Members and guests were ‘bowled over’ by the speakers at EATTA’s June meeting and BBQ at Madingley Hall.

The sun shone and conversations flowed and after a light lunch new Chair Ian Drane called all to order and presided over a packed agenda with items on NSD, NPPD, NHD, TDUK-SSC, Beetle updates, Statistics as well as Trading Matters.

Darren Mayes the new Supply Chain compliance Manager gave TDUK updates on Responsible Sourcing, Purchasing & Supply.

Our first guest speaker was Grant Burrell from City College Norwich, which opened as a New Technical School in 1891, who spoke about his journey into teaching as he started life as a Brickie! The college offers diplomas in carpentry and site carpentry as well as apprenticeships in carpentry and joinery at entry and advanced levels.

Our second guest speaker was Simon Thuresson, a young man fascinated by how companies operate across borders and how people from different cultures do business together. He spoke about how this led him to work for VIDA Wood UK straight from School, then their parent company in Sweden and before going on to study Forestry and Sawmill Economics programme at Linnaeus University in Växjö.

EATTA Officers: Ian Drane; Peter Reed; Tabitha Binding and Committee: Anthony Considine; Chris James; Damian Thomas; James Ellul; Mark Giles (apologies received from Greg Pickett) introduced themselves to members and guests by speaking for two minutes about their entry into the timber industry – horses, cars and chairs featured and Anglo Norden took the top spot for training many of the EATTA committee.

The meeting ended with an entertaining talk by our third guest speaker Oliver Wright MBE. Around 75% of the world’s cricket bats are made from willow supplied by JS Wright & Sons founded in 1894. They supply hundreds of thousands of blades each year, and plant at least 30,000 trees in the UK annually, an additional income for landowners. Timber samples and cricket bats were passed around, and many insider tips were picked up by those who play cricket!

Members and guests then enjoyed a BBQ in the gardens.

Our next EATTA event is our Annual Dinner on 23rd September at King’s College, Cambridge followed by our General Meeting on 22nd October at the Belfry, Cambourne.

See website for more details and our 2027 dates here

Thanks to Rebecca Thick & Robin White for the photos.