UK DIY News

EDRA/GHIN New Year’s Letter 2022

Dear EDRA/GHIN Members, Colleagues and Friends,

2021 was a year not dissimilar to 2020 in many ways, and the EDRA/GHIN New Year’s letter for 2022 reflects this.

We have just come to the end of yet another tragic year, albeit with the silver lining of the vaccination effort. The Global Covid-19 pandemic continues, bringing with it death, illness, economic hardship, and isolation. Our thoughts are with all people who have suffered in this ongoing pandemic. Even at this time, the Covid-19 infection rates around the world are the highest they have ever been, with the USA reporting over 1 million infections per day and the UK over 200,000.

I know I speak for the whole industry when I say that we are all so very thankful that during this pandemic, in many countries, our retail stores continue to be categorised as “essential retail” and, generally speaking, our customers are able to visit our stores, and many have also found a renewed love for DIY and Home Improvement.

If 2020 was the year of Covid, then 2021 was the year of the vaccine. At the time of writing almost 60% of the global population have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. This is only possible due to tireless efforts of the health community, to whom we are all indebted.

We, as a networking association, have again had a most difficult financial year following the postponement of the hugely successful Global DIY Summit and all trade fairs we support and attend. However, we did hold the 1st Virtual DIY-Summit in September, which was well received by our members and partners around the world. Another of the highlights was that we were able to meet in Brussels for the EDRA Board Meeting, Annual General Meeting and CEOs Working Dinner with the Members of the European Parliament and European Commission in October. This event, organised by our Director of European Affairs, Julien Bouyeron, was a most interesting and constructive dinner debate.

We are also most optimistic that the Global DIY Summit, the first physical meeting of the international DIY and Home Improvement Community since 2019, and the absolute highlight of our networking activities, will be taking place in Copenhagen from the 8th – 10th June 2022. This gathering of the international community is indispensable, with new challenges fast approaching that we can best tackle when we collaborate.

Following the COP26 meeting last year in Glasgow, together with the EDRA/GHIN Board, we have decided that the major focus for our work in 2022 will be on tackling climate change. We will be kicking off this project with a “Learning from Each Other” webinar on the 3rd of February, involving EDRA/GHIN members who are amongst the leaders in their field giving a brief overview of their initiatives & discussing key questions relevant to carbon reduction. We are expecting members from all over the world to attend this webinar.

From my own experience, I have realised how very much I missed the personal contact with our members and friends and look forward to when we can all meet again. Zoom and Co. have been a good substitute but will never truly replace the physical contact that we all know is missing from our lives.

I am also very pleased to inform you that following the excellent work from Oliver Ginestier, and the high acceptance he has with all our members, from the 1st of January 2022 his new role will be Communications Manager at EDRA/GHIN.

It only remains for me to thank our members, colleagues, and friends for their continued support this year and assure you that my team and I remain passionately dedicated in providing our members with the most up-to-date information from our sector and delivering the best service possible, as well as being a predictable, fair, and reliable partner for all the other businesses and people with whom we come into contact.

On behalf of the EDRA/GHIN Board Members and our team I wish you a very happy,
healthy, and prosperous New Year 2022.

Kind regards,
John W. Herbert
General Secretary