Firstly, let me congratulate Daniel Holdsworth, Viktor Khalack and Jiri Krticka, the newly elected members of the Organizing Committee of the Ap Working Group on Ap and Related Stars. Secondly, I would like to thank Gautier Mathys for all his excellent work as the past chair of the OC. Of course, I must not forget Oleg Kochukhov and Ernst Paunzen who are continuing members of the OC.
A lot has changed in the Ap community since I last served as a member of the OC at the beginning of this century from 2000 to 2009. It is an honour to have been elected to chair the OC for this long established WG. The Ap community while relatively small is quite vibrant. We have made excellent use of ground- and space-based facilities, especially those motivated by exoplanet discovery. TESS is ongoing and we can look forward to PLATO and what it can contribute to our studies of Ap stars.
I would like to encourage any IAU members who are not currently a member of our WG to consider joining. Increasing the number of members will help our community flourish.
Finally, to echo Gautier’s comment, I would like to also thank the editor, Silva Järvinen, for her excellent work with the Newsletter which is indeed a major asset to our WG.
Best wishes to you all,
Barry Smalley
Chair ApWG