It was with mixed emotions that I handed over the reins as Chair of CECA Midlands to Ron Pinfield at our recent AGM.
I know Ron will do a fantastic job in continuing to drive forward the organisation alongside our recently appointed Director, Lorraine Gregory.
It has been an honour to hold this role to ensure that we serve civil engineering contractors of all sizes across our region during an unprecedented time – one that none of us will forget or want to go through again.
It has been a rollercoaster, to say the least, and I am proud of the way CECA Midlands – and all of our members – really stepped up and faced the challenges of COVID-19.
I know as an industry the support of CECA with our regular briefings, up-to-date information and training was invaluable and, as a result, we have come out of that period stronger as an industry which can adjust to uncertainty and continue to deliver.
If you take just a snapshot from our annual review, you can see the impact we have made including 948 delegates being trained – an increase of 202; an increase in hours of training delivered from 4,055 in 2020 to 6,752 in 2021 and we have developed a soon-to-be-launched Social Value toolkit led by our Foundations Group.
Our own Kickstart programme delivered 61 people into full-time jobs, which is something I am proud of as it has helped our members with recruitment and has supported people into work.
Recruitment and skills remain a key issue for our sector and will be something CECA Midlands will continue to speak up about on behalf of our members.
The fact that, through the national CECA network, we have a route direct into Government means that our members’ voices can be heard by decision-makers.
I will continue to serve on the CECA Midlands board and will support Ron, Lorraine and the team in ensuring we continue to support our members. I am proud of this industry, the work we do and the people who are part of the sector.
I am biased but I believe this is the best industry around and I wish every member of CECA Midlands every success for the future.