Dear lovely supporters of WOC-UK, I end this year by giving you a brief summary of what we have achieved. In the build-up to the annual conference this year, we ran a successful fundraising campaign and raised over £3,000 towards our work to empower low- and middle-income countries surgically. In June, we held the annual conference at the Biocomposites facility, with many of us meeting for a pre-conference social the night before. We had an absolutely packed programme on the day, showcasing incredible work from our partners around the globe. It was not long before we staged one of the most captivating sessions at the BOA in September, with two international speakers, one in person and one virtually. We were also treated to a thoughtful piece on the history of WOC-UK, during which we paid tribute to one of the founders, Geoffrey Walker. Soon after, we appointed our next Future Leaders Programme candidate, and no one deserved this more than Mr Dan Yeomans, a long-term WOC member from the Severn Deanery. In November, we joined forces with BOTA for the global orthopaedics sessions, with a range of presentations from our joint bursary winners from the previous year. Lastly, in December, a delegation of WOC-UK committee and wider members travelled to Bujumbura to support the COSECSA exams, which were of an exceptionally high standard this year, and we continue to support and strengthen our links with this remarkable college. We are already busy planning next year’s conference in June, and I ask you to save the dates of Friday 5 June (afternoon) for the first WOC-UK instructional course on LMIC working and Saturday 6 June (all day) for the main conference. Both events will be held at the BBraun Aesculap Academy in Sheffield, Thorncliffe Park, S35 2PW. Overnight accommodation will be available at discounted rates for the first 40 people to sign up, and we will endeavour to repeat our popular social gathering on the Friday night. I look forward to meeting as many of you there as possible. Details of WOC-UK events with registration links will be advertised via our website at https://wocuk.org and through our social media channels, which are currently being actively revamped by our new media representative, Rachel Steedman. There is much more happening which I will not go into here, but these are very exciting times for global orthopaedics and for WOC-UK. As chairman, I thank you all for your continued support in so many ways this year and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you get the rest you all deserve for your hard work and dedication to your patients wherever they are.
Ashtin Doorgakant