Page 6 - Simply Veg Issue 3 2019

Lady Chair ’s Report
Sandra Hall, National Chairman
In the last quarter
of the year, since I last reported it has been AGM season, with every Branch holding its Annual General Meeting with several Branches seeing changes of
officers. Knowing this, I took it upon myself to go along to as many as I could, to attend them all was not possible as some were on the same day. The Northern and the Welsh were first, on the same day. I chose to visit the Welsh, where there was only one change. Mary Thomas stood down from her position of membership secretary, and this position is now currently vacant. The Northern Branch saw three changes, a new Chair, Adrian Read replacing the long serving David Metcalfe and unusually both the treasurer and assistant treasurer stood down at the same time leaving the Northern Branch currently with a vacant Treasurer’s position.
The following weekend saw the Midlands and the Scottish Branch AGM’s and as I was the Midlands Chair I attended to hand over my office to Nick Anderson. Also, Trevor Last, a long serving member stepped down from his role of 13 years as Membership Secretary and this role has been taken up by Sue
Meek from Gloucester. The Scottish Branch saw their Chair, Treasurer and Secretary remain the same again, however a couple of changes saw David Nelson stand down as Show Secretary and this post was taken up again by Frank Taylor. Allan Manning stood down as Vice Chair due to moving “back home” to England and Frank Taylor has since taken up the post of Vice Chair.
A couple of weeks later I went to the Southern Branch AGM, with reservations
as they had been running without a chair or secretary for the past year, but I am happy to confirm a couple of nice willing bodies came forward in the form of Norman Dickinson, who took the Chair and Jan Lovell took on the role of secretary, thank you both.
A big ‘Thank you’ to all those who have taken a step back from their roles and to those you have taken a step forward to take on these roles. We are all volunteers and the Society wouldn’t be where it is today without these people taking on important roles. I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to those who have left a hardworking role and congratulations and welcome to the new officers
With a lot of changes there are a lot of thank you’ s;- David Metcalfe, Northern Branch Chair. Trevor Last & Mary Thomas, our hard-working membership Secretaries, Robert Miller, Northern Branch Treasurer, National Treasurer and Gift Aid co-ordinator and Neil Hope, National Membership
registrar. A big thank you to Neil Hope for assisting with an extended handover of the membership registrar’s various tasks and to Robert Miller for extending his assistance with the Gift Aid Submission for this year.
I feel now that all Branches have most
of their major officer roles filled, we have some stability in the Society to help us move forward. We do however look for those volunteers to complete the team’s in the Northern and Welsh Branch. The Trustees meeting (April) that followed the AGMs was well attended, with all new officers in place.
Since the last Trustees meeting; -
I would like to inform you that our Treasurer Denis Barry FNVS has had to resign before completing his three-year tenure to owing health problems. We wish him well in his recovery. I would like to thank Denis, our treasurer of 3 years. Denis took the reins once more again as National Treasurer in 2016/2017 (firstly covering Robert Miller's final year) and then commenced his own 3-year tenure which was planned to cover 2017/18, 2018/2019 & 2019/2020.
In the interim Mrs Jean Forrester FNVS of the Midlands Branch has kindly offered to
fill in until the end of Denis’s tenure at the AGM 2020, but would like someone to show interest and work with her and looking to take over the position going forward. This would be an ideal opportunity to learn the ropes.
As I mentioned earlier, we are all volunteers and look to help and support each other to ensure the Society runs well, so if you are interested in any posts which are currently vacant or would like to offer your skills to help in some way, it would be most welcome. Keep an eye out for DA’s
in your area and their events, perhaps you could support at a display stand for an hour or two, spare a few plants to go towards a plant sale or attend one of their talks?
‘The Strategic Business plan’ now
called ‘The Strategic Development plan’ is progressing well, with great constructive debate amongst Trustees and hopefully be finalised within my first 12 month as Chair.
To generate a plan of this magnitude takes time, but it’s important to get it right and then stick to it. Geoff Wilson is assisting with his
Sandra and Nick
expertise in helping us pull the plan together. Watch out for the beginning of our new
‘Branding/Standardisation’ programme on the Showbench paperwork at this year’s National Show, held within the New Forest and Hampshire Show at the end of July, where we will also be holding our National AGM, followed by the presentation of prizes and the annual NVS awards ceremony. It doesn’t stop there, on the first evening, Tuesday, there is a social evening with food and entertainment, hosted by the Southern Branch which I’m sure we are all looking forward to. The icing on the cake for me will be a “best of three” domino match between myself and Vice-Chairman Ian Stocks as he always phones me on my domino night and I feel a fun challenge coming on!
As part of the standardisation programme, we are continuing to work on the new membership pack in the form of a booklet. Work on this is progressing with my aim for it to be out this Summer.
With the weather improving now, I hope our members are enjoying growing their free ‘Charisma’ Carrot and Florence Fennel ‘Chiarino’ seed. Just a reminder that also
if you can take any growing notes (good or bad) this would be valuable feedback for our sponsors who would love to learn from your experiences.
Just a little notice to any of you who would like to find out more about judging or actually becoming an NVS qualified Judge. The exam takes place on the first Saturday in October every year, with both a theory and practical exam. Venue/s are decided nearer the date dependant on the number of entrants. For further information contact Fiona Shenfield, myself or your local Branch Secretary.
Our National Treasurer Denis Barry has regrettably tendered his resignation owing to ill health which now leaves a vacancy for a new National Treasurer. This is an important executive position with a seat on the Board of Trustees. Ideally, the applicant will have a financial background although not absolutely necessary but must be fully conversant with Microsoft Excel and be numerically literate. Denis has indicated that he will be prepared to provide some assistance to the new incumbent. All applications should be made to Fiona Shenfield on fcshome@talktalk.net.
Jean Forrester, the ex-Midlands Branch Treasurer, has offered to carry out some of the National Treasurers duties on a temporary basis, hopefully to the end of the financial year, and for that we very much thank Jean.
We all wish Denis a swift recovery and thank him for his hard work and dedication in carrying out the treasurer’s duties.
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