A message from our President

ANNUAL REPORT & YEARBOOK 2021/2022 A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT

“I’M IMMENSELY PROUD TO SERVE ALL OUR MEMBERS, AND VOW TO WORK AS HARD AS I CAN WITH THE BAKERS HOUSE TEAM TO SUPPORT AND PROTECT THE INTERESTS OF THE TRADE.”

TO SAY WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH A LOT SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF OUR LAST ANNUAL REPORT AND YEARBOOK IN 2020 WOULD BE A GROSS UNDERSTATEMENT.

Our collective journey since March 2020 when we first felt the full impact of the COVID pandemic has seen us experience many highs and lows; but it has also seen our trade demonstrate extraordinary resilience and determination. For that I offer my heartfelt thanks to you all. Your efforts to maintain supplies of freshly baked goods to your regular customers, to front-line healthcare staff and to vulnerable people in your communities deserves more recognition than is possible in these few words of introduction. Let it simply be decreed that you are all food heroes! As it became clear just how much this strange new illness would change our personal and working lives, I would also like to reflect on just how quickly and effectively the team at Bakers House responded to this once-in-a lifetime challenge. Their early action, bringing us daily e-updates in the first few weeks of lockdown, helped bakers large and small adapt their operations to remain COVID-safe. The Scottish Bakers website also became the “go-to” place for reliable and understandable manufacturing advice and guidance, and signposting to financial support. And while training activity all but stopped in the first few months of lockdown, the team that delivers invaluable apprenticeship skills training to our businesses re-emerged to recover lost ground, and rebuilt engagement with workforces across Scotland. It is also right that I pay tribute to Past Presidents Ronnie Miles and Linda Hill who between them helped steer our board and team through the challenges. Without an annual conference at which to pass over the chain of office, Ronnie’s tenure was extended to avoid disruption during those first and most challenging few months of 2020; and I thank him for this extended tour of duty. But October 2020 brought about a quiet passing on of responsibilities to Linda Hill as we began to see restrictions easing. It’s fair to say that this wasn’t the presidency Linda – or anyone – imagined. While she managed to get out to visit a few members over time, something I hope to do more of during my stint, the usual round of honorary engagements was understandably curtailed, and it wasn’t until we returned to conference in May 2022 that Linda got to address our collected membership. Regardless, I hope Linda will look back on her role as only the fourth Lady President with genuine affection and pride. Receiving the chain of office from Linda earlier this year was the honour of a lifetime. I’m immensely proud to serve all our members, and vow to work as hard as I can with the Bakers House team to support and protect the interests of the trade. I am also humbled to follow in the footsteps of my brother and father as the third member of my family to wear the chain and I hope to serve you all as well as I know they did. The relief of our emergence from COVID restrictions however has been tempered with new challenges as we feel the impact of outside forces on our personal and professional lives. The legacy of the pandemic and more recently the influence of the war in Ukraine, so desperately sad for its residents, has driven unprecedented rises in energy and other input costs, while we all have tales to tell about the availability of good staff. These are the challenges that occupy my thoughts as I enter my presidency and I hope that I can engage with as many members as possible over my time in office to support you, “For the good of all”.

IAN MCGHEE

President