HHP's annual management event was judged to be the best ever by the partcipants this year.  The event involved 30 of the key staff in the business and was again held in the Sandbanks and Purbeck region of Dorset.  It included a mix of learning, performance review and team competitions.  External presentations were given by Charlie Murphy and Tim Newton from Berryworld.  These covered the external technical challenges that the industry faces in the years ahead and the methods that our customers use in assessing their market performance.  Sessions on  change management and the key drivers of profitability were also very instructive.  The competitive element took the form of a multi task challenge lasting 9 hours and involving everything from ballistics and off-road Segwey speed trials to Laser combat and chocolate making.  It was always going to be close, and the competition was fierce, but everyone had a great day in the autumn sunshine. 

The team left having formed some new strong bonds and ready to take on the real competition in the seasons ahead.  "The whole team worked really hard over the 3 days and are a credit to HHP.  These events are one of the critical elements that form the bedrock of our continuing strong performance, teamwork and achievement." said David Kay, HHP's General Manager.  "I cannot wait for next year."

The first 'Foundation Committee Meeting' of the Hall Hunter Foundation took place at Heathlands yesterday.  Elected staff representatives Anastasia Sobol, Lukasz Wojcik and Yanko Vladikov met with Mark and Mary Hall (trustees of the Foundation) to discuss and agree the way the Foundation will operate in practice.

The Hall Hunter Foundation is a legally and financially separate organisation to the HHP business and has the sole purpose of the Foundation will be  the raising of funds through donations in  support of good causes.

The Foundation Committee will administer the allocation of funds which are raised through donations from staff salaries where they have elected to donate 1p per £10 earned.  These funds will be matched by HHP, raising a likely annual ammount of 20 to 30 thousand pounds.  It is the aim of the Foundation that these monies will be allocated by the committee equally between charities local to HHP farms in the UK and to charities in the countries that some of our workers originally come from.

Nominations for the charities to be supported will come from staff on the farms and be assessed by the committee.  The allocation and size of funds allocated to charities will be solely decided by the Foundation committee.  We would encourage all staff to nominate appropriate charities that they believe should be considered for support by the Foundation via one of the staff representatives.

The photograph shows the Committee members attending yesterdays meeting. 

Tuesley Farm is again supporting Surrey Farm and Food Week and will be holding a guided tour of Tuesley Farm in Godalming.  The tour will be conducted by David Kay, HHP's General Manager and will last approximately one and a half hours.  There will be ample opportunities to ask lots of questions and to pick and sample some of our fine strawberries.  We will also provide refreshments after the tour.

Please call (01483) 410940 if you would like to book a place.  We very much look forward to seeing you.

Surrey Farm and Food Week, held at Harvest Festival time in late September, is a programme of farm walks and events designed to help bridge the gulf of understanding between farmers and the public.

The week, organised by Surrey County Agricultural Society, has become a successful and established feature of the autumn farming calendar. Since its launch in 2001, hundreds of people gone on the walks, met the farmers and discovered how they manage the land and produce wonderful food.

Surrey’s countryside is much loved by people who live here or come for sport and recreation but it is the farmers who keep the fields, woods and hedgrows productive, rich in wildlife and beautiful to the eye.

The programme of walks enables the public to go behind the scenes and see how dairy and beef cattle and sheep are managed, how crops are grown and how conservation measures work alongside modern agriculture.

The leaflet showing the full programme of walks and events is now available for download here, it is also available at Tourist Information Centres, Council Offices and Libraries.

A team from Waitrose recently visited Tuesley Farm to talk to Harry Hall about how he produces some of the best soft fruit available in the UK.  They looked at production on the site together with the biodiversity and sustainability techniques that are employed in order to ensure that it is a positive environment for wildlife and the beneficial insects that help protect the crops. 

If you would like to see the video then please follow the link...

