The president speaks!

Last night at the ICC in Birmingham, I attended the MTA's Annual Gala Dinner.

As always it was a very enjoyable occasion with good food, company and entertainment, but to me the best part of this event is its networking potential. It was great to see so many familiar faces in attendance. I believe the MTA sold somewhere in the region of 550 tickets which was a significant hike up from last year. The hall was busy, vibrant and virtually packed to the gunnels!

It's traditional at these events for the MTA president to deliver a speech to the congregation. Mark Ridgway, managing director of Group Rhodes, is the current president and his keynote speech focused on making sure that the UK manufacturing industry rises to meet its challenges and deliver products and services that are 'World Class as Standard'.

Mark is a good guy. He's passionate about UK manufacturing, is MD of a successful business and takes his role and responsibilities as MTA president very seriously. He emphasised during his speech that the future prosperity of UK manufacturing is essentially centred around what he calls 'the three 'I's': Internationalisation; Investment; and Inspiration.

I've posted a slightly edited version of his speech here. If you were at the dinner, you would have heard it firsthand. If you weren't please take time to read what Mark had to say.