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Message from Ian Brace our Chairman

At the MRBA AGM in September I shall be standing down as chair and as a trustee of MRBA.  After nearly 20 years as chair it is time for new blood and new ideas to lead the Association.

I shall of course be sorry to be no longer closely involved with the running of MRBA, but I know that it will be in good hands.  Virginia Monk has been elected as the chair designate and will take over from me at the AGM.

I look back at some of the changes in the MRBA over the last 20 years and am pleased with the progress that we have made.

A new constitution in 2006 paved the way for changes in how we operate; the Association’s first website; the introduction of MRBA Skills, to enlarge the scope of the charity; the creation of the Corporate Patrons and Friends scheme;  the computerisation of our processes making us more responsive to our applicants’ needs; and of course the help and assistance that we have been able to give to hundreds of people over that time.

None of this could have been achieved without the dedication of the team of trustees, volunteers and Regional Managers as well the supporters, Corporate Patrons, fund-raisers and others who have provided is with the means to reach those in need.  And I must thank in particular Danielle Scott, who as our administrator has supported me wonderfully for most of those years.

One on-going challenge will continue, which is creating and maintaining on-going awareness across the sector at the point of need.  This has been a constant theme during my time in office and is currently the subject of a real push to try to make progress.  Several Corporate Patrons and other supporters have been working with us to address how this might be achieved in today’s world with today’s channels of communication, so many thanks to all involved with this. I look forward to the outcome of that work.

I am sorry to report that Jenni Perry is also stepping down from the MRBA Trustee Board and Management Committee.  Jenni joined us in 2018 and took on the marketing brief.  Since then she has introduced a number of innovations, the most recent of which was the successful webinar on mental health issues earlier this year.  However, she is now setting up a new business and can no longer devote sufficient time.  Thank you Jenni for all that you have done.

Thank you to our Corporate Patrons

Thank you to all our fantastic Corporate Patrons for your continued support throughout 2023! With your support we can help those most in need during the current cost of living crisis.

We are also delighted to welcome our newest Corporate Patrons; Beam Fieldwork, Discovery, dynata, Rigour Research, Spectrum, Sample Answers and slightly less recently, C-Space.

The MRBA 2023 Auction

This year’s MRBA 2023 Auction took place in March, and we are pleased to announce that the Auction raised a whopping £5,019 which surpassed our target of £5,000.

A Special Thank You goes out to Cornelius Barry of Rigour Research who matched our winning total with a donation of £5,000.

So the final total for this year’s 2023 MRBA Auction was £10,019.

We would like to say a Big Thank You to all our Auction Donators, Bidders, and successful Winners who took part in this year’s Auction making it such a success.

Another lucky Winner at the Auction was Dan Foreman who successfully bid for the Champagne Afternoon Tea for Two at The Stage at The Londoner which was kindly donated by Pat Dowding. Dan kindly sent some photos in of the wonder Afternoon Tea.

“What a lovely afternoon spent with the Legendary Simon Patterson (QRi Consulting). All thanks for Pat Dowding and the wonderful MRBA.” (Dan Foreman, Hatted)

The MRS Golf Day

Thursday 6^th July saw the annual MRS Golf Day with golfers converging at Verulam Golf Club in St Albans for this year’s event. A welcome change of venue for those who preferred both the course and the location. The course is well balanced and 6190 yards off the yellow tees and consists of 12 par 4’s, 3 par 3’s and 3 par 5’s.

Thankfully, the weather was good all day but unfortunately, there were several regulars who were unable to play this year, resulting in only 25 players.

The club house opened at 8am for coffee and bacon baps with the first tee off at 8:42am for the morning individual competition - an 18-hole Stableford.

Following a rolling lunch of ham, egg and chips, the afternoon’s Greensome's pairs competition began promptly at 1:39pm. As a break from tradition the prize giving took place on the terrace shortly after the last group finished playing and we then moved inside for the sandwiches and the all important raffle, where once again people gave generously in support of the MRBA.

Now to the results:

The Morning Stableford

1^st Matt Reynolds, Vitreous World 35 points
2^nd Steve Pick, Critical Research 34 points (countback last 6 holes)
3^rd Lee Gazey 34 points (countback last 9 holes)
4^th Justin Alderson, Aurora Research 34 points
Nearest the Pin in Two 3^rd hole Matt Reynolds, Vitreous World
Longest Drive 18^th hole Lee Gazey

The Afternoon Greensomes

1^st Ben Leet and Justin Alderson, Aurora Research 36 points (countback last 9 holes)
2^nd David Alterman, The Nursery Research & Planning and John Steinitz 36 points
3^rd Jon Darby, Touchstone Partners and Matt Reynolds, Vitreous World 33 points (countback last 6 holes)
4^th Paul Kingsley-Smith, Qualzy and Stewart Tippler, Quirks 33 points
Longest Drive 9^th hole Matt Reynolds, Vitreous World
Nearest the Pin 17^th hole Stewart Tippler, Quirks

We raised £1,234.99 for the MRBA of which £120 came from the raffle.

Special thanks go to all our sponsors: Askia, Critical Research, QOne Tech, Qualzy, Quirks, Sample Answers and The Research Club.

Thank you everyone for supporting this event and we hope to see you all and more next year. We expect to be back at Verulam Golf Club.

Case Studies

The Market Research Benevolent Association is here to help researchers in hardship with financial support and advice. The following describes two recent cases where something has happened to tip the balance.

Case G - A single parent with two children, G had been in a well-paid salaried role with few money worries until they lost their job. They are actively seeking work and have applied for Universal Credit but had an immediate need to cover the cost of some urgent repairs to their home and were falling behind on their gas/electricity bills. MRBA gave a grant to cover these immediate needs (a total of around £1,800) and provided advice on dealing with other ongoing expenditure (such as the mortgage and Council Tax).

Case H - An interviewer on zero-hours contracts H had experienced difficult circumstances for several years including physical health issues that prevented them from taking on full-time work. The pandemic, when there was no work, and the cost of living crisis have also had an impact. As a result, they were in an increasing spiral of debt – maxing out their credit cards and with priority debts: arrears of rent, Council Tax, electricity. This in turn led to H experiencing deteriorating mental and physical health. MRBA was able to provide a grant to cover H’s priority debts (roughly £3,500) freeing them from the worry of possibly losing their home.

The Research Network

Record attendance at Research Network summer party

The membership drive at the Research Network is paying dividends, with 31 new joiners in the last twelve months. Partly as a result of this, more members than ever before attended the summer party in early July.

The Network is delighted at the number of experienced researchers joining its ranks. If you’d like to enjoy lunches and/or online events with long-time colleagues and friends or if you would like to find out more information about The Research Network, please click here – you’re sure of a warm welcome!

The Research Network is pleased to be a Supporter of the MRBA.

The Inaugural Opinium FPL League 2022/2023

The inaugural Opinium FPL League took place over the 2022/2023 football season.

With Opinium making a kind donation of £200 to The Market Research Benevolent Association.

Congratulations to Paul Quilter (Champion), Alasdair Pearce (2^nd) and Craig Williams (3^rd) on their top three finishes. Further congratulations go to Alice Pleasant, who was top at the halfway stage.

A massive thank you goes out to all players who took part in this inaugural Opinium FPL League.

Please do spread the word so the 2023/2024 Opinium FPL can continue raising some much-needed cash for a great cause! If you would like further information please contact Henry Oliver at Opinium.

To find out more, visit our website

mrba.org.uk

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