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Norfolk - Felicity DanielsVice Chairman: Elizabeth KempTreasurer: Jane Scott Secretary: Katie Wright (Telephone: 01953 718173) Programme for 2008:
St George's Distillery  Norfolk members had a full house for the visit to the English Whisky Company St George's Distillery. Members enjoyed the interesting tour, sampled the spirit and smelled the barrels that the spirit will be put into to make England's first single malt whisky. The tour ended with a tasting of liqueurs made on the premises and for sale at the shop. We look forward to tasting the whisky in 2010!  Harvest Supper
Spring Fling - April 2007
The four Norfolk members who attended the very successful conference held at Felsted School last month had to rush back to Norfolk to take part in brilliant Spring Fling organised by the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association and the Eastern Daily Press. Over 4000 people enjoyed 60 stalls of activities around Food Farming and the Countryside and ate a local hog roast and drink for lunch. Our branch members were kept busy talking about the barley story and helping the children make grain collages with grains sponsored by Muntons Malt and the Home Grown Cereals Authority.
Norfolk WFU Chairman, Felicity Daniels took Ionwen Lewis our President for a whistle stop tour of East Norfolk before she was entertained to a supper of local produce at Lorna Richardson's house before the general meeting when the speaker was Martin Tickler from the Game Conservancy Trust. The following day Ionwen and Felicity visited a Farm Shop which had been set up by a group of farmers, we were very impressed with the set up and the ways the group were educating the public and linking with the community.  November 2006 Several Norfolk members took the trip to Chatsworth last month and very much-enjoyed meeting up with friends from around the country and the excellent tour of the farm shop and estate. Congratulations to all those involved in the organisation. Fifty members and guests attended Norfolk's Harvest Supper hosted by Elizabeth and Roy Kemp. The food was provided by members of the committee and was delicious as usual. We are looking forward to welcoming Ionwen to our next meeting, when we will give her a whistle stop tour of Norfolk Farming and a visit to a member's Farm Shop before the meeting when our speaker is Martin Tickler from the Game Conservancy Trust. Norfolk Show The Show is held each year at the end of June. This year there was quite a change in form and WFU were invited to put their stand in the building that was to be the Food Hall. As we thought there would not be approval for a live display, we went for local food production, and invited all the Norfolk Farmers Markets and as many local farm shops and farm gate sales places to put together a basket of produce and /or a display board or collage of produce, dates of when the markets were, opening hours of shops etc, etc, we really wanted little flyers so people could take them home for reference .The majority of people were delighted to take part and all sorts of produce and boards arrived. We backed the whole display with a huge map of Norfolk and north Suffolk and having pinned the relevant market or shop, ran ribbons down to the display or promotion. Green gingham tablecloths set the scene and additional boards and table held WFU programme and info. It was a very different stand in that we had no "giveaways" and so there were no hoards of visitors waiting for a "free lunch", but the people that stopped were interested and there was interest in the availability of local food. I can't say that is was hugely vibrant compared to other years, but one could put messages across and we did have interest from several people about memberships. Whether that translates to fact remains to be seen. We were just out of the main traffic flow which was a pity, but none the less it made for a much easier set up, with the odd tweak, I feel that the food hall was a good change for the future Spring Fling 2006
Norfolk WFU used the HGCA Cereal Story poster as a basis for a quiz, all the answers were on display and it gave us an opportunity to talk about aspects of Food and Farming. The children enjoyed making a collage of seeds of either a tractor or a countryside scene. The results were excellent and the young people obviously enjoyed the activity.
February 2006 The guest speaker at the Norfolk branch AGM in January was the Right Reverend Graham James the Bishop of Norwich. He gave us a very interesting talk about rural life past and present and he shared some of his concerns for the place of farming in our national rural life and economy. Felicity Daniels, Chairman, challenged all members to introduce one new member during the year to see if we can increase the membership of Norfolk WFU. Light refreshments were provided by the committee and gave our members a chance to chat. Harvest Supper
Plans are in-hand for an exciting programme for 2006 and Farmhouse Breakfast Week. Health and Safety awareness day - 22nd September 2005
Harvest Supper - 13th October 2005
North Walsham Farmers' Market - 26th November
Barbecue - 9th June 2005
National AGM - 16th November 2005 The national AGM is on November 16th at New Covent Garden Market in London. The AGM will commence at 11.a.m. and is expected to finish at around 2.30 p.m. the speakers will include Baroness Brenda Dean, The Covent Garden Market Authority Chairman. Please contact Felicity Daniels if you intend to attend, as WFU will subsidise the rail fare. Choose Cheese Assessment Norfolk Show 29-30 June 2005. Turn out at the Norfolk Show was approaching 100 thousand , of which at least 4000 people passed through our cheese tasting stand and tasted cheese. At say, one cocktail stick per person they stabbed their way through the cheese provided, plus the cheese from one of the Norfolk producers. Everyone needed to try all the cheeses! The leaflet situation was not so keenly received . A wad of about 3 inches of leaflets went, but there was not much in the leaflets that was of interest to the population , although there was more interest in the Osteoporosis leaflets, by women of mature years, there were not so many of them and most of those went. Types of Cheese.
The draw of locally produced cheese seems to be what most people have an interest in, which is a bit of a tall order in Norfolk, where the number of cheese producers can be counted on one hand! Well nearly. No one was interested in a web site. It may have been the wrong sort of candidate for web site numbers. Cheese tasting is certainly a way of meeting the public and really keeps you busy, a very good promotion. www.wfu.org.uk |
Game Conservancy Trust
The Spring Fling at the Norfolk Showground in April was a sell out
attracting 4000 parents, grandparents and children for a day of hands on
activities and opportunities to learn something about where food comes from.
