Greg Pickett – EATTA Chair

It’s been another eventful year in office!

The year kicked off with our Annual General Meeting at the fabulous Madingley Hall in February before we returned to Newmarket Racecourse in July for a General Meeting during the afternoon followed by a BBQ in their wonderful grounds in the evening. Our final meeting of 2024 took place at the hospitable Belfry Hotel & Spa in Cambridge and included a thorough overview of TDUK activities. All three meetings were exceptionally well-attended and it’s much appreciated that people take time out of their busy schedules to contribute to their regional association. It’s also been especially pleasing to see some new faces attend this year including many younger members and I believe this bodes well for the association for the coming years.

Our Annual Dinner at King’s College, Cambridge in September was once again a sell-out and was preceded by the return of the ever-popular Timber Market Meeting covering the latest developments from the UK & Ireland, Scandinavia and the Baltics. Thanks to Mike Glennon of Glennon Brothers, Ville Huittinen of SCA and Kevin Hayes of AKZ for their time and presentations and to all those in attendance for an engaging afternoon.

The Dinner itself exceeded all expectations once again with superb food, service and, of course, company. The evening marked the formal announcement of the decision of our Secretary, Sheila Hutchings, to retire at the end of June 2025 and the news was rightly marked by a rapturous round of applause from all in attendance in appreciation of Sheila’s contribution to EATTA over many years.

Sheila’s contribution to EATTA and to the wider trade was also recognised at the TDUK Awards in held in London in November where she took centre stage in taking home the prestigious Long Service Award. Unfortunately, Sheila couldn’t attend herself but it was an honour to make a short acceptance speech on her behalf.

This wasn’t the only award of the evening heading back to East Anglia as we were also awarded the much-coveted Regional Association Award for the second year running………what a night!

2025 will see some change with Sheila retiring and a new Secretary taking her place in the Summer but with the support of you all and with a dedicated and engaged Committee working in the background the future of EATTA remains very bright.

I hope that you all have a successful year, and I look forward to seeing many of you at forthcoming EATTA events.