John Thorley • Rural Youth
Farming brief Females in Farming HOME on the Farm is a new online network to support females in farming and farming families, created by industry ambassador, farmer’s wife and mother Milly Fyfe together with The Farming Forum, Farm Safety Foundation and The Farming Community Network. Visitors to the ‘Home on the Farm’ section of www.thefarmingforum.co.uk will find sections on: • Parenting and Children on the Farm • Family and Farming • Food from the Farm • Better Halves • Women in Agriculture “I have experienced the feelings that isolation and loneliness brings, being on my own with young children all the time with little support,” says Milly, who participated in the Farm Safety Foundation’s 2020 Mind Your Head campaign earlier this year. “Covid-19 has really shone a light on the issue of social isolation and the importance of support and conversations and this is why this forum is really needed right now. Peer-to-peer support can really help.”
“We now have people coming to us purely to benefit from a Henry Plumb Foundation mentor” HPF Chairman, John Thorley
16 • The Farmers Club Winter 2020
One of Henry’s Scholars, James Speers, with the foundation’s Patron at his Coleshill farm, with pedigree Longhorn and crossbred beef cattle in the background.
Foundation success The Journal’s recent focus on supporting young people prompted John Thorley, Chairman of the Henry Plumb Foundation, to outline its latest work
THE Henry Plumb Foundation passed a major milestones recently, helping over a hundred young people get started in the world of farming, with mentoring playing a key role. Such is the reputation of our mentors that we now have people coming to us purely to benefit from a Henry Plumb Foundation mentor. Our mentors are people who’ve built a reputation for being good farmers and sound businessmen and women, who have more than a passing interest in helping others find their way, in what is probably one of the most difficult times farming and the country have faced in peacetime. Many, but not all our mentors, are household names in agriculture, who we carefully match with successful applicants. So far we’ve had one or two hiccups, but no failures. Lord Plumb remains heavily involved and even though he’s now 96 he is in excellent health for the most part and can always be relied upon to keep us on the straight and narrow. We have helped a wide range of people become Henry’s Scholars, from those keen to get into farming/farm services through to those eager to lead the sector. One such aspiring leader was James Speers who became President of The Young Farmers
Clubs of Ulster. James was in touch recently to see what he could do in return, to help HPF become stronger, and was extremely complementary about the help and guidance he had from his mentor, George Lyons. This morning (early Oct) I spoke to Joe Rabicano to congratulate him on the success he’s having as one of the youngest tenants on a County Council Small Holding. Mentored by Andrew Blenkiron, Joe is making a very positive mark in his chosen career of farming. Next week Lord Plumb and I will be paying a visit to Ben and Emma Graves who we helped get the tenancy of a farm in Northampton. Obviously, we shall be following Government rules on distancing, but it will be nice to see how they are getting on. Last week we reviewed forty more applications, from which we are likely to interview 15 or so, by Zoom. The Foundation is very much alive, and plans to continue helping youngsters get started – for as long as there is a need and we have the financial resources.
HENRY PLUMB FOUNDATION www.thehenryplumbfoundation.org.uk info@thehenryplumbfoundation.org.uk
