New TRA chairman will promote membership

A commitment to encouraging people to join the Trussed Rafter Association (TRA) was made by new chairman, Wally Shaw, at the AGM last week.

He also challenged existing members to share the workload of the association to ensure it survives.

Mr Shaw told the 75 members present:”We all know we need this association. There isn’t a single company here that has a hope of having a voice in any national legislation without TRA, so my theme during my term of office will be encouraging people to join and exhorting members to share the workload. The more people that do that, the more chance we will have of not seeing members bleed out of the organisation.”

Reviewing the year, outgoing chairman Mike Beale said a health and safety committee had been formed and the website had proved popular. He asked more members to submit information to the publicity committee for PR purposes, and said TRA has negotiated a deal to help members combat escalating public indemnity insurance after the September 11 terrorist attack.

Mr Beale said the only way to get people into the industry was to bring young people in and train them. He added: “Otherwise we will end up with nobody to design roof trusses.”

Gary Thomas, chairman of the TRA technical committee, talked members through the guidance on a bracing project which the committee has been working on, and Dr Luke Whale gave a presentation on the impact of British and European standards on the trussed rafter industry.

Charles Trevor, managing director of wood. for good, made a case for TRA joining the campaign. He said: “It will only succeed if we have participation throughout the industry. We rely on people like you to increase consumption of wood.”

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