Unsung Hero

Alfija Kalpiss, Southern England Farms

Alfija is a fantastically well-motivated individual. An admirable worth ethic combined with such a deep-rooted passion for helping people is what makes this farmworker an incredibly valuable asset to Southern England Farms.

In her current role, she is dedicated to looking after the welfare, induction and training of the 300 or so members of staff who work at the farm in peak harvest seasons. She has also worked as a harvest team member, picking courgettes and other vegetables, later graduating to harvest manager level and co-ordinating veg-picking teams.

While now in a more of a supervisory role, the 34 year-old mum, who moved from Lithuania 11 years ago, is rarely seen behind a desk, and often works side by side with new team members to show them the ropes and get them up to speed.

Carrie Hutchings, Vitacress

Carrie Hutchings is a PA with a difference, who has been at Vitacress for more than 20 years. While her official job title is personal assistant to Vitacress CEO Toby Brinsmead; she also puts a huge amount of work into other roles which go way beyond the usual scope of a PA and make a significant contribution to the business. These include, but are by no means limited to:

· Day to day management of the Vitacress Conservation Trust, a charity focusing on environmental initiatives associated with salad and watercress crop production

· Leading on securing Vitacress’ ISO accreditation in sustainability

· Organising the annual Chalkstream Forum

She tirelessly supports the senior management team and organises key functions and events.

Carrie is always thinking of the welfare of others and is regarded as a loyal and caring friend by her colleagues, where she regularly goes above and beyond to help them. As an example of her caring nature, Carrie recently assisted a member of staff who had fallen ill, to hospital and supported him well past her working hours.

Toby Brinsmead, CEO of Vitacress said: “Carrie. Quite simply fantastic. I’d be lost without her. As well as looking after me, Carrie does so much for the business. At her heart, she cares so much about Vitacress but she is not just proud of the past, she embraces the future and constantly looks for new and improved ways to do things.’’

Melvyn Wyer, Greenvale

Melvyn Wyer has worked within the Greenvale AP and Rowe Farming group in one guise or another for 50 years. When asked about his time he says: “I still have a lot of fun and love what I do.”

His passion for the potato industry has seen him playing an instrumental part in the formation of the Duchy Potato Group in Cornwall involving delivery of potatoes to Prince Charles’ aide at Buckingham Palace and a front door delivery to 10 Downing Street. Melvyn also played a major role in the launch of the ‘Cornish King’ brand.

Melvyn began his lifelong career in the potato industry selling seed potatoes in Norfolk before moving to Dalgety. A management buyout of Dalgety led to the formation of Greenvale. With Greenvale’s withdrawal from Cornwall in the late 1990s Melvyn moved to Rowe Farming. Here with the support of the Rowe family Melvyn continued to market potatoes and work with the local growers. Greenvale AP bought out Rowe Farming in 2011 and Melvyn continued within the company. Melvyn has since moved back to Norfolk but that hasn’t stopped him. Melvyn gets into the office at 5.45am each day and organises transport and trades for Rowe Farming from his home office.

His motto is ‘Work for each other, play for each other’

Melvyn’s dedication and passion for the potato industry is unparalleled and his devotion deserves to be recognised.

Stuart Knight, Wight Salads

Meet Stuart.

Stuart is an account manager at Wight Salads, part of the APS Group, and a popular individual in the business.

His career goes back 20 years to when he started working for VHB in operations, expecting it to be a summer job. But his enthusiastic approach to work, and his can-do attitude meant that he was soon poached by the commercial team, where he began learning his trade.

He has seen huge change in the industry and has gained vast experience, including roles at Humber VHB, Freshlink Marketing and Vitacress, as well as a year as an implant at Sainsbury’s.

You’ll rarely meet a harder worker and you could speak of his successes all day long; such as the way he picked up an NPD process in January from scratch following a colleague’s retirement, successfully implementing it in just two weeks in time for the new growing season. Or his dedication to a recent commercial project that involved burning the midnight oil on several occasions as the deadline approached, without a single grumble.

But where our very own “Radar” stands out from the crowd in this category is how he is always willing to go the extra mile for the business, and for his colleagues. Never known to say no, whether its dressing up as a tomato for Open Farm Sunday, or driving a box of urgently required labels to one of our sites, Stuart is always cheerful, always smiling, always positive and a true Unsung Hero.