IFEDA AGM 2009

The latest IFEDA National conference took place at the Charlecote Hotel near in Stratford upon Avon and attending members all agreed it was a day full of interesting and informative workshops/presentations. On the 20th anniversary of IFEDA’s inception the Chairman, Colin Payne, highlighted our many achievements over the intervening years not least in being the first fire trade association to achieve ISO 9001 and in 2004 becoming the first association to embrace BAFE approval for its members. He went on to state that in a difficult trading year membership had continued to grow and through the many different committees that Officers attended IFEDA would be, as always, at the forefront fighting for member’s interests and just as importantly campaigning to bring improvements where it can. As pioneers of the commitment to 3rd party accreditation through BAFE, IFEDA members were delighted to greet BAFE General Manager Stephen Adams and catch up with all of BAFE’s latest news and future intentions. Members also picked up some useful tips re ‘marketing on a budget’ as well as catching up with the latest Asbestos regulations and learning about an extremely useful software package for fire risk assessments, before finally taking part in an interesting discussion led by John Judd, Chairman of the IFE on the future of the fire service. For the members who were able to stay and enjoy the evening’s entertainment comedian Mickey Pugh had everyone chuckling into their dinners before the calories were bopped away until the early hours.