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• Mandi Sturrock explains how the merger of the Sino-British Trade Council and The 48 Group came about.
The merger of the former Sino-British Trade Council and The 48 Group of British Traders with China was an idea whose time had most definitely come in the early months of 1990. As the secretary-general of The 48 Group at that time, I remember when the idea was first mooted at a meeting of the management committee of that organisation in February 1990.
Two members of the committee (both former chairman) Stephen Dreyfuss and Peter Bennett, were deputed to meet two SBTC vice-presidents, Frank Edwards and John Lippitt, to discuss the idea. All agreed it should be taken further.
This was, in any case, a year of change. Both SBTC's president, Lord Sharp, and director of many years' service, Mary Penn, were due to retire. The 48 Group's two senior consultants, Roland Berger and Percy Timberlake, would both be retiring after more than 35 years of service, John Beyer would become director of SBTC and I would lead the small staff of The 48 Group, under the chairmanship of Terry Wint.
A new generation would be assuming the leadership and, during those years of the trade embargo, following Tiananmen Square, it was a good time to consider the shape of trade support in the UK and to decide how to best help British companies develop UK trade with China.
The DTI, which at that time partly funded the SBTC, was also fully behind the idea of a merger which would create a more cost-effective agency for trade support and also would streamline the public effort.
Between February and November 1990 many meetings of a small group of both management groups and the two chiefs of staff (SBTC's director John Beyer and myself) took place. John and I drafted the detailed proposal which was to form the basis for the merger. It was also at this time that a logo for the new organisation was designed, and this is still CBBC's logo today.
At an early stage it had been decided to halt all new staff recruitment on both sides. This was done to avoid redundancies. The new governing council of the China-Britain Trade Group would comprise former board members of The 48 Group and former council members of the Sino-British Trade Council. One-third of council members would be elected from member companies.
The SBTC Council cleared the way for the merger in July whilst The 48 Group held an EGM of its members in November, which overwhelmingly supported the proposal to merge. Judging by the amount of time it took to negotiate this merger one could have mistaken these two relatively small bodies for multinational companies, but getting the right formula for the future whilst retaining the links and continuity with the past was seen as vitally important.
It was during this year of change that the Friends of The 48 Group was formed. This provided a social forum for retiring committee members and representatives of member companies to keep in touch with each other and with developments in China trade. The ‘Friends' were later renamed the 48 Group Club and Bob Briggs became its chairman. It is now an active body with some 400 members. Indeed, its current chairman, Stephen Perry, is still a vice-president of CBBC and is one of only two surviving members of the original board still on CBBC Council (the other is David Brewer, who has now been treasurer for 14 years).
It was decided to launch the new organisation with the beginning of a new year. On Christmas Eve 1990 the final boxes and equipment were loaded from the offices of The 48 Group at Rosebery Avenue and transported to their new home in Abford House. The four staff of The 48 Group in London joined their new colleagues making a staff of 11 (there were also three staff in two offices in China who became part of the new team). It was a comparatively smooth and harmonious start to the new organisation, no doubt helped by mutual acquaintance and goodwill on both sides, including strong support from our Chinese counterparts, particularly CCPIT.
The new Council of the China-Britain Trade Group was led for a short period by both Sir Alistair Frame and then by acting President Terry Wint. It was when Sir Michael Palliser was appointed president in 1992 that the new leadership had the opportunity to develop firm forward strategies which prepared the way and provided the basis for what CBBC is today. Apart from its two surviving Council members, CBBC also has two surviving members of staff; Janet Kealey, editor of the Review, and Hilary Footer, membership manager.
Many others, both members of Council and members of staff, have given long service to the organisation and have otherwise kept in close touch, giving testimony to the value and support that CBBC has given to companies, government and its friends in China over the last 50 years.
Mandi Sturrock was deputy director of CBTG and then deputy chief executive of CBBC from the time of the merger until 2003.
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