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The conference and exhibition got off to a good start with an official reception by the Mayor of Bournemouth on Tuesday evening where attendees could relax and chat—a pleasant way to meet old friends and to make new acquaintances.

ISHM‐Benelux held its 1987 Autumn Conference on 29 October, at the Antwerp Crest Hotel. This one‐day meeting focused on applications of hybrid circuit technology in various fields of electronic and related industries.

It was Monday, June 8th, and immediately after the Bournemouth Conference. The weather was unchanged, dull and with rain not far away and I was pleased to board the plane for Finland; hopefully the long days at this time of year would give better weather. My hopes were soon realised and Helsinki looked bright and clear under the afternoon sun, the white Cathedral dominating the harbour skyline. The market by the South Harbour was crowded with shoppers and others just enjoying a stroll by the sea.

ITS: Intertrade Scientific Ltd, the UK based manufacturer of the MCT/Browne InfraRed Reflow Soldering Systems for SMT and Hybrid applications, as part of their aggressive drive into Europe, has announced the signing of a distributor agreement with Maquinaria Suiza SA of Spain. Under the agreement, Maquinaria Suiza will be the sole supplier of the highly successful product range to Spain and Portugal.

On 20 April ISHM‐Benelux held its 1988 Spring meeting at the Grand Hotel Heerlen. This meeting was totally devoted to implantable devices, in particular to the technologies used for these high reliability, extremely demanding devices. For this meeting ISHM‐Benelux was the guest of the Kerkrade facility of Medtronic. Medtronic (headquartered in Minneapolis, USA) is the world's leading manufacturer of implantable electronic devices. Apart from the assembly of pacemakers and heart‐wires, the Kerkrade facility acts as a manufacturing technology centre for Medtronic's European facilities.

The popular reflow day was repeated at Henley and commenced with Mike Judd giving an overview of current reflow techniques.

EMCA has been supplying thick film materials since the mid '60s and their name will be familiar to the great majority, if not all, engaged in the manufacture of hybrid circuits. However, I for one was not so well acquainted with their background and so I welcomed the opportunity to visit their new facilities at Linton near Cambridge. For once, the M25 was reasonably clear and after an easy journey I took advantage of the fine weather to revisit the pleasant colleges and ‘the backs’ by the river Cam. There is much activity in cleaning the stonework in many of the buildings; the resultant appearance is splendid, especially when seen on a sunny day against a blue sky. It was a bonus to have an hotel nearby with a room overlooking the river. The next morning EMCA was just a few minutes' drive away.

Since its advent in 1983, Circuit Technology has gone from strength to strength, as indicated by visitor attendance which increased from 3000 in 1983 to over 6000 in 1984. Predictions are that, with the larger venue at Olympia's National Hall, previous attendance figures will be exceeded many times at Circuit Technology '85.

This two‐week course held in May 1987 at Oxford University Department for External Studies comprised an interesting and comprehensive programme of instructive lecture sessions combined with company visits which gave attendees the opportunity to observe practical aspects of several areas of the course. Examination results are printed below, and details of the course contents are as follows: