Back on the manor

For those who don’t know I am a bit of a London boy.  So it was with great pleasure that on Tuesday this week I attended the London Branch meeting and the regional Young Consumers of the Year final.

To the meeting first.  I welcomed the opportunity to hear from members about their concerns and challenges and it reinforced in my mind the need for us to have a proper national conversation about the future shape of our profession.  I was also interested to hear about a new business directory that Age UK are launching in London.  Anything that adds a layer of protection to consumers and a benefit to legitimate businesses has to be welcomed - but we all have a public duty to work together to ensure that we don’t confuse consumers about the various schemes that are in existence.  Further presentations centred on the need to work together and it was particularly pleasing to hear about how coordination on weights and measures is helping to develop new officers within London.

Seven teams entered the regional YCoY final and two well fought semi-finals saw four teams – Southwark, Hounslow, Greenwich and Islington - make the final.  It was a narrow victory for Islington after some intense questions and interesting answers – Bonnie Tyler being described as that old woman, or the Sistine Chapel as that big building!  So many congratulations to them and I look forward to seeing them in Brighton at the final.  The whole day was what it should be, fun and educational. 

The teams that didn’t win can comfort themselves in the knowledge that they now know probably a lot more that the Chief Executive of the Trading Standards Institute!