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Oxfordshire - Catherine ChristensonWFU member appointed High Sheriff Oxfordshire member, Anne Kelaart, has recently been appointed as High Sheriff for Oxfordshire. As such her aim is to focus on the Rural Dimension in Oxfordshire and she is teaming up with Nettlebed and Drayton Farming Clubs to hold an Open Day for the general public to have a closer look at farming. It will take place on Sunday, June 20th at Whitelees Farm just below Wittenham Clumps, and is by invitation of the new High Sheriff. Everyone is welcome to come free of charge, and there will be tractor and trailer rides around the farm from 10am onwards with regular stops for farmers to explain and answer questions about the various crops being grown. The WFU will be there to promote the 'Perfect Picnic'. In addition, there’ll be sheep shearing, a display of machinery, a Farmer’s Market with the freshest of local produce and a spit roast. Sounds a lovely family day out. Good Food on the Public Plate event (with full acknowledgement to Sustain, who thought up the title)
Report of 2003 We met in May to watch the Dawn French video on 'Presentation' which was fun as well as being full of helpful tips - even if one was the rather sobering fact that it normally takes at least ten times as long to prepare a talk as it does to deliver it! After lunch, when we had our own 'Cheeky Cheese Party' of delicious British cheeses, we listened to a recording of a Radio 4 programme in the 'Changing Places' series, describing how two amazing ladies are trying to use local produce in school meals. As a result of this, we have been talking to members of the education committee of the County Council to see if it would be possible to do this in Oxfordshire. Matching supply to demand is not easy, and initially we are trying to get one or two schools interested. Here is a brief account of the programme which was broadcast in April 2003. Changing Places - sounds like yet another interior design programme, but in fact is a fascinating series about ordinary people who are changing things in their local area. The programme was about a remarkable 'dinner lady' Jeanette Orrey, from St Peter's C of E Primary School in East Bridgeford, Nottinghamshire, who, after foot and mouth, began to investigate and use local suppliers for her school meals. By cutting out the middlemen, the local farmers get access to a regular local market, they have been able to provide fresh food for more children, and have educated them and their families about food growing and distribution, to help support the local economy. On the other side of the country, Kay Knight, Catering and Contracts Manager at South Gloucestershire Council, has been working to just the same principles but on a much larger scale where numbers of school meals have increased from 2 million meals a year to 4 million. In South Gloucestershire, creative thinking has helped increase healthy eating among pupils. Breakfast clubs provide a welcome meal (with noticeable improvements in behaviour and energy levels). A Fruit Tuck Scheme increases children's consumption of fresh fruit by providing ready-prepared fruit in a cone for just 10p (target to sell half a million portions of fruit tuck this year). It is hoped that the scheme will create new opportunities for local fruit producers to supply the project, especially with fruit of small or irregular sizes and shapes, and therefore not first choice for supermarkets. Local production can help with the traceability and freshness of food and accountability of producers. Put together with the added environmental benefits of reducing food miles, the support of local economies and the social benefits of improving the health and awareness of children about food, this all adds up to a major contribution to creating healthy and sustainable communities. There is much interest in children's diets, including the obesity issue, at the moment, and as most WFU members will have links with schools and food producers perhaps this is a good time for us to promote the use of local produce in schools? In September we held a stand at the Henley Agricultural Association Show, in a marquee sponsored by the local District Council to 'get the farming message over to the public'. As no electricity was available, we were not able to hold a 'Cheeky Cheese Party', so instead we decided to provide a 'Grain Trail'. The stand seemed to create a great deal of interest: plenty of grain in sacks, with little sheaves of the relevant crop standing up in them, with all the various foods produced from the grains radiating out on the table above. The children loved putting their hands in the sacks and also trying to guess what was in the 'Feely Socks', as well as grinding grain; they were each given an envelope to put their 'flour' in to take home, together with one of the excellent 'Cereal Story ' posters provided by the HGCA and the Flour Advisory Bureau. Their first-class Teaching Packs designed for the different Key Stages in the National Curriculum were also greatly appreciated, and having given out as many as we had of these, we were hopeful that 'the message' would be spread even further. We seem to have hit the right note, as we were asked to repeat the stand for two further occasions!
The only sad thing was that, despite having a good supply of the WFU leaflets, we were not able to recruit any much-needed new members. Potential ones were probably busy elsewhere at the Show! The following week, two members held a WFU Publicity Stand at an event in their village, when the 'feely socks' and posters were again used to good effect. Still no new members were recruited though. Future events include helping to organise the annual county Farmers' Harvest Thanksgiving Service at Dorchester Abbey and our own Annual Harvest Supper, when we hope to welcome Gillian van der Meer as our speaker. Shows
2003 news Future meetings include plans to watch the MLC video on PR and presentation skills. Oxfordshire branch is also hoping to send representatives to the Conference at Battle in March. ONCF ONCF is a small charity that acts as a forum for conservation work in Oxfordshire. Members include FWAG, DEFRA, English Nature, the Wildlife Trusts. It publicises a weekly update of what's happening in Oxfordshire to its members. The Executive Officer is:
Farmhouse Breakfast Week 2003
 AGM March 2002 At their AGM at Crowmarsh Battle Farm, Preston Crowmarsh, Wallingford, Oxon. members and guests listened to guest speaker, WFU President, Janet Godfrey talk about the work of WFU. Oxfordshire News - Jan 2002 We would like to wish everyone in the organisation A Happy New Year. We all hope that the year 2002 will be easier than the previous one. We are already looking forward to welcoming Janet on March 12th. We are having a 'get-together' on Monday 14th January to decide how best to entertain her and prospective new members. Has any County got any bright ideas to help us with our plans? We would like to congratulate Gillian van der Meer who we understand has won the N.F.U. South East Region Woman Farmer of the Year Award. We understand that she will be attending a dinner in London to collect it. My (Jean Datson) nomination to this competition, Marilyn Ivings, has come second, which pleases me greatly. We look forward to the W.F.U. Conference at R.A.C. Cirencester at the end of March and hope that as a neighbouring County we can persuade one or two members to attend for perhaps a day. One of our members would like to offer accommodation before or after the Conference, so please get in touch with Mrs Elizabeth Parker-Jervis, Mill Barn, Longworth, Oxon, OX13 5JE, tel /fax 01865 820376. Some of our members will be taking part in the HGCA Farmhouse Breakfast week commencing 21st January. We hope that the weather will not be too cold - our local town of Chipping Norton can be very ' bracing' in a cold snap! We would like to thank our President and C.E.C members for the splendid work that they are doing on Agriculture and the Rural Community's behalf at this time. Programme 2001
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Oxfordshire members celebrated Farmhouse breakfast week at Taste Buds in Addbury, which won the Oxford Village Shop Award in 2002. Owner, Rob Babij, staged a Sausage Tasting morning on Saturday 25th January and distributed HGCA recipe booklets to eager customers.