Fordhall prepares for the Summer Fair

All this week Fordhall Farm is busy preparing for it's biggest event of the year!
Our famous Summer Fair takes place this weekend and this years event will not disappoint. All day from 11am -4pm, we are chocoblock with so many fun activities for everyone to take part in.

Activities include tree climbing, farmers' market, fishing on the River Tern, live theatre, the RAF helicopter, live music, donkeys, archery and much much more.

New this year we also have have Chickens and Centre Court - Fordhall does Wimbledon! Where we are showing the tennis final in the Fordhall Garden with fresh strawberries and cream and Pimms and lemonade available. How could you refuse?!

Please come and show us your support and enjoy a great day out. Admission costs just £5 per car (regardless of how many people you squeeze in!)and it is guaranteed to be a great day out for all the family - tell everyone! (Admission is free if you walk,cycle or use public transport.)

See you there...... Hannah

Charlotte helped to Launch Morgan Awards 2009

After winning the Morgan Foundation Awards in the 'Against All Odds' category in 2008, Charlotte was asked to help launch the 2009 round. Founded by Steve Morgan, founder of Redrow Development and Chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, the foundation aims to offer funding for small to medium sized organisations who are addressing specific needs in these regions. They are particularly keen to support those who have already begun to make an impact, but need a helping hand to expand their work and increase their effectiveness.

Every year the foundation run awards for entrepreneurship, with many categories. Last year the Fordhall Community Land Initiative, entered and against stiff conpetition we won!

It was an amazing achievement to win the award, which has provided vital funds for the renovation of the old farm buildings at Fordhall Farm. Architects have now been commissioned and surveys are being completed to allow the project to move forward to planning permission.

Charlotte said "we are extremely grateful to Steve and the Morgan Foundation. Winning the awards has given the FCLI encouragement it needed to progress and invest in our infrastructure. The hope is that by the end of next summer we will have a classroom space, local food tearoom, offices and toilet facilities. We currently have only 2 yurts and a compost loo, which are fine for the moment, but I think we may need something a little more permanent and flexible for the future."

If anyone is interested in applying for the awards take a look at their website

http://www.mf-awards.co.uk/

The Adventures of George Part Five

Baaah! What a great week – it’s been so nice and warm so far this week that I am so energetic, I just had to help out and what an exciting week.
Ben is giving the farm shop a revamp and it is really looking great. Charlotte, Ben, Chris (who volunteers and helps Ben) and Frederick, who is an student from France have all been working really hard and I am sure you will like the changes that they have made. I tried my best to help with the changes but sometimes I look like I am about to have a little accident and Charlotte tells me to get out. Oh dear!
Why not come and check out the shop this weekend (and see me too of course!)
See you next week
George

The Adventures of George Part Four

Hi there,
George here again. Sorry I missed the blog last week, but after all the rain over the weekend and all the work that got done at the working weekend - I felt like my hooves needed a rest. Anyway...Ben is back from his hols now and I was so excited to see him that I felt like I had to throw all my energy into helping him on the farm. Ben spent part of the day yesterday on his quad bike rounding up the cows. He was moving the pregnant cows into another paddock so that he can keep an eye on them a bit better. I tried my best to help but got very tired at the bottom of the field so I had to be brought back up on the quad bike (as you can tell).
Please come back next week and see what I have been up then.

George...with a little help from Hannah

Recovering from a damp but fantastic working weekend at Fordhall Farm.....

After a fantastic (but wet!) volunteer weekend at Fordhall Farm everyone is now dry and happy after a really hardworking few days. Although the rain didn't stop all weekend, so many fantastic jobs got started and completed including lots of jobs on the farm trail, some fabulous new benches, a handrail on the Motte and Bailey site and some great conservation work plus lots, lots more.

Stayed tuned for George's update on Wednesday....!

The next working weekend is the 16th August - 17th August, if you would like to sign up for this please email me on project@fordhallfarm.com.

Hannah

The Adventures of George ...Part Three....Preparing for the Working Weekend

...baah! As most of you know this weekend is the Fordhall Farm Working Weekend and as we have got people attending from all over the country I thought I better make an early start. So today I started collecting some of the tools that will be needed over the weekend. ....It's tough work but hopefully the hardworking volunteers will appreciate from my kind gesture. Not only is this weekend a working weekend but it is also Open Farm Sunday. This means that the farm is open to the public to enjoy a superb Fordhall BBQ (although as a lamb I am not going to linger on the thought of this!)a bug hunt for children and a guided walk at 12pm. This event is free and ....you can come and say hi to me too!Bonus! Baaaaa!

