If I may parody James Agate, who was talking about Sir Henry Irving, who in turn parodied Dr Johnson, who was talking about a gentleman of the name of Hume: ‘If anybody thinks Alexander Walk was the greatest member of our College of modern times and does not say so, he lies. If he does not think so, he is mad.’ I submit this judgment with little fear of contradiction; but should anyone choose to doubt me, let him only glance through Natalie Cobbing's detailed list of the high offices Walk has held, any one of which would cause us to sing praise unto his name.

On 15 June 1976 the Chairman of the Mental Deficiency Section read a statement to Council, expressing that Section's serious concern about the grave situation facing services for the mentally handicapped and the future of the specialty (News and Notes, October 1976, p 1). Council set up a Special Committee under the Chairmanship of the President to investigate the situation and prepare comments and recommendations for its consideration. The result is this Memorandum which Council has approved. The members of the Special Committee were Drs V. Cowie, A. Fairburn, Professor P. Graham, Drs W. A. Heaton-Ward, L. Hersov, T. Lawlor, W. R. McKibben, Professor D. Pond, Dr D. Primrose, Professor G. Russell, Drs B. Scally and A. Shapiro.

An Open Meeting will be held on Wednesday, 13 December, at the Tavistock Centre, Belsize Lane, London, N.W.3, at 8.15 p.m., when Dr J. Pedder will speak on ‘Transference: its place in play and theatre’.

This Memorandum was prepared, following a request from the Department of Education and Science, by a Special Committee of the College under the Chairmanship of Dr J. H. Kahn. The other members of the Committee were Drs S. Wolkind, D. M. Lynch, A. Bentovim and D. Westbury, representing the four Specialist Sections of the College.

In 1974 those involved in the supervision of psychotherapy in Aberdeen decided to attempt to estimate the current extent of psychotherapy practice and supervision in the Area in order to make effective plans for future training. The factors influencing this decision were the requirement of the Royal College that all trainees should have supervised experience of psychotherapy (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1971), together with an increase in requests for supervision from trainees in psychiatry and clinical psychology.