Page 7 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2024

News from the Trustees
MICHELLE NIXON
The Trustees’ third meeting of 2024 was held on the 9th July via Zoom. The regular team was joined for the first time by Betty Garbutt. Betty has volunteered as the second Midlands Branch Representative, alongside June Davies. Betty has a background in botany and farming and started her first vegetable plot at the age of four!
We began with the results of the 2024 Awards Review Meeting. Full details are given elsewhere in this edition of the magazine, but in short, the review board awarded nine new fellowships, three silver medals and two gold medals. Congratulations to all the recipients, who earned their awards by hard work as NVS supporters and volunteers. The Society could not function without them.
Fiona Shenfield was able to announce that following interest from several potential candidates, Ian Mackenzie of Midlands Branch would be proposed as the new National Treasurer at the 2024 AGM. Ian does some growing and has financial experience in similar
roles for other organisations with a tiered structure. Importantly, he also has experience in setting up centralised financial systems. Ian will be working with Jean Forrester to ensure a smooth handover, ahead of her retirement.
Andy Wall updated the Trustees on the status of the new shared workspace and email system. All national officers now have use
of an NVS email address, and accounts will shortly be set up for Branch Representatives. Members are politely asked to write to official email addresses where available, rather than personal addresses. Details are given on p3 of every edition of Simply Vegetables magazine, and the list will be updated as the relevant accounts are set up.
District Associations are reminded that officer records need to be kept up-to-date, for the benefit of all members. In particular, please inform Fiona of any changes in contact details, so the website and other databases can be updated to give correct information.
It was reported that the issue of late delivery of Simply Vegetables magazine to members in Ireland had been resolved. The Summer edition was received on time. We understand the problem was down to the distributor employed by the magazine publisher, Crest. The Trustees have been informed that Crest are now using another postage subcontractor, and future mailings will be received on time.
Early in the season, many growers experienced low germination rates in the seed distributed for Class 26 of the National Championships (Romanesco cauliflower). The packets received looked crushed, as though they had been through rollers. Medwyns of Anglesey, who had provided the seed free
of charge, expressed considerable disappointment and reported that remaining stock had been checked and found undamaged. Germination tests were carried out on unshipped seed, and the results were good. The conclusion is that the seed was damaged during packaging or shipping of Simply Vegetables magazine. Apologies to all affected by this issue. The Trustees are looking into the problem so it can be avoided in future.
Ahead of this year’s competitions, all the Branches have nominated members to be responsible for photographing 1st to 5th places at Branch Championships. The brief is to ensure cultivar cards and other cards are clearly visible. The photos will be posted to our Flickr account as a useful resource for members who aren’t able to attend shows in person. Support can be given to anyone needing help to load the photos. Members can access the Flickr account using the links on the website.
Finally, it was noted that the showing season would be almost over by the time this edition of the magazine is published! Southern Branch has worked hard to organise a new major venue for the National Championships, at the South of England Showground. Everyone is very grateful to them for their efforts, and to the generous sponsors who help make the National Championships and other events possible.
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