Trainees in psychiatry have a unique opportunity to contribute to the policy and decision-making within the College, not only on matters relating to training but on broader issues facing psychiatry as a whole. This has been made possible by the introduction of Inceptorship (see Handbook for Inceptors and Trainees in Psychiatry) and by the more recent formation of the Collegiate Trainees Committee (CTC). The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the only college which encourages trainees to join as ‘junior members’, and gives them the opportunity to contribute actively in its working. I would like to review the progress of the CTC since its first meeting in September 1979.