Dear Member,
As chair of the BGA, I am honoured, to present this review to the Annual General Meeting of our Association. Once again thanks to the efforts of our staff, colleagues and yourselves our Members, I am happy to report that in 2023 our organisation delivered another successful year with a further increase in membership, and a positive financial performance.
However, more importantly over the last year we have managed to focus more on our mission statement.
“To secure and enhance the mechanical power transmission industry.”
A key objective to achieve this mission is to provide specialised training that will:
“Seed the Future of the UK Gear Industry.”
Not only did our highly successful training programme deliver 19 courses with a total attendance of over 600 in 2023, Already in 2024 we have had to add extra courses to meet demand with attendances exceeding 100 in 2 single training episodes and more are to follow.
A new video and webinar library is now available on the BGA website. where members can obtain training at whatever time suits them and we will continue to add content to this.
Perhaps more importantly, our Apprentice Task Force to support the UK apprentice schemes used by our members is moving forward and the BGA certification scheme will be launched later in the year. Our target is to improve the availability of more competent engineers for our industry by supplying and creating gear technology content to the appropriate schemes.
To further support our industry during 2023 we have funded research programmes that will benefit our members and we are looking for, and will fund from our retained earnings, additional research programmes of value to our members. Please let us have any proposals you may have.
Whilst our organisation has benefited from and exploited the virtual environment, we always recognise that it is important to meet in person and we will continue to organise more events meet face to face and network such as our stand at the recent Drives and Controls exhibition and visits to our members facilities and locations and more are to follow during 2024.
Again, we welcome your suggestions as to how we can both improve our organisation and add to our current member benefits that include free access to virtual training, critical standards, industry statistics and our annual gear conference. Please let us have your views and any comments.
As ever, I must thank you all for your efforts and support that helps make our organisation so robust and successful. Not only do we rely on our staff Kirsty and Lynne but also the time and effort our Members contribute, it is truly appreciated.
Finally, I have to tell you that this will be my last event as Chair of the BGA. Whilst for over twelve years I have enjoyed my role, it is time to further embrace my retirement and hand the baton on to a new chair. However, I do not intend to leave our organisation and will contribute where I can to our ongoing critical training activities.
Thank you all for your support and I wish you all the best for the future.
Yours sincerely
Yours sincerely
Graham Penning OBE
Chairman of the Executive Council of the BGA
Go to the publications section of the BGA Website to download the report.
Comments