                                                                                            http://tiny.cc/tuesley 

John Craven from BBC's Countryfile programme recently visited Heathlands Farm to interview Harry Hall about the many techniques that are employed to minimise the use of water on HHP's farms.  The interview was broadcast as part of an article on the preservation of the UK's precious water resources and focussed on the use of winter abstraction and trickle irrigation on the farms as an example of good practise.

The photograph shows John Craven and the film crew relaxing at the end of the day.

Sheeplands Farm hosted Heston Bleumenthal in July for the filming of his latest Waitrose advert to promote his 'Ice Cream Sandwich' recipe.  He spent the day with the team on the farm, recording how the best raspberries in the world are grown and harvested (my words not his - Ed).  The sun shone on the filming and everyone felt that the advert really captured how special the raspberries are that we grow. 

The photo shows Heston with Farm Manager Jaco Olivier during filming.

Follow this link to view the advert;

   http://tiny.cc/sheeplands

HHP South Coast Team Event 

Last week the HHP South Coast Team (Holland & Zuider Zee Nurseries, Donaldsons Nursery, Manor Farm and Groves Farm) had a get together for all their key members of staff. This was an opportunity to thank everyone for their hard work and for them to relax and have some fun together.. In total 45 people met at the Nelson Hotel near Littlehampton sea front where they were mixed into teams for a topical quiz.  This was followed by an excellent buffet and to round off the evening a disco.  The brave had an opportunity to entertain with Karaoke singing.
 
The evening was a great success with everyone enjoying themselves, new friends being made and we look forward to meeting again.

In 2010, HHP made a commitment to support a farm project in Uganda. Lwankuba Farm is supported by The Mityana Charity which is based in Wokingham, close to Heathlands Farm.  The charity have long term control of a farm of approximately 500 acres and it is our objective to help them  operate it as a profitable / sustainable unit by providing both technical / managerial support and financial assistance.  Once the farm is profitable the idea is for the farm to annually re-direct a set percentage of its profits into supporting the charities main objectives - education and health care in Mityana, Uganda.

One of the challenges is the identification and organisation of a crop which could be grown and sold as a way of providing some part of the profits detailed above.  We are confident that once we have identified and secured a market we can then support the farm in delivering quality, volume and meeting delivery targets.  This is something we do at HHP on a daily basis (although granted in a different context / trading environment) and we feel we can make a positive contribution in this respect. We have seen that as a producer in Uganda one can rarely influence price unless there is a quality premium available.  The farm will therefore have to deliver a higher quality product than the competition and hopefully be able to export this abroad.

Mark and Mary Hall and Daniel Van Der Veen (HHP Technical Manager) have now visited the site on 2 occasions and Daniel has done a detailed appraisal of the Mityana farmand other local farms.  The climate and soil are very well suited for the production of a range of crops and we have assisted the charity in the appointment of a well qualified farm manager.  We have obtained a range of second hand farm equipment which arrived in Uganda in a shipping container just before Christmas.

We believe that the overall performance and organisation of the farm has increased since our involvement, with the harvesting of a maize crop, the clearing of undergrowth in other areas ready for cropping and the tending of a 3 year old orange grove more in line with the standards required.

The charities website can be located by following this link - http://mityanacharity.org/

October 2010 Management Away Days
For the 5th year running the extended management team travelled to Poole to review our performance and formulate plans for the years ahead.

Key themes this year were around developing the company's performance opposite crops, people and the environment.

This meeting also presented a good opportunity for the growing management team from all HHP sites to get to know each other better; critical in developing relationships which can support each other and better drive the HHP team forward.

"The event went very well and we made significant progress.  Each year the team make huge steps forward which is very exciting for the future", David Kay, General Manager, HHP.

The Community path now sports beautiful new oak signage to help the local community find their way through the farm. more...The signs, produced by a branch of the Surrey Wildlife Trust at Norbury Park were installed this week. "This is a wonderful addition to the local amenity and allows children and adults alike to enjoy this beautiful fruit farm" said a local resident