The club hosted and raised funds at this year’s Oxfordshire Young Farmers’ Federation annual County Show and Rally which took place in the grounds of Ditchley Park, as well as collecting funds at their club dinner.
Visitors to the show got the chance to learn about crafts, sheep shearing and see tug of war competitions between the clubs. Highlight of the day was a parade of floats; each decorated by one of the county’s six Young Farmers’ clubs and designed around movie themes.
The Oxfordshire Federation has almost 300 members across 10 clubs in the county and all have rural life and fundraising activities at their core. R.A.B.I. is a grant-making charity which helps farming people of all ages if they are in financial difficulty.
Enstone YFC chairman Kate Henderson presented the cheque to R.A.B.I. regional manager Jenni Thompson who said: “R.A.B.I. is ever grateful for the fantastic work that YFCs do in raising awareness of the struggles farmers are facing – we’re really thankful for the fundraising efforts of Enstone YFC over 2014”.
R.A.B.I – the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution – is a welfare charity which helps farming people in financial difficulty. Each year they support around 2,000 farming families and in addition to giving practical help pay out more than £2 million in grants.
Support is offered in confidence to people of all ages, and includes for example one-off, emergency or regular payments, as well as the provision of essential household items and disability equipment. For working farmers R.A.B.I. can also fund relief farm staff to help in a crisis, and training through our Gateway scheme. For retired and/or disabled people we can also pay towards care home and home-help costs, and run two residential homes of our own, in Suffolk and Somerset.
Their work is funded by voluntary donations, money raised at events arranged by county volunteer committees, businesses and community groups, our fundraising staff and investment income.
