Representatives from nine countries attended a meeting in March of the World Plumbing Council, held in association with the ISH trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany.

The meeting received reports on the progress of a wide range of activities identified in the WPC’s Strategic Plan for 2008-2011 including:

• The redevelopment of the WPC website which now includes introductions in Chinese, Spanish, German and French as well as English;

• A review of the WPC Lecturer’s/Trainer’s Scholarship;

• Proposals to launch the first ever World Plumbing Day when plumbing organisations throughout the world will be encouraged to celebrate and promote the importance of the plumbing industry;

• WPC’s ongoing relationships with organisations including the World Health Organisation, WorldSkills and Messe Frankfurt.

During the meeting, Udo Wirges of the German Full Member organisation ZVSHK gave a fascinating insight into the work his Association had been doing to assist its members in coping with the current difficult economic situation. The Association has developed a range of inspection programmes covering issues such as energy efficiency, heating efficiency and drinking water quality and delivers training to members to equip them to carry out the checks.

At the conclusion of each meeting day participants were invited to meet socially, first at the invitation of ZVSHK and secondly as guests of WPC Affiliate Member, Geberit.

It was agreed that the next WPC meeting would take place at Leriba Lodge, Centurion, South Africa from 21-24 October 2009 with the subsequent meeting taking place in Sydney, Australia in March 2010.

All full and affiliate members are invited to attend these meetings.