PCF Journal launch at Berry Bros. & Rudd

Our Executive Director Keith Halstead warmly welcomed our guests, and we then heard from Lizzy Rudd, Chair of Berry Bros. & Rudd. Lizzy spoke of the importance, as a family business, to support farming families and those who look after the land, and about the history of the King’s Ginger liqueur, 10% of the profits of which are donated to the PCF.

PCF Chair Heather Hancock then spoke with two PCF beneficiaries. Alex Begg from The White Swan at Gressehall told our guests how a grant from the PCF had enabled them to complete the fit out of their community pub: “Like many parts of the countryside, Gressenhall has an aging population, so the funding enabled us to ensure the pub is fully accessible. This means it really is at the heart of our community.”

Alex was followed by Emma Billings, a fourth generation arable and cattle farmer from Lincolnshire who has taken part in the Farm Resilience Programme and Farm for the Future: “Farming can be really isolating – this event is my husband’s first trip to London – and the PCF programmes really are behind the success of where we are today. Succession in farming is not an easy subject ever to face as we all hope to go on forever, but talking about this and addressing the future is so important and this helped our family look and plan for the future. We now have Billy our son as a partner to carry the business on if anything was to happen to us.”

“Family farms are at the heart of the countryside and we need to start supporting this. Your programmes have done this for our family and we look forward to celebrating another 100 years with how you set us up.”

The evening closed with a prize draw which was kindly supported by PCF partners – the Caravan and Motorhome Club, Davidstow and Berry Bros. & Rudd. The Kings Fizz cocktails flowed and an incredible £1,228 was raised to support our work.

A huge thank you to Berry Bros. & Rudd and all those who attended!