Chris Buxton Retires from BFPA
21 Oct 2021
A farewell message from retiring BFPA CEO Chris Buxton:
Dear Members and Colleagues,
It seems like only yesterday that I wrote to you announcing my planned departure from the BFPA. It was in fact nearly three months ago and my goodness, the time has flown past! I now write to you collectively for the last time, just days from my departure at the end of this month. My BFPA e-mail account will close on the 27th of October so any one using it after that date will receive an out of office message and I will not see the content.
Going forwards, my mobile number (07787 400747), will remain the same indefinitely and I will always be happy to hear from friends and colleagues but after the end of the month, any BFPA related business should be referred to the team at Cheriton House or our BFPA Board. Under the excellent guidance of our President, John Farmer and our equally excellent Vice President, Rebecca Galley, we have a very strong team of Directors and this bodes very well for the future of your Association. Clearly, I will always be happy to support the BFPA whenever appropriate so if there are any issues outstanding for which you still need my input, I remain available on the end of a ‘phone, but obviously, I will have no authority to act on behalf of the Association or speak in its name.
My future e-mail address will be chrisbuxton1@btinternet.com please feel free to use it if you wish to stay in touch.
It is interesting that when one announces a change of this kind, lots of people respond by announcing their own change of plans and that has certainly been the case when I have spoken to BFPA members over the past three months. We are obviously in an unprecedented period of change; no doubt catalysed by the profound impact that the pandemic had upon all of our lives and I think that this has led to a mass re-evaluation of our life priorities. I suspect that Cornwall and Devon are going to see a rush of early retirees wanting to buy new homes, ‘with a much sought after sea view and a short walk from the nearest beach’; unquote; Purple Bricks October 2021!! (For ‘seaview’ read ‘glimpse of water if you threaten life and limb by hanging out of the upstairs window’ and ‘short walk’ as ‘a three mile hike!’ Don’t you just love estate agents…?)
With fuel prices rising, inflation increasing, supply chain problems, the repercussions of Brexit still very much in evidence and the threat of further measures to fight this persistent virus, it is all too easy to lapse into a negative frame of mind; but I would encourage members to be optimistic. As the old cliché’ says, ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’ and these enforced circumstances have also brought forward and catalysed some long overdue changes. How many of us had to fight to persuade colleagues to take part in video calls?! (Mainly Skype in those days). Now through virtual platforms, we are saving vast amounts of time, fuel and money whilst increasing meeting participation and reducing our environmental impact. None of us enjoy sitting in endless traffic jams consuming over-priced fuel and sadly, road congestion will only increase in the future! We can also hold significantly more meetings in any one working day and still be home at a reasonable hour so our productivity and the quality of life has actually gone up. The newly emerging hybrid way of working was inevitable; Covid-19 just forced us to do it sooner than perhaps some folk would have liked. (‘Us Brits’ are not known for our appetite for change or as early adopters of new [or not so new], technology!)
Members are reporting excellent levels of business and strong pipelines; inflation is a little higher than it has been for many years but it is still moderate and Governments have long since learnt how to address it with other ‘control rods’ such as interest rates, which in moderation are not all bad, at least it helps with our savings! We all know about supply chain challenges but they will ease; they can only be temporary and we will adjust to whatever the new norm may be when it settles down; probably towards the end of 2022. I accept that the skills and recruitment crisis is a ‘tough nut to crack’, but as I stated in the recent edition of H&P, it has at least been recognised by Government and there is a plethora of new initiatives in the pipeline to help address it. We all have a part to play in this and many members are now taking responsibility for running their own training programmes to very good effect. I know that there is a lot of poaching going on between members but at least we are keeping the skills in the industry and maybe we do need to look at how much we pay our staff; albeit we are entitled to expect hard work and commitment in return! I shall resist the temptation to go down the route of discussing the importance and all too often, absence, of a good work ethic amongst some modern employees…!’
We are also still in the throes of a technological revolution; (do you remember the IoT and Industry 4.0? It’s probably Industry X.0 now but it hasn’t gone away just because of Covid, jargon fatigue amongst journalists and a rebrand to the all-pervasive ‘digitalisation!’). Innovations such as automation and robotics, for instance, are now becoming far more accessible, even for small SME’s. They are no longer just the preserve of major car manufacturing plants and whether we like it or not, autonomous vehicles will prevail in the future and will drastically improve the efficiency of our supply chains. I could write pages on exciting and emerging technology that should be of interest to our members but there isn’t space here and you have businesses to run!
So, as I depart the BFPA I would like to leave members and colleagues with a positive and optimistic message! Yes, our worlds are changing and I don’t underestimate some of the pain that members have suffered, but history has shown us that handled appropriately, change invariably settles into a more positive outcome. The passage may be a little uncomfortable but trust me, the ‘good ‘ole days’ are a myth! It wasn’t better just because we were younger. The future for our industry is bright, we just need to embrace the changes and capitalise upon them; they should be treated as opportunities, not problems!
I have enjoyed working with and serving the BFPA members enormously and come the end of this month, I shall miss doing so very much. Thank you for being good friends and colleagues and I wish you only the very best of luck for the future; it will be a bright one!
Stay safe, stay well, and try to keep a good sense of humour; it goes a long way in a crisis!
Kindest regards,
Christopher Buxton
07787 400747