FWiSpace has come a long way in a year...
You may have noticed (I hope you have anyway!) that today marks the first birthday of FWiSpace. To celebrate we've revamped the logo with a candle and are offering £100 for the best post or photograph submitted in the next seven days. I hope you all put yourself in the running by joining in the fun.
It may seem a bit strange to some people to be celebrating the birthday of something like a website. But as someone who has been heavily involved over the past year, I do think that it is an occasion worth marking. We've come an awful long way in the past 12 months - 2262 additonal people have signed up to the site and more than 26,000 posts and 5500 pictures have been posted.
Over periods such as the foot-and-mouth outbreak of last year, FWiSpace proved invaluable for swapping advice, feeding back the latest news and sharing concerns. But there have also been plenty of laughs over the past 12 months - with our regular caption competition proving a particular favourite.
There are a number of improvements to FWiSpace that I would like to bring to you all over the coming months. Things don't stand still and neither will this site. Things don't always go to plan 
and I sometimes get told that the alternatives are 'better'. My response is that FWiSpace is vastly superior to what it replaced and is growing every day. We're now on the right track and that is surely cause for a celebration!
When I decided to mark this date I e-mailed some of our 'regulars' and asked if they would mind explaining why they enjoyed using the site. I had some fanatastic comments back (most of which you can read in today's issue of Farmers Weekly and all I will put up on the site later today). But there was one message, by AllyR, that stood out for me:
“The forum's attractive format is quick and easy to use. It is a very enjoyable experience to take part in, whether debating or just chatting with all the other forum members,- home or abroad. From fun to serious debate, it is all there. I even enjoy the threads where some of our antagonists come in to vent their fury at us - "whinging, subsidy greedy farmers". It is never long before they are put right on the matter and usually exit their thread wiser and more friendly to us than they came in. My wife and I were able to meet Mr and Mrs "Kansasfarmer", when they came over to UK last July, and welcome them to our farm in Scotland. It was a most enjoyable and memorable couple of days and came as a direct result of our joining FWiSpace; surely the best bonus of all that forum membership can bring.”
Thank you AllyR. I couldn't put it any better myself.