Charity Archives - Worshipful Company of Farmers

Locked in the Tower

A traditional event for the Masters of the livery world, the Master was “locked” in the Tower of London only to be released on payment of a fine as part of a fundraising event for British Red Cross. On the night, the combined liveries raised over £30,000.

He writes: We had an entertaining dinner for around 30 of us following which our “judgements” were meted out by the two Sheriffs, leading us to bow heads and take our punishment.

Afterwards, we witnessed the “Ceremony of The Keys”, when the Warders – also known as Beefeaters – lock the Tower, an event that occurs every evening after/around dusk, escorted of course.

A great evening out and whilst I wasn’t locked up in the White Tower, (shame you might say) I did find out that someone had told the Sheriffs about one of my most embarrassing moments whilst on a family holiday- there are no secrets!

City Farms fundraising lunch

On Monday, May 20, our Livery hosted a City Farms fundraising lunch in the splendid location of the Honourable Artillery Company, welcoming invited guests drawn from City-based firms and organisations.

This inaugural event, hosted by Master Guy Brogden, who welcomed guests alongside Gemma Cooper of Surrey Docks Farm and Chris Pound of Hackney Farm, raised awareness of and promoted the valuable community work carried out by the 12 City Farms, and the benefits and opportunities to City firms who invested in supporting City Farms.

There are 12 Inner-City farms in London (32 nationally) who grow crops and rear livestock. These are charity farms that are run along commercial lines for the benefit of their local communities by engaging with young people, people who have social welfare challenges, and helping visitors to understand more about farming and where food comes from. City Farms collectively welcome over 400,000 visitors per year.

Over the past few years our Livery Company has also organised and funded visits by young people to working commercial farms in the countryside and this has been a great success. This inaugural lunch was a great success in expanding our activity by engaging with London corporate companies to offer a charity experience for their staff to do occasional work at one of the City Farms. Firms have already been engaged to help with feeding and mucking out the animals, planting and harvesting crops or engaging with the farm attendees.

With huge thanks to Carter Jonas, we now have a short video highlighting the excellent work City Farms do for many people in their local community. This link will take you to the video; https://vimeo.com/944421309/5fb438ee6b?share=copy

Safe fields for Ukraine

By Karen Mercer

There has been a great desire within the Worshipful Company of Farmers Livery Company to help support the Ukrainian farmers.

The project below has been bought to my attention. Frendt are a team of 70 specialists who work exclusively in the field of IT solutions for agriculture. Over the past 8 years, they have worked with over 7,000 farms in Ukraine.

Many have already donated generously to Ukraine and I would not want to presume you are able to do more. However, any support to raising the funds for this urgent and worthwhile project would be much appreciated.

‘Safe Fields for Ukraine’

Russia has contaminated agricultural land with mines in six of the main agricultural regions of Ukraine, devastating the recovery process…

40% of the World Food Program’s wheat supplies come from Ukraine…

In 2021, Ukraine exported $27bn agricultural products, $7.6bn to Europe

This will contribute to further global refugee crises and cost of living increases for us all in addition to the loss of life and livelihood among Ukrainian farmers.

In response, a Ukrainian agricultural firm FRENDT in partnership with a Ukrainian University have designed an Unmanned Anti Mine Equipment Prototype using drones and unmanned vehicles based on farmers’ own small tractors.

In a tie up between a group farmers in Ukraine and a British finance professional the aim of this crowdfunding round is to help fund the operationalisation of the prototype to help speed up the de-mining of millions of acres and bring back online millions of acres of agricultural land.

Please also pass share with any friends, firms, organisations who may be interested in supporting this vital and urgent initiative.

For full details and please give any support you may feel able.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/safe-fields-for-ukraine

The Lady Mayoress’ Sleep Out

The Lady Mayoress’ Sleep Out took place on Wednesday 30th March 2022 and our Master braved the cold and drizzle.

An enormous thank you to all those who sponsored Tony Alston (left in picture), Peter Bennett (right), and me.

We raised well over £5,000 between us and had just a glimpse of what life is like for over 12,000 homeless people on the streets of London.

Outside Guildhall

I arrived in good time on the Wednesday, Tony had briefed me on the prime spot to get and it was ours. I had my sleeping bag just under the statue of Dick Whittington who had been Lord Mayor of London three times. Although rain was forecast for several hours during the night, luck was with us and we only had some light drizzle, though the temperature dropped to just above freezing. We came with yoga mats, sleeping bags and tarpaulin sheets. I had layers of clothes on and finished with bed socks, a warm woolly hat and a thick coat.

The Lord and Lady Mayoress arrived at the Guildhall just after 11pm. We had a speech from the Lord Mayor and one of the beneficiaries of our fundraising, the Spitalfields Crypt Trust, who are an East London charity helping the local community to recover from homelessness, addictions, and other complex needs.

It was time to settle down for the night, I huddled right down into my sleeping bag and tried to sleep, not easy as there was chattering into the early hours and then the most phenomenal snorer! Tony could only take it for so long before he was up and finding the culprit. They were soon silenced. Though, Tony did tell me that he had to give me the odd nudge, what me, I really don’t think so!

Tony under his tarpaulin

The Guildhall at night

We eventually dropped off, but at 4.30am the Guildhall was coming to life again, and breakfast was served at 5.00am.

Never would I have thought that the first thing I would see in the morning, would be Tony next to me. Mary he was the perfect gent.

Thank you for all your generous support for an evening that I will remember for a long time to come.

Now more than ever, I will always remember and show my support to those less fortunate than us, who have nowhere to call home.

Thank you, best wishes and sleep well tonight.

Karen

The Master Farmer

Charity

Locked in the Tower

City Farms fundraising lunch

Safe fields for Ukraine

The Lady Mayoress’ Sleep Out

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The Lady Mayoress’ Sleep Out