NEWS PAGE

May 13

Best stand at Pig Fair

Best Stand judge at Pig Fair was Stewart Houston, who chose ABN as his winner. He's pictured above presenting the award to Sarah Patterson (left) and Angela Booth. "At first it looks like a normal corporate stand until you follow the path that describes the problems facing the pig sector and some of the solutions," he said. The PIC and BPEX stands were highly commended. Full citations in June Pig World.

Guess-the-price

Winner of the Guess-the-Price-by-Pig-Fair competition was producer Muriel Naughton, who is pictured above receiving her winner's cheque for £300 from Pig World boss Ann Scott. Muriel correctly guessed that the Traffic Lights texted base spot on Thursday night, May 8, would be 127p.

DAPP went up by more than a penny yesterday, suggesting there may be some basis to the optimistic buzz at this year's Pig Fair.

Best New Product at Pig Fair 2008

Choosing a winner from an extremely strong field of entries was no easy task for judges Stuart Bosworth and Gerry Brent today. But perhaps no one will be too surprised by their winner... Merial's PCV2 vaccine Circovac. Andrew Buglass of Merial is pictured above with the two judges, receiving the Best New Product Trophy from Pig World editor Sam Walton. Full report, with judges' citation, in June Pig World.

A new house for Winnie...

Marianne Hill, of Vitality Farm, Wallingford, spent a lot of time gazing at a new Booth ark at Pig Fair today, wishing she could afford to buy it for Winnie. Little did she realise the ark was already hers, kindly donated by James Booth as his way of saying thank you, on behalf of the industry, for everything Marianne and Winnie did to help make the March 4 London Rally such a success.

After this surprise, Messrs Hugh Crabtree and Digby Scott took a (nearly) speechless Marianne to the BOCM PAULS stand — without telling her why — where she was delighted to learn from John Cusson that if she called on merchants Charles Hunt and Partners at Wallingford, a tonne of feed was awaiting her for Winnie, and furthermore she could take it away in bags, as and when she needed it.

This was the industry's way of saying thank you to Marianne for looking after Winnie.

British Pig and Poultry Fair
Pig Industry Service Award 2008

This year’s winner is Fred Henley, of Seaton Ross, East Yorkshire.

Above: "I'd like to know," said Food and Farming Minister Lord Rooker when he presented Fred Henley with the Pig Industry Service Award today, "exactly what you did to win this."
Trust us, Minister, Fred has been active on many fronts over the years, and you really don't want to know the detail.

JUDGES' CITATION
By Richard Longthorp, Chairman of Judges

Fred Henley has, for many years, been the down-to-earth core at the heart of the English pig industry.

He works hard at his ‘day job’ and then, when he is through with all the manual work and the ever-increasing amount of administration it entails, he gets stuck into his campaigning work for the industry.

Never comfortable with berating others about what they should be doing about the problem, Fred simply rolls up his sleeves and asks what he can do to help.

Deceptively posing as the archetypal rural serf, complete with trademark bobble hat, Fred combines a stubborn and apparently unsophisticated willingness to get stuck into practical issues with laser sharp, but pragmatic, powers of perception to identify and highlight key issues.

Also with a brutal honesty, he constantly reminds industry leaders of what the real concerns of pig producers are. All executives need a Fred Henley to help keep their feet on the ground.

From high profile events such as recording Stand by Your Ham to the much less high profile but painstaking and crucially important, Porkwatch, Fred has always been on hand. In addition to being a willing worker, he is also very, very able.

It is not only the pig industry that benefits from Fred’s willingness to get stuck in. As soon as he had finished having this photograph taken, he set off down to his local village to cut the grass on the village green and for an elderly resident. He’s a passionate and caring man who manages to do it all with a discreet and quiet modesty that redefines the word ‘understated’.

 l NPA Trade Directory l Mechanical data l National Pig Association l Defra l BBC weather l
l Environment Agency l Food Standards Agency l Quality Meat Scotland l Scottish Executive l

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