Page 31 - Simply Veg Issue 3 2019

The National Vegetable Society Annual Report of the Trustees for 2017/18
National championships
The 2017 National Championships held at Malvern last year & hosted by the Midlands Branch were very successful. We are grateful to the Midland Branch Chair, Sandra Hall and her team for making it such a great event and social evening.
Today we are at the Great Yorkshire Show ground, Harrogate, hosted by the Northern Branch, who have been great hosts, thank you to David Metcalf, John Croot and the Northern Branch team.
Governance
The Trustees and Branch representatives of the Society have met on 4 occasions in the past 12 months at a central venue in Crewe. As a reminder, last year we reported that we would work to “further stabilise, standardise & hopefully grow and focus on new ideas to take us forward”.
Further to 2017’s AGM and throughout the year, the composition of the Executive Officers remained stable throughout most of the year, however, as you are aware, some of our long-standing Trustee Reps have recently stood down and we thank them all.
• John Croot was a Northern Branch Trustee for many years and I would like to thank John on behalf of the Trustees for his years of support. I’m happy to advise that Geoff Wilson (Northern Branch Secretary) has now stepped into Johns shoes as the new Northern Branch Secretary &Trustee Rep.
• Ivor Mace was also a Welsh Branch Trustee for many years and again, I would like to thank Ivor for his input & experience. The Welsh Branch is still to appoint a replacement for Ivor as a Welsh Branch Trustee Rep.
• Neil Hope, as you are aware has stood down at the AGM after another 3 years as Membership Registrar. Neil has carried out this role for many years and has been a very active member of the Trustee Team. (Neil cannot attend Today’s meeting as he and his wife Daphne are celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary). FYI Neil was presented with a gift of thanks during his last Trustees meeting, in July.
• Grant Cathro (Vice President) Grant, as you know took on board this role again in 2016 years ago in support of our new Chairman at the time, disappointingly, we had no Chair for 2017, however Grant chaired the Trustee Meetings throughout 2017. Grant has however decided to stand down this year due to ill health. I know this has not been a decision that Grant took lightly and it has been taken
with heavy heart, so I would also like to thank Grant.
I’m delighted that we now do have a new Chair with Sandra Hall FNVS. Sandra is a positive forward thinking individual who I’m sure will take us forward in a steady direction.
We currently do not have any nominations to stand as Membership Registrar for 2017/18 going forward, and I would encourage any of our members to seriously look at what this role entails and speak with one of the officers if you are interested.
Communication
Our quarterly Simply Vegetables magazine (edited by Kelvin Mason) and the NVS website (maintained by web manager Emily Plumb) continue to remain our key communication vehicles. Use of our Facebook and twitter accounts are on the increase too.
May I remind everyone that to ensure that data on the web site it is kept current, so please let your local branch web reps or Emily aware of changes or updates you wish to see implemented. ( or indeed, if you see something that is wrong ).
NVS Membership
Our Membership Registrar, Neil Hope and Branch Membership Secretaries reported a decline in overall membership over last year, the current membership stood at 2128 in July ’18 , a decline of 4.8% (a slight improvement on last year’s 6.3% )
We do continue to attract new Members via our presence at Shows and the Web-site, but we continue to experience each
year that approximately 14% of our new members don’t renew
after that initial year, so we need to work harder on supporting our newest members. (various methods are being carried out at different branches and DA’s)
Last year we initiated an annual Membership Renewal process via a Direct Debit process. The uptake has been lower than hoped but is steadily increasing in numbers.
We are also grateful for members who provide us with their e-mail addresses (and keep this information up to date) this speeds up communication and reduces costs and administration accordingly. We also require your consent form to tick the “email” box, now too, so that we can contact you via this method if you wish us to.
Our Gift Aid Claim for 2018 was processed and this resulted in an overall claim of £3616 being received, all of which was transferred back to the relevant Branches. Our thanks go to the Northern Branch
President’s Report
It is my sad duty to read out a list of members who have passed away since our last AGM -
Since the last AGM our Society has certainly had a very difficult time working without a Chairperson so I would like to thank
Grant for taking over the chairmanship from his position as Vice Chairman. Grant’s health is certainly not good, but he still took the position on from his love and desire for the Society to continue as smoothly as possible. I fully understand why you are retiring as Vice Chairman and I’m sure we all wish you and your good lady the very best for the future.
While the Society has been somewhat weakened without a chair person, one person certainly wasn’t, and that is Fiona, our very professional Secretary who has worked diligently throughout the year, in particular getting us through the new General Data Protection Regulations which was no mean feat. Dennis our Treasurer has been doing sterling work on the financial side as well and long may he continue.
Sadly, Neil Hope is retiring as Membership secretary after many years of tremendous hard work, not just on a monthly or weekly basis but every day as there was always some communication
or other to deal with. The glue that binds us together is twofold - undoubtedly our Simply Veg magazine and the quality and content of that magazine is down to the Editor, Kelvin, who quietly goes about the job with no fuss whatsoever. The second is our Web Site which is very ably managed, again on a daily basis, and very professionally by Emily Plumb.
Naturally the Society wouldn’t be able to exist without its board of trustees all of whom give up their time to travel from far and wide to the meetings at Crewe, and to this end I also thank those that have retired from being a trustee after many years of hard work.
Last year, I made a plea for the younger element within the society to step forward and take an active role within it. Well that plea is still as passionate as it was last year. If any of you think
that you have something to offer the Society, please don’t be shy in coming forward. We must have more youngsters joining our Society or otherwise the future is indeed bleak. You can start at DA level, or even Branch level, one thing is certain, if you don’t, the future of our Society looks pretty bleak. If you are interested please contact myself, Fiona or any other member of the executive.
Medwyn Williams MBE FNVS September 2018
simplyvegetables 31