A very fond farewell to Sandra Page

30 Nov 2022

 

It’s the end of an era! After 47 years (47... count them!), the NAJ’s Sandra Page, administrator of the Institute of Registered Valuers (IRV), is calling it a day and retiring on 6th December. For good. Quite frankly, we’re all a bit shell-shocked! We pay tribute to a legend.

The role of IRV administrator is a full-on, demanding one – as all registered valuers and attendees of the Institute’s conferences will testify. In no particular order, Sandra Page has been font of knowledge, troop-rallier, organiser, advisor, cheerleader, welcoming host, persuader, placator, mother hen... no wonder she’s ready for a sit down. What we want to know is: how and where did it all begin?

Armed with secretarial and O-level certificates, Sandra applied for the post of junior shorthand typist at the National Association of Goldsmiths (NAG), which also included Gem-A back then. It was 1975, and she’d just left school. The office was next door to Goldsmiths’ Hall, and she worked mainly for the assistant secretary, Douglas Wheeler (his brother Harry was secretary). Her £1,820 per annum salary was supplemented by daily 15p luncheon vouchers.

In the early 1980s, Sandra started to attend the NAG Conferences. “These were usually a four- or five-day event. In those days, the men attended the meetings while the ladies went off on sightseeing trips!”

When Harry Wheeler retired in 1982, Con Lenan succeeded him as executive director and Sandra became his secretary, which involved looking after 48 various committees, council and board meetings a year (it put her off taking minutes for life).

Following Con’s departure in 1986, Jonathan Brown became chief executive. “He decided I was ready to work on my own, and I was appointed as an executive assistant.” A year later the Registered Valuer Scheme was launched, and by 1989, Sandra was not only looking after the scheme, but was operating from her (relocated) home in Cardiff.

“I worked closely with the NAG Valuations Committee, and the Scheme was gradually expanding, introducing guidelines, codes of practice, updating the Valuer’s Guide and promoting our professional valuers to insurers, the police and the public. We posted annual lists of our members to them as well as to libraries and Trading Standards Offices.” The idea of a conference was mooted, and after two successful half-day events during the Earl’s Court trade shows, it was decided to go for a weekend event in 1991 at Loughborough University.

A new CEO, Dr Michael Sanderson, in 1994 meant a new job title for Sandra – Valuations Committee Secretary. When Sandra celebrated 25 years with the Association in 2000, she was presented with a diamond ring by John Henn, then IRV committee chair. That year also saw the introduction of stricter entry requirements for valuers wishing to become RVs.

In 2015, the NAG joined with the BJA to become the National Association of Jewellers, an association in the British Allied Trades Federation: Sandra’s position was unchanged. Whether she was IRV coordinator or administrator, and as her role became more involved, Sandra has been at the heart of the Institute and the wider Association and will continue to attend IRV Professional Community Group meetings as an observer to offer her views when required. So, it’s less ‘goodbye’ and more ‘au
revoir.’ Phew!

A huge thank you from the whole team at the NAJ and IRV community - you will be missed!

Source: National Association of Jewellers