NETTA puts timber on the curriculum

The North East Timber Trade Association (NETTA), which covers an area of eastern England from Nottingham to the Tweed, was formed in 2004 following the merger of Yorkshire and Humberside with the North East Coast associations. However, long before this merger both areas were involved in the region's academia.

For 26 years NETTA has set an annual timber structural prize with Newcastle University School of Architecture. This forms part of students' third-year curriculum and involves them designing a project which includes heavy use of forestry products. The results are judged by TRADA and the winners recognised at the NETTA's annual dinner in Newcastle.

NETTA also sponsors a student design project annually at Nottingham University along the same lines and we were pleased to provide materials for Nottingham's Home Optimising the use of Solar Energy (HOUSE) which was widely publicised. We have also recently met Northumbria University and hope to get a project going with them shortly in conjunction with TRADA's university liaison manager, Elizabeth Turner. In addition we are committed to three years of sponsoring an award for carpentry students at Leeds School of the Built Environment.

NETTA also works with schools, using the surplus money raised at its two annual dinners to provide equipment throughout its region. Recent donations include a wooden playhouse for Thomas Hedley Special School (for children with cerebral palsy); two substantial wooden sheds have been supplied to different forestry schools for use as outdoor classrooms; and we are also donating £3,000 over the next three years to The Phoenix Special School in Keighley to assist the children with a range of special needs.

We have more exciting and worthwhile projects on the horizon. Please visit our website at www.netta.org to learn more about us and make use of our interactive shipping mark finder (a world first!). Better still, come to our trade dinners - Newcastle on January 23 and Hull on April 19. Your support there will enable us to continue our worthwhile work.