Welcome to the next SBNS meeting

Dear Colleagues

 

It gives me great pleasure to invite you to the Autumn 2010 SBNS meeting which is hosted by Great Ormond Street Hospital and which will be held at Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea Football Club. This is the first time that the SBNS meeting has been hosted by a Paediatric neurosurgical unit and we are honoured that Great Ormond Street should have been selected as hosts.

 

The Bluewing Conference Centre at Stamford Bridge is an excellent, self-contained facility and will act as the venue for our scientific meeting, to be held in the Harris Suite and the trade exhibition, which will be in the spacious setting of the Great Hall. There are two on site hotels, as well as bars and restaurants and so there should be little need to stray far from the conference venue!  Travel is easy with Fulham Broadway tube station just a few steps away and West Brompton railway link close by. There is on site parking available for those coming by car.

 

The lifelong learning session on Wednesday September 8^th will be “A neurosurgeon’s guide to pain”. The Sir Victor Horsley lecture on Wednesday afternoon will be delivered by Prof Richard Hayward, the first Prof of paediatric neurosurgery in the UK and who will be retiring from the NHS shortly after the meeting and so this is an opportunity to bid him a fond farewell. Following the Wednesday evening seminar we will head off for an evening of entertainment on board the Silver Sturgeon (www.silverfleet.co.uk), a luxury Thames river cruiser.

 

Our guest speaker on Thursday for the Professor Sir Hugh Cairns memorial lecture will be Prof Andy Copp, Director of the UCL Institute of Child Health (www.ich.ucl.ac.uk) and an expert in the field of neural tube development. In addition we shall be co-hosting the Thursday morning with our colleagues from the British Paediatric Neurology Association.

 

Our Gala Dinner on Thursday evening will be held in the historic setting of the Hurlingham Club (www.hurlinghamclub.org.uk). This private members club set in 42 acres of breathtaking gardens is recognised throughout the world as one of Britain’s greatest private clubs and it retains its quintessentially English traditions and heritage. We have a memorable evening of entertainment planned for you in this wonderful setting.

 

Our final guest lecturer for the Sir Geoffrey Jefferson lecture will be Prof James Tait Goodrich of Montefiore Medical Center New York. In addition to being a distinguished neurosurgeon and an excellent speaker, Jim is an acknowledged expert in the field of medical history and this is the theme he will be giving to his lecture.

 

In recent years we have not had a programme for accompanying persons, which seems a shame and means that many wives and partners do not have the opportunity to get together. For this reason my wife Philippa has offered to host a day excursion on Thursday September 9^th to include a museum or gallery visit, followed by lunch and shopping. Please could all those interested contact her on philippaharkness@me.com as it will be essential to have an accurate idea of numbers in advance?

 

Although the meeting may have a ‘paediatric spin’ it remains the showcase of British Neurosurgery of all forms and so we welcome all those who work with neurosurgical patients of any age to join us for this memorable event.

 

I hope very much that we shall see you in September.

 

William Harkness

Host of the 2010 SBNS Autumn at Chelsea