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Processors and Growers Research Organisation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Geoffrey Gent Travel Bursary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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News |
After 41 years of service to PGRO Geoffrey Gent was to retire, the big question was how this could be marked by the PGRO council and the Industry. Rad Thomas asked Geoffrey for his ideas and wishes. Early on the idea of a travel bursary was put forward by Geoffrey, who in his time with PGRO had travelled the world broadening his knowledge and imparting that to the industry so we all benefited. Myself, Steve Marx and Paddy Barrett were charged with the responsibility of raising some funds, from an industry that it cannot be said, is flush with cash. Using the latest data base from PGRO we sent letters to over 300 people, organisations and companies and then sat back wondering what the response would be. Cheques started arriving immediately along with letters detailing anecdotes about peoples working experiences with Geoffrey. The underlying theme being one of gratitude and affection, for a man who has given his working life to an industry that has gone through some difficult times. It was also appropriate that given we were looking to raise funds for a travel bursary monies were arriving from all over the world. At the time of writing, the sum raised so far is substantial, which is a credit to yourselves. We shall be talking to other organisations about the management and awarding of the bursaries, as we feel that to get the most benefit out of the bursary it will be better to tap into other people’s skills, infrastructure and knowledge. It is the intention of the PGRO council that the fund total will be announced at the open day on the 5th of June. Set out below is the list of those who have contributed so far. In contacting the industry we used the most up to date information we had available to us. If we missed anyone out please accept our apologies, and should you wish to contribute please send your contribution to the PGRO for the attention of John Boon. Please make cheques payable to PGRO, attaching a note clearly stating that it is for the Geoffrey Gent Travel Bursary. If you have contributed and feel that you would wish to give more in the future, during the life of the bursary, that would also be possible. Thank you all for your generosity in giving to the Geoffrey Gent Travel Bursary, that both marks Geoffrey’s retirement, and at the same time gives something to the future of the industry that we may all benefit from. Stephen Francis, May 2007 Contributions to the travel bursary will close at the end of October 2007. As announced at the PGRO Members Day (5/6/07) a total of £25,000 has been donated so far.
If we have inadvertently omitted your name from the above list please accept our apologies and contact me at stephen@fenpeas.com and I will ensure that you are recognised as a donor. |
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