GAIN-ing A NEW CHAIRMAN AND VICE-CHAIRMAN

GA/lo/08.10.10                                                                                                                                                                                CHAIRMAN 1/2

GAIN-ing a New Chairman and Vice-Chairman

New management of the Grant Aided Heating Installers Network goes back to its roots as its first Chairman and initiator takes up the role of Vice-Chairman. Stepping into the Chair is previous Vice-Chairman, Bryan Glendinning, Commercial Director of Warmer Heating Ltd, Liverpool. This follows the resignation of Paul Cooper, its Chairman of eight years. The new Vice-Chairman is Fergus Comiskey, Executive Sales Manager, Kershaw Contracting Services Ltd, Cottenham, Cambridgeshire.

            Bryan Glendinning, aged 48, has been particularly responsible for the Association’s participation in the NEA Conference, recently conducting a workshop there on the role of contractors in combating fuel poverty. He has worked with the heating and insulation industry for 10 years, having spent three of these with eaga Plc, managing agents for the government scheme, and more recently with leading installers, Fenhams Ltd, prior to his current appointment with Warmer Heating. He married Rebecca Sadler, Divisional Health and Safety and Environmental Manager for eaga Plc in the Spring. They live at Meadowbrook Drive, Chopwell.

            Fergus Comiskey, aged 65, has been on the GAIN Management Board since the Association was established in 2002. He first saw the need for an Association to represent the needs of contractors serving the grants market, and devised the name, Grant Aided Heating Installers Network (GAIN). He has been with Kershaw Contracting Services Ltd and it’s forerunner since 1989, his responsibilities covering the Warm Front grants scheme. He is married, with an adult son, living at Greenwood Avenue, Chinner, Oxfordshire.

Bryan ushered in his new role with a call to government to end uncertainty over the future of Warm Front, which provides grants to those on benefits to improve the energy efficiency and heating provision in their homes, and avoid the continuing risk that delay poses to the poorest in society.

“With my experience in working for Eaga delivering from the scheme manager’s view point, and since for the installing industry, we have been able to see first hand how Warm Front has impacted on the heating industry, as well as the most vulnerable in society who have benefitted from it. Over two million people have been helped by Warm Front to-date, but there are still so many more that need help, with over five million people in England now in fuel poverty, and this number is continuing to rise.”

            Paul Cooper, past Chairman, represented Home Insulation Services (North West) on the Management Board since GAIN’s inception. He played a major role in establishing the Association’s credibility with Government. He has left to devote time to his consultancy Zebra UK Consulting Ltd, Carnforth, Cumbria. He married Lynda Brooks, Group Quality Manager, for his former company, in the Spring.

            GAIN has changed its structure and the Chairman and Vice Chairman head a new Management Board comprising Bryan Glendinning, Warmer Heating Ltd of Liverpool (Chairman); Fergus Comiskey, Kershaw Contracting Services Ltd of Cottenham, Cambs (Vice-Chairman); Lee Rowlinson, Compass Gas Ltd of Liverpool; Bill Somerville, Cosytop Thermal Insulations Ltd, of Hoddesdon, Herts; Andy Cameron, Darfield Heating Services Ltd of Darlington; Steve Belfield, Domestic & General Insulation Ltd of Hereford; Howard Taylor, Home Insulation Services (NW) Ltd of Preston; Monique Purdy, The Insulation Company Ltd of Darlington; Gordon Green, Wessex Electricals (Shaftesbury) Ltd of Shaftesbury, Dorset; Dave Wills, Premier Energy Solutions of Hyde, Cheshire.

            The Grant Aided Heating Installers Network fulfils a vital function in liaising with Government and managing agents on behalf of members, as well as offering a network of qualified, professional installers to Registered Social Landlords, commerce and the general public. Quality installers are invited to join GAIN, as well as supporting suppliers. GAIN is at P O Box 12, Haslemere, Surrey GU27 3AH; tel: 01428 654011; fax: 01428 651401; e-mail: info@gainassociation.org.uk; web: www.gainassociation.org.uk.

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Editors: Press enquiries to Leonie on 01428 654011.

DOWNLOADABLE IMAGES:- Click on images to view, or right click then 'save target as' to save good quality file to your PC
	Picture shows: Bryan Glendinning, Warmer Heating Ltd (www.warmerheating.co.uk) of Liverpool, new GAIN Chairman.   Picture shows: (right) Bryan Glendinning, of Warmer Heating Ltd being presented the Best Environmentally Friendly Company 2010 Award by Bill Giles, OBE, former senior BBC weatherman, on behalf of the Grant Aided Heating Installers Network, whose Conference he Chaired in June 2010.
	Picture shows: Fergus Comiskey, Kershaw Contracting Services Ltd (www.kershaw-grp.co.uk) of Cottenham, Cambs, new Vice-Chairman for GAIN.