Travel Arrangements

I have spent time last week and this week preparing for our travels to India which begins on 1st June and then to China in July beginning the 16th July. We shall be meeting many people in India but the culmination will be the conference in Mumbai, Global Retail. Logic or Magic on 6th June, but I will keep you informed. In China we will be meeting with Universities and also welcoming our new region in Hangzhou. Our first joint conference with AATCC and CTIC will be held on 23rd to 25th July just prior to ITMA. I must admit I shall be pleased to leave this weather behind on Sunday but knowing my luck the weather will be excellent here. Also I hope I fully recover from my gastric flu before travelling to India!

The going got tough

We had a long and successful week training representatives of our partners at CTIC. They were all very good and worked very hard. As I stated before I can disappear to a corner in Spain when the going gets tough, and I did so on Friday 16th. We did have a few electric storms but the weather improved, as you can guess, on the day we were going home. The good news is I am now in contact on the internet at the villa so I will be in closer contact!

Chinese visit this week

This week we have three representatives from CTIC, China Textile Information Centre, visit Bradford to be trained on our new Colour Management Courses for Textiles. Unfortunately their flight was late on Sunday night, so they didn’t arrive in Yorkshire until Monday morning minus one of their suitcases. This week is going to be quite intense as we have 4 modules to be delivered in 4 days! We do have a challenge with language, which is being addressed by our Chinese consultant Hu Bei, Betty, translating as the courses are delivered to ensure the clearest understanding.

First council meeting as President

Yesterday was my first council meeting as President. Previous Presidents have normally been Chairman of the meetings for their year. Adrian Abel set the precedent and I followed where a chair person is elected from a nominee from the council of trustees and then the remaining trustees vote for that person. Chris Sargeant was the first Chairman 2007/2008 and this year we had two nominees, Derek McKelvey and Chris Sargeant, with Chris being elected as Chairman for 2008/2009. We must ensure all our regions are represented at the council meeting. Chris said that on September 10th , our next meeting, that representatives from especially from overseas regions will be invited to participate either by conference call or video.

The day began with a training session for trustees and this was my second training session. I have personally found them to be excellent and helping with defining trustees’ responsibilities and also what does ‘public benefit’ mean and the necessary requirements for querying a charity’s investments . In fact every trustee MUST ensure they are familiar with their responsibilities. Ken McGhee offered to provide any help for those who may not have been able to attend. Please contact me if you have any problems.

The Second Week

I have been very busy, so I am sorry I haven’t written anything for a week. We have been working on the final stages of the four modules which build to become the Diploma in Colour Management of Textiles. It has been great fun, although hard work, ensuring the correct content and the course materials as well as compatibility with our other diploma courses. Thanks to the introduction by our ambassador Richard Straughan, I have also been invited to speak at the 40th Conference of the Czech Association of Textile Chemists and Colourists in October, in celebration of the centenary of their formation. This is a new opportunity for the SDC to forge links with Eastern Europe. We are also putting together the final details of our conference in Shanghai which is held jointly with AATCC and CTIC on 23-25 July 2008, more on this later.