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Day trip to Lundy Island Sunday 21st July 2019

Lundy Island Trip Sunday 21st July

Lundy lies off the coast of North Devon, where the Atlantic ocean meets the Bristol Channel with nothing between it and America, a granite outcrop, three miles long and half a mile wide. In the hubbub of the modern world it is a place apart, peaceful and unspoiled.

Lundy is never crowded even in the height of summer and is serviced by MS Oldenburg up to five times a week and brings day-visitors who stay for a few hours. At all other times those who are staying in the 23 holiday properties and the residents have the island to themselves. https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/lundyisland/discovering-lundy/

The Addington Fund with the help of supporter Trevor Glasper has exclusively hired MS Oldenburg to take a full load of like minded Addington Fund supporters to the Island departing from Bideford (where parking is not a problem) at 9.30am on Sunday 21st July returning 9.30pm. Tickets are £40 per head.  All proceeds to support the work of Addington Fund. For all enquiries & to book your ticket please call Glaspers on 01297 680218 or email: glaspers@btconnect.com. Take this chance to visit this unique island of outstanding natural beauty in the Bristol Channel which is rich in history & wildlife.

 

Fodder Help for Welsh Farmers

The Welsh Government has awarded Addington Fund £180,000 to administer grants to working farmers from Wales, who are experiencing hardship and who are also experiencing fodder shortages created by the extended winter of 2018 and the dry summer.

The application process is this:

Applicants must be actively farming in Wales, and be short of fodder/feed because of having to start feeding earlier than usual, or because the dry summer of 2018 prevented you from making your usual quantity.

You will need to complete an Addington Fund application form – accessed here: Welsh Farmers Application Form FINAL 0319

Addington’s trustees will consider your application and if we can help, we will arrange and meet the cost of one of the following:

  • a delivery of hay or silage will be made by national fodder merchants Abbott & Co (Wessex) Ltd OR
  • a delivery of compound feed will be delivered by national feed merchants ForFarmers Ltd.

WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE CASH GRANTS, REIMBURSE YOU FOR ALREADY PURCHASED FODDER/FEED, OR PAY OUTSTANDING INVOICES.

If you are unsure whether you are eligible, please ‘phone the Addington office 01926 620135, option 2 Monday-Thursday.

Applications will be considered on a first come first serve basis and applications must be received by 30 April 2019.

 

 

Newly converted affordable homes are opened

November 13th 2018, Crosthwaite, Kendal, Cumbria.

Lying some five miles west of Kendal, and close to the banks of Lake Windermere in the Lake District National Park is High Cartmell Fold, in the parish of Crosthwaite. This top specification barn conversion is the latest development by the national rural housing charity, the Addington Fund.

The conversion of a donated stone barn into two affordable homes has resulted in a one bedroom and a three-bedroom house for local people working in the rural economy who have been priced out of the housing market. Addington has invested over £500,000 in the project and is grateful to the Beatrice Laing Charitable Trust, New Holland Agriculture and The NFU Mutual Charitable Trust for their generous support.

L-R Bill Young, Chief Executive of the Addington Fund, The Duke of Westminster, Sir Paul Clarke, trustee of the Addington Fund and Mike Williams, project manager for the Addington Fund.

The barns were officially opened by The Duke of Westminster, during an event attended by over forty representatives of the local community and farming industry.

Bill Young, chief executive of the Addington Fund, said: ”The development of High Cartmell Fold is a great opportunity to help keep people living and working in the rural community.”

Sheila Cole, chairman of the Addington Fund Trustees, commented that ‘High Cartmell Fold is another example of the charity’s work, nationally to help address specific ongoing rural housing needs’.

Another Gamble charity lamb makes top price at Skipton

Another Gamble charity lamb makes top price at Skipton

Ken and Hazel Gamble, of Brickyard Farm, Easingwold, have generously donated a second prime lamb for sale at Skipton Auction Mart on behalf of national farming charity, the Addington Fund.

Their latest, a single 53kg Beltex lamb, went on to sell for the day’s top price of £112 to Keelham Farm Shop, which has award-winning shops in Skipton and Thornton, near Bradford. The first lamb they donated last year also made top price in sale of £115. On both occasions, auctioneers Craven Cattle Marts waived their commission on the sales.

