‘Ask not what your association can do for you. Ask what you can do for your association’.
This was how North West Timber Trade Association president Richard Hull wound up his speech to a 400-strong audience at the organisation’s annual dinner at the Manchester Piccadilly Hotel.
Mr Hull, area sales manager at Gill & Robinson Ltd, made a heartfelt plea for timber traders to get involved, both with the NWTTA and the Timber Trade Federation.
The past year, he acknowledged, had been a tough one, particularly in softwood, characterised by ‘low prices, low profitability and over supply’. But this, he maintained, made it even more imperative for the timber trade to act in concert.
‘A problem shared is a problem halved and it’s by association members coming together and discussing issues that solutions can be found and changes can be made,’ he said. ‘A trade association is only as strong as the support of its membership.’
He also urged NWTTA members to put their views to the TTF. ‘The TTF review was the start of a process of change and we mustn’t leave the federation to guess what we expect of them.’
Among the NWTTA’s guests was TTF president Philip Underwood who agreed on the importance of communication.
One of the key areas where consultation was needed was the TTF’s new code of practice.
‘There will be disagreements over what should be included in the code,’ he said. ‘But it will be an important tool for members to promote themselves in the market place and it will happen.’
