Carol Brunton was speaker at the 5th December club meeting. Carole has for the past 14 years been Fife Project Coordinator of the Royal Highland Educational Trust and came to tell us about the work of the charity, which was founded in 1999. A team of around 1,500 volunteers carries out its work.
We heard that the purpose of RHET is to bring farming and the working countryside and its practices to life for young people. The charity works with partners to offer opportunities for Scotland’s young people, from ages 3 to 18, to learn about the Scottish agricultural environment and countryside.
The aim is for every child in Scotland to learn about food, farming and the countryside and to create a wider understanding of the environmental, economic and social realities of rural Scotland. Carole’s interesting presentation described the broad range of activities on offer:
•Farm visits for schools
•Classroom talks by volunteer farmers
•Free educational resource materials for schools
•Outdoor education events across Scotland
•Competitions and projects for schools.
Farmers and teachers are also trained in the delivery of information. It was interesting to hear that every academic year, RHET takes more than 16,500 children onto farms and estates throughout Scotland and over 28,000 pupils meet a farmer through a talk in their school. For the future the charity wants to be able to contact each child three times during the course of their schooling.
At the Royal Highland Show in June each year, RHET accommodates roughly 300 school groups on the Thursday and Friday and provides educational activities for the general public on the Saturday and Sunday of the Show.
Support and resources are free to schools in Scotland and are arranged by a team of Project Coordinators and volunteer committees, representing each of twelve Countryside Initiatives. Although recognised by the Scottish Government, financial support is not provided and money has to be raised via sponsors and fund-raising.
Following questions an appreciative vote of thanks was proposed by Allan wood.
More about RHET can be found at www.rhet.org.uk
