Among the press’s more attractive innovations in recent years is The Guardian’s third leader column entitled In praise of… Were such a column to exist in MJ, there is no doubt that the first candidate for inclusion would be our outgoing chief executive, Neil Hoyle, who has served the Society with such distinction over the past 18 years. In 1989, when Neil quit the corridors of power for the steep staircase of Stratford Place, membership of the ISM was falling towards 3,500, and there were £350,000 in the reserves. He leaves the Society with a substantially increased membership approaching 5,000, and £2.5 million in the reserves.

Such results are not achieved without the highest degree of dedication and leadership. In a Society whose elected members (including Presidents) are mere birds of passage, the chief executive has to provide the thread of continuity that binds the whole together. Personally, I have benefited hugely from Neil’s guidance during my presidency, his Sir Humphrey always ready to rescue me in my more Jim Hacker-like moments. But the chief executive also has to give the ISM a public voice, which Neil has done with wit and aplomb, and a passionate commitment to the core values of the Society. There may be some who feel that his early experience of Whitehall had engendered too lively a taste for lobbing hand-grenades at his former masters. Nevertheless the Society would have been the poorer without his readiness to put his head above the parapet, and his willingness to fight for the causes he believed in, and that he felt the members believed in too.

So all in all it has been an eventful presidential year, what with the need to find and appoint a new CEO, and it will be with some relief that I shall join the gratifyingly large cohort of members making their way to Buxton for the Annual Conference. Whereas Torquay 2007 was a highly political affair, with Sir Maxwell Davies’ keynote speech widely reported and debated in the national press, Buxton 2008 promises to be more philosophical in tone. True, we can anticipate some trenchant observations on The State of the Arts from Sir John Tusa – his thoughts about Margaret Hodge’s ill-advised sideswipe at the Proms can already be imagined – but among the other speakers, both Frank Furedi and James Fenton will be contemplating more universal issues. David Owen Norris promises to bridge the gap between theory and practice with his Complete Theory of Performance, while for the real thing, delegates can take the short walk from the Palace Hotel to St John’s Church for Mark Padmore’s recital with the lutenist Elizabeth Kenny, a string Quartet from Chetham’s School, and – briefly – the outgoing President.

A very welcome addition to the cast list is our guest speaker for the Annual Dinner at Chatsworth House. John Summers is chief executive of the Hallé Orchestra, currently riding high under its music director Mark Elder CBE, and it seems particularly fitting to honour this great British orchestra as it celebrates its 150th year. This is only one of the many ways in which this year’s conference will be an opportunity to look both backwards on past achievements and forwards to new possibilities. As outgoing President, I can look back on an enriching and instructive year in which my appreciation of the work of the ISM, its staff and its officers has grown enormously. As new hands take over the reins, I look forward eagerly to the future.

Roger Vignoles

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