I know that I will have your full sympathy when I say that I am writing this on a balmy summer day in Oregon where Anne and I are guests of our USA Co-ordinator, Edy Relf and her husband Bob. Nestled in a valley among the pine covered coastal hills, tree ducks swim on the creek a few feet from my RV window, and little chipmunks scurry around on the bank between me and the vineyard beyond.

I watched Edy on her computer last night researching in the US Census records; just a few weeks ago I was doing something similar with UK Census records whilst sitting on a campground in Texas using a radio link to connect my computer to the Internet In the space of a few hours I was able to add scores of names to my family tree. Research like that a few years ago would have taken months, probably involved hours of travel to distant research centres, and cost a bomb! It got me thinking; has genealogy now become too easy? Do we still need an International Relf Society? If so, what should be its purpose?

In 1990 those questions barely needed to be asked; the answers were obvious. The Society clearly had a place in helping to reduce expensive, laborious travel and searching; we could swap our research with others - hopefully to mutual advantage. To some extent that purpose still remains but perhaps is less important given our increasingly easy access to the archives. However, a well researched family tree needs to include interesting detail which cannot be found in the “archives” - and probably not online either.

Anne and I were privileged to spend a few days with Keith and Margaret Relf in New Zealand in December and before that we spent a wonderful day on the Relf Farm near Luther, Oklahoma with another family. Over the years we have enjoyed meeting many of you, hearing your family stories, reading about them in the pages of The Wolfpack, and hopefully not boring you with our tales in return.

It seems to me that our Society still has an important role to play for any serious RELF researcher but perhaps it's main purpose is shifting - away from the archives and nearer to a forum in which our ancestors can be placed in their contemporaneous culture - not just as annotations on a diagrammatic tree. Our annual Reunions and The Wolfpack now take on added importance; here we can discuss and record the lives and times of our ancestors - not as in the history books but how it really happened on the street where they lived. Which is why Anne and I regret being unable to join you today - though we do hope to be able to attend next year's Reunion - catching up on your news and hearing about your research.

In the meantime, please let us read about your family, their lives and times, in the pages of The Wolfpack; a few lines would take little of your time but be interesting I'm sure and might be very useful for other members. This is not the first time I have made this plea but it is very important. We need to hear from YOU!

I am sure you would wish me to propose a vote of thanks to the outgoing Committee for an excellent job over the past year; the proof of their success is in the pages of The Wolfpack and your presence here today.

Anne and I wish you all the best for a very enjoyable Reunion and look forward to being with you in 2006.

Brian Relf, #001, President.

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Page last revised October 2005.