Children’s Countryside Day

The Countryside Day was Interactive, Informative – and Record-Breaking

Over 1650 children from 40 schools learnt from over 65 exhibitors why cheese doesn’t grow on trees and the importance of farming in their local community.

Yesterday saw the 14th Glendale Agricultural Society’s (GAS)

annual Children’s Countryside Day, held in Wooler, rural North Northumberland. With its objective being to give all children the chance to meet face-to-face, farmers, food producers, their products and animals, it was a true highlight in primary education.

Originally known as the ‘Classroom in the Countryside’, the multi-award winning educational day encourages children, aged between 8 and 10, to quite literally grow their knowledge and give them a detailed insigt into what life is like in the countryside at all levels. With combines and tractors, sheep shearing, cattle and rural pursuits, the school children, who attended from schools across Northumberland and Tyneside, had a day to remember in more ways than one. And one thing that they certainly learnt was that their food does not start life in a supermarket.

With over 65 rural organisations exhibiting, each and every stand gave the children a learning opportunity. Vintage machinery gave the children an insight into the history of farming and the robotic farm digger displayed the future of modern agriculture.

Speaking after the event, Lord James Joicey, President of the Glendale Agricultural Society, said: “Today has been a huge success, and we have brought the countryside alive to the hundreds of children who have attended. The Children’s Countryside Day spreads the messages of this fabulous rural county; whose principal industry is agriculture and farming.

The countryside has been brought alive at all levels; the children have learnt about fishing and forestry, game-keeping and grain handling, sheep shearing and cheese-making. The advantage we hope for teachers is that we have provided them with a platform, the countryside, to teach children where their food comes from and to demonstrate its importance to their day-to-day lives.”

The Children’s Countryside Day is free for all schools to attend, which is only possible as a result of the multiple amount of sponsorship and support it receives from volunteers and businesses alike. This year saw organisations such as; Northumberland National Park, KP Snacks, Morrison’s, Tesco, Savills, Strutt & Parker and The Carr-Ellison Charitable Trust; all keen to be part of this knowledge-transfer event.

Speaking after the day, Event Manager, Rachael Tait said: “We have had the most fantastic record-breaking day in more ways than one. In a single day, more children than ever before have attended, we have had more educational exhibits than ever before, and we have had an unbelievable amount of support from sponsors and volunteers.
In organising this day in the countryside of Glendale, our aim as an agricultural society, is to help to educate the next generation of children from across the North East. We want to give them to opportunity to meet with the makers, the farmers who produce their food, and the people who look after the countryside environment such as the rivers, the land and the forestry.

This is an event that is totally funded for each and every child who attends, and I truly hope that, with the ongoing support for so many individuals and organisations across the region, we can continue to offer “This Countryside Classroom” to children for many more years to come.”

For further information about the Glendale Agricultural Society and the Children’s Countryside Day please visit www.glendaleshow.com.