The Addington Fund’s ‘Tup 1 Ewe’ fund-raising campaign enables sheep farmers to donate live sheep through participating auction markets around England and Wales, and nominate the sale proceeds to the charity.

Winners of the 2018 Cornwall Farm Business Awards Announced

We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2018 Cornwall Farm Business Awards, which was held on the 26th April at The Pavilion Centre, Royal Cornwall Showground in Wadebridge.

The event, highlights the region’s most outstanding farm businesses and this year saw an unprecedented number, and quality, of nominations and recognised those excelling in their field.

BEST COMMERCIAL FARMER

Sponsored by Carter Jonas and AMC plc

Suzanne & David Simmons, Riviera Produce

Suzanne & David Simmons with Caroline Lawrence, Carter Jonas

The Simmons business has achieved incredible growth under David’s management, evolving from a 160 acre mixed farm in the 1980s to one of the Country’s leading brassica growing businesses, farming some 5,500 acres, supplying a range of crops to several of the UK’s major supermarkets. The combined business employs 200 people based in Cornwall and a further 250 Eastern European staff at peak times of year.

BEST WOMAN IN FARMING

Sponsored by the Duchy of Cornwall

Gayle Bersey, Triffle Farm

Gayle Bersey with Alastair Martin, Duchy of Cornwall

Gayle started The Lynher Valley Aberdeen Angus in 1994 on the retirement of her parents from farming due to ill health. All the cows can be traced back to three of the original cows. Her aim is to produce easy keeping, easy calving with size that is commercially viable without losing the traditional traits of the Angus. Gayle does a vast amount of work, and nothing is too much trouble.

BEST LIVESTOCK FARMER

Sponsored by PKF Francis Clark LLP

David Turner, Mendennick Farm

David Turner with Brian Harvey, PKF Francis Clark LLP

David can trace his family farming history back to 1597 and since 1922 on the current family farm of Mendennick Farm at St John. Having lost his father aged two, David took on the farm aged just 20 and has grown the business into the 1600 acre organic enterprise that exists today. With over 2,000 Highlander ewes and 65 Stabiliser Cattle David certainly has his hands full and he is pleased that his youngest son Will is shortly going to return to the farm having graduated from Aberystwyth.

BEST FARM PROCESSOR

Sponsored by Savills

Roger and Tanya Olver, The Cornish Duck Company

Roger and Tanya Olver with Mike Pennington, Savills

The Olvers are breeders and producers of award winning table duck and duck eggs. They hatch, rear and dispatch on farm where they also process the duck to make duck burgers, smoked duck and Drake’s Pudding. The business employs 2 full time people, with Tanya overseeing the egg production and incubation process, right through to slaughter.

BEST DAIRY FARMER

Sponsored by Rodda’s

John Heller & Tom Nicholls, Acland Farm

Tom Nicholls & John Heller with Nicholas Rodda, Rodda’s

Since joining the team at Acland Farm ten years ago as a stockman, Tom has worked together with John Heller in the transformation of the dairy enterprise to a highly efficient and well organised milk producing unit, despite significant physical constraints. Adaption in 2012 to house the dairy herd all year round and install 7 robotic milking units was an innovative and pioneering step six years ago.A keen advocate of utilising technology for business advantage, Tom has embraced the information generated by the robotic system and used it to fine tune cow management systems.

BEST YOUNG FARMER

Sponsored by NatWest

Tom Jones, Trelay Farm

Tom Jones with Johanne Wingfield, NatWest

Tom comes from a generation of farming family, operating a dairy farm of 350 acres outside Davidstow supplying into the local Dairy Crest factory under the cheese contract. He operates a grass based forage system. Tom has a deep understanding of the individual costs of his business and what this equates to in pence per litre of output. His dedication, and desire to ensure the continuation of his dairy farm whilst not compromising the welfare or output of the herd is extremely impressive.

