Our most recent UK RAC meeting was held on 19 March in Hailsham, East Sussex. The event was kindly hosted by one of our local Associate members, Marlow Ropes.

Jon Mitchell, Marlow Ropes’ Managing Director, welcomed the attendees and gave a history of the company, which was founded in 1807 by Thomas Burfield, where to the present day, Marlow Ropes still manufactures on Burfield’s original site.

The event started with an update on the UK region developments, followed by IRATA presentations with informative committee updates by our UK RAC Chair, Paul Blud. Thereafter, the IRATA Quality Manager, Dr Sheila Kondaveeti, presented information on the updated IRATA membership requirements and the IRATA complaints’ process. This meeting was well received by an attentive and engaged audience, contributing to informative and useful discussions.

The meeting was followed by a pleasant lunch at the venue, which was kindly organised and provided by the host. After lunch, attendees were invited to visit Marlow Ropes’ factory where there were demonstrations of rope breakage and drop tests, which our members found extremely informative.

As the UK RAC Chair and on behalf of the region’s members, we would like to express our gratitude to both our hosting company and all attendees for making this event such a success.

Paul Blud
UK RAC Chair