Farming: An Urban Perspective travels North to Duncombe Park
Jun 23, 2011 - 09:36 AM
Guests enjoy Strutt and Parker’s hospitality at Duncombe Park - home to Lady Feversham
Addington were delighted to team up with Strutt and Parker once again last month to display our popular photographic exhibition at the beautiful Duncombe Park in North Yorkshire.
Nearly 150 guests attended the magnificent venue, with kind permission of Lady Feversham and Jake Duncombe.
The photographs exhibited were taken by London-based fashion photographer Kevin Foord in various rural locations in Britain over the last five years. Together with the captions by writer Richard Benson they sum up much of the day-to-day beauty of the British countryside, and capture the sort of people the Addington Fund has sought to help since its inception in 2001.
Ian Bell, Fund Director comments “The Addington Fund with Foord and Benson went to exhibit these pictures in London, and it was our hope that they would show the everyday reality of farming life rather than the cosy, idealised version seen on television. That didn’t mean they would be unattractive – far from it. It just meant showing the muck as well as the magic, and trying to communicate the daily hard work and dedication that goes into putting food on the nation’s tables. From the response we had from the press and public in London, I think it is fair to say we succeeded”
This perspective on the subject is fitting; the Addington Fund exists to help families who find themselves having to cope with some of the very harshest realities of farming life. Set up as the Churches’ response to Foot and Mouth Disease and now in its tenth year, the Fund supports viable farming families financially through difficult times, and provides homes for families needing to exit or retire from the industry. The Fund still adheres to the philosophy of the late Canon Richard Addington, that any form of financial support should be matched to the provision of local pastoral support from a person who understands farming.
Ian continues “Looking back over the last ten years, these contacts and the help from unexpected quarters is one of the aspects of our work that seems most precious and important to me. In the early days, I was taken aback by it. We have received countless donations from town- and city-dwellers, endless support from people of all ages and backgrounds. Indeed, of the people behind these pictures, Benson has a farming background, while Foord is a dedicated urbanite. It doesn’t really matter; what links us all is an appreciation of the British countryside, and the contribution that farming makes to it. It’s this appreciation that I hope will sustain us through the next ten years. As well as helping those facing hardship, we also want to help to build British farming, and to make it an industry that future generations can be proud of”
Our sincere thanks go to Strutt and Parker who continue to be great supporters of our work and the families we help.
If you would like to receive a copy of the brocuhure detailing the photographs from the night please contact Laura Dickinson on
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