A company is asking the Bedfordshire farming community and the general public to nominate their local community heroes as part of the nationwide campaign to identify the UK’s Rural Community Champion.
The campaign will celebrate the people who make a real difference to the rural communities in which they live and work, but may often see their efforts go unnoticed and unrecognised.
Andrew Brealy from the South East of England is an example of someone making a real difference to his local farming community. Andrew works closely with his local branch of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI). The charity helps farmers and farm workers in great need, hardship or distress by providing grants. This includes farmers that may have suffered due to extremes of weather, animal disease crises, personal tragedies and isolation.
Anyone that brings a benefit or improvement to the rural community in Bedfordshire is a potential Rural Community Champion and is eligible for nomination. They may be fundraisers, care for elderly neighbours, help restore or maintain community buildings, organise farm visits for school children or organise and support community events and projects.
Mark Thomas, Agrii’s Marketing Manager said: “As a business that works in the countryside and serves the farming industry, we know that there is so much good work going on behind closed doors on top of the ‘day job’. We want to champion and celebrate this with a new campaign and competition.”
The competition will identify 20 local winners from all the nominations received across the UK. They will each win £50 for themselves or to put towards their local project. From these winners a panel of judges will shortlist three finalists, one from each Agrii region – North, East and West – with Bedfordshire being a part of the East region. The overall national winner will be chosen from the three finalists by Agrii customers and will win £1,000. The two runners up will each win £500.
The Rural Community Champion campaign is being run in conjunction with FCN – a charity supported by Agrii that provides advice and support for farming families in times of crisis.