Bertie Vigrass
Bertie Vigrass has become a veritable icon of the LCIA since the days, in the early 80s, when he and Michael Kerr so enthusiastically embraced the immense task of bringing the LCIA into the 20th Century. Though he has long since relinquished the reins, the success and reputation of the modern LCIA is testimony to his devotion to the institution and to his determination to see it blossom and grow.
Bertie remains a most familiar figure on the arbitral scene. One of the youngest octogenarians you are likely ever to meet, he is a true Peter Pan.
LCIA members will also have become familiar with Betty Champney, Bertie's companion for many years following the sad death of his first wife, Marie, in 1989. Betty was a nurse for 40 years, retiring as Chief Nursing Officer for the Leeds Western Health Authority in 1985. She also served as a magistrate on the Leeds Bench. It is with the greatest pleasure, therefore, that we report that Bertie and Betty were married on 18 October 2003 .
Hoping for a quiet wedding, Bertie and Betty, both of whom have been recognized by the OBE, decided to exercise the privilege that comes with that honour and to marry in the chapel of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire , in St Paul 's Cathedral.
As luck would have it, however, the chapel was under repair on the date of the wedding and they readily agreed to be married before the High Altar of the Cathedral itself. Tourists were shoo'd away from the happy couple and their witnesses, as the Succentor of the Cathedral conducted the ceremony.
On the walk from the altar to the side door for their photographs, many tourists' flashbulbs popped, as they were undoubtedly taken to be VIPs, which, in a real sense, of course, they are.
So, after a remarkable career, from his days as one of the youngest ever Lieutenant Commanders, flying as a pilot in aircraft in operations off aircraft carriers in the Royal Navy, through his years with the British Institute of Management, whose Executive Director he became, on through his long association with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, as its Chief Executive, and the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators, as its Founder Clerk, and to his crucial role in the creation of the modern LCIA, we again salute Bertie and hope and trust that he and Betty will continue to enjoy good health and happiness for very many years to come.