Page 50 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2025

Scottish Branch
MEMBERS 30000 TO 39999
Chairmans Report
I always do my best to be pro-active
and with the deadline for submission
of articles for this edition of Simply
Vegetables being later this month
(January 2025) because as I type,
looking out of our conservatory to see a
couple of inches of snow on the ground
I have some time available to draft my
Branch Chairman’s report.
2024 for Scottish Branch was hugely
successful. Apart from our Autumn Seminar
at Auchterarder most of what we did was
documented in the last edition of Simply
Vegetables and I won’t bore the readers
by repeating it here. The Seminar had a
few worrying moments at the planning
stage, but the gremlins were overcome.
We had some super speakers, and all
went well until an electrical fault kyboshed
things during a talk on Growing for the
Millennium Collection by Jim Pearson, one
of our Branch’s best exhibitors. Jim is a
trooper and managed to complete his talk
without being able to show some of his
photographs so well done that man.
We had huge support from our
commercial partners, organised by Gavin
Thomson of Premier Hydroponics so
thank you Gavin. Our raffles were really
successful with some superb prizes and
we surprised our attendees by having an
special extra free raffle too, thanks to the
generous prizes from our commercial
teams.
2025 looks like being a very busy time
for us. Our AGM followed by a Committee
Meeting on 15th March, a Committee
meeting on 25th May, we intend having
a presence at Scone Palace Garden Fair
on 31st May/1st June, our annual Branch
Garden Visit in early July(details yet to be
finalised), The Nationals at Ayr on 15th/16th
August, our Branch Championships to
be held on 13th / 14th September at
Dunfermline, a Committee Meeting and
Judges Exam on 4th October and then
next year’s Autumn Seminar to bring us full
circle.
I started my first draft of this report by
mentioning a couple of inches of snow.
Well since then, the snowfall mushroomed,
and temperatures plummeted down as
low as minus 100C here at one point and
that recovered to plus 60C within a couple
of days. How plants in the garden manage
to cope with that goodness knows but the
winter pansies we have in troughs at the
front of the house are still showing a lovely
display of colour. Thankfully the snow has
now all gone.
My allotment must have been feeling
neglected as I hadn’t been near it since
I harvested some Brussels Sprouts for
Christmas Lunch. I harvested some leeks
and kale this morning (17th January) so a
warming pot of vegetable soup will benefit
from those. I also took home another
three stems of Brussels Sprouts - variety
Braemar sourced from Select Seeds. These
are still holding well without blowing and
I’ve already bought seeds to grow them
again this year.
Hopefully we will now have a settled
period of weather which will let us get
gardening again.
Frank Taylor FNVS
Chairman, Scottish Branch
Caley Awards 2024 – Lifetime Achievement Award
Every Year, the Royal Caledonian
Horticultural Society issues a number
of prestigious awards, medals and
certificates of merit in recognition
of the achievements of professional
horticulturalists, nurserymen, amateur
gardeners, students and apprentices.
The Scottish Branch are delighted and
proud to report that Alistair and Mary
Gray have been awarded a Lifetime
achievement Award. Below is the
extract from the Caley Report.
Alistair and Mary Gray are a gardening
couple who between them have done
an extraordinary amount for horticulture
in Scotland. Locally, Alistair has served
on the committee of the Brechin
Horticultural Society for almost 50 years.
Mary has also been a committee member
for many years, helping with catering,
stewarding selling raffle tickets etc.
Alistair gives many talks to garden clubs
to help others and share information.
Mary supports her husband at his
talks, notably on vegetables but also
chrysanthemums and dahlias. At their
many open days and on garden visits she
is the joint host alongside her husband,
sharing her own knowledge of growing
and showing. She also provides most
welcome hospitality and catering. They
both judge at several local shows each
year. Alistair provides guidance, seed,
seed potatoes, leeks, and onion plants
to many growers. Nationally, Alistair has
been one of the most prominent and
successful members of the Scottish
Branch of the National Vegetable Society.
He became an NVS qualified judge
in 1982. They both joined the Scottish
Branch Committee in 2013 and are
actively involved in many tasks, especially
during the annual Scottish Branch
Seminar. Alistair’s growing skills have
led to unparalleled success on the show
bench. In 2022 he won every trophy at
the Scottish Branch Championships, a
feat which has never been done before.
He also had Best Exhibit in Show with
his long leeks and Best Dish of Potatoes
overall. In 2023 he achieved nine firsts,
though not quite all the trophies, and
again had Best Exhibit in Show and
Best Dish of Potatoes. He is meticulous
in everything he does, and experienced
exhibitors and newcomers alike can and
do learn a lot from him. Mary and Alistair
are Fellows of the NVS and Alistair was
made an Honorary vice president of the
Scottish Branch in 2021.
Congratulations to you both.
50 Simply Vegetables