Under 35s Committee

Andrew Court – Staffordshire

(Under 35s Vice Chair) Credits Under 35s for so much: meeting people, networking, informative events, helping develop career and making great friendships along the way.

Rose Franklin – Gloucestershire

Recently ran Shropshire Petals, but now back in Glos building own home with husband and working as Operations Manager of Tyndale Vets.

Harriet Sylvester – Suffolk

Runs own business as a Ceramics

Conservator – just like The Repair Shop!

Enjoys Under 35s as a great place to meet like-minded people with a variety of backgrounds.

Ben Barton – Gloucestershire

Fourth generation mixed farmer from Cirencester primarily beef sucklers. Enjoys usual country sports, Gloucester Rugby, and doing a bit of magic!

Edward Whattoff – Lincolnshire

From a family farm in South Lincs, passionate about farms being successful through diversification, sustainability, and being an integral part of the rural community.

Aled Thomas – Pembrokeshire

From a pig, potato and arable farm in West Wales, elected County Councilor, works in City of London analysing global rice market.

Lord William Seymour, Earl of Yarmouth – Warwickshire

Club member for over a decade, won Jill Willows Scholarship to Canada RASC in 2018, seeking to expand JWS by creating awareness and involvement.

Alice Hind – Denbighshire, Wales (Immediate Past-Chair)

Originally from Wales, now an Early Years teacher in central London. Enjoyed year as Chair in 2022 and excited to see what Emily has planned for the year ahead.

Under 35s events:

Fri 10 Feb

Cupids Cocktail Making Evening, The Farmers Club

Sun 12 Feb

Twickenham

England v Italy

Fri 24 Feb

New Chairman’s Supper, The Farmers Club

Sat 25 Feb

Saturday Social

The Book of Mormon, Prince of Wales Theatre

Fri 17 Mar

St Patricks Social, The Farmers Club

Sat 25 Mar

Under 35s Host Agrespect, The Farmers Club

After a three year hiatus, farm walks made a welcome return to the Under 35s calendar, as we were kindly welcomed to the Eaton Estate, part of the wider Grosvenor Estates, in November.

The day began with a tour of the timber yard guided by Greg Vickers, Head of Forestry. The aim is to utilise wood from across all Grosvenor’s Estates, he explained, with the timber yard being unique in the UK in grading to C24 construction standard. We saw the entire process from cutting trunks to the dry kiln.

The estate now utilises 100% of what was previously written off as a waste product, with any leftover or rejected timber chipped and used in boilers.

Gamekeeping insights

After a quick cup of tea Anthony Jones, Head Gamekeeper, showed us one of the estate’s many biodiversity projects. To meet the family’s environmental ambitions a synergy has been established between forestry, farming and game departments, around the four basic pillars of soil, air, water and biodiversity.

We visited a wetland project to illustrate this. The success was clear to see. By flooding a low-lying meadow, the land had naturally reverted to reeds and rushes, providing the perfect home for an ever-increasing population of animals, including snipe, barn owls and even a family of otters.

Rotary parlour

The next stop, after a quick drive past the farm’s enormous silage clamps, was Lea Manor Farm, home to over 2000 pedigree Holstein cows. Charlie Steer, Grosvenor Farms’ Arable Manager, began by showing us their 60 place external rotary parlour, which milks the entire herd three times a day, producing upwards of 90,000 litres of milk.

Charlie explained how, using circular faming principles, the arable and dairy enterprises work together to benefit the soil, environment and economics. Techniques include wide crop rotations, growing fodder sources internally and maximising slurry use to minimise artificial fertiliser requirements.

Anaerobic digestion

The tour concluded with a presentation demonstrating the estate’s next big project – anaerobic digestion – which the team believes will further help to deliver on their circular faming goals, by producing clean sustainable methane gas to produce electricity for the national grid and power their fleet of tractors and machinery.

We would like to thank the staff at Grosvenor Estates: Greg, Anthony, Charlie and particularly Annabel Farbon for organising such an enjoyable and informative tour. It is events like this that underline the importance of farm walks to the Under 35s, providing members with opportunities to learn and explore different aspects of our diverse and dynamic industry, helping them to develop and grow their careers.

Andrew Court Under 35s Vice Chair

020 7930 3557 • www.thefarmersclub.com

Office Holders

HONORARY VICE PRESIDENTS

Barclay Forrest OBE, Sir Mark Hudson KCVO, Peter Jackson CBE, Mrs Susan Kilpatrick OBE, John Parker

THE COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT OF THE CLUB 2023

VICE PRESIDENTS

Paul Heygate, Julian Sayers, Nicki Quayle

PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN

Meurig Raymond CBE DL

TRUSTEES

Tim Bennett (Chairman), Peter Jinman OBE, Jimmy McLean, Keith Redpath

VICE-CHAIRMAN

Richard Maunder

HONORARY TREASURER

Christopher Riddle

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN

John Lee OBE DL

CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND SECRETARY

Andrei Spence

CLUB CHAPLAIN

The Reverend Dr Sam Wells

COMMITTEE

Elected 2020 to serve from 2021 to 2023 inclusive: Ian Bell OBE (re-elected), Tony Bell, Alan Plumb, Anthony Snell

Elected 2021 to serve from 2022 to 2024 inclusive: Stephen Butler, John Hardman (re-elected), Tom Rawson, Janatha Stout

Elected 2022 to serve from 2023 to 2025 inclusive: Sue Bullock (re-elected), Sarah Cowlrick (re-elected), Sophie Dwerryhouse, Lindsay Hargreaves, Mark Riches, John Wilson

Co-opted: Emily Pile (Chairman Under 35s), Andrew Court (Vice Chair Under 35s)

THE FARMERS CLUB CHARITABLE TRUST TRUSTEES

Nick Green (Chairman), Vic Croxson DL, Meryl Ward MBE, Des Lambert OBE, Dr Jenna Ross OBE, James Squier, Christine Tacon CBE, The Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Club (ex officio). Patron Mrs Stella Muddiman