With the Royal Highland Show in full swing, we hear from the 2023/24 presidential team of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) about their activities over the past year.
Prior to 1960, the Royal Highland Show travelled among the eight RHASS member regions, including Edinburgh and the Lothians, the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Strathclyde, Perth, Aberdeen, the Highlands and Islands, and most importantly this year, Stirling.
Fast forward to now, the Royal Highland Show has taken centre stage at Ingliston for the last 64 years. As a nod to each of the regions, the RHASS presidential team alternates between regions each year, and the elected presidential team work to promote and highlight what their region has to offer.
The Scottish Farmer hears from the RHASS 2023/24 presidential team, including president Robin Gray, alongside vice-presidents Alistair Donaldson OBE (FRAgS), Maimie Paterson, Alastair Logan, and James McLaren. They are joined by members from Aberlour Scotland’s Children’s Charity, including Sarah McNaught, head of marketing and communications, and Mary Page, service manager. As well as RHET Forth Valley project co-ordinator, Katie Brisbane.
Aberlour Scotland’s Children’s Charity
Throughout the last few months, RHASS has collaborated with the Forth Valley Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) and Stirling-based Aberlour Scotland’s Children’s Charity. This initiative focuses on working with children and youngsters aged 4-27, with facilities covering all of Scotland.
The project aimed to organise and deliver opportunities for severely disadvantaged youngsters through introductions to farms and food production. Various educational workshops, skill-building programmes, shows, and on-farm visits provided hands-on experiences, including mock auctions, collecting eggs for pancakes, and a visit to The Smiddy butchery and farm shop, Blair Drummond, where they also made and enjoyed burgers.
The presidential team expressed gratitude to the Forth Valley RHET project coordinator Katie Brisbane and chair Lynne Reid for their efforts in providing an engaging and fulfilling events calendar for the young adults over the last year, alongside the team at Aberlour Children’s Charity.
Mary Page commented on the aims of Aberlour and how it helps 7500 children annually: “Aberlour is one of Scotland’s largest children’s charities. We bring relief and hope to disadvantaged families across Scotland who are struggling to cope.
“We have been giving children safe and loving homes since 1875 in what started as an orphanage in the Highlands of Scotland. Aberlour now helps families in poverty, young people at risk of exclusion and empowers parents to provide a safe and nurturing home for their children. Our focus is on reaching children and families in time, to prevent their problems spiralling out of control and into crisis.
“Every year we help children who are affected by parental substance misuse, domestic abuse and/or mental ill health; or grow up in deprivation at risk of exploitation, isolation, mental illness, substance misuse and crime; or have a disability.”
Katie Brisbane highlighted the response from both the youngsters and farmers: “Throughout the five Aberlour farm visits, it has been an unbelievably rewarding process for volunteers and participants alike. The young people, aged 12 and upwards, open up like flowers in bloom during each 60-90 minute visit, and the volunteers are left buzzing as they feed off the new learning experience they are providing.”
She continued: “Every visit has brought success, as these amazing young people have never been on a farm, and some have never left the city they live in. A standout story was when a young girl, who had never seen a real horse and was obviously unsure, met Bob the Connemara pony. She first touched, then cuddled, and finally led the obliging animal, saying in an emotional whisper to the support worker, ‘I am holding a horse!’ Each young person took something away from each farm visit."
Some of the highlights included making burgers from scratch – from carcase to patty press, to take home.”
RHASS presidential dinner
To promote farming, food production, and the general rural sector, RHASS organised an inaugural president’s dinner at Dunblane in early February this year.
President Robin Gray said: “We set out to raise around £60,000 and were blown away to have raised twice that.
It is a testament to the support we have received from members, Young Farmers, and local businesses.” Some 325 members attended the evening, including 70 Young Farmers.
Robin added: “It was fantastic to see a mixture of both young and older generations at the dinner, as our motto this year has been to encourage the next generation into the industry.”
The evening featured a raffle with donations from various local businesses, including Blair Drummond Safari Park, Stirling Trailers, Forth Valley Vets, and Clay Pigeon Scotland, among others. A charity auction was led by vice-president Alistair Logan and auctioneer Alex Fleming, with items ranging from livestock and meat products to tractor hire and nights away. An after-dinner speech was then completed by Alex.
RHASS thanks those who attended the event and the sponsors for contributing towards the £120,000 total raised.
Since the event, the funds have been allocated as follows: £40,000 to RHET Forth Valley, £40,000 to Aberlour Scotland’s Children’s Charity, £20,000 to RHET Central, and £20,000 split equally among four local shows.
RHET has planned to invite 27 children from Aberlour Scotland’s Children’s Charity to attend The Royal Highland Show and will continue to provide free educational activities and learning opportunities to youngsters about the countryside.
Katie Brisbane discussed plans to allocate the funds: “RHET Forth Valley is extremely grateful to the RHASS presidential team for raising such an incredible amount and for raising RHET awareness locally.
“The funds will be used to continue to offer transport grants to schools to take pupils onto farms and learn at farm events. It is also going to fund the creation of ‘Moo Maths,’ an exciting project where schools adopt a dairy cow and use her daily data to bring maths to life in the classroom.
She highlighted: “This will be rolled out during the 2024/25 academic year as part of the RHET Journey of Food ‘All Things Dairy.’ If any dairy farmers would like to get involved, please contact forthvalley@rhet.org.uk.”
Additionally, eight Young Farmers have since got involved with RHET, aiming to highlight the contributions of young volunteers through a new ambassador scheme, linking RHET with SAYFC.
Four local shows, including Stirling, Drymen, Doune and Dunblane, and Gargunnock, are using the funds to improve show facilities, provide attendance tickets to Aberlour Scotland’s Children’s Charity, and set up a RHET show stand. One young person from Aberlour Scotland’s Children’s Charity, inspired by their recent insight into agriculture, plans to volunteer for RHET at shows.
Aberlour Scotland’s Children’s Charity is also working to fund further on-farm experiences with the raised funds, including connecting with RHET representatives across the country to find out how they can engage young people in food and farming in their communities.
Conclusion
In the remaining course of the Stirlingshire presidential team, Robin commented on all that has been achieved in supporting the local area and agricultural industry: “We hope to see this project expand around Scotland.
As the term finishes in July, we rely on RHET and Aberlour Scotland’s Children’s Charity to continue to drive this venture forward, hopefully continuing to help deprived kids who have not been able to experience the same upbringings as so many of us within agriculture.”
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