If anyone reading this would liken to volunteer at a future volunteer working weekend please contact my good friend Hannah on 01630 638696 or email project@fordhallfarm.com

Save Our Roof - The Fordhall Farmhouse Roof Fund.

By now many of you will have received your letter, or maybe seen the appeal on our website..... Anyway... We need your help to save the Fordhall Community Land Initiatives most valuable capital asset....The Farmhouse Roof!
The roof is in urgent need of repair as moisture ingress is now causing serious structural damage. The roof needs to be repaired as soon as possible to ensure that the building will not deteriorate any further and to allow repairs inside to begin.
Fordhall Farmhouse is such a beautiful building and one day we hope to fully restore it to its former glory. Renovating the roof is the first vital step in ensuring the Fordhall Community Land Initiative’s (FCLI) most valuable capital asset remains this way.

Owned by the Fordhall Community Land Initiative and its shareholders, the farmhouse is rented to the Hollins family and is an integral part of the farm’s history. Parts of it are over 200 years old and the interior still retains the beauty of bygone ages. The farmhouse has seen so much throughout the years from the birth of Arthur’s mother in the rooms upstairs, to the days in which Fordhall existed as a country club. Let’s not allow it to go to ruins and be spoilt forever. This is a hugely valuable project and worth pulling together for.
Any donation however small (or large!) is fantastic. It soon adds up! This can be done easily via Paypal on our website.
A huge thank you must go to all the people that have already donated towards this important cause.
Thank you.
Jack Tavernor, Board member and chairman of the Building sub group

The Adventures of George ...Part Two

After all the excitement of my first blog last week I thought I had better write the world another.........
This week (after the recovery of my words being published on the World Wide Web) I decided to take it easy and indulge in a spot of relaxing reading - my literature of choice? Why the 'Fordhall Newsletter' of course!
The newsletter arrived in the office on Tuesday and all day yesterday and today volunteers have been eagerly stuffing newsletters into envelopes in order to send them out on time to supporters. I have, of course, had many of my photographs published in that too, so decided that today was the perfect time to take some time out and read through it (Oh....it's very good!)

See you this time next week.

George
(This blog has been written with a bit of help from Hannah - my hooves just aren't good for typing!)

The Adventures of George.....

Welcome to our new feature....The adventures of George!
George is our resident Cade lamb at Fordhall Farm (Cade= left by it's mother at birth and had to be bottle fed.) He is often up to no good but also likes to take an active part in farmyard life and observe whatever is happening.So...over to George...

'Hi there. Yesterday I watched Ben and the vet testing the cows for TB. It was very interesting to watch and I learnt a lot! I even learnt how it is tested. Maybe they will let me have a go next year......
Firstly the animal is identified (by its ear tag) and its identification recorded (Charlotte helped with this bit.) Then two injection sites are selected in the middle third of the side of the neck, one above the other, separated by about 13cm. Hair is then clipped around the sites to a radius of about 2cm (it's all very technical) Next a fold of skin at both sites is measured with calipers and the measurements recorded (Charlotte was extremely busy writing all these bits and bobs down)Then tuberculin is injected into the skin and the upper site is used for the avian tuberculin.
This is all I saw yesterday but I was informed by Ben that the next stage is that 72 hours later, the vet will return, confirm the animals identity and measure the same fold of skin at both sites and records the thickness of the skin fold. Then the results are known'
What a great day, I love helping out. Hmmmm...I wonder what i will get up to next? Watch this space.......!

Dawn Chorus Walk sets the standard

Last Saturday (2nd May) Fordhall Farm hosted a Dawn Chorus Walk as part of International Dawn Chorus Day run by the Wildlife Trusts. The walk was guided by local bird twitcher and volunteer Paul Rutter and was very well attended.

I have to say that getting up at 5am to hear the birds sing was not my idea of a relaxing Saturday morning! But, it was actually a wonderful event. Paul did a fantastic job of identifying the individual calls out of a mass of bird chorus - something which amazed me every time...

We walked around the diverse woodlands at Fordhall, the spring fed pools, and the wetlands (the photo shows one of the many rookeries we have on the farm). There was no escape! A full list of the birds spotted will appear in the newsletter, I can't remember them all here.

The success of the event (always held in May as this is when the birds sing their little hearts out in a bid to find a mate and define boundaries) has led to discussions for larger events in 2010. We would like to do a family walk with camping the night before, and a open public walk with a Fordhall cooked breakfast at the end. So, if you missed the walk in 2009, there will be another chance next year!

Of course, if you are keen, you can always pop down to Fordhall yourself one early morning this month. But, please book this in before you arrive.

Charlotte