Shows
I would just like to thank all the members, group secretaries and staff that have helped with a wonderful, but hectic, show season.
We were fortunate to have NFU Vice-president Robyn Munt at the county show and Director General Sophie Throup at Burwarton, with Newport and Oswestry having their respective MPs on stand.
All the shows were a great opportunity to meet members and engage with the public about the fantastic food that we produce in the county and the way that we work to protect and enhance our environment.
Anne Roberts
It is with great sadness that I write about the passing of Anne Roberts from Oswestry. Anne was the rock and strength of our former County and Regional Board Chair, Malcolm Roberts. Our condolences go out to Malcolm and the whole family.
Nigel Morgan
After about 19 years as the group secretary in the Ludlow office, looking after the Clun Forest Branch, Nigel has taken a well deserved retirement. Members of the branch got together a couple of weeks ago, at Camlad Barns, to express their thanks to Nigel and present him with a commemorative garden bench and a framed collage of pictures of the Clun Valley.
Nigel leaves behind some big boots to fill, and while we recruit a new group secretary for the branch, our Environment and Land Use Adviser, Georgie Hyde, and I will support the other group secretaries (Julia, Simon and Matt) from the group.
SFI and other grant funding meeting
Look out for an invitation to the next county meeting in September. We are in the final stages of setting it up and getting a date, but we will be focusing on SFI26 and also what other grants are available at present.
Landscape Connections Project
As you may have seen in the press, the National Landscapes, National Trust, Severn Rivers Trust and Shropshire Wildlife Trust, have jointly been awarded £10million from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The project aims to deliver “transformative” change across the Shropshire Hills, looking at, in their words, 'the pressing issues of climate change, biodiversity loss, economic instability, social isolation and unequal access to nature'.
The first two years of the project is a development phase.
We have had an initial meeting with a representative from the National Trust to highlight our concerns about whether this will add anything to what is already being done by other groups and projects, and to ensure that food production is also included in the agenda and that there will be real benefits to farmers and growers in the area.
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