You get the best invitations in this job. I had the pleasure this week of attending a ladies in agriculture lunch hosted by Coutts bank at their grand headquarters on the Strand. This was the first time they've organised such a gathering with some 40 women across all aspects of the industry present. Female farmers, breeders, food chain specialists,policy makers and entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to mingle and swap ideas in a relaxed environment.
As posh lunches go, it was a fabulous affair - champagne, stunning food and a grand archive tour of the head office. It was a great way to meet the female movers and shakers in agriculture and what an impressive lot. The guest list included Elizabeth Buchanan, the private secretary to the Prince of Wales on farming, environment and business, Christine Tacon, general manager of the Co-op farms and farmers Hilary Wood from Cornwall and Debbie Macbean MBE from Scotland.
Apparently, one third of the Coutts client base are women and the bank is very keen to woo and influence us. Keep the wooing going - it was wonderful.
The day ended as it started by sipping champagne in the equally glamorous venue of the London Hilton. The team from our website www.fwi.co.uk were wined, dined and applauded as we won a glittering prize for our online community building work with farmers. Farmers Weekly's website was up against The Sun and won the Online Community of the Year title in the UK Association of Online Publishers Awards. This prize is as much farmers as it is ours because it's you, the web users, who have made www.fwi.co.uk such a great place to interact, buy equipment, find a job,get up to date information etc etc.
Sorry about the bragging, but it has to be done..... the judges were impressed with the level of farmer involvement in the site from thousands of shared pictures, lively discussion forums and farmers driving news stories for both the magazine and the website.
The judging panel said: "Fwi demonstrated there can be a light hearted approach to a business to business site, providing social interaction and community tools relevant to its members and pushing the business media boundaries with its Muddy Matches dating service."
Well done everyone who has participated in our online community. If you haven't had a go yet, it's well worth grabbing a cuppa and setting aside a few minutes to take a look.