REAL Food and Farming

Food and Farming for REAL, the champion of Uplands farming, has handed over a cheque for more than £2,000 to the ARC-Addington Fund, a national charity that supports hard-hit farming families.

The cash was raised through a number of fund-raising activities surrounding this year’s Kilnsey Show, where the REAL village proved one of the highlights, featuring all the different areas to which hill farming communities contribute – from the view you see to the food on your plate, supported by regional arts and culture, rural crafts and skills.

Food and Farming for REAL chairman, farmer Steven Crabtree, who also runs Bolton Abbey Foods, said: “The project has proved a runaway success in raising perceptions locally, regionally and nationally of the importance of the Uplands by shining the spotlight on the vital role and positive contribution hill farming communities make to modern-day life.

“While Food and Farming for REAL now ceases to exist in its current format, it has made such a positive impact that we are looking at various options that will allow us to both continue and build on the success of this flagship initiative.”

The £2,060 cheque was jointly presented to Ian Bell, director of the ARC-Addington Fund, by Food and Farming for Real committee member Christine Clarkson, of Embsay, and Lynda Spence, manager of the Skipton group of branches at Barclays, which provides matched funding to the charity.

The ARC-Addington Fund was established in 2001 at the request of the Archbishop of Canterbury as the Church’s response to the foot and mouth outbreak. It was re-constituted in 2002 as a charity seeking to provide housing for persons leaving non-viable rural businesses and has to date distributed over £10.3 million.