Farms for City Children Summer 2021 Newsletter

Registered Charity Number 325120

R E M M SU 2021

www.farmsforcitychildren.org farmsforcitychildren

farmersforaweek

farmsforcitychildren

CONTENTS 2

Welcome from our Founders

3

Farm News

7

Thank You & Fundraising

Tel: 01392 276381 admin@farmsforcitychildren.org www.farmsforcitychildren.org Farms for City Children Huxham Barns Exeter EX5 4EJ

9 Shop 11

Support Us

Patron HRH The Princess Royal Founders Sir Michael Morpurgo and Lady Clare Morpurgo

farmsforcitychildren

Founding President Ted Hughes OM

farmersforaweek

Chairman Simon Gregory

farmsforcitychildren Registered Charity Number 325120

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WELCOME We live in hope at Farms for City Children, but also in determination.

Neither hope nor determination are helped by dwelling on the past. What has happened has happened. Farms for City Children has effectively been shut down for a year and a half. Our farmers and staff are keeping life going as best they can at all three farms, planting, tending and harvesting the crops, feeding and caring for the animals. The trustees of Farms for City Children and staff at Head Office too, everyone has worked hard to keep the charity afloat. The wonderful support we have received from the supporters of the charity has been heart-warming. Thanks to all these good people and their hard work we are ready again to welcome back the children and their teachers who we have missed so much.

Photo Credit: Liz Scott

There is still much work to be done, out on the farms, in the vegetable gardens and in the farmhouses, to make everything ready. We are all longing to be up and running again, to be welcoming everyone back.

How wonderful that will be when once again we will be able to do what everyone at Farms for City Children is longing to do - to give the children who need it most - the best time of their young lives.

During these sad months we have been able to welcome small groups of children from local schools for day visits and also young people from special or alternative education settings.

Staff on the farms have provided purposeful activities for these groups and have been delighted to see how much the children have benefitted from their regular visits.

So best welly forward! On we go!

CLARE AND MICHAEL MORPURGO

Our doors will soon be open again, the children arriving from the cities, bringing with them the sound of their laughter to cheer our spirits, to bring the gladness that will chase away our sadness.

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Life in Lockdown In April 2020, along with most people in the UK, we had to adapt quickly to the unexpected change to our normal. Happily, this sudden, unpredicted change and inability to host residential visits provided us with the opportunity to work with a wider range and diverse group of children - this has been complex and demanding but also positive and rewarding. In addition to the mainstream primary school children we regularly host at our farms, we began to work with teenagers based within the farms’ local communities. This is an age group who have been particularly adversely affected by the pandemic with many experiencing high levels of anxiety and loneliness exacerbated by lockdowns.

that being immersed in nature and spending time outside in the countryside has had on all our young visitors.

Now that we are starting to emerge from the shadow of COVID-19 and with the ongoing support of our amazing supporters, plans are underway to welcome ever more children and young people to enjoy unforgettable life-enhancing farm visits. We look forward to watching them thrive as they participate in physical and immersive farming activities, connecting them with the natural world, building confidence and skills, improving wellbeing and self-esteem and learning where their food comes from.

We are proud to say that since the autumn term, 520 Countryside & Farm visits have taken place with each group visiting the farm one day a week when able to do so. It has been wonderful to witness the positive impact 3

FARM NEWS

NETHERCOTT HOUSE Although things are still far from ‘normal’ it has been humbling to see the impact of our day visits programme. As part of this, we have been welcoming a small and regular group of young people who are not currently in mainstream education to work with us on the farm each week. It has been a real pleasure to see them gaining confidence in their work in the garden and with the livestock.

These and the many other life-changing outcomes for our young people would simply not be possible without your support.

Thank you.

We were thrilled to hear that one of the young people from this group has since been offered a place at agricultural college. Her time with us helped build her confidence for the interview and enabled her to share her reallife activities and achievements at Nethercott House.

Bees! We are very fortunate that Pat Brown, who supports and runs some of the bee keeping sessions at Wick Court, is kindly donating her time and three hives to Nethercott House. In preparation for this the young people have been learning about insects and building their knowledge and confidence before the bees arrive. Once the bees move in we look forward to developing the apiary area with the visiting children and producing our very own honey.

Some beneficiaries have been facing particularly challenging circumstances at home or school, displaying low self-esteem, poor mental health and a lack of engagement with education. There have been some profound and transformational impacts for some of these visiting children. One such case was a child who adored and formed a close bond with Seb – a large, gentle heavy horse at Nethercott House. During her weekly farm visits Seb helped the girl to recover from the trauma of domestic violence and eased her loneliness by providing companionship and comfort which became a source of love and inspiration.

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LOWER TREGINNIS We were pleased to welcome back students from Marlowe St David’s Education Unit in April, who visited the farm weekly throughout the autumn term as part of their enrichment programme. Marlowe St David’s Education Unit supports children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, a group for whom the events of the last 18 months will have been particularly difficult. The young people loved getting stuck-in to physical outdoor work and rose to the challenge of filling-up barrow loads of compost from the 20-tonne pile that had been donated to the farm by a local company. They made short work of the task, helping to spread it over the crops growing in the field and kitchen garden.

