Page 47 - Simply Veg Issue 3 2019

Northern Branch
Members 20000 to 29999
Chairman’s report
This is my first report as Chairman of the Northern branch and I hope I can serve
the Branch as well as the past Chairman. David Metcalf who took the branch through a few changes and served the society well over the past four years.
Just a little about myself. I have been involved in horticulture for the last 45
years as an exhibitor, judge, show display organiser and now also working for a wholesale plant nursery. My background
was farming, I worked as a cowman until
I was 21 then moved into working for the local council as a Driver gardener handyman. This led to a role managing care for the elderly until three years ago when I was made redundant. I felt 30 years was enough working for social services and now enjoy
the work in the plant nursery. We raise 180 million plants from seed to plugs plants followed by raising council bedding for the summer and winter plants for the Christmas period.
On a very sad note earlier this year the NVS lost one of the top exhibitors, Peter Clarke from Hutton Rudby. I had known Peter for a long time and called upon his support to grow produce for the displays
I put up. He was a master at growing everything to perfection and set his own extremely high standards. He would talk through all the faults he could find on his veg even though they were far superior to most exhibits on display at any show. I have asked for his support many times over the years
I knew him, and he never once refused to help. I just wish I could have given Peter as much support as he gave me. I will always
remember his kindness and generosity and also the welcome I got from Both Peter and Angela.
Our DA has just exhibited at the Harrogate spring flower show. Five days of hard work and dedication by the team resulted in a premier gold award for the stand and overall best in the society section. Plant sales also helped us to put a few pennies in the pot to support the DA throughout the year.
The other DA’s will also be planning events over the next few months so look out for the displays at the shows and please support where you can.
Good growing
Adrian Read Chairman
Secretary’s report
As I sit here writing this at the start of May outside the sun is shining but the North wind is blowing, and temperatures are struggling to reach double figures, yet just two weeks ago we were basking in brilliant sunshine with temperatures in the twenties. The vagaries of the British weather!
Two months ago, at the Northern Branch Annual General Meeting we failed to appoint a Treasurer, an important and crucial post for the branch, and to date no one has come forward to fill the post. I accept that volunteering requires dedication, and those who volunteer can lose hours away from family time and can eat into leisure activities
but it’s an essential part of a functioning society. The person who rises above these issues can gain significant personal satisfaction and a deeper understanding of the Society and how it operates. The Treasurer isn’t the only vacancy on the Northern Branch we also
need a Trophy secretary. Without volunteers for these posts coming forward there is a danger that the Branch will slowly grind to a halt, so if you feel you can offer your services in either of these posts please
contact me to discuss.
The Branch will once again be completing a display at the Great
Yorkshire show from the 9th to the 11th July, as well as an excellent display of vegetables, which we hope will follow in the steps of the North Yorkshire and South Durham display at the Harrogate Spring show and receive a Premier Gold medal. This year I have a selling table which was provided by the shows organisers free of charge, this is an opportunity to make some money for the Branch and reduce the need to go cap-in-hand seeking money from elsewhere to fund the Northern Branch Championships. The issue is what do we sell? OK the NVS publications are a given, but what else could we sell to a captive audience of a thousand people a day coming to the Showground – hopefully to buy something! Your ideas and suggestions would be appreciated.
Geoff Wilson FNVS
Secretary
National Vegetable Society Northern Branch
Editor’s
Ramblings
Firstly, as I write these notes, early May, having just got back from holiday, and
at a time when all
gardeners are busy,
sowing, potting on,
planting, watering (not
recently in this part of God’s
county!!) weeding, feeding their
precious plants, a big thank you
to all the DA’s who took the time out to send me a report, and to Adrian and Geoff, our new Branch Chairman and Secretary
respectively. I know if we can get a Treasurer, we are well
placed to take the Branch forward.
Secondly, a well- deserved note of
congratulations to North Yorkshire and South Durham DA,
who, under Adrian’s guidance, won a Premier
Gold Award and best in the Societies section at the
Harrogate Spring Show, for their Educational and Scientific
display. See report and pics elsewhere in this newsletter. This does go some way to dispel the myth that we are just a showing society, but willing and able to pass on
our significant knowledge on all things veg growing, both for the show plate and the dinner plate. Well done guys. (and Helen).
It would be wrong not to thank both David Metcalfe and John Croot, former Branch Chairman and Secretary respectively, for their significant contribution to the Society at DA, Branch and Trustee levels. They are still involved in their DA’s so have not flown the nest entirely. Thank you.
Wearing my RHS hat, (accredited floral judge, fruit and veg judge and Fruit, Veg and Herb committee member) I thought you might be interested in a recent study tour I attended as a member of the latter committee. On 4th April we visited Low Hill Nursery, Sedge Green, Roydon, Harlow Essex, by kind invitation of the owner. This is a 4-acre greenhouse complex in the Lea
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