Thursday June 10, 2010

Dear colleague,

Government Work on Markets to Continue

Following the General Election NABMA made strong representations to Eric Pickles, new CLG Secretary of State, that the work on markets should continue. I am delighted to be able to inform NABMA members that we have now received confirmation that the work already started is to continue and we are intending to move forward on the project areas already identified. We will be reporting in detail on the work undertaken at the NABMA Conference at Buxton and hopefully there will be the launch of one or two initiatives that have been sponsored by Government during the Conference. At the time of writing this article full details of the revised workload have not been made available but as soon as information is known then it will be shared with all NABMA members.

NABMA Conference 12th – 14th September 2010

Information about the NABMA Conference – Markets Champions – to be held at Buxton from 12th – 14th September has already been circulated and bookings are coming in. You have until the end of July to get your bookings registered to claim the early bird discounts. If you want any further information about the Conference you can get an additional booking form or details of the programme from NABMA at www.nabma.com

Britain’s Oldest Charter Market

We had a recent request from the BBC to provide information about Britain’s oldest charter market. This prompted lots of submissions from NABMA members claiming the title. At the time that a response was provided to the BBC Cambridge had produced the evidence of the oldest charter at 973. They were closely followed by a host of other councils and one or two more had unsubstantiated claims for early charter status. Currently Cambridge hold the unofficial title of “The Oldest Charter Market”. Unless you know different...

NABMA Buddy Scheme

NABMA sets out to provide a network of support to its members and it is important that we develop new initiatives to foster this support. It is proposed to launch a new Buddy Scheme at Conference which will identify a number of experienced market managers from around the country who will be available to support market managers with advice, good practice and support where appropriate. It is intended that this buddy arrangement will be operated on a regional basis and it is encouraging that twelve experienced market managers have already put forward their names for inclusion in the scheme. Watch for further details at the NABMA Conference.

Faces from the Past

I wrote to members recently about the retirement/loss of a number of experienced market officers. It is always sad to lose such a wealth of experience from the markets industry. Many NABMA members will remember the names of Brian Ormshaw and John Edwards, previous General Secretaries of NABMA, who retired a number of years ago. Both Brian and John were in contact recently and it is pleasing to report that both are in good health and greatly enjoying their retirement. Brian and John continue to follow NABMA’s activities, principally through the website, and both asked to be remembered to their former friends and colleagues in NABMA.