As we have come out of 2023 and look forward with hope for a brighter outlook in 2024, I am writing to offer my best wishes for the year to come.

As you will undoubtedly have seen from the excellent article by David Luxton in your recent copy of the Pensioner, I must start by adding my appreciation for the life and work of my very good friend Tony Hall, who died on 5th November. I first met Tony in 1979 when I started working in the National institute for Dairy Research in Shinfield. The first week of my employment occurred during a period of Civil Service staff unrest over pay and I found myself on strike at the end of my first week! As a keen member of a local Trade Union in my previous employment in Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh (ASTMS), I of course joined the local branch of IPCS (as it was in those days). At that time Tony was the local representative at AFRC national level for the Institute and I was soon meeting him on a regular basis at local committee meetings. I took on a bigger role and became the local representative and joined Tony at the meetings of representatives from all AFRC Institutes where he took on a role as an IPCS National Executive member. Over the years we attended many IPCS meetings both locally and nationally and I learned a lot from his expertise on pensions matters.

When I retired, I attended my first meeting of the local Reading Group CSPA and met up with Tony in his then role of Chair, whose first words when I walked in were “ Oh good you can take over from me as Chair,” which I did a couple of years later. All of you know he was by now Wessex Area National Executive member for this organisation, as well as many ancillary roles in groups in the local area. Tony’s funeral was attended by friends from his many and varied interests including CSPA HQ, The Scouting movement, playing short tennis, caravanning and local politics in the Reading area.

CSPA HQ are now wishing to appoint an Executive Council member for the Wessex Area and I have nominations forms due to close on 31st March. If you know of anyone who wishes to be considered / elected to this post, please contact me asap.Over the recent months as a local group, we have met regularly in the Abbey Baptist Church in Abbey Square, Reading, for meetings around various subjects from talks by a member

of the Woodland Trust to a couple of very interesting slide shows by a keen local photographer and historian on areas of old and new Reading. As an outsider from Scotland, I found it very interesting to see the developments over the years as the town has grown – not all of it very sympathetically – and have this related to past businesses and employment in the town. We also enjoyed a talk by a lady who started working for an international animal feed company and progressed to being a senior international executive for sales and procurement.

Unfortunately, and worryingly, the numbers attending these meetings has slowly dwindled over the years and costs of holding meetings has risen via hall hire and speakers’ fees, to a point where I am very worried that we may have to close down – something that is covered by the Pensioner in other parts of the country. I attended the CSPA AGM in October and the subject of membership numbers was highlighted in many discussions both during debates and informally outside the agenda.

I would invite you all to consider meeting with retired colleagues from all branches of the Civil Service in the Reading area. There have been many office closures in the town and surrounds and to have a chance to speak to kindred spirits can be a useful way of passing time and helping with mental health if nothing else. I should add that this newsletter is sent to a mailing list of over 550 members in the area. On a wider note, HQ staff, led by the new General Secretary, Sally Tsoukaris, are dealing and negotiating on your behalf, particularly continuing to pressure for continuation of the Triple Lock on State Pensions (still about the lowest in Europe) and the McCloud Remedy 2015, dealing with payments to more recently retired staff who may have deferred benefits, with a timeline extending over the next months.

The Later Life Ambitions group with over quarter of a million members have produced a “manifesto,” setting out their vision for a better future for our members and all 13 million pensioners in the UK in 2030. Issues to be faced are the appointment of an Older People and Ageing Commissioner, a national Social Care Service integrated with the NHS, investment in local transport services for uprated concessions and accessibility, along with discussions on combatting Digital Exclusion and increasing Winter Fuel payments for all older people in general.

As I mentioned above, Hall Hire has become a very worrying part of our expenses and I urge your help by attending the (currently) monthly meetings in Reading and if possible helping out by continuing membership of the local Group by paying £10 to our Group. We can continue to meet and pass on information and be a place for a chat with like-minded ex-Civil Servants from many different backgrounds, but all with the same needs and outlooks regarding being members of CSPA.

Please donate using either of the following methods – Bank Credit transfer to Civil Service Pensioners Alliance, Reading Group – Sort Code 403804, account number 22057867, with your membership number or name as an identifier. Or by sending a cheque to our Membership Secretary, Avril Bird, 5 The Drive, Reading, RG6 1EG.

Thanks, in anticipation.

Ian Montgomery, Group Chair. Tel: 07780 771419 Email: ianmontgomery6@hotmail.com