Fordhall Farm Needs Your Help - 1st July Deadline

BungleGirl

Hi,

I hope that this posts fits in with the rules for posting on this board...

I received a share in Forhall Farm for my birthday and having looked into their website I really want to tell as many people as possible about it as they need to raise a £800,000 by 1st July - they have £711,507 so far but they have less than a week to raise the final bit!

As a supporter, I am posting on behalf of the Fordhall Community Land Initiative. I believe that you should be made aware of this exciting project and do your utmost to assist the campaign.

The Fordhall Community Land Initiative (Industrial and Provident Society) has been established to purchase Fordhall Farm, one of the first organic farms in the UK. The soil has been chemical-free for over 65 years – a rarity but a blessing. Mastering the intricate balance between nature and farming has been key to maintaining a rich and diverse collection of wildlife.

Once the land is saved from development, the Initiative will open its gates to the public as an educational and social resource, encouraging students families and working groups to learn about the ‘pasture-to-plate’ cycle firsthand.

The initial stage of this is to purchase the 128 acre freehold for £800,000 by July 1st 2006. There is already a huge volume of support for this pioneering Initiative as people from all over the country come together to ensure the success of this fundamental project. Not only is it providing an invaluable education resource, it is also ensuring a future for small farms and young people entering into the business. It is a pioneering example of putting our land into common ownership – it is the first of its kind in the UK and is an example that should be followed.

Please join us in the fight to secure Fordhall and its future. If you could just take five minutes from your busy week to have a look at http://www.fordhallfarm.com and think about all the reasons why this should succeed. This project needs the chance to reach its potential.

Please note that as per the website their Charity Number is XR1119 they are also an Industrial and Provident Society Reg No 30030R and their society rules are available from a link at the bottom of their homepage.

Thanks for reading,

Sophie

Poppycat

What a lovely idea, I hope they are successful

BungleGirl

I hope so too! I work on a community food project in East Anglia and set up food coops that buy from local farmers, our funding ends on 31st August and I'm hoping I can arrange a volunteer awards night around then for our volunteers and tie it in with a dinner dance/auction type thing to raise money for Fordhall Farm. I called them on Friday to see if it is worth fundraising after the 1st July - they said yes because they have raised a £200,000 bank loan to put towards the £800,000 asking price and also they will have plenty of ongoing costs. They also do volunteer weekends where loads of people congregate to do lots of work based on their individual skills - I didn't find out about it until after this years one but if they have another one I hope to go up with a few of our volunteers to get out hands dirty.

Anyway, this board has given me loads of ideas for planning an auction/fundraising night for them later in the year...

BungleGirl

Just to let you all know that they have raised the £800,000 needed to save the farm. They announced it on BBC Breakfast News this morning!

They now have artists impressions of the plans for a bunkhouse, tearooms and education centre on https://www.fordhallfarm.com

I hope that this will be an inspiration to many and that in the future we will see many more farms going down the route of community ownership.

:T :j :T

Poppycat

Just seen it on BBC news site

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/5120910.stm

Great news that they got the money