Reporting for Farmers Guardian on efforts to get animal feed and bedding to those blighted by floods in the south-west inspired Guild member Georgina Haigh to make her own contribution.
FG’s arable reporter keeps cattle and horses on her parents’ farm at Daventry, Northamptonshire. She and her fellow Wormleighton YFC members and local farmers felt moved to offer help after seeing the plight of flood-ravaged farmers on the Somerset Levels.
“I recently interviewed Andrew Ward who led the #forageaid scheme after the crisis in Spring last year and it got me thinking about how I could help the relief effort in the south-west,” she says.
Using social media tools Facebook and Twitter to rally support, she quickly got a positive response: “Between us we managed to get quite a lot of forage together. No one has a huge amount spare but people donated one or two bales and we’ve managed to get an artic load together plus another load on a tractor and trailer.”
Georgina plans to coordinate her club members with those from other YFCs in Essex and Somerset to offer assistance for the clean-up operation when the flood waters subside.
Note: Farmers Guardian is raising cash for RABI and RSABI to mark its 170th year of publication – see FG team goes booze free in News – and these agricultural charities England/Wales and Scotland are providing funds to help farmers affected by the floods. To donate click here.
Peter Hill
