Butchers’ company visits Wick Court Farm
Butchers’ company visits Wick Court Farm
A group from the Worshipful Company of Butchers – led by Mark Adams – recently visited the Wick Court farm site of the Farms for City Children Charity.
Wick Court is a small livestock farm in Gloucestershire with cattle, sheep and pigs – with access to a nearby dairy farm. iI addition ,they have a fruit and vegetable area. The charity, whose patron is the Princess Royal, is one of the main charities currently supported by the Butchers’ Company. It invites groups of schoolchildren from Key Stages 2 and 3 (together with their teachers) to come and spend a week-long stay in a working farm situation. The children come from inner city or urban situations and, in almost all cases, have no idea of what happens on a farm. There are carefully structured opportunities for milking, lambing, calving, feeding cows – even activities such as mucking out and cheese-making.
The Butchers’ Company party observed children from a school in Wimbledon learning about life on the farm; interestingly, the teachers also found they were learning a lot too. Staff on the farm were on hand to answer questions, demonstrate and assist with the practical work and provide attractive classroom activities. The children were clearly enjoying the experience and learning new things about the countryside and where their food came from. The inevitable questions cropped up about how meat is produced, welfare of animals etc. but answers were given by the staff in a sensitive but honest way.
The group came away very impressed by the quality of the experience the children were having – admiring the skill of the friendly and highly capable staff. The future prosperity of the meat industry will surely require steadily improving communication about what we do and why and how we do it. Getting a positive message over to 10 and 11 year old urban children must be a good start!
