At the recent AGM of the Society, it was announced that Geoff Dawe would take over as President following Owen Hydes, who stepped down after some 14 years in the post.
But who is Geoff Dawe? Why is he good candidate? What makes him
tick? Here are some answers.
Geoff spent most of his working life in the public sector, having been influenced to take a job there by his father who was made redundant 3 times in the private sector. He started with the GLC and moved on to the Department of Transport, then Environment followed by Culture Media and Sport and English Heritage. He also had a spell with Overseas Containers Ltd. Finally he took early retirement in early 2011. As such he is well versed in the ways of the Civil Service both in work and socially.
Passions
In sport he has two passions - golf and cricket. In his own words he is a "...passionate supporter of real cricket", which can only mean the 5-day game rather than one-day or Twenty20. One of his most pleasing cricket moments was the England success during the 2009 Ashes tour, watching the final victory at the Oval from the stands. This year with more time on his hands he was able to witness England's demolition of India ball by ball.
As for golf, he took up the game in 1984. He was a founding member of Toot Hill GC and has spent over 20 happy years there. For about 10 years was secretary the Transport Golfing Society before it merged with the then DOE(LG) Society. His most memorable society moments were Kevin Ryan's hole-in-one at West Surrey and Peter D'Costa's longest drive.