Since its establishment, The Princes Countryside Fund has been supporting those in rural areas in a variety of innovative and forward-thinking ways. Here we take a look at how their funding, training schemes and care for the people in the countryside has helped build a stronger community.
The Village Survival Guide
In 2018, The Princes Countryside Fund launched their Recharging Rural research survey, which saw over 3,000 people take part, telling the charity about the challenges they faced living in rural areas and more so, how they were pulling together to overcome these.
It inspired the Village Survival Guide, a manual filled with hopeful stories of rural people ensuring their communities survive, and practical advice on how to utilise skills and talents to do so.
The guide covers topics including how to set up shops, pubs, and hubs; rural housing; transport; business development; digital infrastructure; and how to get help when you need it. The Village Survival Guide helps communities to seize the opportunity and create some of their own local solutions, to both social and economic issues in the countryside.
Countrymen
Countrymen UK, Dorset
The Countrymen UK offer farm-based and remote support to isolated and lonely men from rural and farming backgrounds. It was set up to meet the challenges rural men are facing, which could be anything from isolation due to ill health or changing social circumstances.
Julie Plumley, Trustee of Countrymen UK, says: Our grant from The Princes Countryside Fund has really helped us to support older men from rural Dorset during the coronavirus crisis. It allowed us to transition back to farm-based sessions from remote delivery, which in turn has helped the men and their carers become less isolated. Many experienced losses during this time, often of a loved one but also a loss of freedom: freedom to leave the house, freedom to visit their husbands in hospital or care homes, and freedom to socialise and do activities that might keep the men mobile and mentally healthy.
Tir Dewi
Tir Dewi, Wales
A support network in Wales, since Tir Dewis inception in 2015, the charity has gone on to support hundreds of Welsh farmers, and in 2019, The Princes Countryside Fund awarded them a grant to continue their important work.
Gareth Davies, director of Tir Dewi, says: The pressures facing farmers can be huge. Simply having someone to talk to can be a lifeline. In other instances, we send volunteers on-farm and gradually work on the problems, not for the farmers but with them. Without us, there are several farms that would have failed. The concerns of farmer mental health farmer breakdown, hospitalisation and suicide are grave. Working with The Princes Countryside Fund has made a significant difference; we simply would not be able to survive without them.
Village hall
Barton Bendish Village Hall, Norfolk
The hall was built in 1905 and has served as a village hall since the first world war. In order to continue its relevance and ensure it can continue to be a hub for the community, it has recently benefitted from an extension and refurbishment with help from The Princes Countryside Fund, providing funding for the installation of a heating system, hearing loop, new lobby and store.
Chris Parsons, secretary to the trustees, says.It is really great to see the hall being used so much and so many people benefitting from the improvements. We have never seen it so busy, and everyone is very complimentary about the space and the new facilities. Our bookings are more than double the pre-pandemic/pre-refurbishment use."
