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Springing into action at the CEA

By  Viki Bell  ·  2 minute read

It is hard to believe we are already in March! January and February flew by and my diary for March is already full. 

Back in mid-February I attended the Executive Hire Show together with several CEA colleagues. It was great to see so many of our members exhibiting at the show and the feedback seems to have been very positive. I also had the great opportunity to present a new CEA Membership Certificate in person to Construction Plant Finance who was our newest member at the time, and to present the CEA benefits to a prospective new member who we hope will be joining us soon. I also had great discussions with the CPA and HAE. Apologies if I didn't make it to your stand in person and I hope you had a great show. 

There was so much happening in February I will jump to the highlight of the month, the Trade Association Awards dinner on 27 February. The CEA was shortlisted as a finalist in the Best Association Transformation Category. Unfortunately, we were ‘pipped at the post’, but the judges were extremely complimentary about the developments at the CEA in the past year, and achieving finalist one year and one day after the team restructure was an amazing achievement – I am very proud of the entire team for all their hard work and effort.   

March then started with a ‘bang’ as we launched our exciting new rebrand. We were aiming for evolution not revolution and we have already received a lot of positive feedback about our new look, our innovative logo (incorporating a ‘design nod’ to the industry) and our more modern fonts and colours. We are sure our new logo will help us to stand out and reflect all that we do for our members. 

On 4 and 5 March, we have two key events taking place. Dale and Gill are hosting the latest GTC at ABB in Warrington. Meanwhile, Dave is attending the National Police Chiefs’ Serious Organised Acquisitive Crime (SOAC) Conference in Kenilworth representing CESAR.   

Lots has been happening around CESAR in 2025 with key developments around equipment theft and fraudulent hire. In February, the CEA together with Supt. Andrew Huddleston NCATT, and representatives from NFUM attended a meeting in Holyrood. The Scottish Parliament are closely watching the progression of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 down here in Westminster with a view to potentially mirroring a similar Act in Scotland over time. We have also had several meetings and calls with our colleagues at the HAE and CPA together with their European counterparts DLR and ERA who are very interested in learning more about CESAR. All of which is very positive for the industry and the fight against equipment theft. 

The key date for your diary this month is the Members’ Forum on 17 and 18 March at ABAX in Peterborough. Response has been excellent, and we have already had to extend the numbers for dinner, which is excellent news. I look forward to seeing so many of you there. 

Finally, a reminder that once again the CEA is hosting the UK Pavilion at Bauma in Munich from the 7 to 13 April 2025. By now you will all have received your member invitation to the UK Pavilion Networking Reception taking place on Monday 7 April 6pm to 8pm. Many thanks to Joanna and Robert for their excellent organisation of the Pavilion, and to KGP Powertrain for sponsoring the reception, I look forward to seeing many of you there.