At the end of June I will retire from the post of General Secretary of NACO and handover to my successor, Neil Buist.

My tenure of the General Secretary post started in February 1977 when I took over from Arthur Potts who had worked for NACO for some 30 years, so we don't change General Secretaries all that often and I trust this bodes well for a long career with the Association for Neil Buist. It has been an eventful 29 years which has seen a consolidation of Co-operative trade into fewer and bigger businesses and a corresponding reduction in the number of management jobs in the Movement.

I am proud of the fact that NACO has, throughout the massive changes and upheavals that accompanied this consolidation, continued to represent and support members and deliver what I believe has been a highly effective service. For this, I must thank successive NACO General Councils down the years whose wise counsel and strong support has provided the solid base from which the staff and officials of NACO have operated.

I have been immensely fortunate in the quality and calibre of the NACO staff and officials, past and present, for their constant support and the diligence with which they have discharged their duties; and I am confident that, in Neil Buist and his team, NACO is in excellent hands. The prudent approach to financial management adopted by the Association for the last 29 years will undoubtedly continue, thus ensuring that NACO will always have the means to deliver effective levels of service to members.

More a vocation than a job, serving NACO and its members has given me an immensely rewarding career and I thank the General Council and all NACO members for putting their trust in me for all of these years. I wish all NACO members and all my colleagues here at Registered Office success and prosperity for the future.

L Ewing

Lindsay Ewing
General Secretary