News - Page 2 of 30 - The Addington Fund

Rural housing issues a barrier to retiring farmers and new entrants. Report released today by University College of Estate Management (UCEM),

Farmers, Retirement and Housing in the United Kingdom: A review of the issues, experiences and possible answers – looks at the impact of access to housing for retiring farmers, and the subsequent impact on the industry.

Released today by University College of Estate Management (UCEM), The Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV), The Prince’s Countryside Fund, Royal Agricultural University and Northumbrian Water Group, with support from a steering group including Addington Fund, the report identifies and examines the measures needed to enable those who wish to retire from the agricultural industry to do so without fear or hardship.

Ashley Wheaton, UCEM Principal, explains: “Issues with the provision of housing can provide significant obstacles to those looking to retire. Encouraging a fresh perspective that retirement can be both desirable and feasible requires a range of enabling measures, and consequent structural change. Farmers will need to be supported by flexible advice and facilitation, taking into account differing access to capital, sites and income, as well as tenure and other factors.

“This paper has considered a wide range of issues in understanding and tackling the practical problems around farming retirement and housing. The next steps are about turning this work into practical and effective action across the United Kingdom, identifying and sharing good practice to encourage progressively better performance.”

Jeremy Moody, Secretary and Adviser to The Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, adds: “Taking this work forward will be about encouraging imaginative practice, proactive and positive behaviour and innovative solutions among all, from local planning authorities to families considering their future or discussions within landlord/tenant relationships.”

To access the full report, please click Farmers Retirement and Housing in the United Kingdom – A review of the issues experiences and possible answers

Farm Stay UK annual fund-raiser

Farm Stay UK members in Yorkshire are staging their annual charity fund-raiser on Friday, September 6.

As in 2018 it will again be hosted by Lindsey and Will Hitchen at St George’s Court B&B, Old Home Farm, High Grantley, Ripon. They are long-standing members of Farm Stay UK, which remains the country’s largest network of farm-based accommodation providers.

This year there’s a slightly different format to past ‘Farmhouse Big Breakfast’ fund-raisers, with an afternoon tea being served up between 2.30 and 4.30pm, followed by an evening session from 7.30pm.

This will feature a BBQ and entertainment from well-known Yorkshire singer-songwriter and rural affairs journalist Chris Berry, of the Yorkshire Post and Farming in Yorkshire. He was previously a keynote member of ‘The Singing Farmers,’ who performed their farewell tour in 2016 and is now in high demand as a solo performer.

As in past years, proceeds are in aid of both the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and national farming charity, the Addington Fund. The 2018 fund-raiser netted almost £9,000 and over the years Farm Stay UK members, joined by other farm-based accommodation providers from across the region, have raised around £40,000 for the two charities.

Past staunch supporters Barclays Bank’s agricultural division have again agreed to sponsor the event, while other keynote sponsors include Yorkshire Accountants in Ripon, Bleikers Smokehouse, Ian Taylor Eggs, Millers Food Service, Lishman’s Butchers of Ilkley, Morrisons Supermarkets and Rhoddas.

Tickets, priced at £15 – just a limited number remain available – can be booked and paid for in advance by calling Lindsey Hitchen on 01765 620618, or email info@stgeorgescourt.co.uk

New Chairman of Trustees

Addington Fund has appointed Peter Jinman as its new Chairman of the Board of Trustees in succession to Sheila Cole who has stepped down after 9 years.

Peter is a veterinary surgeon from rural south west Herefordshire and is well known in farming and governmental circles having previously being both President of the British Veterinary Association and President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He is also the independent chairman of the government’s DEFRA Farm Animal Welfare Committee and is a County Councillor on Herefordshire Council. He is the immediate past Chairman of the Farmers Club. Peter lives on his smallholding with his wife Gill. Their son is the commercial director of a company specialising in artificial intelligence , their eldest daughter is a primary school teacher married to a local farmer and their second daughter, whose partner is a local farmer’s son, runs the family owned local pub and restaurant, the Temple Bar Inn, the site of very successful annual fundraising Addington Fund breakfasts.

Peter is dedicated to increasing the charity’s remit both in disaster relief and in rural housing to keep the countryside both vibrant and sustainable. He adds “Addington already offers retirement homes to farmers and farm workers who want or are forced to retire through difficult personal circumstances. When unable to continue working or lacking the necessary finance we aim to assist in the provision of appropriate housing close to family and friends. In addition Addington has provided affordable homes to youngsters and families involved in the agricultural industry who cannot afford to live in rural locations close to their places of work. It is vital that the we continue to work in this area.

