Staffordshire

Huge Success for Charity Pea & Pie Supper

October 2009

The Sneyd Arms, Whiston was inundated with local farmers and their families in support of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) at the charity evening held on Thursday 29th October. Pie and peas followed by traditional apple crumble helped to set everyone up for over 100 auction prizes kindly donated by local people and businesses.

Local auctioneer, Mark Simcock flew through the items entertaining the audience of over 125 people. The useful items for auction ranged included bags of dog food, a large bird table, homemade cakes and tool sets.

George Fallows (Staffordshire RABI Chairman) and his wife, Elsie, of Eavesford Farm, Whiston were pleased to be organising a local event raising £2612 for the charity. In addition, regional agricultural banking division at Barclays Bank PLC were generous enough to match-fund to the value of £750.

Elsie said, “We have been long supporters of the charity and so pleased that the supper raised so much. It’s good to see friends and the farming community helping fellow people who are suffering”.

Staffordshire RABI Committee are now preparing for their next event, the annual dinner to be held on Thursday 18th March at the Staffordshire County Showground. RABI will be celebrating their 150th Anniversary in 2010, so the committee hopes to make this event another huge success and are extremely pleased to have Countryfile Presenter, Adam Henson as their guest speaker.

RABI provides grants totaling nearly £2m to over 1500 beneficiaries nationally. On a local level, there are 22 beneficiaries in Staffordshire aged between 41 and 94, receiving over £21,000.

Brocton Shoot

June 2009

The Brocton Shoot tookplace on Wednesday 17th June and raised £181.50 for RABI.

Countrytastic Show

April 2009

I attended the Countrytastic Show at the Three Counties Show Ground to advertise national Welly Week. Lots of children entered our 'decorate a welly' competition which gave me chance to talk to parents and visitors about the campaign and all the ways in which we help the farming community.

Countryfile presenter, Adam Henson stopped off at our stand to support Welly Week.

Annual Fundraising Dinner

March 2009

Black Country Comedian, Dougie Parker entertained guests at the Staffordshire Annual Dinner on the 19th March. The evening took place at the Stafford Showground and raised a substantial sum for RABI particularly through the raffle. The dancing from the girls at Stafford School of Dance and magicians entertaining guests at their table during dinner both went down very well.

Barclays Agricultural Managers, Joan Bennet and Peter Russell present RABI Chairman George Fallows with a cheque for £750 towards matching funding the raffle.

Stafford School of Dance

Barclays Gives Long-Term Support to Farming Charity

May 2008

Barclays Regional Agricultural Division has donated £1,500 to the funds raised at the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution’s Staffordshire committee’s 10th anniversary dinner.  The bank, which has supported the event for the past 10 years by match funding the raffle and promises auction proceeds, has helped farming’s national charity to raise tens of thousands of pound to assist those suffering hardship in the farming community.

The money raised at the annual dinner, held on the Staffordshire showground, contributes to the grant payments made by RABI in the county.  In addition to the regular grants to 20 elderly or disabled beneficiaries, last year RABI paid out over £17,000 in emergency grants in Staffordshire, to help those hit by the summer floods and animal movement restrictions resulting from the outbreaks of foot and mouth and bluetongue.

Speaking at the cheque presentation at this week’s Staffordshire Show, Barclays assistant agricultural manager Jane Bennett said:  “We are delighted to be able to support the important work of RABI in this way, knowing that our contribution is going to help local people.”  

Barclays is also supporting the RABI Gateway Project, a new initiative that helps low-income farming families develop and gain recognised accreditation for skills that can enable them to earn extra income from beyond the farm business. Staffordshire is one of the areas where this has been piloting.

To date, the most popular request for Gateway grants has been to cover the cost of gaining HGV/LGV licences but joinery, butchery and computer courses are also attracting interest.  The scheme is open to farmers and those working on farms. 

Anyone interested in developing their skills and in need of financial support in gaining the necessary qualifications should call the RABI helpline on 01865 727888 for an information pack.

Tel: 01630 638997 Mobile: 07876 492839 Email: kate.roberts@rabi.org.uk