AROUND 1,500 children will find out about where food comes from in the region’s biggest countryside educational event this summer.
And organiser Glendale Agricultural Society has picked Jayne Watson to chair its annual Children’s Countryside Day. Every June, the Glendale Showfield, near Wooler, is transformed into an open air classroom.
And Mrs Watson, who grew up in Glendale, works as an agent for NFU Mutual and lives on a farm near Bowsden Moor, near Berwick, with husband Jonathan and two young sons is well aware of what is needed to make the event a success.
She said: “We can all be proud of the event we have developed and feedback shows that it is a positive learning experience for all the children involved.”
The children attending, who will be aged between four and nine and are from schools in Northumberland and Tyne & Wear, come from both rural and urban areas .
Each year, in order to connect the curriculum to the countryside and allow teachers to help pupils prepare for the day, the event has a theme. This year this will be ‘Grow Eat Grow.’
Mrs Watson said: “Grow Eat Grow is a way of encapsulating the basic principles of ‘you are what you eat’, and becoming more in touch with the source of our food. In its most basic form – we grow food to eat in order to grow.
“Food production is an important part of the Glendale area but is integrated with many other related industries which work together to make our landscape, our community, our workplace and our environment so special.
This year the Countryside Day will show children this diversity and while food production, quality, price and source are all hot topics, the aim is to provide simple, clear messages so children can make their own informed choices in the future.”
The event now in its seventh year is supported not only by the local community but businesses and organisations including the hosts, the Lilburn Estate Farming Partnership.
The local farrier, vet, hunt, stick-dressing association and land agents are involved as well as the National Gamekeepers Organisation, Tarmac Ltd, The Potato Council, the NFU, The Country Trust and the county council.
The participation of local food producers is integral to the day and those represented include Heatherslaw Mill, Doddington Dairy, Sunnyhill Eggs and various local butchers.
Mrs Watson said: “The committee is always looking at new ways to showcase our event and invite new exhibitors.
“Over the last year, the committee has taken the opportunity to learn more from other events and businesses with similar aims so that we can continue to develop and secure the future of this event. ”