppliers at Reaseheath will be slightly different this year. Please see the separate article in this Journal.

In addition to conference, the Guild is involved in a number of other events this year. Region 4 is running the Guild stand at the Hobbycrafts Show at the NEC 22^nd -25^th March. (See details on the Guild website).

We also have the exhibition at Whitby this summer. This is an excellent opportunity for members to show and sell work this year. The gallery is asking mainly for wall based pieces; however there will be display cases available for jewellery and small items such as bowls. There is no limit to the number of pieces that can be submitted or any restriction on size. Please see the extra article elsewhere in the Journal and the Guild website for details of submission dates, contact details etc.

Enamel Fusion will be running again in conjunction with Craft & Design Magazine during May. Please let Lynne Glazzard have any details of any classes you wish to have listed on Craft & Design’s website as soon as possible.

Art in Action takes place this year between Thursday 19^th and Sunday 22nd July. Please let Lesley Miller know if you wish to assist at this event.

The website is continuing to develop. There is now a For Sale and Wanted section on the main menu. Please email any items to David Cowling our website editor: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This is my last letter as Chair but I look forward to catching up with everyone at Reaseheath and at Conferences to come. Many thanks to all those I’ve met on my roam around the regions this year for their hospitality, kind words and good humour.

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