It used to be said that you know when you're getting old when policemen start to look younger. May be it is because I don't meet many police men these days but I never seemed to reach this mile stone.

However, this week it struck me that I was getting old when I realised that the refrigeration representative at the WorldSkills Competition looks younger than my own son. Matthew Lander of Crowther and Shaw in Huddersfield is representing the UK in the four day (15th -18th November) event held in Japan. Matthew will be competing against the world's best in this prestigious international event and I am sure that the whole industry here wishes him every success.

It is re-assuring that some talented young people like Matthew are entering the ACR industry but perhaps equally re-assuring is the fact that he has been encouraged and trained to such a high standard.

It is often negatively said that the ACR industry is an aging one which is suffering from lack of training and new recruits in the past. Turning this on its head, it also means that this aging work force has a wealth of experience that it is able to impart.

We can't turn the clock back and change the company policies that have brought the industry to where it is today, but we can do something about the future.

Matthew's employers together with Mike Carman, a retired lecturer who has given up his time on a voluntary basis to manage the UK's 2007 WorldSkills refrigeration entry, are doing their bit. Can that be said for the rest of us?

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