Christopher Hill, FIAP
Members who knew him, and all who have benefited from the work he has done with the Institution Web site, will regret the untimely death of the IAP’s Webmaster Chris Hill. Chris died suddenly and quite unexpectedly of a stroke, shortly before his fiftieth birthday.
Trained as an electrical engineer, Chris went to work with Marconi Radar Systems, the first programmer in their Hardware Engineering Department. He played a key role in the huge expansion of the Department that took place during the following ten years.
Chris left Marconi to become Computer Manager for the company that organised evangelist Billy Graham’s mission to London in 1989. When that finished he joined a theological college for a time, determined to take holy orders. However, this was not to be, and he returned to commercial programming work, becoming a Fellow of the Institution in 1992.
Chris had run his own consulting company since 2000, working mainly from home. Detecting that the Institution had problems with its fledgling Web site, he called one day in October 2003 to offer his services. He was hired immediately, turning out to be the ideal man for the job.
Christopher Hill was unmarried and lived with his parents in Epping. He never became a vicar, but he retained a lifelong interest in church music. A lot of people will miss him.
Notice of Annual General Meeting and Accounts
As noted last month, the Institution’s 2005 AGM will be on Saturday, 22 October, at Boundary House, Boston Road, Hanwell W7 2QE, starting at 12.00 noon. Members wishing to attend should notify the office so that they can be admitted to the building. The Institution’s provisional accounts for the year ended 31 May 2005 are as follows:
| INCOME | 2005 (£) | 2004 (£) | ||
| Application fees and subscriptions | 139,981 | 153,366 | ||
| Other income | 26,236 | 25,487 | ||
| Total income | 166,217 | 178,853 | ||
| EXPENSES | ||||
| Service to members and promotional activities | 77,698 | 86,979 | ||
| Salaries and staff costs* | 69,186 | 46,622 | ||
| Office overheads and professional expenses* | 24,356 | 40,447 | ||
| Total expenses | 171,240 | 174,048 | ||
| Surplus / (Deficit) Income over Expenditure | (5,023) | 4,805 |
* Costs have been reallocated between the headings so marked. Comparisons should be made at the ‘Total expenses’ level.
Mike Ryan writes about a member in Canada
In July the Institution office received a card with a message of support from a member in Winnipeg. It read:
‘Dear Madam/Sir, please accept my sincere condolences concerning the tragic events in London on July 7th 2005 (explosion of 4 terrorist bombs). Sincerely yours, Ingrid Farkas AMIAP’
Ingrid joined the Institution ten years ago. She knows a lot about being bombed because at the time she was living in war-torn Yugoslavia. A brilliant student, winner of prizes for mathematics and master of several languages, she wrote to us: ‘Can you give me any kind of help, ideas, possibly addresses or information on the circumstances in New Zealand, Australia, Canada or the US. Please do not blame me, I am just trying to live and work in some peaceful English-speaking country’.
As it happened, we had recently been approached by the Canadian government for help in finding programmers willing to relocate to Manitoba. Needless to say, when we received Ingrid’s plea we called them at their office in Winnipeg and she’s been working there ever since!
[Don’t forget to email eo@iap.org.uk with items of news about you or your company.]
