Congratulations

Hello to you all and a very warm welcome to the first blog of June.

How can I follow the great man’s blog from last week? It was everything that a blog should be. Informative, accurate and with a touch of the famous Brown humour.

My spies tell me that the great man did a fantastic job in his role as chairman last Tuesday. Will he be resting on his laurels? Hardly! I did rest on some laurels once. I can't recommend it, though.They are a lot spikier than they look.

John Swinney was delighted to get a mention last week of course – his office have contacted CIOBS and thanked us for the publicity.

I will be out and about today visiting Springburn Academy in the north east of Glasgow, where I will doing a bit of recruitment for the Schools Certificate in Financial Services.
This involves school students studying for a Certificate in guess what? Yes, you are absolutely correct – Financial Services.This qualification is most suitable for students who have aspirations (Sorry JS!) of a career in the Financial Services industry.

Did you know that the European Central Bank celebrated its 10th anniversary on 1st June?

This has got me reminiscing about the forerunner of the Euro, the European Currency Unit or ECU.

Do any of you remember this currency? It was a trading currency with no notes or coins ever being issued and was subsequently replaced by the Euro.
The 10th anniversary of the Euro is on 1st January 2009.

Where has the time gone?

Today, the single currency is used in an area that stretches from Cyprus to Ireland and from Portugal to Finland. More than half of all EU Member States have already adopted the euro.

All this Euro talk, the holiday season must be upon us.

Congratulations to Mr.Edward Bowen the oldest member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland who celebrated his 100th birthday on 2nd June.
Mr. Bowen, joined Bank of Scotland as a 16-year old apprentice at Carnoustie branch, became a member of the permanent staff in 1928 and joined the Inspector's team in Edinburgh the following year. Between 1947-1968, he held branch management positions at Arbroath, Dundee and Aberdeen. He became training officer in 1969 and retired in 1972.

Here at Drumsheugh there is plenty going on as usual. Amongst other other things we are looking at the revision sessions for the new format Chartered Banker examinations. As students will be sitting examinations at various times throughout the year, changes will be happening and some of these will be radical! Watch this space.

Oh well I better get off my laurels and head for the north east of Glasgow.

Michael (Go west)