Jackie Edwards, appointed as office manager of the National Association of Memorial Masons (NAMM) in August, has left following a bereavement.

Theresa Quinn, the chief executive and the driving force of NAMM for the past 11 years, also leaves at Christmas having handed in her resignation at the national conference this year (although it was not at first accepted).

David Holtom, the facilitator of the memorial industry\'s Joint Steering Committee, has agreed to take the reins of NAMM from Theresa for an initial six month contract. Liz Perryman, from NAMM\'s head office at Nottingham, will take over as office manager and recruit an assistant.

David Holtom is a management and organisational development consultant who has run various courses to help memorial masons improve their marketing and press liaison skills.

He says of the NAMM job: I\'m looking forward to it with great enthusiasm.

Holtom was asked to set up the Joint Steering Committee in February 1998 to create a plan for the development of memorial masonry and co-ordinate the activities of NAMM, the Memorial Advisory Board (MAB) and the Wholesalers & Manufacturers Association (WaMA), which he also heads.

Andrew Hawley, Acting President of NAMM having continued in the post following the death of John Dawes, who should have succeeded him, shortly before the annual general meeting, said they would not rush in to recruiting someone to replace Theresa.

The appointment of David Holtom will allow the NAMM executive to take their time. Andrew Hawley says: David has taken an initial six month contract with us. It\'s basically so we can stand back and decide in our own time what we want to do.

He adds: There isn\'t a replacement for Theresa out there, they broke the mould, but David knows the industry.

Holtom has agreed to spend two days a week working for NAMM at the organisation\'s headquarters, says Hawley.

David\'s hired until the end of June and we will have decided by then which way we want to jump. The potential\'s there to extend the contract to the end of the year, but by mutual agreement we won\'t go beyond the end of the year.

In a letter to NAMM members in November, Hawley said: No-one could have made a greater commitment to our cause than Theresa and hers will be a difficult act to follow.

However, now that we have settled into our Rugby headquarters I am confident we can build on the solid foundations laid down by Theresa.