Christopher Berridge winning gold at WorldSkills, the appointment of Peter Robertshaw as the Federation’s Health & Safety Advisor, a successful Natural Stone Show, publication of the Selecting the Correct Stone document, 1,000 followers on Twitter, 1,000 CSCS Cards in the stone industry, successful ConstructionSkills training bids and technical publications. These are some of the highlights of the past year.

Can we beat that this year? We do not intend to rest on our laurels so the answer is a resounding YES! Things to look forward to this year include free training courses, the Natural Stone Sustainability Awards, the prestigious Natural Stone Awards, new publications, new look services that are even more informative, new CPDs for promoting the use of natural stone even more vigorously to architects and clients.

Under the training banner we have health & safety and management training as well as CPDs for members on CE marking. These half-day courses will provide all the information you need on this important subject.

The Federation has also planned a series of health & safety roadshows to be held at strategic locations around the country. They will cover dust, including the correct fitting of masks and what to look for when buying masks; noise; HAVS; mechanical and manual handling. They will also give you the opportunity to meet Peter Richardson, who has many years’ experience in the stone sector.

The new Federation website will provide even more useful information for members and clients using the site. An iPad App will be a useful tool and source of information for professionals on the move, including helping them with their choice of stone and how to choose the right Federation member for their contract.

The gathering of information and statistics will continue. This provides the Federation and its members with a rich source of data.

The eagerly awaited revised flooring code is available from mid-January, the Guide to Best Practice on Restoration will be ready in the spring and will be launched with a seminar, the Wet Rooms Guide will also be available in the spring and the Natural Stone Glossary will be published this year.

Other new publications to look out for are the User Guide to BS 8298 and the Guide to CE Marking.

Training continues to go from strength to strength with the addition of new courses and assistance from ConstructionSkillls, with generous funding to continue our plan to keep the natural stone industry and especially Stone Federation members fully trained ready for the upturn when it arrives.

The year will also see the two heats of the UK Masonry Skills Challenges, Skillbuild and the Trainee Mason of the Year Award, all of which recognise and reward the developing talent that is out there.

But this is only a taste of what’s planned for 2012. We also want to try and organise more regional networking events to give you the opportunity to meet new clients and hear about developments in the industry, so please do try and come along to the one nearest to you.

I sincerely hope that you all have a prosperous and peaceful New Year and that the Federation can go some way to helping you achieve this.