Merry Christmas 2023

Here we are again only a day away from Christmas and the end of another busy 12 months. The end of the year is a perfect time to reflect on what has been achieved and in 2023…….

On a sad note, we have lost some very good friends this year who were stalwarts of the NVS and my thoughts go out to all their family’s and friends throughout the society, they are all sorely missed, especially at this time of year.

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The NVS continues to go from strength-to-strength with Branches and DAs working away to promote the Society at Shows and events, not to mention their meetings with speakers for members to enjoy

Our two new Trustee recruits from the end of last year have settled in well, Michelle Nixon now taking on the ‘News from the Trustees’ and Chris Spree continuing the sterling work with our Sponsors/partners and gaining some new ones. ….

It’s been a very strange growing year, cold, hot, dry, wet, and windy, but the Show benches didn’t suffer they were still full of fabulous vegetables and I must say , it’s been great to see an amazing range of vegetables, gardens and allotments on our members facebook page.  It’s great to see everyone sharing their successes and harvests.

I was glad that I attended the Southern, Welsh & Midland branch shows as well as the inaugural Irish championships.  I never managed to get to the Scottish Branch Championships,  but was delighted to attend their annual Seminar, which goes from strength to strength  (perhaps one or two could be planned in England or Wales )

Following our AGM in September, it was great to add another two new volunteers to join the Board filling the roles of Webmaster and Social Media Officer in the form of Andy Wall and Sean James Cameron  and they are already beavering away.

Through these Winter months, our Zoom talks continue at members request with a new program for 2023/2024 underway seeing the attendance grow to over 200 .

So this just brings me to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and successful New year.

Sandra Hall

NVS Chair

 

( parsnips , were Paul Grimes's  winning "Duchess" parsnips from the NVS National Championships 2023)