Vice President’s Foreword Welcome to the 2023 edition of the BFPA Yearbook and Members’ Directory. The Association continues to develop and enhance its service offering to members and one of the key recent developments has been the strategy work actioned following our strategy review for members, organised by President John Farmer and myself, which took place in 2021.[RG1] It is genuinely a privilege to be involved in this strategy work. The strategic review was arranged to gain a better understanding of what members understand about the Association’s activities, whether they feel we are delivering value and whether our planned future direction is where they want us to go for these initiatives to be of benefit to them and the wider industry. After gathering an extensive amount of feedback, we revised the strategy of the BFPA and decided to establish four teams focused on ideas for the future for our areas of strategic importance. Each of these teams is comprised of a group of individuals from the wider membership supported and encouraged by a team leader, also from membership. It is really encouraging to see how quickly and thoroughly these teams have put their ideas forward and to witness the dedication shown by participating members. John Farmer and I were also involved in appointing a new Head for the Association in the middle of 2022. What made our new Managing Director Chris Butcher stand out for us was his absolute admiration for all things fluid power, together with his energy, commitment and desire to give something back and make a difference to the industry overall. Chris was officially appointed in November 2022 and I’m very much looking forward to working with him throughout this year. I would like to praise Paul Cooke, our Interim CEO, for the work he undertook during much of 2021 and 2022. Paul stepped in after our previous CEO Chris Buxton left his position during the early part of 2021. Paul had an interim role for six months and really enthused everyone into thinking about constructive change within the Association. Indeed, the establishment of the Strategy Teams was central to his focus following our strategy review. I would also like to say a warm thank you to Yvonne Pearman, who retired in early 2022. Yvonne was so committed and hard-working in her standards work and is definitely missed. However, we’re all delighted to welcome Lucy Tuckey to her role as Standards Project Administrator. Lucy has got to grips with things remarkably quickly. With regard to standards, this can be a particularly complicated topic to understand and manage, but she has so much positive energy and a natural aptitude to paying attention to detail. Because of this, Lucy will only grow in her understanding and involvement during 2023. Although I wasn’t involved in my current role as Vice President during much of CEO Chris Buxton’s tenure, I was nevertheless aware of the valuable work he undertook, particularly his passion and commitment for lobbying government on behalf of the fluid power industry. At the start of the COVID crisis, Chris diligently worked alongside other associations and EAMA to ensure people in our industry were recognised as key workers and allowed to carry on supporting those operating in the front line. [RG2]I do also want to express my respect for President John Farmer. He is such a calm and pragmatic person and great to work with and he is so committed and passionate about the industry. It would be remiss not to praise the dedicated and critical work undertaken by other key members of staff. Sarah Gardner remains an invaluable asset in Statistics and Marketing, Martin Kingsbury is the linchpin for the effective running and management of our training courses and Karen Gordon-Brander is an excellent support for all the BFPA’s general administrative duties, keeping the everyday activities running smoothly and efficiently. Finally, despite the recent challenging years and ongoing issues facing our businesses, I feel very positive about 2023. The fluid power industry continues to grow and support a vast range or diverse industries. We have worked hard over the past couple of years to create a stronger association and are well placed to support members and the wider industry. With new initiatives on the horizon and increased collaboration with members, I’m confident that this can be an exciting year full of opportunities. Let’s work together towards achieving success in 2023. Meeting the needs of our membership www.bfpa.co.uk 5 Rebecca Galley, Vice-President
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