With the overall success of the Olympics and Paralympics, we salute the GB teams and take away an immense sense of pride in our country and our athletes. We will all hold special memories of the 2012 games and one of mine has to be watching the men’s 200m final in Jamaica House in the O2 Bubble packed to capacity with thousands of Jamaicans and a rum cocktail in hand as Bolt, Blake and Weir crossed the line in the now-famous 1-2-3 win.

Together with a number of FPC members we were hosted by Jampro, the celebrations were electric and continued over a late supper with Roger Clarke, minister for agriculture and fisheries, Anthony Hylton, minister of industry, investment and commerce and their team prior to hosting them on a late-night visit to New Covent Garden Market.

This focus on London brought with it a concentration of government officials from some of our great overseas members, which provided a great opportunity for us to discuss fresh produce, and so we met our friends from the Kenyan High Commission with Ruth Manwaniki, CEO Export Promotion Council and Dr Alfred Serem, MD HCDA at Spitalfields, for an early morning market walk with Jan Hutchinson and Nigel Shepherd. That brought a chance to meet traders, view Kenyan produce on sale and understand the challenges and opportunities.

These visits to our two major London markets were extremely important for the industry both in the UK and abroad, providing a greater understanding of the need for collaboration to consolidate standards and increase trade. It also gave us an opportunity to catch up with market members and find out how the games had impacted their trade. Overall they told us it was business as usual for the time of year; it seemed no one made a killing but more worryingly some appear to have suffered reduced trading volumes due to the lack of tourism and regular trade in the city restaurants and Olympic eating outlets.

Following these heady days of summer we find ourselves all too quickly heading for autumn, which heralds the build up to the grandest event on our calendar - the 67th annual dinner at the Savoy. The date for your diary is 2 February, tickets are selling already and we are expecting another sell out.

The Dominican Republic, with its tropical climate, Creole/Spanish influence and abundance of fine exotic produce makes a perfect guest nation, so make sure you join us for carnival time, where pulsating merengue beats pervade the senses with rum cocktails and fine dining. Our guest of honour is His Excellency Dr Frederico Cuello, ambassador, and our thanks go to him and his colleagues in the Dominican Republic for their support, as well as to our primary UK sponsor for the sixth consecutive year, Anglia Business Solutions. Book online at www.freshproduce.org.uk or contact angie@freshproduce.org.uk. -

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