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REVAMPED PAVILION: From left, Lord Morris of Aberavon, main building contractor Guy Walker, architect Gareth Thomas, Emyr Jones and architect Gareth Lewis.[/caption]
The Farmers’ Union of Wales played a critical role during the past year in informing the negotiating positions of politicians and officials in meetings with Welsh and UK Government ministers, secretaries of state, EU parliament committee chairmen and rapporteurs, cabinet members, and the EU agriculture commissioner, county delegates to the union’s quarterly grand council meeting heard yesterday (September 6).
FUW’s re-elected president Emyr Jones stressed that the union’s ability to undertake such work, while also serving the immediate needs of its members at county office level, was reliant upon income received from its insurance business.
"It is therefore worthy to note that FUW Insurance has enjoyed a year of record growth in General Premium Income, reaping the rewards of our investment in establishing a brokerage service rather than furthering our reliance on one provider. We now have 10 insurance offices servicing members in every corner of Wales, with two more to open shortly.
"This growth has also allowed us to continue the work of my predecessor, Gareth Vaughan, by moving forward with the construction of a new FUW Pavilion and Brecon and Radnor county office on the Royal Welsh Showground.
"During the 2012 Royal Welsh Show I had the honour of inviting the FUW’s first deputy general secretary, former Secretary of State for Wales Lord Morris of Aberavon, to officially open the new building.
"In presiding over the opening, I was not only honoured to be among founding members and other figureheads of the union, but also to be welcoming a new generation of FUW members including those who sit on newly established union committees,” added Mr Jones who presented the union’s the 64-page bilingual annual review to the meeting.
Also re-elected were deputy president Glyn Roberts, Padog, Betws y Coed; vice presidents Brian Walters, Carmarthen; Lorraine Howells, Rhymney; Richard Vaughan, Tywyn; South Wales finance and organisation committee member Brian Thomas, Llanfyrnach, Pembrokeshire; and North Wales finance and organisation committee member Eifion Huws, Bodedern, Anglesey.