Members' Day 2025

A day to remember 

It was wonderful to welcome so many familiar and new faces to our HQ in sunny Manchester for this year’s Members’ Day. It was a fantastic afternoon of great food, inspiring talks and friendly conversation.

We kicked things off with a welcome drink and a delicious plant-based West African lunch, prepared by Ngwafu, who some may remember from her time as one of our COOK! Tutors. Our lunch featured the British Pie Awards Vegetarian winner, Bell’s Red Lentil, Chickpea and Spinach Curry Pie, followed later by cheese and biscuits showcasing the Artisan Vegetarian Cheese Award winners: Organic Summerfields from Botton Creamery and Organic Yorkshire Blue by Shepherds Purse. Our members helped to pick these winners as part of this year’s judging panel, with pie award judges Janet and John both joining us on Members Day as well. As true foodies at the Vegetarian Society, we were in our element: a lunch full of vibrant flavours, colour and connection.

After lunch, Rich shared a heartfelt welcome and spoke about our roots, the work we’re doing today and our vision for the future. Members then joined him for a tour of our headquarters, gardens and archive where John Davis (our expert in all things vegetarian history) showcased our brand-new digital archive. This exciting new member benefit has been made possible through a generous legacy gift, allowing us to digitise our archives so they’re now accessible to members and are set to become a major global resource for vegetarian history.

We were treated to a fascinating talk by Dr John Lever from Manchester Metropolitan University, exploring ‘The politics of sight: nature, vegetarianism and the rise of compassion for non-human animals in the city’. The afternoon continued with a live COOK! Demonstration on Japanese street food, packed with practical tips to elevate our home cooking delivered by our superstar COOK! tutor, Maz.

To round things off, everyone received a goodie bag packed with sample products from our Vegetarian/Vegan/Plant Based Trademark clients before heading home – hopefully feeling full, inspired, and feeling connected. It truly was a day to remember, with new friendships formed and plenty of enthusiasm for what’s ahead.

We’re already full of ideas for the next one, so keep an eye on the magazine for your chance to get involved. Thank you to everyone for coming, it was a genuine pleasure to meet everyone and enjoy your incredible company!