Simon Weston CBE, has gone down as one of the most popular guest speakers following another hugely successful TICA Annual Lunch, held this year at York Race Course.

A veteran of the British Army, Simon became known throughout the United Kingdom for his recover and charity work after suffering severe burn injuries during the Falklands War.

Over 350 guests and members of TICA attended this year’s event, at which Simon spoke in depth about his experiences, having 96 operations and spending 5 years in hospital. Though the times he spoke off were tragic, Simon’s mild nature and sense of humour had the whole audience captivated. Simon received a standing ovation (and rightly so!), something which has never been seen at any of our previous functions.

As is now custom, we hold a Skills Competition for the top performing Apprentices across the UK. The workmanship this year was outstanding and all of the apprentices impressed the judges. We were pleased to announce the Apprentice of the Year 2016 is Lee McCubbin of Solway Insulation. Company Director Eric West was delighted to see his apprentice win this accolade and has already made plans for Lee to continue his training and put him forward for the Level 3.

Looking ahead to next 2017, which sees the Association turning 60, we can confirm this black tie function will be held on the evening of Thursday 5 October 2017 at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel. We will be releasing further information in due course.

‘This year’s event proved to be one of our biggest and most successful, with some very positive feedback. Our upcoming Regional Meetings will be taking place around the UK in November, where we will be finalising our sector Pre Qualification Questions as part of the wider Build UK initiative.’ Invitations will be sent shortly.

Special thanks to SIG, Encon, Bostik and Foamglass for sponsoring the event. Your ongoing support is much appreciated.