News
Children Celebrate The Year of Food & Farming
On the 7th June over 1500 children aged between 4 and 9 celebrated the Year of Food & Farming when attending The Children’s Countryside Day, held at the Glendale Show Ground near Wooler. The aim of this event organised by The Glendale Agricultural Society (GAS) was to educate children in all aspects of farming and rural life. It gave children a unique opportunity to share with GAS the experiences, traditions and relevance of agriculture in their lives.
Pupils visiting the show experienced first hand, and for some for the first time, all aspects of rural life and farming. They learnt about the seasonality of their food, and why it is important to consider this throughout the year. They saw meat as it progressed from farm to auctioneer, from butcher’s block to barbecue.
There were over 40 stands from hand crafted walking sticks and sheep being sheared to gun dog training, from crops to cows and hens to honey.
Fiona Burn, chairperson of the Children’s Countryside Day said, ‘Our aim is to educate, and with such a fantastic response it is obvious that teachers feel that the Children’s Day is of benefit to teaching the pupils about the countryside and the people that are involved in working there. We have a wonderful network of supporters for the event and they all give their time and knowledge so generously to contribute to the success of the day.’
The Glendale Agricultural Society is the organiser of North Northumberland's and largest countryside event The Glendale Show held on August Bank Holiday Monday every year. In addition to learning about the countryside and where their food comes from the Society hopes that it will encourage children and their families to return to the countryside for a visit or to take part in a healthy activity.