The Launchpad, once again brought to the show in association with Nursery Industry magazine, has a village feel, and is an area for first time exhibitors at any trade show to promote their designs. Each year visitors make a "bee-line" for the Launchpad and each year they find a whole raft of interesting and innovative new products. This year's show is going to be no different and has already received great interest from new manufacturers wanting to put their new product on the map and of course take a lot of orders. There is no better place for a fledgling business to start than on the BPA Baby & Child Launchpad.

Another zone at BPA Baby & Child that is going from strength to strength is the Eco zone. This is an area dedicated to exhibitors who specialise in organic, natural or environmentally friendly baby products. We have seen an increase in the number of retailers visiting our show who are looking for new products to meet the growing demand for eco-friendly and sustainable product ranges. The Eco zone has really developed into an area of high interest within the show and so I would urge anyone who supplies or manufactures "green" products to exhibit at our show and to choose to be located in our Eco zone.

Please contact Sarah Firth, Events Organiser, on 0845 456 9580 or at sarah@babyandchildfair.co.uk for details on exhibiting at the show.

Exceptional visitor interest in toys

A significant proportion of buyers visiting BPA Baby & Child are specifically looking for pre-school and early learning toys. In fact, research undertaken following our 2007 and 2008 fairs has shown that toys were very high on the shopping list of products for visitors over those two years. In 2008, 59% of visitors came to the show with the declared intention of seeking out toys and ensured they saw all that was on offer from our ever increasing number of toy exhibitors at the fair.

It's not surprising that the independent retailer in particular is looking for products to help both compete with the major multiples and differentiate themselves from them. They also seek products that can create impulse purchase opportunities for parents and grandparents when visiting their retail premises. By exhibiting your toy and early learning products at our show, you will be in the right place to gain exposure to these retailers - and with the statistics increasing in favour of toy exhibitors; I'm sure this year we'll see even more visitors going in search of your products.

BPA AGM

The Baby Products Annual General Meeting took place on the 10th June at Ardencote Manor in Warwickshire and apart from the normal business of declaring the accounts for the year and appointing auditors, the Executive Committee for 2009/10 was voted on and agreed.

The Executive Committee is the trade association equivalent of a Board of Directors and their role is to offer guidance to the administrative team and overall governance of the Association.

Following our Annual General Meeting, we are delighted to announce that Andrew Ratcliffe, from Dorel UK Ltd, will be continuing as Chairman of our Executive Committee for another year.

We are also pleased to announce three new additions, with Rob Pascoe from The Gro Company, David Welsh from Chicco, and Rachelle Harel from Summer Infant, joining the Committee, which now stands as follows:

Wheeled Goods

Jonathan Feingold, Kooltrade Ltd
Andrew Ratcliffe, Dorel UK Ltd
Dylan Johnson, Maclaren Europe Ltd

Furniture

Richard Spychalski, Mamas and Papas
Andrew Kluge, Cossato
Mike Chapman, East Coast Nursery.

Components/Accessories

Selina Russell, Cheeky Rascals
Neil Slagel, Petite Star Products Ltd

Soft Goods

Rob Pascoe, The Gro Company
Rachelle Harel, Summer Infant

Product Safety

Mike Moumoutjis, Graco
Luke Burns, Britax
David Welsh, Chicco

In addition to a very informative presentation by NPD on trends in the market place, the Annual Report was also delivered at the AGM. One activity of particular interest to the attendees was our political lobbying campaigns for the period under review and for the first half of this year.

Most notably, our success in obtaining the reduction in VAT for children's car seat bases, to bring them in line with car seats themselves at just 5%, was seen as a fantastic achievement for the BPA. We followed this quickly by gaining a concession that all "lie flat" car seats and "carry-cot" type car seats will be subject to the reduced rate of 5% VAT.

We are now focusing our attention on a campaign regarding the Fire and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988, and are hoping to have pushchairs and 0-0+ car seats removed from these regulations. Currently they are included as items of household furniture.

We have been campaigning for change to these regulations for a number of years, and are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

The BPA's lobbying and campaigning success and progress was well received by the AGM, and I hope you too will understand how important this lobbying is for our industry, and how you benefit from being part of the BPA - your voice in the industry.

Peter D White

Chief Executive

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