To celebrate 25 years of educating schoolkids about food and farming, Royal Northern Countryside Initiative is holding a dinner-dance on Friday, October 7, in Jury’s Inn at Aberdeen Airport.

The RNCI was conceived in October, 1997, following the Royal Northern Agricultural Society’s first Food and Farming Day – ow named Countryside Live – held at Strathorn, Old Rayne, when the event host, George Skinner, along with RNAS directors, Jim Arbuckle and Robert Maitland, hosted an introductory dinner for local agricultural firms to invite them to support an initiative to promote farming, food and the countryside to North-east school children.

The dinner was chaired by Sandy Inverarity, the president of SFACET – the forerunner to the Royal Highland Education Trust, which had launched a similar organisation in central Scotland.

With the positive support of the agricultural community and businesses and the RNAS, and £50,000 of funding committed over the first five years, the RNCI was launched with great enthusiasm in November, 1997, with Mr Arbuckle as chairman.

The other founding committee members were George Skinner (RNAS), the late John Miskelly (NFU Scotland), Jim Cruickshank (ANM Group), Angela McGregor (Hattoncrook), Robert Maitland (RNAS), Gordon Alexander (Harbro) and Marion Miller (Miller Plant), with Sarah Rose of SFACET as secretary.

“We all agreed that it was important that school pupils should have the opportunity to learn more about where their food comes from and the importance of the countryside,” said Mr Arbuckle.

Following the official launch at Upper Kinknockie, Mintlaw, on March 26, 1998, courtesy of Harry Emslie, the RNCI has consistently provided quality education, linked to the curriculum, delivered into schools in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray via the now famous mobile countryside classroom on wheels, school projects, farm visits and food and farming days.

Over the last 25 years, the RNCI has continued the ethos of children, education and countryside and expanded to a full-time project manager, part-time education assistant, along with a wide range of resources for schools and food and farming days. In the last academic year, the RNCI has provided learning experiences for over 16,500 school pupils.

"None of this would be possible without the support of the agricultural community and we feel the work of the initiative is worth celebrating after 25 years," said Billy Stewart, joint chairman of the organising committee and current president of the RNAS.

The 25th anniversary function will be chaired by Phil Wrigglesworth of SRUC, who is the present chairman of RNCI, and tickets at £40/head are available from the project manager, Alison Johnston, on 07716 424147