State of the Jamie Address 2017

I’ve never been a New Year person, I tend to feel melancholy at the loss of another year, but it does give me a chance to reflect back on what’s happened through the year.

I didn’t climb many mountains this year, in fact I hardly walked at all, but I did lots of cycling and training and I was starting to be back in pre-Kilimanjaro shape.  And then IT happened.

There was sporting success as my ice hockey team, the Cardiff Devils, swept all before them and won the League, Challenge Cup and Conference title and only losing the Playoff Final after a mega battle with the Sheffield Steelers.  As we finish 2017 we’ve hit a purple patch again and make a run for the league, after the ups and downs of the early 2017/18 season and Champions League hockey it’s looking good for more silverware.

I carried on doing bits and bobs for my charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK, editing the first newsletter of 2017, there was the success of WalkIt in Swansea with close on 500 walkers attending, and then to end the year, the launch of IBD Wales building on my work as Chair of the Patient Panel.

There was an unforgettable trip on the Flying Scotsman.  There many, many trips to the theatre and cinema with great friends.  And of course, I read like never before, finishing the year with an incredible 70 books read in the one year.  I volunteered again at the Cardiff Half, which was great fun.

There was incredible work success, achieving ISO14001, transitioning to ISO9001 and ISO44001.  We led the way in our industry, I continued to push the boundaries on what we could achieve, so that even Tier One’s started to take notice.  I got invited to speak at a BSI Conference, I attended many CPD events around the country.  Our H&S Record continues to show a year on year improvement since I joined, our Accident Frequency Rate and Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate are the lowest they’ve ever been.  There’s so much more I could do!

I got tremendously excited about one personal project which was all set to launch, until IT happened.

IT being the devastating news that my kidneys were failing, only a transplant could help or I faced dialysis.  Chronic Kidney Disease seems to have dominated the last few months of the year, in fact since July/August so looking back makes me realise how much I’ve still been able to achieve.  I still struggle to come to terms with it, this Christmas period I’ve tried to shut it out of my mind and just focus on enjoying the day.  That I’ve been able to do.

Through it all I’ve been grateful for the so many friendships that have supported me.

So, there it is, an eventful year.