2013 Yearbook

3 Foreword I’m sure most of us recall that feeling when we finished school or college and vowed never to sit another exam or take another test again, ever! I know I certainly did. It didn’t take very long in the outside world, however, before I realised that I actually didn’t know very much at all in a practical sense and needed to look and learn an awful lot more. That process has been continuous and even though I have been retired from active practice for a couple of years now I find I’m still learning, mainly these days from the IHBC’s fascinating LinkedIn forum. Education, skills training, continuing professional development, whatever you want to call it, is absolutely crucial. If we strive to do and be the best we can be in our work, there is no room for complacency concerning our knowledge and capabilities. There’s always something new to learn, what in the organisation. On the latter score you will note that there have been fewer changes in the hierarchy this year: David McDonald, formerly representative of the London branch, takes over the chair of the Education Training & Standards Committee and there have been one or two changes in branch representation. I again take this opportunity to offer our appreciation and thanks to all those who have generously given of their time and effort to serve the interests of the institute both nationally and regionally. The institute offers us all a great deal, through publications like this and Context , the website, the excellent and up-to-the-minute weekly NewsBlog, regional branch events and conferences and, of course, the annual school. This year the school takes place in Carlisle on 20–22 June, and I am particularly looking forward to it as I once lived there and was a pupil at Carlisle Grammar School in the early 1960s. It’s a place I have fond recollections of, even if my old school has been absorbed into something rather larger, more comprehensive (and mixed!) and, like everywhere else, the city has seen many changes. I look forward, hopefully, to seeing many of you there. The title of the annual school is ‘Skills’, and it promises to be an interesting one. It’s also a great part of the country so the visits should be splendid. As with everything to do with the institute, it will be incredibly good value and will provide us all with exceptional opportunities for sharing and gaining greater knowledge, skills and experience. You just can’t have enough of it! Trefor Thorpe IHBC President another possibility or idea to consider or technique to practice, and the best practitioners know how to listen as well as advise. It pays to learn from successes as well as failures and, since it’s a lot less painful and costly to learn from other people’s mistakes, it’s advisable to listen to their experiences. That old cliché about it not being necessary to reinvent the wheel is true but there’s still benefit in mastering the process or, indeed, tweaking the technology to improve performance and there’s definitely room for that in our field as much as there is in a highly technological one like Formula 1. So the theme of this edition of the Yearbook is all about improving skills and training, at professional as well as craft levels – for the two are irrevocably linked. We have erudite articles from some of the leading practitioners, as well as reviews and progress reports from our director and chair to provoke interest and thought alongside checking out who’s who and