Our young visitors have been busy harvesting the vegetables, stocking the shop and then picking, weighing and packing the orders for customer’s vegetable boxes.

We continue to welcome young people on regular day visits to the farm and can see week to week the impact this is having in these challenging times.

“This is a completely different setting from what our children are used to and has been such a wonderful and positive experience for both the children and staff at Marlowe St Davids.

The garden has been a big focus this year and we have been successful in selling the vegetables into our local community. We also ventured into growing cut flowers. The team from Marlowe sowed sweet peas, dahlias, sunflowers and cosmos from seed last September, planted them in the poly tunnel in December and have enjoyed harvesting the beautiful blooms this summer. We’ve been busy increasing our laying flock of hens who are providing us with plenty of eggs to sell locally. We now even have our very own simple farm shop, converted from a disused farm building.

The farming activities have been brilliant and to take part in real, purposeful work and see how this is helping the farmers is really good for their confidence. It’s been a joy to see the pupils outside of school engaging in work to support the local community and finding new skills they are good at and enjoying learning these skills.”

Charley Hodgson, Teacher, Marlowe St David’s Education Unit 5

WICK COURT A magical part of our farm experiences are the beautiful heritage buildings that become home for a week. These locations are otherworldly to many of the children who visit and enable them to fully immerse themselves in farm life. Wick Court is one such special building, looking out across the fields and reed banks along the River Severn it has existed here little altered since around 1600, the very end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

an integral element of the life cycles of Wick Court’s colony of bats who use the moat as a source of food in the shape of insects. The moat is a magnificent heritage asset for our young visitors to experience and provides a wonderful ecosystem for the children to encounter.

The Grade II* listed former Elizabethan hunting lodge needed extensive repairs and renovation to complete a programme of capital works started several years ago and Farms for City Children was delighted to be the chosen recipients of one of the largest grants given out in Historic England’s Heritage Stimulus Funding.

Wick Court has an extraordinary air of timelessness and the children who come to visit have a rare opportunity to experience a little bit of 17th century England much as Queen Elizabeth might have seen it.

The essential major works restoration programme was able to forge ahead at Wick Court while the children were absent thanks to the most generous funding received from the Historic Houses Foundation working in conjunction with Historic England. We are incredibly grateful for the support we received. As well as extensive repairs and restoration to the fabric of the building, works to restore the water disposal system included clearing, repairing and preserving the large square moat which had become choked by natural growth.

The historic moat has now been restored to its former glory and provides a better quality and safe habitat for ducks, coots, moorhens and numerous species to live in as well as being 6

Thank you You did it!

The past 18 months have been our most challenging ever. We needed to rapidly adapt and make difficult decisions while ensuring that we continued to reach children that need us. It is thanks to our amazing supporters that we have been able to do this. Your donations mean we can be there for children who have seen their world change overnight, giving them a breath of fresh air and the transformative experience of the farm. We are so deeply grateful.

Despite the challenging circumstances for us all you have been pulling out all the fundraising stops to ensure we can continue to enrich the lives of children facing disadvantage.

Huge thanks to: ▶ Brewin Dolphin South West who have chosen to support us for a second year in 2021. They have raised over £10,000 so far and still going. Thank you to all the team for your commitment and effort.

Thank you

▶ CWM Environmental who donated 20 tonnes of compost and to TBS Recycling who collected and delivered it to Lower Treginnis farm. ▶ Nick Gammage for completing an incredible 250 miles Drover walk from Pembrokeshire to Amersham and raising over £4,700 ▶ Guardian crossword setter John Halpern & comedian Simon Evans who raised £509 at an online cryptic puzzle event ▶ £649 raised from donations from cakes, jams and cards made by Tanya, Tracy & Charlotte ▶ Every incredible donor who has helped us through this difficult time and for the support received from trusts and foundations over the last year. This has enabled the charity to survive and to continue delivering excellent outdoor education experiences for children at a time when it has never been more needed.

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FUNDRAISING The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns has been challenging for all children but it has disproportionately affected inner-city children living in areas of high deprivation. The lack of routine, together with difficult home lives, poor accommodation, education loss, food insecurity and limited access to green spaces has made life very hard and isolating for many.

Farms for City Children’s countryside residential visits offers a completely different life experience for these children and never was this more needed for city children than now. An immersive week in wellies on the farm helps develop confidence, resilience, new skills and knowledge and a sense of responsibility, but more than that it provides enjoyment, engagement and excitement about venturing out and discovering the natural world with all its capacity for uncertainty, surprise, stimulation and delight.

PLEASE SUPPORT US TO WELCOME OVER 3,000 CHILDREN FROM DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES TO OUR FARMS IN THE YEAR AHEAD FOR A LIFE-ENHANCING WEEK OF MUD AND MAGIC.

