Dr Sam Thorburn, OBE, FEng, will succeed Brian Clancy, JP, as President of the Institution 1997-98 at an Ordinary Meeting at headquarters on Thursday 2 October. The installation takes place at 6pm, when the new President will deliver his address ‘The challenge of structural engineering: safety with economy and harmony’, the full text of which will be published in The Structural Engineer in October. Born in Glasgow in October 1930 within a community dependent on heavy industry, and, in particular, steelworks, Dr Thorburn developed a desire to be an engineer at the early age of 8 years when visiting relatives in Thames Ditton, Surrey, who owned a building firm.
During holidays in Surrey he learnt the skills of sailing on the River Thames. Tennis also became a way of life during those early years, and both sailing and tennis remain as memories of a happy boyhood.