Page 57 - Simply Veg 1 2024

Essex DA
Happy New Year! We hope that 2024 has been treating you kindly so far. As we enter a new year, we wanted to say thanks to everyone that came along and supported the DA in 2023. Special thanks to those that help with refreshments and raffle prizes too.
Since our last Essex DA report,
we have held two meetings. Unfortunately, our October speaker cancelled last minute due to unexpected health issues, so wishing Tracy a speedy recovery and we hope to rebook her to come and speak to us again. However, we
still held our October meeting and instead used the facilities in our meeting hall to stream one of the NVS DVDs that have been uploaded to the website. Although not quite the afternoon that our members thought they were going to get when they left home, we all thoroughly enjoyed listening to Trevor Last let us know how he grows celery for exhibition. We’ve had Trevor come and speak to our DA a couple of times in person over the years, but his voiceover on the DVD is also very informative.
At the time of writing, we hadn’t held our AGM to discuss our programme for 2024 but will have done by the time you are reading this. Details of the 2024 programme to be included in the April edition of the SV magazine.
We still have a vacant Secretary position on our Essex DA committee. If anyone is interested in taking up this role, please get in touch. For further information on Essex DA events, please contact Emily Plumb on emily.plumb@btinternet.com or Sherie Plumb on 01621 741787.
Southern Branch
MEMBERS 50000 TO 59999
Chairs Report
It was a sad day on the 2nd October 2023 when I handed over the keys to
my allotment back to the Lewes Town Council after 20+ years on the plot. I took the decision to finally give up for a couple of reasons, the prime one being that I am unable to give it the effort required to keep it in top condition and the second reason was the large number of conditions that the Green Council have imposed, 12 pages of what you cannot do and 0 pages of alternatives
to what is now restricted. All chemical fertilisers, including Growmore are banned, all weedkillers and insecticides banned, the list goes on.
There are also rumours that petrol driven plant, i.e. strimmer’s and cultivators were going to be banned in 2025. Not sure
what the Town Ranger will do as he mows all of the footpaths on the 7 or 8 Lewes allotments with a petrol driven mower! I am all for protecting the environment but
if a diktat from above comes down telling you what you may not do then they should also give advice on what alternatives are available. Anyway, rant over and I have been preparing the garden at home in order to grow a smaller number of veg and screening off where my bees have now been re-located to.
As mentioned in the Autumn edition
of SV, the Southern Branch was the only Branch to host the NVS judges Exam in 2023 in the Solent town of Hythe opposite the Port of Southampton and on the edge of the New Forest National Park. Yours truly was one of the five candidates taking the exam and at the time of compiling this article still waiting on the result. Thanks go to John Trim, who organised the exam and
to his wife Sally who acted as Invigilator for the theory paper where I will say no more as Keith Hine has written a separate report for this edition.
This is a reminder for all Southern Branch Societies who wish to make application for a NVS Plaque and Card
to be awarded at their Show in 2024. The plaque is generally awarded to the winner of a single class entry that is normally not that well supported as encouragement to get more exhibitors to enter in that class. There is no charge for the plaque and the Southern Branch Committee will select
two Societies to receive the plaque at the January Branch Committee meeting. The only other criteria is that we do not award it to Societies who have received the plaque in the previous two years. Application forms can be obtained from either myself or our Secretary Jan Lovell and contact details are on the NVS website.
With the Southern Branch hosting
the 2024 NVS National Championships, planning is now well underway for
the event to be held on 21st and 22nd September 2024 at the South of England Agricultural Society (SEAS) showground
in Ardingly. Hotel accommodation for
the Judges and NVS Officers has been arranged and for NVS members wishing
to use the same hotel a special room rate has been agreed, just quote the code “CODE” when booking to take advantage of the discount. Further details about the Showground location, how to get there and on-site camping facilities will be included in the Spring edition of SV.
Norman Dickinson FNVS Southern Branch Chairman
Surrey DA
The Surrey DA talks restarted in September with a talk by Stuart Mills on “Alternatives to Peat Composts”,
a much talked about subject, an informative talk which answered a lot of questions but posed a few more.
In October we welcomed Jim Arbury who gave us a talk on “Growing Fruit in a Small Garden”, lots of ideas on how to grow fruit in a controlled manner.
November’s talk from Jamie
Claxton from Tozer’s Seeds titled Plant Breeding Innovations gave members an insight into the process of producing new varieties of vegetables.
In September we sadly lost one of
our members Brian Arm, he was an excellent grower and exhibitor winning many prizes at Southern Branch Championships, including winning the Tomato class at this year’s New Forest Show Open Show in 2023, his exhibit also winning the Best in Show award. He will be greatly missed.
We also recently lost one of the Surrey DA’s founder members ‘Tim’ Pierce, a respected Judge who was one of the National Vegetable Societies oldest members, having joined the Society in 1981.
The Surrey DA AGM will be held at East Horsley Village Hall on February 10th, 2024, when the future of the Surrey DA will be decided, all Surrey members are requested to attend.
Keith Hine
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