The annual group Christmas outing 2013 was held on the 13^th of December. The group got together to celebrate the festive season in what was one of the greatest and most productive years the electrochemistry group have ever had. During the day, the group played ice hockey.

The night commenced at Alex’s house for the traditional Secret-Santa gift swapping extravaganza followed by a very special private dinner at Blue Bistro in Coventry. The group had a brilliant evening with great food, drink, and a live brass band. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!

Many thanks to this year’s organising committee (Alex Parker & Tania Read) for doing such a great job!

On Wednesday the 28^th of August 2013 members of the Electrochemistry and Interfaces group took part in the Massey Ferguson Runners Club (MFRC) corporate 5 mile race held at the War Memorial Park, Coventry. The team, named ‘SECCM best?’, was made up of three of the fastest runners from the Two Castles Run 2013 (Pat Unwin, Barak Aaronson and Aleix Guell) as well as Dr Andrew Marsh, Associate Professor in Warwick Chemistry. ‘SECCM best?’ were actually second best (!), although beaten by ‘Aston Martin 1’ (who else?) a team consisting of professional club runners. Well done to the ‘SECCM best?’ team - we look forward to your next competition.

Last week the Electrochemistry and Interfaces group said their goodbyes to Stanley Lai who has been a Research Fellow in the group for ~3 years. Stanley will be starting a tenure track position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Twente working with Serge Lemay. To mark the end of his time at Warwick, Stanley organised a lovely dinner out for the whole group at a local gastro-pub (see photos below) followed by a traditional trip to the pub. His research in our group was on electrocatalysis and scanning probe techniques and generated many high impact publications. Just before Stanley left this is what he had to say about his time here in Warwick:

“The research in the Warwick Electrochemistry group is very varied and supported by excellent facilities. This mix has been really great for me to learn a lot about different fields of research and many (novel) techniques. Furthermore, I feel lucky to have worked and interacted with such a varied group of people and characters. There, I would like to thank all the people in the Warwick Electrochemistry group (and especially Pat and Julie) for creating such friendly and open atmosphere, which have made me feel welcome from the very first day.”

Seven members of the Warwick Electrochemistry and Interfaces group received their PhD degrees, alongside Honorary Graduate Greg Doran, Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, at this Summer's graduation ceremony held on Friday July 19th. Congratulations to Anisha Patel, Kim McKelvey, Kate Meadows, Tahani Bawazeer, Mike O’Connell and Lucy Tomlinson (plus Maxim Joseph – an engineer who has been ‘adopted’ by the electrochemistry group). Good luck to you all in your future endeavours!

On Saturday 22^nd June, the Birdingbury Village Club was the venue for an exclusive and intimate performance from Pat. With a two hour set, Pat played to an audience of locals and some guests from the Warwick Electrochemistry group. Playing a few of his own songs, and well known (to the over 50s) British rock music, Pat kept the audience wanting more. Whilst the start of the evening saw only a few odd locals singing and dancing to the show, towards the end of the evening the whole pub was on their feet singing along. In only his third ever live public performance, and following a performance in the early afternoon of the same day, a tired Pat came alive to entertain the crowd, only upsetting a few of his fans with the swearing in the John Lennon cover of "Working Class Hero."

The previous week at the Birdingbury Village Club saw a showing of the "Skyfall" movie, and the following week saw the arrival of a fish and chip van to keep the locals happy. Whilst most of the audience this week probably attended just for the free BBQ, they will no doubt return next year to see Pat keeping his loyal fans happy once more. The only downside to the night was not performing "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at."