It is also our aspiration to create a young entrant’s scheme through legacy farmers to help establish first generation farmers on the Farming Ladder.”

Ashcombe Estate Tour

Please join us for an Afternoon Tea, a BBQ & a Farm and Estate Tour around Ashcombe on Sunday the 15^th September 2019.

After the Horse & Dog Show, The Ashcombe Village Club are hosting an afternoon full of fantastic food and a Farm & Estate Tour, with all proceeds going the Addington Fund. You can have a choice of joining us for just afternoon tea or a BBQ but if you decide you want to enjoy the whole evening and do both, you will have the opportunity to enjoy a Farm & Estate tour around Ashcombe too!

Cream Tea £7

BBQ £15

Cream Tea & BBQ inc Farm & Estate Tour £22

For more information please contact anniewinn@addingtonfund.org.uk or to buy your tickets please call our office on 01926 650135 (option 3)

Flood Damage Relief for Yorkshire Farmers

Our Yorkshire Dales Flood Damage Relief Scheme is now closed. If you have applied, applications are undergoing consideration by our trustees and you will be notified by the 18th October whether your application has been successful.

We will be able to support successful applicants with a grant towards the following costs:

Deadstock disposal
Removal of contaminated feed
Replacement of washed away feed, fodder or forage
Haulage costs temporary fencing
Hire of diggers for clean up.

If you have forage to donate, we are working with Forage Aid who are co-ordinating this. Please contact them via their website https://forageaid.org.uk/How-to-help.aspx to make your pledge.

Addington Fund Lammas Service on 1st August in Hoxne, Suffolk.

1st August is the ancient festival of Lammastide, which traditionally is the start of the harvest calendar – a time of giving thanks to God for all we sow and reap. Lammas (literally loaf mass), is the celebration of the first loaf of the first grain of the wheat harvest.

Everyone is invited to join us for this service of thanks, which starts at 6pm, at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Hoxne, near Eye in Suffolk, followed by drinks and a hog roast. This is the seventh consecutive year that the service has been held here, attracting people from across the region.

Bill Young, Addington Fund’s CEO, who will talk about developments of the Fund in East Anglia.

For the first time this year, we are delighted to be having a tractor parade beforehand from Home Farm, Eye Road, Hoxne starting at 5.30pm and arriving in the church car park before the service.

Proceeds go to the Addington Fund, helping farming families in need.

For catering purposes, it would be helpful if you could let us know you are attending by ‘phoning Annie on 01926 620135 email events@addingtondund.org.uk

Thank you to Bloxwich Metal Detecting Club

We are indebted to Bloxwich Metal Detecting Club who asked our CEO to speak to their members about the Addington Fund.

They presented Addington with a cheque for £500 raised by their own membership for which we are most grateful.

It is very clear that they provide a very caring and responsible service to landowners offering a full insured search and free recovery service for lost items of value. If you are interested in the metal detecting services provided please contact Les Barratt the club secretary les.barratt@outlook.com mobile 07495083229

Bill Young receiving the cheque from club chairman Rob Edwards.

The Royal Three Counties Show Farm Business Awards 13th June 2019

Addington Fund is delighted to announce that we are the main charitable partner at the inaugural Three Counties Farm Business Awards at The Royal Three Counties Show at Malvern.

The awards ceremony is the night before the show itself on Thursday 13^th June. If you would like to enter, or nominate someone, please click on this link

Addington Harvest Festival Harvest Festival at The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy followed by 3 course lunch at The Farmers Club

The Addington Harvest Festival will take place on Sunday 13^th October at The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, Savoy Hill, London which was built as part of a charitable foundation under the terms of the will of King Henry VII in the early sixteenth century. On 11 May 1937 King George VI commanded that it should be the Chapel of the Royal Victorian Order.

The service will be conducted by The Chaplain, The Reverend Canon Thomas Woodhouse, with Intercessions read by our friend and supporter Geoff Dodgson, Chaplain to the Guild of Agricultural Journalists. The sermon will be given by the Bishop of Gloucester Rachel Treweek.

Our thanks also go to Thomas Leyland, The Steward of the Queen’s Chapel, and Philip Burg, Master of Music for their co-operation and friendship.

Everyone is welcome to the service and there is an optional post service drinks and 3 course lunch at the Farmers Club afterwards. Please contact Annie Winn, Marketing and Events Manager at Addington Fund 01926620135 option 3 or email: events@addingtonfund.org.uk to book. Tickets cost for drinks and lunch are £99 per person.

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 13^th2018, 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’.