Page 7 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2021

Planning for the National Championships is well underway with focus utilising the A to Z planner, originally created to assist any host branch and first used by
the Southern Branch for the National Championships at New Forest Show Brockenhurst in 2019. This assists with
It was reported the new events booking system had been trialled and was working well
subscriptions and the that
the system was working well. (Please refer to page 5 for details). Also since the new website has been up and running we have seen an increase in new members which augers well for the future.
Our understanding and use of the system grows every day and we have since learned a lot as we have past the main peak of membership renewals. A new
a structured, standardised
approach including financial
planning. For 2021, the
Trustees have agreed that the £5K fund
set aside approximately 30 years ago for financing the National, should the need arise, will be now utilised this year. It is fully understood however, with Covid in mind, that any early costs and cancellation costs be minimised. As an example, our venue outlay is zero currently plus free cancellation if cancelled greater than two weeks prior to the show.
Fiona Shenfield and Ian Stocks had circulated an updated report on the new website and Membership system which highlighted the website had received positive feedback, the Google Analytics was a powerful tool to help us understand how well the system is being used, for example the News and events pages had been the most
sub-group has now been set up to review the membership system now that it’s been used for 2 months with a view to looking
at the membership & Financial processes, including reporting processes related to membership subscription to further improve the system and lessen the workload with improved reporting and reduced activity in streamlining financial activities. The sub- group is being led by Norman Dickinson with key team members Gareth Morris and Jean Forrester (with support from Ian Stocks and Fiona Shenfield). Terms of Reference have been set and the sub-group held the first Zoom meeting on Monday 1st February. Part of this review will include gathering input from all branch Membership Secretaries and Treasurers.
News from the Trustees
January 2021
FIONA SHENFIELD FNVS, NVS GENERAL SECRETARY
Fiona Shenfield has written this report to support Mark Hall due to his current work commitments.
The Trustee Meetings have continued
to be held via Zoom and whist keeping everyone safe, this has also reduced our Governance costs and hence provided additional improvement resources.
As previously reported, the 2020 awards have been sent out to those recipients who requested safe/local presentation. FYI, some have been retained for those whose preference is to be awarded this year at our 2021 National Championships. Please have a think about 2021’s award nominations (please refer to article on page 19).
Our annual requirements have been actioned including renewal of the NVS insurance and a copy of the certificate has been distributed to each Branch Secretary.
used with 22,000 views. It was reported that we have received a small quantity of members asking about the forum and this is an area that will be looked at i.e. what do our members want and what new software packages are now available. Ian Stocks has been asked to look into various systems including a Question and Answer software system.
It was reported the new events booking system had been trialled and was working well. (Please refer to article by Ian Stocks on page 19). It was also reported that we had seen an increase in merchandise sales owing to the improved site layout combined with an article in the Garden News by our President, Medwyn Williams on the Judges & Exhibitors Guide.
It was reported that we have also seen a healthy increase in take up of Direct Debit and Card payments for membership
Gareth Cameron provided a sponsorship report to highlight the status with our generous partners including Marshall’s, DT Brown, Jamieson Brothers (JBA), Kings Seeds & Medwyn’s of Anglesey. This included an offer by DT Brown inviting the NVS to have a loose flier in DT Brown’s next batch of ten thousand Catalogues that will be distributed UK wide. This was agreed by the Trustees to improve awareness of the NVS.
In accordance with the Development Plan action plan, Norman Dickinson reported that the Communication strategy paper was almost complete with a target date of the end of January and would be distributed
to the trustees for review. Ian Stocks reported that activity on the NVS Facebook page usage is continuing to grow which is positive and sits under the umbrella of the Communication strategy.
The development plan activation to create Kitchen/Leisure gardening growing booklets has been agreed by the trustees and a
plan to commence production of the first
10 booklets is in place with the first booklet being on growing potatoes. It is anticipated that these booklets may be produced in a PDF format for our members to view/print out from the website. It may also be the case that a sensible quantity are printed for use when shows and stands are back on track. These details are still to be finalised, but the key thing is that we commence creation of the booklets”.
Jean Forrester reported on the Finances of the NVS and advised that the first two sets of Year end Branch and DA accounts had been received and that work was continuing to progress the outstanding reports.
The Trustees discussed the requirement for our Branches and DA’s to hold AGM’s and the impact that the continued Covid pandemic is having on this. An action
was taken to explore and provide further guidance on holding AGM’s based on the NVS Constitution and Rules plus the latest Government guidelines. Please refer to the article on page 17.
The next scheduled Trustee Meeting will be on the 24th April (via Zoom).
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Simply Vegetables 7