FARMING CHAMPION

Sponsored by NFU

Peter Clarke, Farming Community Network

Peter Clarke with Melanie Squires, NFU

With a lifetime of dedication to the farming and wider countryside communities, a genuine desire to seek justice for farming families, feared and revered by politicians and authority alike, and renown by many for his distinctive gruffness & determined character – this year’s deserved winner of the Cornwall Farm Business Awards – Farming Champion is PETER CLARKE.

CORNWALL’S FARMER OF THE YEAR

Sponsored by Cornish Mutual

David & Suzanne Simmons, Riviera Produce

David & Suzanne Simmons with Cornish Mutual representative

What the Simmons family have achieved with Riviera is incredible in terms of growth, profit, efficiency and as a supporter of the local economy is incredible and they deserve all the plaudits thrown at their door. Every county needs a Riviera and Cornwall are lucky enough to have them benefitting the rural economy.

NEW CEO FOR ADDINGTON FUND

The Addington Fund Board of Trustees are delighted to announce the appointment of Bill Young as their new CEO with effect from 1st May 2018. Chairman of Trustees Sheila Cole, commented “We are confident that Bill will lead the Addington Fund team into the future with great passion and enthusiasm. These will be exciting times for the charity and we look forward to working with him.”

Bill has lived in the South Midlands for over 30 years after graduating from Harper Adams, starting his working life as a grain trader and then sales manager at Midland Shires Farmers before moving into quality assurance at its inception 20 years ago with NSF Agriculture and more latterly at SAI Global, as their Head of Agriculture.

Bill comments “Heading Addington Fund will give me a wonderful opportunity to put something back into the industry that I love, and which has been so good to me over the years. I have always found it very rewarding working in a rural environment, with great people and I look forward to taking Addington Fund forward and with the help and guidance of the trustees, meeting the long-term goals of the charity”

 

Cumbrian Barn Conversion underway

Our latest Barn Conversion project, this time in Cumbria has just started. Two homes will provide affordable rural housing for people farming families. Please look at our current projects page for more information.

 

 

 

Fantastic result from Yorkshire Farmhouse Breakfast

This week, Addington trustee Christine Ryder was part of a cheque presentation from the recent Yorkshire Breakfast. A grand total of £8,748.34 was donated to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the Addington Fund. A fantastic effort from all those who helped Lindsey and all those who came and supported the event. Thank you so much to everyone who supported this breakfast in any way.

Addington Fund plan fund raising farmhouse breakfast in Warwickshire

The Addington Fund is planning a fund raising breakfast on Wednesday 21st February 2018 at the Ashwin Suite, Stratford Livestock Market at Stratford Agricultural Park.

The breakfast is part of a series organised by the Addington Fund, a farming charity set up during the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in 2001 to support livestock farmers across the country.

Sheila Cole, Chair of the Addington Fund trustees said, “These breakfast events help us to raise funds and increase awareness of the work we do and it’s also a really good social occasion with everyone who takes part having a really good time.”

Breakfast will be served from 10.00 hrs. There is no charge for the meal but guests are asked to make a donation which will be shared equally between the Addington Fund and the RABI.

Since 2002 the main focus of the Addington Fund has been to provide appropriate housing to tenant farmers needing to leave their farms and in doing so lose their home.

Search under way for Devon Farm Business Awards winners 2018

The search is on for excellence in Devon agriculture as the fifth Devon Farm Business Awards were launched this week (Monday, February 5, 2018).

The awards highlight the excellence and dynamism of farming in Devon at a time of great uncertainty within the agricultural sector and are organised by the Addington Fund, the Devon County Agricultural Association (DCAA) and leading regional solicitors Stephens Scown.

Sheila Cole, Chairman of Trustees of the Addington Fund said: “The Devon Farm Business Awards are a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all that is great about Devon’s farmers. The Addington Fund is deeply committed to helping the farming community in Devon. Farmers are not great at singing their own praises, but these awards are a real chance for the county’s farmers to receive the recognition they so richly deserve. The trustees are very grateful for the ongoing support of Stephens Scown, Devon County Agricultural Association and all the sponsors, which has contributed greatly to the success of the Awards.”

