URGENT REMINDER – Annual dinner ticket deadline -
Our caterer has asked for final numbers by close of play on Monday, March 6 for the annual dinner at North Walsham Rugby Club.
The speaker for the dinner and presentation of prizes and awards is West Norfolk farmer Gavin Lane, who is a deputy president of the Country Land and Business Association.
The dinner will be held on Wednesday, March 15 – meet at 6.45pm for 7.30pm sit-down.
Applications to join the tour of the Gloucester at the Castle Museum, Norwich, on Sunday, March 26 (2pm) have now reached 25.
DINNER - Please book your places for the annual dinner with the secretary Michael Pollitt by Monday, March 6 at the very latest. Numbers may be limited but the price has been pegged at £35 per head.
ANNUAL DINNER
The three-course meal, including coffee, will be at North Walsham Rugby Club, Scottow, NR10 5BU as it was last year.
There is a vegetarian alternative but the main course will be (British) chicken, and sticky toffee pudding and coffee.
Tickets cost £35. Please let the secretary know if you’d like to attend – contact michaelbpollitt@btinternet.com or telephone 01603 486997.
Please pay direct to the club’s bank -Stalham Farmers Club Sort code 20 99 21 Account 40827886.
Cheques may be sent – payable to Stalham Farmers Club, 60 Chamberlin Road, Norwich NR3 3LY. Payment must be made in advance, please.
All requests for tickets will be acknowledged.
If you do not receive confirmation within a day or so, it is possible your message has not been received. If that is the case, please either telephone or use my alternative email – michael.pollitt2014.gmail.com
Regards
Michael Pollitt
Stalham Farmers' Club
01603 486997
Entry added: 02 Mar 2023 |
ANNUAL DINNER
The three-course meal, including coffee, will be at North Walsham Rugby Club, Scottow, as it was last year. Our speaker, west Norfolk farmer Gavin Lane, who is a national vice-president of the Country Land and business Association, will present prize cards and trophies.
The meal will be served, promptly, at 7.30pm.
There is a vegetarian alternative but the main course will be (British) chicken, and sticky toffee pudding and coffee.
Tickets cost £35. Please let the secretary know if you’d like to attend – contact michaelbpollitt@btinternet.com or telephone 01603 486997. Please pay direct to the club’s bank -Stalham Farmers Club Sort code 20 99 21 Account 40827886.
Cheques may be sent – payable to Stalham Farmers Club, 60 Chamberlin Road, Norwich NR3 3LY. Payment must be made in advance, please. All requests for tickets will be acknowledged.
If you do not receive confirmation within a day or so, it is possible your message has not been received. If that is the case, please either telephone or use my alternative email – Michael.pollitt2014. gmail.com
Finally, thanks to our webmaster, Tim Papworth, who takes over as chairman of Norfolk National Farmers’ Union today. A regular voice on BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today – as he was again last week - he is a great ambassador for the industry.
Entry added: 23 Feb 2023 |
MUSEUM VISIT - A prompt response is needed if you’d like to join the group visit to Norwich Castle Museum on Sunday, March 26 at 2pm. To obtain a group booking concession, names are needed by Monday, February 27 at 5pm, please. Cost will be £6 per head, payable on the day. Further details will be circulated nearer the time.
Members will recall the remarkable talk by Julian Barnwell at our January meeting about finding the 1682 wreck of the Gloucester after a four-year search of the North Sea. Full details on the website. Partners, guests welcome to join but again numbers may be limited, so apply now.
Entry added: 23 Feb 2023 |
Protecting Broadland - Strategies and Solutions?
This is your chance to shape the debate and share your views - so please come to an important joint meeting on Wednesday, February 15 at Rossi's, North Walsham.
And if you'd like to start the evening with supper, then William Sands, of Stalham Farmers' Club, and Bob Clabon, of the East Norfolk branch of the National Farmers' Union, would welcome your support.
Supper - a two-course meal costs £15 per head - must be booked in advance. Our caterer will be serving pork tenderloin, wrapped in streaky bacon, onion gravy, and salad potatoes with medley of greens. Sticky toffee pudding to follow.
To book, see below.
Wednesday, February 15, 7.30pm – Speakers from the Environment Agency will describe the on-going development of a flood risk management strategy outline potential strategies for Broadland at a joint meeting of Stalham Farmers' Club and the East Norfolk branch of the National Farmers' Union at Rossi's, North Walsham.
As the region must adapt to ever-present challenges – from the climate, demand for water and pressure on the land from housing and responding to “greening” policies, the speakers will endeavour to identify key challenges with respect increasing flood risk and its management. And, most importantly, they will want to hear from stakeholders, ie farmers and land managers, about their ideas..
Gavin Rumsey and his colleague, Peter Doktor, of the EA, will be attending. and will be talking for about 30 to 45 minutes on the Broadland Futures Initiative.
The meeting starts at 7.30pm at Rossi's but meet in the bar from about 6pm; supper will be servewd about 6.30-pm..
All members and NFU members are welcome to support the club's chairman, William Sands, and Bob Clabon, branch chairman, at supper beforehand.
Contact Michael Pollitt (01603 486997) or michaelbpollitt@btinternet.com to book. All bookings will be acknowledged. Bookings, please, by close of play on Monday, February 13.
