NEWS The Ben rings the changes
A NEW president has been sworn in at The Ben, Scotland’s main charity for the licensed trade.
Carling will hand out 13m prizes.
Carling’s great pint giveaway
DRINKERS could win one of 13 million prizes in Carling’s new Perfect Pint Experience. The key to winning the prizes, which range from t-shirts to NME Awards packages, lies in a code under a ring pull or in a game card given when buying a pint. The promotion will run
across the on and off- trades until July 31.
Agents leave property firm
TWO property agents who sold Glasgow-based business Creevy to global property giant Jones Lang LaSalle three years ago are to leave the firm. Alan Creevy and Peter
Darroch are reportedly set to launch their own agency. In a statement, Jones Lang LaSalle confirmed Creevy and Darroch’s departure. “Having successfully built a broad service capability for our clients within the licensed leisure and hotel sector, we have a strong team who will continue to grow our business in Scotland and across the whole of the UK,” said MD Alasdair Humphery.
David Patterson – 1929 to 2011
LICENSED trade charity The Ben is mourning the passing of beneficiary David Patterson.
David, who, with his late wife Jane, ran the Village Inn, Netherburn, between 1956 and 1989, died on April 7. He was 81. A former member of the
RAF, David was an active member of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association in the Hamilton area during his time in the industry.
He had been a Ben beneficiary for the past four years.
2 - SLTN - April 28, 2011
Gordon Bell, head of custom- er contact centre and brands dispense at C&C Group, the Dublin-based owner of Tennent Caledonian Breweries, received the chain of office from outgo- ing president Richard Pater- son, Whyte & Mackay’s master blender, last week. The handover took place dur-
ing The Ben’s AGM, held at Tennent’s Wellpark Brewery in Glasgow, which also saw Ken McGown, of Scottish & New- castle Pub Company, become vice-president. Bell told SLTN he was hon- oured to accept the role, but
Ben president Gordon Bell (centre) with Ken McGown (left) and Richard Paterson.
conceded it came at a challeng- ing time for the organisation. “It’s a privilege to take up the role of president after being
involved with The Ben for the past six years and I’m keen to do as much as I can to move the charity forward,” he said.
“This charity, like every other,
faces severe challenges in the current economic climate, and I fully expect the next 12 months to be extremely tough. “We’ll have to work hard to maintain the same levels of fundraising to ensure we can maintain the high level of care and support we offer our ben- eficiaries, which includes the ongoing work being carried out at our estate in Pitlochry, where we have pensioners enjoying the benefits of the properties we have. “I feel privileged to be follow- ing in the footsteps of our pre- vious presidents, including im- mediate past president Richard, who did an excellent job in the last 12 months.”
Rival training provider re-opens row over industry funding
BII chief attacks alcohol charity
By Scott Wright
SCOTLAND’S biggest alco- hol charity has come under renewed attack over its decision to sever financial links with drinks producers. Neil Robertson, chief ex-
ecutive of the BII, added the professional training body’s voice to the criticism of Alcohol Focus Scotland, which changed its strategy to stop accepting drinks industry funding last September. The move, which AFS said brought it in line with its counterparts in England and Ireland, was attacked by Diageo as evidence that the charity was no longer interested in work- ing in partnership with the industry to deal with Scotland’s alcohol problems. Fears that the health lobby
was taking a harder line on alcohol also grew after AFS held a joint conference on the direction of alcohol policy with ASH, the anti-smoking group, whose powerful lobbying was said to have been instrumental in bringing about the smoking ban in 2006. Those concerns were crys- tallised last week by BII boss Robertson in a stinging attack on the AFS stance.
its decision to not invite pro- ducers to attend the recent conference with ASH. “It is totally inaccurate to say
Although the BII competes with ServeWise in marketing training courses to the trade, Robertson maintained his criticism is valid.
“It’s just an astonishing state- ment to make and it’s so back- ward,” Robertson told SLTN. “I really hope that the Scot- tish Government is not going to go down the same line. “We met with [health minis- ter] Nicola Sturgeon recently and we got a sense that there was a partnership to be had there. “And that’s been my impres- sion – I think some of the Scottish policies have been for- ward-thinking and progressive, but this kind of activity is just ridiculous. “It’s actually not credible
either.
To try and make alcohol the new tobacco doesn’t fit with the view of the Scottish people who know that alcohol can be enjoyed responsibly. It’s out of touch, and it’s extreme.” Robertson accepted his inter-
vention in the row might be regarded as cynical, given that his own organisation competes with ServeWise, the training di- vision of AFS, in selling courses to the trade, but he maintained his criticism was still valid. AFS said in a statement that it remained committed to work- ing with the trade to deal with alcohol misuse, and stood by
that Alcohol Focus Scotland will no longer work with the al- cohol industry,” it said. “We will continue to work with the industry on areas of common ground, such as training members of the licensed trade through our highly regarded and very successful ServeWise pro- grammes and working with the Scottish Licensed Trade Association to promote the need for minimum pricing. “Alcohol Focus Scotland’s
executive committee made the decision in September 2010 to no longer accept direct funding from the drinks industry. “This decision is in accor- dance with a recommendation from the World Health Organi- sation that ‘interaction with the alcohol industry should be in the context of their role as producers, distributors and marketers of alcohol, not in terms of alcohol policy develop- ment or health promotion’. “This also brings us in line with our sister organisations Alcohol Concern in England and Wales and Alcohol Action Ireland.”
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