Issue 65: May 2015
MONITOR
the newsletter of The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists
MASTER’S LETTER
T
he most interesting event that I have attended recently was watching our affiliated Air Cadets, 46F
Kensington compete in their Annual Inness Sword Competition against over thirty other Air Cadet
Squadrons from around London and the South East. Teams of eight from each squadron all competed
in eight separate events at a military training ground near Crowborough, Sussex. It was a real pleasure to see
46F Squadron compete and win the first prize for the first time, then a couple of weeks later to attend their
Annual Prize-giving as their Guest of Honour, when they were presented with the Inness Sword Trophy in
front all the Air Cadets and their families and friends. The commitment and hard work of all the Air Cadets
and the key life skills that they are developing such as Self-Confidence, Teamwork, Leadership, Discipline
and Camaraderie made me very proud of our association with 46F and I realise a lot of the hard work that
goes on behind the scenes when we see them providing a Carpet Guard at some of our major events. I would
particularly like to congratulate all the cadets and particularly the leadership team, led by their Officer in
Command Chris Butler, who give so much of their personal time to help make this Air Cadet Squadron so
successful.
Another recent major event was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] for a historic
Strategic Alliance with Northamptonshire County Council [NCC], of which Freeman Michael Hoddy is
leading. This has been created to help with “Delivering Transformation through Information Technology in
Northamptonshire” and you can read more about this on page three.
Master Nicholas Birtles
Inside this issue:
Master’s Letter
1
3
MOU with
Northamptonshire
County Council
Volunteering for
the WCIT Charity
4
Event & Fellowship 5-10
News
WCIT Inter-Livery
Sports & Social
Term Card
11
Education News
12-13
The WCIT
Outstanding IT
Student Awards
14
WCIT Charity Case
Studies
16-17
Upcoming WCIT
Events
18
Hire the WCIT Hall
19
Clerk’s Letter
20
Having had a couple of key mentors in my life who have really helped me develop personally, I am very
passionate about mentoring others and see it as another significant way to ‘give something back’. So recently
our Company formed a Mentoring Working Group, to look at providing Mentoring training and more
information about mentoring opportunities across our Company. The first Mentoring Workshop was held in
March, which I attended with twelve others and it was a great success. The next workshop will be held on
23rd June and we will be holding more workshops in future, according to the demand. There is also a ‘Guide
to Mentoring’ on our website which you will find if you type ‘Mentoring’ into the ‘Site Search’ facility.
Hopefully you will take advantage of these and find some of the Company’s mentoring opportunities as
stimulating as I do.
The theme for my year IMPACT 2020, has been about looking at the impact of new technologies on our
Industry, Customers, Users & Society in general. At the first two Business Lunches, we have had excellent
insights from Steve Garnett, Head of EMEA for Salesforce.com and Richard Holway, the well-known IT
Industry Analyst. My next Business Lunch speaker, of whom you may have heard by the time you read this, is
Paula Vennells, CEO of the Post Office, whose business has been largely taken away by the Internet and who
is now re-focusing the Post Office. My final speaker will be Bronek Masojada, CEO of Hiscox Insurance
speaking about moving them quickly onto the Cloud and taking advantage of new technologies; so all the
speeches are covering my theme in many different ways.
My wife Roseline, as well as joining me at several major City events,
has also had the opportunity to attend at least one event each month,
specifically for the Master’s Consort, which she has enjoyed
tremendously, as another way to learn more about the City and its
Livery Companies, plus to make some new friends.
As my year is now well into its second half, it has been a real
privilege to represent you as your Master at the many events that I get
invited to and continue to learn more about the good work being done
by many Livery Companies.