With less than two months to Christmas it is time to book up for the 66th annual dinner. With China as the guest nation, we are planning a spectacular evening with all the charm and mystique of this extraordinary country with its ancient history and culture. By popular request we are holding an afternoon B2B introductory meeting as a precursor to the evening, so if you currently trade with China or would like to know more about the opportunities this is not to be missed.

Our ‘out and about’ schedule has increased dramatically during the past month as we aim to visit you at your business to understand more about what you do, how you do it, and how we can help as your trade association. We kicked off with a visit to key member Minor Weir & Willis to meet the team and understand more about its impressive exotic import operation. We visited longstanding member Dole Fresh UK and caught up with Rachael Arding, who provided an excellent tour of the ripening facilities.

We were delighted to join Dr Frederico Alberto Cuello Camilo at the celebration of presenting his credentials to the Queen prior to taking up office as the new ambassador for the Dominican Republic. A forward thinking, innovative individual with a passion for his country’s continued success abroad, and an enthusiasm to engage with us in regard of fresh produce exports, we look forward to working more closely with him and his team as we move ahead.

Bristol port was on our list and we arrived to meet the team and tour the port early one autumn Friday morning. The Bristol Port Company took over the port in 1991 and has significantly increased throughput from four million to 11m tonnes on the impressive 2,600 acre dock estate. With a superb geographical location we viewed the state-of-the-art fresh produce terminal, which houses 14,500 pallet spaces in 20 chambers, each capable of being independently temperature controlled. Radio data terminals and a real-time graphical display track the location and status of each pallet until it is re-delivered. The operation needs to be viewed so we are looking to organise a visit for members early in 2012.

Our HR Forum is growing from strength to strength and I would urge all HR managers to get on board - this is a great industry forum focusing on real issues from temporary labour through to health and safety and everything in between.

Congratulations to Covent Garden Market Authority on your 50th anniversary - we were delighted to join in the celebrations at the House of Lords.

With the recent cancellation of the World Fruit & Veg Show I would be interested to know your view on the possibility of including a similar initiative with Re:fresh, moving our annual conference and awards up a gear to make it one of the biggest UK industry conventions - answers on a postcard please or simply email me.

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