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The Annual Costume Jewellery Review was held at The Birmingham Assay Office on Friday 1
st March, especially for the Proprietors, Directors and Senior Managers of companies who use the services of The Laboratory at The Birmingham Assay Office.
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Michael Allchin, Chief Executive & Assay Master, gave a presentation entitled âOPPORTUNITY & OPTIMISMâ which helped put last years trading into perspective for the industry and looked at future trends.
The new Reach & ROHS 2 Regulations were also discussed in depth which helped flag up other issues that could affect the UK jewellery and fashion accessories sectors.
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The new Reach Regulations were a key theme of the presentation[/caption]
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Michael Revealed what the most searched for item on google was before Christmas... ONESIES!!![/caption]
The event was well attended and despite problems with the London Euston to Birmingham train line, many attendees went above and beyond their duty to attend! To reward them for their efforts attendees not only had an excellent presentation and Q&A session with Technical Director, Dippal Manchanda. They also had a delicious lunch and a goody bag which included a USB stick containing a copy of the presentation.
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During the question and answer session, Technical Director, Dippal Manchanda, answered a multitude of technical questions from the Laboratory customers, which kept him extremely busy!
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Question Time! Dippal Manchanda was on hand to answer questions from the floor[/caption]
After the presentation a buffet lunch was served and the Laboratory team were on hand to discuss the latest issues facing the costume jewellery and fashion accessories market.
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A well deserved lunch for the guests![/caption]
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One of the biggest talking points of the day was undoubtably the
new Nickel Regulations - EN1811 2011, which are part of the REACH Directive. These regulations came into force on
1st March 2013 and are considerably stricter than the previous Nickel regulations.
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L-R: Steve Franklin (Lab Marketing Coordinator) and Michelle Cartwright (Lab Admin & Production Manager) were on hand to discuss the latest regulations with Laboratory customers[/caption]
 The Laboratory can carry out both a quick test and a full reference test to check if articles comply with EN1811 2011. If you have any questions on the new regulations or any other testing matters then please call 0871 871 6020 or email testing@thelaboratory.co.uk
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L-R: Paul Moss with Laboratory Account Manager Tim Smith[/caption]
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Dedication! Kerry Mclean and Dan Constatine stood on a packed train for 2 and 1/2 hours to attend the event but they said it was well worth it![/caption]
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L-R: Fiona Pluck, Marie Brennan (The Birmingham Assay Office) Sharron Price[/caption]
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L-R: Dippal Manchanda (The Laboratory, Technical Director) & Ken Henderson[/caption]
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L-R: Tim Stanton, Fran Whitmarsh, Anne Moore[/caption]
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Foreground L-R: Stuart Walker & Holly Hudson with Marie Brennan (Business Relations Manager The Birmingham Assay Office)[/caption]
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L-R: Lynn Snead (JDA) discusses the latest jewellery issues with Marie Brennan and Michael Allchin (The Birmingham Assay Office[/caption]