REVIEW AND ANALYSIS 17 WELCOME! REBECCA THOMPSON, IHBC PRESIDENT THIS EDITION of the IHBC Yearbook highlights a year that is transformational for IHBC. It is a great time to be a member and to be a part of the exciting changes and investment in our membership. We have important updates to share regarding the Petition for Royal Charter, the All Party Parliamentary Group developments and our annual school, all addressed in our Chair’s report. The IHBC is the only UK professional body dedicated to supporting all individuals working in historic and built environment conservation. We are a diverse group of heritage professionals with a wide range of skills and unlimited passion for our built and cultural heritage. We develop, encourage and maintain the highest standards of conservation practice, supporting the protection and enhancement of the historic built environment. An important aspect of this is our work in nurturing and supporting successive waves of professionals entering our field. This work is now more important than ever before as we have identified a skills gap that is only set to increase as the majority of conservation professionals are reaching retirement age. We need to improve access to conservation careers and we should all be reaching out to the next generation of potential heritage professionals to highlight the merits of working in the heritage sector: there are so many viable and joyous career opportunities that we need to draw attention to. This aligns with our corporate objective and the educational role of IHBC, and we need your support as members and as conservation professionals to achieve it. We look forward to celebrating our conservation learning and education with our Gus Astley Annual Student Award, and we look forward to seeing you at one of our many events organised by our regional branches or centrally, including our Summer School in June. Thank you all for your support. Rebecca Thompson president@ihbc.org.uk Gus Astley Student Award winners Ailsa Bailey, Orla McCarthy, Atarah Adams and Laura Fildes with Bob Kindred (centre) at the Shrewsbury School
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