Training experts from government and the mobile phone industry were keynote speakers at the British Woodworking Federation’s (BWF) new-look Members’ Day this year.
The event at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire attracted 130 people and saw deputy director of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills Tim Down unveil the government’s training policies, including seeing teenagers stay in some sort of education or training until the age of 18.
Earlier BWF president Pauline Kelly said she had decided to make training one of the themes of her presidency and that last year the industry had started to take control of the issue. She said many joinery companies had been “experiencing the same [training] problems for years”.
Tim Down added that the government would be spending £5.3bn on public skills provision by 2010-2011, while UK Woodchain’s Mike Marchant said it was “wrong” to talk about training but instead produce people who were thinkers and doers.
A workshop on zero carbon housing, saw Construction Products Association speaker John Tebbit dismiss window energy ratings as not relevant and pinpointed frames as an area for improvement, highlighting Germany and Austria where bigger sections and insulated components are in use.
After workshops, members turned their hand at archery, tug-of-war and football, with BWF chief executive Richard Lambert donning his West Ham shirt to show off his skills.
The BWF, which has added 28 new members in 2008 with 12 more in the pipeline, also announced it would hold an awards in tandem with its annual dinner in November to celebrate the achievements of its members.
