A note from the Chairman - June 2021

Dear Members,

I hope you are all well,

It is a pleasure of mine to produce this 'Note' every month to let you know of any changes, news or works that the board have done on behalf of members. In general, these ‘notes’ are well received but once or twice I have come under criticism for my choice or words. Examples of this are when I used the phrases 'a bucket of poison and a white van and off you go' and on last month’s note 'an association that was on its knees a few years ago'. These were light-hearted exaggerations used to emphasise changes for the good, and in no way were intended as a negative reflection on the board, previous boards or the association as a whole. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am immensely proud of the works of all boards over our 20 year history. This ‘note’ is not an official document but just a personal message to members and I try to make the sometimes 'dry' news sound as entertaining as is possible by adding a little humour, so please do not be offended by my choice of words.

We are now into the last half of 2021 and also the last 6 months of the two year period for CPE Points. As you know, the department allowed for PMU’s to stretch the usual 12 month 50 point quota over the two years due to lack of courses last year, with the pandemic affecting everything. The CPE Workshop Group have delivered quite a few workshops over the past 8 months but demand seemed to be waning, so have taken a break. However, there are many courses already approved for CPE points and ready to be delivered if there is a need. I would like to put a call out for anyone that has maybe just realised that they don’t have the points needed, for them to email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let us know how many people you have for training. With this info we can develop a schedule for the rest of the year ensuring that everyone that needs points have the opportunity to get them.

Again, if anyone has any news that they think members may be interested in, feel free to forward to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Keep well.

All the best for now,

Philip

Philip Cranley – 29_th June 2021

A note from the Chairman - May 2020

Dear members

We are still in the grip of this virus but hopefully we are past the peak and that things will start to get back to normal. Phase 1 of the lifting of restrictions should be going ahead from Monday 18th May and many more businesses will be back at work. The government has laid down some rules about returning to work based around awareness, modifications in work practices and risk assessment. We have attached a PDF of a basic Risk Assessment that you may download and use as it is or use it as guidance to formulate your own Risk Assessment.

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A note from the Chairman - April 2021

Dear members

I hope you are all well,

Another year has flown by and it is time for our AGM again. Unfortunately, we are still restricted in our travels and meetings and so for the second year running the AGM will be held on-line. We hope to finalise a date for the end of May and you should receive the annual accounts, reports and notices shortly.

Another casualty of the pandemic has been the Membership Audits. We are way behind our targets and are actively looking at a way to run these audits on-line. In particular, we have a backlog of new members who have not had any audit and these will be given priority, with a random selection of existing members for this year.

In other news, we are actively seeking approval to run an international conference on Pest Management and Food Safety in the coming years. But in the short term we hope to be able to run a free event with CPE training opportunities in the autumn, if restrictions allow. The IPCA Lantra course has been run a few times on-line and is a success and there have been 12 workshops run by the CPE Workshop Group in the past 6 months. Many more to come.

Keep well.

All the best for now,

Philip

Philip Cranley – 26_th April 2021

A note from the Chairman - March 2020

Dear members

As you are all aware we are in the midst of a serious Pandemic flu virus, Covid 19. It appears that things are probably going to get worse and industry will be hit badly. From our point of view, we must remember that we are an essential service to public health and that standards must be maintained. However, we must still follow the advice of the government and health officials.

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