The formation of the London Hardwood Club on April 28, 1937 came at a time of some notable events in the UK’s history. Just two weeks earlier, the world’s first jet engine was tested at Rugby, while in the month following came the coronation of King George VI and Neville Chamberlain took over as prime minister.
Looking back at TTJ’s archives from the year, the idea to form a club came from 15 members of the hardwood trade of London enjoying an informal lunch. They unanimously agreed to form a club for principles or senior members of brokers, agents, importers and shippers’ representatives.
The intention was to share information of common interest and to assist in providing solutions to any difficulties or problems encountered by members.
Hugh Leary took the chair of the first meeting at the Great Eastern Hotel EC2 and a cable message was received conveying good wishes for success from the president of the National Lumber Exporters’ Association in Alabama.
Early key issues discussed included duties placed on imported hardwoods, advances on freight rates, difficulties with insurance policies and the Anglo-US Trade Treaty. Companies represented included Bambergers, Churchill & Sim, James Latham and Vincent Murphy.
Club Turns 80
Fast forward to today and the club is now in its 80th year, and, according to current club president David Howard, it is in good health, as anyone who was at the New Year Lunch held at the Honourable Artillery Company base in City Road in January can testify.
“With all the recent changes we have seen throughout the world it is probably more relevant now than ever,” he said.
Like many clubs, he said the LHC has had its share of challenges over the years LHC treasurer Frank Cosentino remembers the recession of 1989/90 kicking off a period of decline from 1992/93. “I remember many buyers went bust/closed and there was a definite decline in paying members and attendance,” he said.
Members drifted away and meetings became less frequent and poorly attended, so about 10 years ago a new committee under president John May decided to reinvent the club into the template it is today, streamlining the number of meetings and having a varied range of interesting speakers. After reaching a low of just 18 paying members during the financial crisis, numbers have since been firmly on the up and were up to 77 last year.
“We now have members not only from all over the UK but also from around the world raging from logging companies, overseas traders, agents, merchants, timber trade bodies, international timber councils and many more,” he said.
The value of meeting Together
“This is a digital world where information is freely available, but we are all too busy and distracted at work to search the web looking for random new legislation and emails you flag to remind yourself to read later, but never do.
“This is a fact of life. So much information but no time to read through it, or if you do, you’ll find that it doesn’t always give you all the information and if you want to talk to someone to find out more you get stuck in the telephone queuing network leaving you frustrated.
“This is why the London Hardwood Club is necessary. When you come along to the meetings you are totally focused on the then and now, you not only listen to top people in the trade, you get to talk to them in an open forum to find out how, what, when and why this information affects your business.
“You also get to network with other members and get a feel of the market, all of which you will not get by sitting in your office clicking a mouse button.”
He pointed out that the club was not a trade body or political and did not make or enforce laws.
“We are a forum run by the timber trade for the timber trade with a committee comprised of members from various parts of the timber trade.
“As a collective group we offer some of the best knowledge in the timber trade, allowing us to make well informed decisions when choosing speakers that are both useful and relevant to our members.”
He encouraged member companies to use the meetings to improve the knowledge of their key staff and in turn strengthen their businesses.
“Over the past years we have had some great speakers covering topics such as CE Marking, EUTR, FLEGT, the WWF Sustainability Forest Campaign and Grown in Britain.
TFT Woodexperts, the Forest Stewardship Council and Benchmark Furniture have been others who have shared with members.
“We have also had speakers from trade bodies such as the Confederation of Timber Industries (CTI), the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) and the British Woodworking Federation, as well as market meetings where we find speakers from various parts of the timber trade to give their views on the market followed by a discussion in an open forum which is always enlightening.”
Pricing, species trends, supply and demand dynamics, certification, technical issues and news from supplier countries are often discussed at market meetings.
These days six meetings are held annually, with the AGM & market meeting up next on May 24, followed by James Latham chairman Peter Latham sharing on July 19.
It is still a ‘members only’ club – men and women in the trade may only attend the meetings if they are invited by a member or are a member. But the club definitely wants to grow further and would like to hear from companies who are keen to join.
Charitable work
Regular fund-raising for charities has been an enduring feature for the club and recently Mr Howard presented a cheque for £1,250 to Veterans Woodcraft – a not for profit company for military veterans to help other veterans rebuild their lives after traumatic experiences through military service.
Chris Morgan, founder of Veterans Woodcraft, was invited to the club New Year Lunch in January.
He has been the driving force behind setting up the Help for Heroes Phoenix House Recovery Centre Wood workshop (Veterans Woodcraft) in Catterick Garrison.
Mr Morgan started the wood workshop with the target of raising £30,000 in three years. The LHC donation, delivered by Mr Howard, took the sum over that mark.
Veteran Bob Taylor made a teak clock for the New Year Lunch raffle, with Ted Granger using CNC technology to add both the London Hardwood Company and Veterans Woodcraft logo on the reverse of the clock, which was won by Garner Robinson, president of US-based Robinson Lumber Company.
