A Xmas Message From Our Chair

2020 has been a terrible year for many reasons, including the sad loss of so many friends and loved ones. Our shows were cancelled, and we have been striving hard to keep promoting & developing the Society, of which people are at the heart of and it’s keeping people safe which is important.

We started to get to grips with modern media signing up to a zoom account firstly for our Trustee meetings then more general updates rather than the phone and we held our first virtual show.

One of our key Trustees aims for 2020 was to modernize our membership data & simplify and lessen the membership Secretaries workload. We have not only implemented this, but we have also created our new fresh-looking website which I am immensely proud of and this has enabled our members to update their membership subscription methods easily online and take the opportunity to change their payments to Direct Debit (our preferred method) or card payment. A big thanks to those members who have already switched from manual payment to one of these.
I am also happy to see that Santa came early for some of you being winners in our recent Santa competition. Congratulations to you all and a big thankyou to all our partners who generously donated the prizes, it is most appreciated.

We are organizing a Q & A gardener’s panel evening via zoom on the 29th December on a first come first served basis so book your space now!!! This is another first for the NVS and I’m sure will be the sign of things to come and it will provide a new way to gain knowledge, ask questions, meet people, learn & share.
Also, as part of communications strategy we have been focusing on being more active with Facebook and we can see a huge increase in activity here which is incredibly positive. As we venture into 2021, here`s hoping we can hold all our planned meetings (virtually or otherwise), talks and shows and get back to some form of normality. In the meantime, we plan for success and then adjust as necessary as we go forward. Parts of the NVS development plan are also under review to ensure that we stay fluid and adjust within the continued constraints of Covid to improve our members benefits.

Stay safe and well throughout the holiday season and beyond and let’s get your growing season started if you haven’t already.

All that this leaves me to do is to wish you all a Merry Little Christmas.
Sandra