Page 6 - Simply Veg 4 2022

Lady Chair’s Report
SANDRA HALL FNVS, NATIONAL LADY CHAIR
As I start to write this report the weather outside is staggeringly hot, but here in the office it’s quite cool. Hope you and your vegetables are coping with these high temperatures and dry spell.
I will start where I left off my next trip
out after Malvern was to BBC Gardeners World Live event at the NEC Birmingham to help the West Midlands DA, but in the meantime we (the NVS) had been asked about working alongside our partners, Marshalls Seeds on their show garden as the knowledge behind the veg to talk to and answer the publics questions.So I did one day on the Marshalls stand and one day on the DA and they just so happened to be the two hot days. Hats and sun cream were the order of the day along with plenty of water and an ice-cream. Sorry you guys on the other days when it was wet, wet, wet.
I want to thank all of you who answered our call (emailed broadcast request) for volunteers to help on the Marshalls stand, please refer report on page 18.
As we continue to work closely with our partners it is nice to see and hear how
you are getting on with your seed trials from those members who provide regular up-dates on Facebook. This is not only good for the seed companies to see your feedback, but it’s also appreciated by other
members too.
After Birmingham, Mark and I decided to
take a break, I packed the campervan and after our son’s wedding on the Saturday on the Sunday we drove to Portsmouth for a ferry to France, but like all best laid plans.... we had only driven about 100 miles when we broke down. After a few eventful days trying to get it sorted we decided to limp gently back to the nearest port, St Malo and come back home. You don’t realise how good it is to be home!!!
With no amount of show veg ready
we sadly gave the Southern Branch Championships at the New Forest a miss, the first time for many years. I believe it was a very good show, however, well done everyone.
I do like to support local shows too (as that is where we all start out), so today I went to Oswestry’s one-day show. When I was walking around, I noticed at the entry gates the large amount of people in the queue waiting to get in, I couldn’t see the end of it. It’s great to see so many people, post COVID, enjoying a good day out once more.
Huge congratulations to those of you who have been awarded an NVS award this year, your work for the Society is very much appreciated, please see page 40. I
hope to see you at our AGM on Friday 23rd September at Malvern when the awards are presented by our President Medwyn Williams.
We will be once again putting together a program of Winter zoom talks. A list of talks is being compiled but with no dates confirmed yet (but we are aiming to start after the clocks go back). If you have any ideas or know someone who would be interested/willing to do a talk for us, please do not hesitate to contact me.
With more and more going on, don’t forget you can find all about meetings, talks and events on our website along with inside each edition of your ‘Simply Vegetables’ magazine.
I am currently in preparation for Shrewsbury Show, which is supported by a lot of NVS members, it will be great to meet up with them and others again as Shrewsbury Show has been virtual the last two years.
Just enough space to give you a garden up-date I don’t know whether it is just us, but the start of the season was very slow then with this hot, dry weather much stuff has bolted or gone to seed, so not my best year. Although looking on the bright side the Brussels sprouts and parsnips are looking good for the winter.
Members Skills Request
The NVS Trustees are looking to
create and develop a problem-solving knowledge bank/ref. library. From members feedback it is believed that would be a much sought-after tool to enable members to search by veg type or by defect/ virus etc. (Either searching the words or by viewing photos) and would be a great reference guide.
The idea would look to create a live working accessible electronic “database” that will grow through time as we glean our members knowledge and answer problem/queries that members may have. Examples would include sections on identifying a problem plus looking
at how to prevent it in the first place or
correct it and would be an extremely good reference tool.
This request is just a
very rough idea in its infancy, however if there are any members out there who could help advise of a suitable tool to or software suggestion, we would appreciate your input.
Please contact Fiona Shenfield on fcshome@talktalk.net
I think this is an excellent idea and would appeal to any member who could help to contact Fiona - Ed
6 Simply Vegetables