If you reply by email and do not get a response, it is likely that your email was not received, so telephone me
Michael Pollitt
Secretary, Stalham Farmers' Club
Entry added: 06 Feb 2023 |
Glories of the Gloucester – a 17th century wreck found by the Barnwell brothers - One of the club’s best-attended meetings heard the remarkable story of the discovery of a 17th warship off the Norfolk coast. Mr Julian Barnwell and his brother Lincoln, who found the wreck of the Gloucester in June 2007, then kept details of their find secret until last summer. Then, it made headlines around the world. The 58-gun frigate, which was taking the Duke of York, later King James II, sank in May 1682, with the loss of 130 lives in the middle of North Sea. The brothers spent four years and covering 5,000 nautical miles before they found a wreck site, which was the Gloucester. Full details – See the Minutes and Reports section on the left. Entry added: 13 Jan 2023 |
Christmas feast goes down a treat – with a hand from Stalham Farmers’ Club -
Almost 200 dinners enjoyed a Christmas feast with all the traditional trimmings. And there were games, prizes and presents for the children at Thetford’s Charles Burrell Centre, said chief executive Nik Chapman. In March, he had briefed Stalham members about the work at the centre, which aims to help the local community. As a result, a donation of £500 was made on behalf of the club towards the Christmas celebration. Full story – See Minutes and Reports in the Tab on the Left.
Entry added: 05 Jan 2023 |
A little history lesson and an old chestnut
It was somewhat early in the morning but BBC Radio 4's Farming Today programme served up an old chestnut on Tuesday. It reported that Alderton & Ashchurch agricultural discussion group, north of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire was the country's oldest, founded in 1942. Given that our club was founded on December 17, 1841 at the Maid's Head in High Street, Stalham - a mere 101 years earlier, this seems somewhat surprising. And in west Norfolk, the thriving Stoke Ferry & District Agricultural Discussion Group was established in 1930 - a mere 93 years ago. While it did shorten its name to the Stoke Ferry Agricultural Society a few years ago, members still meet at the Ryston Golf Club, said the long-serving treasurer Ken Matthews, who judged Stalham's whole beet competition for many years.
Annoyingly, I seem to recall that Farming Today broadcast a similar story almost 30 years ago when that same Gloucestershire group celebrated its jubilee.
Entry added: 05 Jan 2023 |
Signal honour and our congratulations to Norfolk landowner - Sir Nicholas Bacon has been appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the New Year's Honours. A personal appointment by King Charles, it also recognises his long service lately as Lord Warden of the Stannaries, effectively the chief executive of the Duchy of Cornwall since 2006.
Sir Nicholas, the country's premier baronet, who also farms at Raveningham in south Norfolk, addressed about 120 members at the 175th annual dinner in March 2017 at the Norfolk Mead hotel. He had been invited by the then chairman, Jonathan Deane, to present the club's trophies.
In 2017, Sir Nicholas was then president of the Royal Horticultural Society, and indeed, chairman of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association's council between 2008 and 2019, and was show president in 2007.
Also, congratulations to west Norfolk farmer, John Cross, of Sedgeford, who is made OBE, for his great contribution to the the livestock industry - most recently as chair of the bovine TB eradication programme. A former Meat and Livestock Commissioner from 2007, he has held many roles with the National Farmers' Union in his farming career over the years.
Entry added: 31 Dec 2022 |
Secrets of the Deep - A Happy New Year to our members. For our first meeting of 2023, we welcome North Walsham YFC members as our guests to supper on Wednesday, January 11 at Rossi's. Julian Barnwell will be talking about the amazing discovery of a lost flagship off the coast of Great Yarmouth, almost 341 years ago. For almost 10 years, he and his brother Lincoln, kept secret their discovery of the Gloucester, which sank in 1682. The future James II (1685 to 1688) was one of handful, who escaped alive as most of the crew perished. A major exhibition opens at the Castle Museum in February, so members and guests will get an exclusive preview. Meet about 6pm for supper at 6.30pm, with the talk starting at 7.30pm.
If you like to join the chairman, William Sands, at the two-course supper beforehand, please let the secretary Michael Pollitt know by 5pm on Monday, January 9. Please reply to michaelbpollitt@btinternet.com or telephone 01603 486997. All supper bookings will be acknowledged.
Entry added: 31 Dec 2022 |
The late Jenny Donald. A great supporter of Stalham Farmers’ Club, Jenny Donald, has died aged 83. Her late husband, William, who died in 2018, aged 82, was a former president of the club. Our condolences to her family.
A notice is published in the Eastern Daily Press (Saturday, December 31) announcing her death. Jennifer Jean Donald, passed away peacefully at the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, aged 83. Treasured mother to Amanda and Samantha, dearly-loved grandmother to Fiona, Tiffany (deceased) and Thomas, and great-grandmother to Maisie, Pippa and William. She will be sadly missed by all her family and friends. A private family burial will take place.
Jenny, who married William on June 3, 1958, celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary. He had been president of Stalham Farmers’ Club in 2015 but retired as his health declined. He was elected an honorary life vice-president and had been chairman in 1971. He twice won the club’s Potato Cup, presented in 1970 by “Uncle Rob” Alston, founder of the Clan Trust charity – first in 1974 and again in 1981. His farming company, Alston & Donald, won the two-acre beet competition in 1976 and whole crop beet cup in 2007.
Entry added: 31 Dec 2022 |