The IHBC travelled to sunny Usk, Monmouthshire, South Wales on 26 February to deliver a Membership Application Training Event (MATE) to members of a local Conservation Officer Group (COG).
IHBC’s Professional Development Officer Ramona Usher writes:
IHBC Past President and architect Trefor Thorpe kindly volunteered to join in facilitating the MATE session alongside IHBC staff: IHBC Director Sean O’Reilly and myself, Ramona, as the IHBC’s Professional Development Officer.
MATE sessions are the mainstay of the IHBC’s leading application support programme, at once ‘Free, Friendly, Flexible, and Informed’, as the strapline says. Each MATE event is unique, tailored to the primary audience, while also being shaped by the staff and volunteers attending, and any other delegate interests notified to us.
The event in Usk was generously hosted in the council’s offices, with the local organisation led by Jonathan Morgan, Senior Heritage Manage Officer at Monmouthshire County Council and an IHBC Affiliate. It focussed on supporting those in Conservation Officer roles, and emphasised the links between the duties and activities of a model conservation officer and the IHBC’s own headline accreditation criteria.
As with every MATE session, attendees at Usk were provided with an introduction to conservation professional practice and the conservation cycle, before delving into the IHBC’s ‘Areas of Competence’, which are used to define our membership criteria.
The second half of the event involved engaging with the delegate conservation officers in breakout sessions, helping applicants formulate how they might select, apply and articulate their personal experience and individual knowledge most effectively across their IHBC applications. This also gave IHBC officers a valuable opportunity to hear first-hand about current developments in Wales, including the application of the Well-being of Future Generations Act (2015) in conservation and the latest local National Lottery Heritage Fund projects.
Jonathan said: ‘Having put off applying for memberhttps://www.ihbc.org.uk/mate/ship for too long, fearing there would be gaps in my application, the MATE session helped me simply identify the experience I’d already acquired. Excellent and well worth the hour or two of time!’
‘The 2022 Annual School will be held in Wales, so this MATE provided us with a fantastic opportunity to meet the local conservation officers on the ground, whilst also providing us with some ideas and insights for the 2022 School.’
For more on MATE sessions, the IHBC’s Membership Application Training Events – ‘FREE | FRIENDLY | FLEXIBLE | INFORMED’ – see the website
To explore a MATE session for you, your Branch or your employer, email Ramona at professional@ihbc.org.uk