Phil Reed, partner and head of rural services at Stephens Scown said: “Farmers are notoriously reluctant to shout about their success, but that is exactly what we need to do. The Devon Farm Business Awards is our way of saying thank you and celebrating success. Please take the time to put yourself forward, or nominate another farmer who is doing great things. We need to give the sector the recognition it deserves for the enormous contribution it makes to all of our lives.”

Mrs Mary Quicke MBE, Chairman of the DCAA, said: “The Devon Farm Business Awards provide so many inspiring examples of how family farming businesses are rising to the many challenges of today’s world. And that has never been more important, given the many uncertainties that still surround the Brexit process and its implications for farming. What we can be sure of, however, is that the best farming businesses, in terms not only of production efficiency, but also customer focus and environmental awareness, will survive and prosper whatever the future holds.

“By turning the spotlight on those businesses, and highlighting the lessons they provide, the awards have a key role in equipping us for that future. Not just the DCAA, but the industry as a whole in Devon and beyond, owes a great debt of gratitude to our sponsors for making the awards possible, with all the benefits they bring.”

Farmers and growers in Devon are invited to apply for one of the following categories:
Best Commercial Farmer
Best Dairy Farmer
The CAAV John Neason Diversification Award
Devon’s Best Young Farmer
Best Woman in Farming
Farming Champion
Lifetime Achievement Award

Devon’s Farmer of the Year will be awarded from the category winners.

Entries close on March 16, 2018, with the winners being announced at a gala dinner to be held on the eve of the Devon County Show, on Wednesday, May 16 at the showground at Westpoint, Exeter.

Information about the awards, the various categories and how to enter can be found at www.addingtonfund.org.uk/events

St George’s Court Charity Farmhouse Big Breakfast nets close on £7K

Bring on the Big Breakfasts! Pictured at St George’s Court are, standing from left, Julie Houseman, of The Old Calf Shed B&B, Prospect House Farm, Lindley, Otley, Liz Gudgeon, Crown Cottage Farm B&B, Embsay, Skipton, and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s North Yorkshire Community Fundraiser Olivia Mulligan and volunteer Alan Broadfoot.
Seated, from left, are Christine Ryder, of Scaife Hall Farm B&B, Blubberhouses, also a trustee of the Addington Fund, host Lindsey Hitchen, Ian Robson, Barclays’ regional agricultural manager and the bank’s regional agricultural director John Pinches.

Over 200 Farmhouse Big Breakfasts were served up for charity at the latest fundraiser staged by Yorkshire members of Farm Stay UK.

The 2018 hosts were Lindsey and Will Hitchen, of St George’s Court B&B, based at Old Home Farm, High Grantley, near Ripon, and the three-day event raised almost £7,000 for national farming charity, Addington Fund, and Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

This also included the proceeds of a standalone two-course hot supper for another 60 guests, where entertainment was provided by local singer, guitarist; writer, journalist, TV presenter and producer Chris Berry.

It was the second Big Breakfast bonanza staged by the couple. The first in 2011 netted over £3,000 for the same two charities, with the latest event boosting the St George’s Court kitty to around £10,000.

Multiple sponsors stepped forward to support the event, both financially and with product donations. Keynote sponsors were Ripon accountants Eura Audit, Barclays Bank’s agricultural division, who again sent two of their senior personnel every day to work with the ladies, and Craven Cattle Marts in Skipton.

Over the years, other regional members of Farm Stay UK, the country’s largest network of farm-based accommodation providers, have laid on charity Big Breakfasts, which have netted many thousands of pounds, primarily for Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the Addington Fund, which offers a vital lifeline and safety net to farmers in desperate need of housing or emergency funds.

“Once again, both sponsors and Big Breakfasters gave us fantastic support. We cannot thank them enough,” said Mrs Hitchen.

Further info: Robin Moule, Moule Media, 01756 794027, email robin@moulemedia.com Or contact Lindsey Hitchen on 01765 620618, mobile 07725 780362, or email info@stgeorgescourt.co.uk

 

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Contact us

The Addington Fund
9 Barford Exchange
Wellesbourne Road
Barford
Warwickshire
CV35 8AQ

Telephone: 01926 620135

Farm photography by Kevin Milner