02/05/2025
The UK Government is considering some significant amendments to building regulations which will impact BWF Members and the wider woodworking and joinery manufacturing industry. A consultation of ...
A new website full of information and advice for would-be apprentices and others looking for a career in the joinery manufacturing and woodworking industry is being launched at the W14 show at the NEC this week.
The ‘Wow I Made That!’ website as the next stage of the campaign of the same name, first instigated by the British Woodworking Federation’s (BWF) Woodworking Industry Training Forum in 2013. It brings together all the apprenticeship, careers and training information for new entrants to the industry, alongside details on different job roles, and comment and testimonials from apprentices already in the industry talking about why they love their jobs and the exciting projects they are working on. The site can also be used to search for current apprenticeship vacancies and upcoming training opportunities.
Dave Campbell, Manager of the WITForum, will mark the launch of the new website with a special presentation to Tom McKillop, an apprentice joiner at Tompkins Wood, who first inspired the campaign with his own words about his experiences in the industry:
“I like to stand back at the end of the day and say ‘I made that’. I take pictures sometimes and send them to my mates. It’s a hands-on job and you see results – that’s what’s really satisfying about what I do.”
Dave Campbell says:
“The ‘Wow I Made That!’ campaign has been incredibly successful on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and we won an industry award last year for its use of social media to reach 14-19 year olds, their teachers and advisers with information on how to join the industry. We hope this new website, with its step-by-step advice on how to get into joinery and woodworking careers, will further support BWF member firms in their recruitment of new skills into their businesses, which we know is now the number one constraint on growth.”
The President of the BWF, David Pattenden, will also use the W14 event to be the first person in the UK joinery industry to sign up to the BWF’s new web-based platform for continuing professional development (CPD), a new and easier way for employees in the industry to track and record their CPD activities.
David Pattenden says:
“The future of our industry rests entirely on the people in it, and on our skills. Whether you’re an apprentice just starting out in bench joinery or wood machining, or the managing director of a woodworking firm like me, the WITForum’s specialist CPD programme should be part of your working life. It enables both individuals and companies to develop skills, record success and recognise the development that’s needed for us to excel.”
The WITForum is led by a group of volunteer industry leaders drawn together by the BWF with the aim to raise skills, improve provision, support recruitment, and give the industry a voice on skills. Read more about the woodworking CPD programme
The BWF and WITForum can be found at W14 on stand 7D494.
