Stuart Burn hands OSA chain of office to Andy Hepworth at AGM luncheon

The OSA held its AGM and luncheon on Friday 10 December in the Bloomsbury Hotel, London where OSA members and optical guests saw Stuart Burn pass the Chairman’s medal onto the new incumbent Andy Hepworth.

Despite a hectic 24 hours’ worth of news regarding the Omicron variant, a Covid secure event was held where members could gather and reconnect again in person following the postponement of last year’s lunch.

Stuart Burn addressed the annual lunch on his term as Chair of the OSA and thanked the increased membership for being “marvellous” throughout the challenging two years. He noted that members supported the Chair and board on a number of difficult decisions that had to be made including: selling the London HQ, the name change from FMO to OSA and the sale of Optrafair.

Stuart underlined how important it now was to have one optical show for the industry and thanked Media 10 for its partnership as well as its, “professionalism, flexibility, help and support.” He also thanked the Board for its dedication to OSA. He welcomed new board members including: Jayne Abel, Rob Barrow and Laura Haverley.  Two Directors stepped down from the board and Stuart noted Andrew Sanders’ and Andrew Yorke’s vast experience and dedication to the OSA.

Janice English, the Chair of the Wiseman Memorial Fund (“a cause that was always close to the hearts of the OSA”) was presented with a donation and the Chair remarked on the good work they continue to do for the Optical Industry.

The chain of office was then passed from Stuart to Andy Hepworth. Stuart told those gathered how Andy had “worked tirelessly and provided support in his role of Vice Chair over the last two years”.  Andy thanked Stuart for his time as Chair and told him that what he had delivered while at the helm of OSA is something he should be proud of.

Before the lunch finished, Stuart stated that it was an honour and privilege to serve OSA. He concluded in saying how important it was to work collaboratively in this, “wonderful, diverse, interesting and engaging profession of optics.”