John Raine, Chair, updates on the work of the Commission

28 October 2022

It was a great pleasure to be able to welcome many new scholars to the Marshall programme in person last month, despite the sad circumstances of the national mourning for the late Queen. A warm welcome to you all! 

I'd like to update all of you on the work of the Commission. The Foreign Secretary has appointed six Commissioners to replace those who had to stand down at the end of their tenure in August. Watch this space to find out more about them.

For those of you currently in the UK, you will soon have a chance to meet them all in person at the reception being planned for November. 

This is the delayed welcome event which we had planned to hold on the arrival of new scholars but had to postpone because of the period of national mourning.

It will also be a chance to say goodbye to the departing Commissioners whom many of you who have been here a while will know personally. 

Once the new Commissioners are settled, we shall be allocating each of you to a Scholars Circle convened by a Commissioner. This has proved a valuable, two-way channel of communication which we are keen to continue. 

I will share another update after the meeting of the MACC on 16 November to keep you sighted on our discussions. I know many of you are concerned about the increasing cost of living and in particular fuel bills. This will be on our agenda although as you will be aware from earlier messages there are limits on what we can do. Thank you nonetheless to those of you who have communicated your concerns on this and other matters. The Commission greatly values your feedback.

John Raine
Chair of the Marshall Association Commemoration Commission