A week after being installed as the new President of the National Association of Memorial Masons, Mike Critchley of memorial masons S Critchley & Sons and The Blast Shop wrote to members urging them to take an active part in the organisation.

Make no mistake, we are under threat, he said. Safety issues and local government finances will dictate that. What we need is a strong Association with an active and effective membership.

He said that it was as a result of attending his first NAMM conference in 1979 that he bought the first automatic sandblast cabinet in the UK. That led on to starting The Blast Shop.

Only this month I heard that one of our members was a little light on work for his men and was about to have to clean up his yard! As we have been extremely busy recently and have a large backlog of work I approached him to see if we could use his men for a couple of days a week for a short period.

It helped him out and it helped us out enormously.

He also said that as a result of using NAMM\'s fleet purchasing scheme he had received a cheque for £2,000 from Ford for his new Transit van.

He writes: Our new Executive Officer, Barri Stirrup, has spoken of the need to modernise the Association; to adapt to changing times; to strive to improve standards.

He\'s right of course. But at the same time we must not lose sight of the fact that NAMM is a relatively small trade organisation with limited funds, run by members for members, relying on their talents and generosity to further the interests of the trade.

It needs your help and your support, whether it be just bringing your ideas and your problems to regional meetings, at one end of the scale, or standing for office on general council at the other.