How you can help DOUBLE YOUR DONATION – DOUBLE THE IMPACT

Donating the Gift of Farming Joy

Double your donation with our Big Give Wide Bright Horizons match-funding campaign and help us raise £12,000 this summer – From 3rd August to 18th August donate to Farms for City Children via our website and your donation will be doubled! (for as long as match-funding funds lasts).

Whether you’re looking to fundraise as an individual, company or part of a community group or school our team will be happy to help with inspirational ideas.

If you would like to talk about how you can support us please call us on 01392 276678 or email fundraising@farmsforcitychildren.org www.farmsforcitychildren.org/support-us

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£25

COULD PAY FOR SEEDS AND COMPOST FOR CHILDREN’S GROWING ACTIVITIES FOR 1 WEEK

£30

EVERY MONTH WILL HELP SUBSIDISE A CHILD’S JOYFUL WEEK OF DISCOVERY ON THE FARM

£75

COULD PAY FOR FOREST SCHOOL CRAFT MATERIALS

£150

COULD PAY FOR 3 HEARTY HOME-PRODUCED MEALS FOR 30 CHILDREN

£400

COULD SUBSIDISE A WEEK-LONG COUNTRYSIDE AND FARMING RESIDENTIAL FOR ONE CHILD

OUR SHOP 1 2

3 4

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5. A Song of Gladness: A story of Hope for us and our planet by Michael Morpurgo From a blackbird in a Devon garden to leopards in the African savanna, hibernating bears and chimpanzees high in the forest canopy. A Song of Gladness reminds us all of our connection with nature, and with each other, and the urgent need for us to join together in caring for the planet and every creature in it. (Ages 3-6yrs)

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1. Mud & Magic Tea Towel

6. The Birthday Duck by Michael Morpurgo

Our wonderful colourful tea towels are back by popular demand! Made from 100% cotton featuring Quentin Blake’s Mud & Magic image.

Our Farms for City Children playing cards feature some of our favourite Quentin Blake illustrations. Cards are standard poker sized, professional grade, plastic coated and come in a laminated card box. Sold per pack.

Sam is a city boy through and through – and isn’t looking forward to his school trip to Nethercott Farm at all. But busy days of farm work, animals and learning all about nature weave their magic – and when Sam finds a duck about to be dinner, he is determined to save him. But how? A warm and magical story gloriously brought to life by the incredible illustrative talent of Sam Usher, and set on the real-life Nethercott Farm. (Ages 4yrs and up)

3. A Day of Mud and Magic on the Farm The joyful feeling of virtual giving!

7. War Horse Picture Book by Michael Morpurgo

2. Playing Cards

Gift a disadvantaged child the experience of being a farmer for a day. Every day on the farm provides a wide variety of immersive learning through doing activities that connect children to the countryside, the environment and teaches them where their food comes from. We will send you a gift certificate in the post, personalised with your name.

The much-loved novel, War Horse, has been adapted for a picture book audience. This powerful book for younger readers tells the enduring story of a friendship between a boy and his horse and is a gateway to help children understand the history of the First World War. (Ages 5-7 yrs)

4. A Donkey Care Session - The joyful feeling of virtual giving!

8.Notebook Set A black spiral sketchbook and autograph book, handtied with string.

Why not buy a donkey care session for a group of children on the farm. The children take great pride in mucking-out, feeding, grooming and exercising Applejack, Ned, Marco, Loopy-Lou, Maria and Smiley. We will send you a gift certificate in the post, personalised with your name.

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All goodies available from our online shop at farmsforcitychildren.org/shop

SHOP & DONATE YOUR DETAILS Title:

Full Name:

Address: Postcode: Tel:

Email:

Products 1

Mud & Magic Tea Towel

£6.00

£

2

Playing Cards

£6.00

£

3

£75.00

£

£35.00

£

£12.99

£

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A Day of Mud and Magic on the Farm - The joyful feeling of virtual giving!

A Donkey Care Session - The joyful feeling of virtual giving!

A Song of Gladness: A story of Hope for us and our planet by Michael Morpurgo The Birthday Duck by Michael Morpurgo

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War Horse Picture Book by Michael Morpurgo

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Price

Quantity

Subtotal

£12.99

£

£10.00

£

8

Notebook Set

£7.50

£

9

Postage and Packaging

£3.50

£3.50

I would like to add a donation of

£ Total

£

Thank you for your support Please return this order form with a cheque made payable to Farms for City Children to : Freepost Plus RUBA-HTLU-GUBA Farms for City Children, Huxham Barns, Exeter EX5 4EJ or order online: www.farmsforcitychildren.org/shop

Thank you for your support!

YOUR DETAILS Full Name:

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Postcode: Tel:

Email:

YOUR DONATION

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KEEP IN TOUCH We would love to keep in touch with news about how your support is bringing joy to the children who visit the farms.

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