A Short History of Alarm North
East
Produced by Dave Francis
for our 10th Anniversary
Members may be interested to know that
whilst the formation of Alarm North East occurred on the 23
November 1994 in Sunderland, the North East Region had as a
precursor to this established in the late 1980’s a group calling
itself the North East Regional Schools Security Group (later to
become the North East Risk Management Group) in response to
escalating school property damage issues.
This Group was one of the formative members
of the National Advisory Group for Risk Management Authorities,
later to become Alarm. Even at that time there was strong
North East interest in Risk Management with four representatives on
this National Group. The Group’s main objectives were to
“facilitate and encourage local authorities to practice effective
Risk Management…. " . Unfortunately relationships between the
fledgling Alarm and the North East Risk Management Group soured in
the early 90’s and left a void which was filled by the formation of
Alarm North East in 1994. The North East Risk Management
Group continued very successfully for a long period continuing to
deal with School security issues and only recently ceased to
exist.
Early efforts at conciliation with the
original NERMG unfortunately came to nothing.
The first meeting which was to found Alarm
North East was held on 23 November 1994 in Sunderland at the
Northumbria Centre, Washington at which the following were
appointed officers:-
Chairman - David O’Neill, Gateshead MDC
Vice Chairman - Dave Fleetwood, Sunderland MDC
Secretary - Fiona Sowerby, North Yorkshire CC
The Executive Committee were:-
Eddie Dent, Northumberland CC
Adam Fletcher, Newcastle MDC
Dave Richards, Derwentside DC
Jim Elder, Chester le Street DC
Stuart Wardle, Easington DC
The presentation on the day was “Getting
Started” by Cliff Wiggins of Alexander and Alexander, which
obviously inspired everyone present to lay the foundation of where
we are today. As ever the meeting sought views from the floor
and the suggestions made were Motor Vehicle Risks, Financing of
Risk Management and Claims Recording Systems and additionally a
series of approximately bi-monthly meetings were to be held where
possible “at no cost” in local authority offices.
So the next meeting was held on 18 January
1995 in Gateshead, and true to age-old custom ignored the members’
views, the main presentation being on “Risk Management Systems” by
Bradford City Council. I wonder who out there like myself
trod the well-worn path to Bradford, and, whether any purchased or
is still using their system!
Time moved on with Carolyn Halpin and Dave
Francis joining the Executive Committee in 1995 but it is still
interesting to reflect on the topics considered for meetings in
1996. These were Stress and Occupational Health; Business
Continuity Planning; Terrorism and Liability Claims.
As time progressed for both Alarm nationally
and regionally, the North East Executive came to play a bigger part
in the national picture by contributing to such documents as Risk
Management and Best Value and Fair Funding for Schools. The
Region over the years has also had considerable representation on
National Council. Dave Fleetwood (Chairman twice, and the
North East Executive wish to record their appreciation of his
efforts on his official retirement from Alarm) Carolyn Halpin (
former Chairman) and Dave Francis ( former Treasurer). Alarm
North East's accountability and educational professionalism
really developed in the late 90’s mirroring that of the national
organisation itself and many of the original committee are still
around today.
The constitution was adopted, elections for
the Executive Committee were introduced, and official positions
created. More formalised links with Alarm developed and even
minutes with an Action sheet for Committee members to address
appeared.
The North East Region established a newsletter
thanks to the efforts of editor Dave Richards (who knew a few
longer words than the rest of us) called ARENA. The first
issue appeared in January 1997 and generally we managed an issue a
year until 2002 when colour was introduced and obviously this
increased demand so much so that we moved to full production of two
issues per year.
The Executive Committee arranged a series
generally of one topic seminars anywhere in the region where
premises and lunch could be provided free, but we were perhaps
ahead of our time in partnership arrangements when in 1995 we
produced with St Paul an Employers Liability Issue Seminar at
County Hall, Morpeth. Other seminars from this era were:
Sedgwick 1996, Council Hall North
Yorkshire
Insurance Officer to Risk Manager
November 1996 ‘Stress’ Seminar
Mock trial 18 May Sunderland 1998
And during this time our annual Christmas
pilgrimage to York developed to include the Region’s AGM, the
opportunity for members to fully engage and participate with
positive ideas and constructive criticism – perhaps one day?
And in February 1999 the first step was taken
with great trepidation to hold a full one day “quality” event at
Samsung, Wynyard park to raise the profile of Risk Management
within the region.
This format approach and event was such a
success that it laid the foundations of our approach today, which
the Executive Committee is still looking to build on.
My view is that this Region is one of the
strongest in Alarm nationally, in terms of National
Representation; Alarm Awards and especially in the numbers of
members and the variety of organisations from the Public Sector
they represent. We have moved from 92 members predominantly
from Local Authorities in 1997 to 235 representing many areas of
the Public Sector.
The Executive Committee and myself would
like to record thanks to everyone over the years who has
contributed to the success of Alarm North East to date, former
Committee Members, willing and unwilling volunteers, our sponsors,
Audit Commission and Alarm Administration Office and Alarm
Council.
Solid foundations have been built over the
last 10 years and the Executive Committee believe that given the
previous level of commitment and help from everyone over the next
10 years will see even greater achievements and success in raising
the importance and profile of Risk management within our employing
organisations.
D Francis
On behalf of North East Executive
PS. Due to the very foreshortened nature
of this “history” may I apologise if I have omitted any names or
active members I believe should have been included.