Country Trust Spring Update
Dear President, Vice Presidents, Ambassadors, Trustees and valued friends
The sun is shining and I am taken aback, as I am every year, by the breath taking beauty of May.
It’s a wonderful time to for children to have their first encounter with farming and the countryside.
This month we expect to run 121 Farm Discovery visits for nearly three thousand children, adding to the 255 visits for 6000 children already under our belt since the start of the year. I enclose a photo of a magical visit to our own farm last week which was full of child-led learning. We stopped to talk about pollination and a bee was spotted, and the children, a lively group from Basildon, were totally absorbed – looking, questioning, hypothesising. After this, and a spot of Pant Planting and some more talking and thinking about and getting our hands in the soil, we walked on and I heard a child say to their slightly startled teacher ‘This is science isn’t it?’ I was also secretly thrilled that the young man who was clearly being watched by the teacher at all times, and who was in trouble for wearing his best tracksuit when told not to, was the one who had the keenest eye for spotting things he wanted to know more about and was increasingly willing to share what he knew. For me it was an example of The Country Trust’s three Cs in action - Curiosity Confidence and Connection
At a very challenging time in the world it was wonderful to hear this week how children from the centre of Peterborough, many making their first trip out of the city, responded to the beautiful setting of the farm they visited. This report came from our Coordinator Jenny.
“The farm sits on a hill and from the yard you look across the Welland Valley to the opposite hillside. The first children who came off the bus literally couldn't believe that the view was real "that looks like wallpaper, it's a painting, it can't be real" then " I just saw a bird fly across it, it must be real"
I am not sure we say thank you enough to our brilliant farmers who are so inspiring and welcoming and make these visits possible. We are particularly grateful to those who have had a torrid start to the year with flooded fields, crops unsown and livestock not thriving but have still welcomed us. We hear that our visits are a bright spot, and I hope a chance for farmers to feel less alone, as children and teachers bear witness to the challenges farmers face when producing our food. I am proud that we have played a part in making educational access payments available to many more farmers helping to provide a much needed additional source of income. We still have our fingers crossed for SFI and are keen to tell everyone who’ll listen how important Farming in Protected Landscape funding has been in enabling access and opportunity.
I am pleased to enclose our Annual Report and Accounts for 2023. You’ll see how our income and expenditure has grown as we do more and have a greater impact. The report includes a thank you to you all for all you do to help us bring food, farming and the countryside alive. Can I add to that a heartfelt request for your continued help? We have a significant number of farm visits booked in for 2024 for which we haven’t yet secured the funding, and many more schools just waiting for us to say yes. If you can open a door, to a Charitable Trust, a company, an individual then we’d love to hear from you.
Demand for all our programmes continues to grow and I have three schools in the centre of Brimingham desperate to do our yearlong Food Discovery programme. They are determined to support their communities to buck the appalling health trends in their part of the city. And we have a waiting list of schools in London wanting their children to see beyond the city for the first time. Thanks to a swift response from the Worshipful Company of Farmers we were able to fund four visits from London schools, visiting our small but growing band of farmers within easy reach of London, including our first farm inside the M25! One of the primary school classes had 80% of children with English as an Additional Language including children who have fled war torn countries, who really responded to the animals in particular. But many of the children came without coats (it was a cold, rainy day) and when washing footwear (it was a dairy farm) our Coordinator spotted at least four pairs of shoes with holes in the soles. It’s a sobering reminder of the challenges faced by the children we serve and the barriers they face to accessing opportunities. But they never fail to inspire us and it is a huge privilege to be working with them.
And now two pieces of exciting news. Having suddenly lost our Suffolk residentials after 30 years as a result of a centre going into administration, we are thrilled that Hannah our Residential Manager has been able to develop two brand new residentials in Sussex and in the Lake District, with the first schools heading for the Downs very soon. Our Lake District programme is being developed with the mighty Ernest Cook Trust who have a new farm in Cumbria. Children will be helping to shape their own residential (co-creation) and exploring how farming shapes the landscape and our lives and what the future might hold. Professor Mick Waters is supporting our CPD for participating teachers and we are looking for prominent individuals to champion questions for the children to explore during their residential. Do send us any connections you might have (Sir David is top of our list of course!)
And watch this space for news of our first online auction. With the generous support of the auctioneers Lacy Scot and Knight and the online platform The Sale Room, and inspired by the knowledge, contacts and astounding energy of our new VP Gina Long we hope to mine a new fundraising seam at the end of October. Obviously, success will depend on the quality of the Lots we can offer so please do start thinking what you might be able to offer or point us to. Holiday homes, shooting and fishing rights, behind the scenes VIP tours, access to special but usually unseen places, experiences for friends to enjoy together, top notch clothing, high value art – all will be very, very welcome!
And finally ‘family’ news. We were saddened to hear of the death of our longstanding and generous VP David Laing after a short illness. He will be very much missed and we send our love and sympathy to his family.
But we have happy news to share about our President who will marry Miss Olivia Henson on June 7th. We wish them much love and happiness.
Thank you everyone and I hope you enjoy this blast of May beauty from my dog walks this week!
