In excess of 50 industry notables attended the Fespa-Cactus-Durst open house at Cactus Imaging's expansive premises in Silverwater, Sydney. Apart from a tour of the battery of superwide Durst and Fujifilm roll-to-roll printers, a highlight was the handing over approx. $94,000 of legacy SGIAA trust funds to Fespa Australia to use exclusively for training purposes, as the now unified association for wide format and speciality printers in Australia and New Zealand.
Cactus Imaging's huge factory houses a battery of superwide UV print power and finishing
This was a night of industry legends. Fespa Australia board member and Cactus Imaging (now part of oOH!media), co-founder Keith Ferrel kicked off proceedings by welcoming guests before handing over to Nigel Davies, who introduced another legend - AllPrint Graphics' Trevor Cunningham, followed by Bill Porteus, who handed over a couple of giant cheques - both physically and in amount - thereby cashing up Fespa Australia for its good works and training programmes. Both Cunningham and Porteus are life members of Fespa and SGIAA as it was formerly known as.
FESPA Australia announced the launch of the FESPA Australia Training Fund, whose funds are mandated by its constitution for use in training and development programs within the speciality printing industry.
Industry Training at heart: (LtoR) Chris Wright, Paul Smith, Nigel Davies, Trevor Cunningham, Bill Porteous, Grant Cunningham
In the presentation at the FESPA Australia event at Cactus Imaging, Life members and trustees of The FESPA Training Fund presented the fund with circa $94,000 of seed funding. 
In the first presentation, Life Members Trevor Cunningham, Bill Porteous and Paul Smith, Trustee, presented the proceeds of the Glen Crerar scholarship fund. The scholarship was established in 1990 in memory of past President Glen Crerar, who passed in office. Life member Trevor Cunningham spoke of Glen Crerar and the fund's values and his wish that these funds will continue to offer opportunities to young people well into the future.
In the second presentation, Life Member Bill Porteous presented the proceeds of a cheque for approx.$60,000, representing the NSW region's funds up until its amalgamation with the Federal body in 2017.
A 'laser-sharp' focus on training
Fespa Australia president Nigel Davies said: "Fespa Australia is one of the oldest printing associations, and these funds were raised by generations of hardworking volunteers and generous sponsors of the screen printing industry. We are honoured to take the baton and work hard to apply and preserve these funds. By protecting those funds in our constitution, we are ensuring that from now into the future, our Association will have a laser-sharp focus on the training needs of our industry."
Davies adds: “There is much to do; the work of other Fespa associations inspires us, particularly Fespa UK's Next Generation fund, which promotes networking among young people and leverages social media to connect young people at scale. Associations must coordinate our approaches and funding to ensure a balanced approach to our industry's needs.”
First hybrid roll/flatbed UV
Ever generous with his time and knowledge, Keith Ferrel escorted groups around his production floor - an eye watering array of the best in UV 3.2 and 5 metre R2R production fetauring four Fujifilm Uvistar and two Durst printers, including the recently installed 10-channel P5 350 HS D4 hybrid press, which takes Cactus into the realm of flatbed printing after years of pure superwide roll-to-roll exclusivity. The finishing area is equally impressive with oversize CNC cutters from Aristo and others.
