Recently-appointed HSBC Bank head of agriculture, Aberystwyth University graduate Allan Wilkinson, will be the guest speaker at the Farmers' Union of Wales' annual eve of the Welsh Dairy Show reception at the United Counties Showground near Carmarthen on Monday October 18 at 7.30pm. The function will follow a visit in the afternoon (starting at 2pm) to the dairy farm of FUW members Keith and Linda Hughes, of Caeau Newydd, Dryslwyn, Carmarthen. Together with their son James, the family currently farm under a "New Zealand" method of spring calving, with an extended grazing period, and milking 310 cows - mainly Jersey cross breed cattle. They also have 180 followers away from the farm under contract rearing. Mr Wilkinson, 46, is responsible for the bank's farming customers in the UK, leading the specialist agriculture team of over 60 managers. A farmer's son, he was born and raised in North East England and has been involved with farming throughout his career. Having obtained a degree in agriculture from Aberystwyth University, he worked as a farm management consultant in Leicestershire for three years before joining HSBC Bank in 1988 as an agriculture banking manager in Shropshire and Herefordshire. He was appointed senior agriculture banking manager for Cumbria and the North East in 1994 and divisional agriculture manager for Northern Counties, Northern Ireland and Scotland in 1998. For the last six and a half years he has held a number of senior leadership posts in the retail and commercial bank network leading teams in Northern England and, more recently, as area commercial director in Newcastle and Northumberland.