This year for the first time the TTJ Awards feature a Trainee of the Year category. Entries have come in from across the industry and judging will take place a week before the Awards ceremony at the Savoy Hotel on September 11.
The new category has been created in recognition of the increasing resources being put into training in the UK timber industry.
The judging panel will comprise Rob Simpson, managing director of Trainee Award sponsor SCA Timber (UK), Geoff Rhodes, president of the Timber Trade Federation, Jim Lumsden, director of the Institute of Wood Science, and Mike Jeffree, editor of TTJ and ttjonline.com.
Rob Simpson at SCA concluded that the onus was now on every manager across the timber trade to promote training for the benefit of their business and the wider industry.
“It’s important to extend the hand of experience to younger people and ask how we can help them forward. We have a responsibility to the future viability of our businesses to bring on a confident professionally-minded generation to succeed us.”
Geoff Rhodes agreed. “The timber trade is big business and we need bright young people at all levels to join us and to develop their careers,” he said.
“I think this new award is an exciting innovation for the TTJ and for the industry,” added Mike Jeffree. “The number of entries we have had, the calibre of the trainees and the obvious enthusiasm they have for their work and the industry generally is very encouraging. I also believe the Award is something we can really build on for the future.”
