Hannah Baker, Head of Residential Sales at Legat Owen, reflects on her last 12 months as Chair of the Chester Association of Property Professionals:
“My year as Chair of the Chester Association of Property Professionals (CAPP) has come to an end. I am proud to be only the 5th female chair in the Association’s 73 year history. It’s been a truly rewarding experience, starting this time last year with our successful Annual Dinner at The Chester Grosvenor. I’ve had the pleasure of being invited to and attending a number of other Association’s events, including the Cheshire Agricultural Valuers Association Dinner, the Lord Mayor of Chester’s Banquet, and the Cheshire Society of Architects Dinner.
This year CAPP hosted a record fourteen Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and social events, all very well attended. It has been great to see such strong support from our members, including many new faces. We had insightful CPD sessions led by Leonard Curtis, Aaron & Partners and Knights Solicitors covering current industry topics. Of course, our social events are always a highlight! These included the quiz, golf day, Walls Crawl (bar crawl around the city walls!) and our racing event, which enjoyed a successful debut at Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse this year. We also successfully revived the CAPP cricket match at Boughton Hall Cricket Club and held other social events such as cheese and wine tasting at Chester Beer and Wine, a brewery tour at Spookton Brewery and social mid-week mingles.
Membership growth this year has been excellent. It is important to ensure the Association’s continued evolution and we are always encouraging younger members to get involved. Speaking from my experience as a young woman starting out in Chester’s professional property world, joining CAPP was a fantastic opportunity to meet like-minded individuals who offer mutual respect and, most importantly, know how to have fun! Through CAPP I’ve gained a great support network, built strong connections and have had the fortune of meeting role models and mentors, as well as making friends for life.
Our membership blogs continue to thrive, thanks to the insightful contributions from our members. The diverse range of topics effectively promotes both individual members and CAPP to a wider audience.
I’d like to extend a huge ‘thank you’ to all the Committee for their incredible support this year. They generously dedicate their valuable personal time to our monthly meetings and organising events, none of which would be possible without their commitment. I think we should be very proud of our Association and the support network it brings, and I feel extremely grateful to have had this opportunity to stand as Chair.
I wish David Adams all the best for the year ahead as he takes on the new role as Chairman. We’re in good hands going forward and I’m looking forward to hearing his speech at our annual dinner on Friday!”
