It’s been a busy start to the year for our coordinators in the Scottish Borders – Lesley and Ann.

January saw the reintroduction of Crucial Crew, a fantastic safety event, held in kelso, led by the Police. We had time with every P5 in the borders, over the 3 weeks event, talking about farm safety including closing gates, cows and calves, electric fences and blind spots in tractors. Thanks to Lloyds for lending us a shiny new tractor for the duration.

We’ve had a teacher training day at Tweedbank showing teachers what we can do to help them with their learning activities in school. Ann has also had numerous farm visits, including 4 with ESG Drysdales as part of their Neeps Rising campaign. We took the students onto farm to see the swedes being harvested then followed the trailer to the factory at Cockburnspath where they watched them being washed, graded, topped and tailed and packed – a really insightful trip for all the children.

Teacher Gordon said – The trip was one of the most significant the school had been on. The attendees felt it gave a very realistic impression of what is involved with modern vegetable growing. The field visit gave a better understanding of scale and the complexities of such a task. The factory visit opened pupils eyes to the complexities of mechanisation, staffing and attention to detail in satisfying a consumer. It showed pupils an alternative and prosperous agriculture than they had experienced so far. Most felt that if they could drive they would be happy to work there in some capacity.’

Thanks to Drysdales for initiating this collaboration. The money that we get from BPR to pay for school buses is absolutely invaluable and bring so many more visits than we would have if the schools were to try and find funds themselves.

On 24th March volunteers in the Borders assisted us with our online, live talk to a farmer week where we showcased both broccoli and swede production. Children from all over Scotland watched a 15 minute pre-recorded video and then asked questions directly to the farmer. These videos are uploaded to the RHET website and remain there for other classes to watch back at any time and prove extremely popular.

Looking forward Term 4 we have Countryside Day and 2 Estate Days at the Hirsel coming up in May, along with many farm visits and class talks and this year we will be pleased to welcome you all to our education shed at Scotsheep on 10th June at Wedderlie. If anyone would like to volunteer for a couple of hours in the morning please get in touch with Ann Redpath [email protected] (Tickets and lunch provided!) We are always indebted to all volunteers who offer to help at these big events, we truly can’t do it with them.

Now finally – there are many ways you can help RHET but for one brave volunteer, Stephen Ball, running 100 miles, almost non stop, for fun is his thing! Stephen is running the Bamburgh to Edinburgh rat race in July and we are looking for lots of sponsors to encourage him on his way.

To show your support please visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/rhetcastletocastlerun