Adrian Parry has worked in the electrical industry for nearly 30 years, firstly as an Electrical wholesaler before moving into manufacturing and has served as Chair of the EIC’s West Midlands Committee for the past 10 years.

“I never thought for a minute that that one day I’d be the chair for the region”, says Adrian, “It started with wanting to join in and offer a bit of help.”

What started as a small step towards giving back has grown into a deep commitment to supporting others in the industry he’s proud to be part of.

“I’m glad that I’ve chosen to give that bit of time to an industry charity rather than something outside of the industry.”

Supporting the Front Lines

What resonates most about his work with the EIC is the support offered to our recipients, including contractors and those who work on the front line.

“Something I’ve discovered since coming on board is the passion of everybody within the charity wanting to give and support the industry. Being able to support them [charity recipients] when they need it most is what really matters” That’s what resonates most with me. Being able to support when someone in our industry needs us,” he says.

For Adrian, the most rewarding part of working with the EIC has been taking part in so many events.

“When you’re involved delivering a successful event and everybody’s had a good time, there’s not many greater feelings, frankly. And as a result you’ve helped raise vital money for the charity. So that is without question is one of the most rewarding things for me”, says Adrian.

Adrian’s proudest achievement to date was last year’s Christmas Lunch. After a rocky start during Covid, with just 53 attendees, their most recent lunch welcomed 350 guests and raised over £17,000 for the EIC.

“To this day I still choke up when I talk about it, because to go from nothing to that is just astonishing.”

Looking ahead to this year’s Christmas Lunch, Adrian says he is hoping to build on that success.

“I don’t want to put pressure on anybody, but I’d love to put more in the pot this year. We’ll see how it goes. All we can do is put on a great show and hopefully that might just give people reason to give what they can.”

Amplifying the Future

Looking to the future, Adrian says he’d like to see the West Midlands committee expand, with as many ideas and perspectives as possible feeding into their plans.

“We need more activity; we need more action. It’d be great to expand the committee out to a few more people and get a few more different trains of thought coming in. Varied experiences and knowledge, we benefit from discussing options with people from the manufacturing side as well as wholesalers. Ideally, we’d love to get some contractors on board too.”

Adrian believes the impact the EIC has on individuals and businesses in the industry can be life changing. He hopes to increase awareness, particularly among those working in manufacturing and contracting.

“I would love to see larger companies communicating to their own teams what the EIC is about, to make them aware of what we can do to support that side of the industry. […] The people that are likely to benefit most from our services in a lot of cases are the ones that don’t know enough about what we do.”

You Get Out More Than You Put In

“Absolutely do it.”

That’s Adrian’s advice to anyone wanting to get involved with the EIC.

He says that the combination of charitable work and the opportunities to network and meet others across the industry makes volunteering incredibly worthwhile.

“You always get more out than you put in. That would be my golden rule to anybody wanting to join.”
If you’d like to learn more about how you can get involved—whether as a volunteer, supporter, or committee member—click here to find out more about the ways you can make a difference.