Page 34 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2025

Fiona’s roundup
FIONA SHENFIELD FNVS, NVS GENERAL SECRETARY
National
Championships
2025 – Ayr
Planning is well underway by the Scottish
Branch who are hosting this year’s National
Championships at Ayr Racecourse, 2-6
Whitletts Rd, Ayr KA8 0JE. As previously
reported, it will be held on a Friday 15th and
Saturday 16th (with staging from Thursday
14th – more details re timings to follow).
FYI, we have secured an NVS price for
accommodation close to the venue with
the Western House Hotel, Ayr, KA8 0HA.
Tel 01292 294990, Reservations Manager
Emma Berry.
(£100 double occupancy or £90 single
occupancy with breakfast included per
night). This will be on a first come first
served basis.
We can confirm that this year’s Chair’s
Challenge (which is selected by the host
branch) is for x6 Broad Beans. In February,
Scottish Branch Member, Jim Pearson,
kindly gave a Zoom talk on how he grows
broad beans for exhibition. This can now
be found within the NVS web site’s library
section.
We are also delighted to announce that
a new Class will be added to this year’s
Championships for a dish of x5 Globe
Beetroot, staging board supplied. Already
a popular class at Branch and DA level,
we expect this to be an excellent class at
the National Championships. We would
also like to sincerely thank Select Seeds for
offering to sponsor the prize money for this
new class.
We have included an article, kindly
submitted by Mark Hall on how he grows
Globe which we hope you find useful, see
page 38. Mark, has also given a Zoom talk
on growing Beetroot (Long & Globe) which
can be found in the NVS Website’s Library.
There is also range of general growing
leaflets within the library too, for your
reference which includes Broad Beans and
Globe Beetroot.
The last time we held the National
Championships in Ayr was back in 1990
and Scottish Branch look forward to
welcoming you.
34 Simply Vegetables