The Scottish Region meets again

AFTER A THREE-YEAR wait, BAGMA’s Scottish Region met at the Royal Highland Show Ground in February for a packed agenda in the boardroom of the Royal Highland Agricultural Show Society. The importance of the meeting was highlighted by a large turnout of members and guests from across Scotland as well as some of BAGMA’s service providers.

Chairman of the Scottish Region Brian Sangster, along with Bob Bruce (secretary) and Alasdair Starker (BAG MA’s man in Scotland), had a very full agenda to deal with across a variety of subjects.

After a welcome from Brian and an overview of what was to happen through the day, Alan Laidlaw (CEO of the RHASS) welcomed everyone to the meeting. Alan spent some time reviewing the show arrangements for 2023 and the improvements and investment being made in the showground that were needed to help with the increasing numbers of visitors to the Highland Show. A significant investment had been made in the new members’ pavilion and the surrounding showground with more planned over several years.

Alan explained the need for online ticket purchases and the control of visitor numbers due to safety issues. He also fielded a lot of questions from those present on various aspects of last year’s show to do with parking, ticketing and exhibitors. The organisation and running of the show is a massive undertaking and involves many organisations locally that have to be happy with safety, traffic control, crowd control and satisfying both exhibitors and visitors whilst making sure that there is an income for the RHASS.

Keith Christian, BAGMA’s outgoing director, updated the group on his replacement due to his retirement and introduced Nick Darking, who takes over at BAGMA this month.

A presentation was made to Keith of a traditional Scottish quaich, a cup of welcome, engraved with a thank you message and a BAGMA logo and a message in Gaelic. This was accompanied by a local bottle of gin.

The business session followed with the regional meeting agenda and a BAGMA presentation by Keith with an update on BAGMA activities and services. An involved discussion followed about training and education and the differences between the devolved nations and the changes happening to apprenticeships in Scotland. This started a debate on recruitment of new people into the industry and what needed to be done to highlight careers in land-based engineering.

Keith was able to present the new ‘We Are Landbased’ careers campaign (see page 12) to the group explaining that this was just being launched with literature available and a comprehensive website. The campaign was being used to target schools and provide the industry with information that all could use to promote careers in landbased engineering both locally and nationally. This was well received and would be acted on further.

The meeting covered the need to recruit a member to represent BAGMA on the RHASS Board of Directors, a post held by Alasdair Straker for 15 years. There was also a need for a volunteer to take on the chairmanship of the Scottish region in the near future. Prospective candidates should contact Brian Sangster.

It was hoped to present the new BAGMA Clock to the group but unfortunately due to a technical problem the clock could not be delivered on time. The clock will replace the old BAGMA Clock that was on the side of Ingliston House for many years. Keith presented a short story to the group about the saga of the clock (see page 7).

After the official close of the meeting the group was given a guided tour of the new members’ pavilion and the new facilities that support it.