River Cottage Charities and Fundraising
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River Cottage Charity Policy
We prefer to give our support to just one or two charities per year. This allows us to devote the time and resources to forming real partnerships with the charities, who we believe are making a real difference to the causes we believe in. It also means we can commit the money we raise to specific projects that we believe are particularly worthwhile. And, as we are hoping to enlist your help in supporting such projects, it means we will be in a position to give you detailed and meaningful reports of our progres
River Cottage Charities
River Cottage believes in sustainable agriculture and local food production. We‘d like as many people as possible to either grow or raise their own food or have access to plenty of great local and seasonal produce – preferably from local shops and farmers’ markets.
In order to achieve these goals, it’s essential to support the rural communities who can produce that food. That’s why this year we‘re proud to be giving our backing to RURAL REVIVAL. This brilliant charity aims to break the cycle of rural decline in the UK by supporting the establishment of community and social enterprises. These include community-owned village shops and Post Offices, recycling services, craft co–operatives, childcare schemes, community broadband schemes and producer-run farmers‘ markets. RURAL REVIVAL provides start-up advice, ongoing mentoring and small grants to rural groups with commercially viable ideas that address the social needs of their communities.
By supporting RURAL REVIVAL this year, we hope to help establish more local food shops and other food distribution initiatives in communities across the UK.
For more information, contact James Pavitt: 01993 814 736 or visit www.ruralrevival.org.uk
What we're funding
The projects we are helping to fund include:
Berrynarbour Community Shop and Post Office
A community cooperative was formed by the residents of Berrynarbour, in Devon, to save the village shop and post office following the retirement of the postmaster. The campaigners believed the shop not only provided essential services, but was at the very heart of the community. A Rural Revival Community Retail Adviser helped the committee and they also received a seed-corn grant. A team of over 30 keen volunteers now staff the shop and turnover has increased by 80% during its first year of trading.
Jigsaw Growers
Two acres of derelict allotments in Torridge, North Devon, are being used to develop a new social enterprise, providing work experience and training in horticulture for people faced with a range of issues including mental health problems, substance misuse, learning disabilities, a history of offending and exclusion from school. The initiative was supported with a grant and advice, ranging from help with their business plan, to research and soil testing. They aim to become financially self-sufficient in approximately four years.
Somerset Food Links
This not-for-profit company is committed to developing a thriving and sustainable local food system throughout the county and neighbouring areas. They were provided with a cash grant and advisory support to enable them to trial a hot meals service for the children of Meare School. The school doesn’t have a kitchen or other catering facilities so hot meals are cooked by volunteers in the village hall a couple of hundred yards down the road. Parents have been helping to develop and run the scheme, and the children have been involved in producing sample menus.
Otter Rotters
Otter Rotters run a fortnightly garden waste collection and composting service in the Sidmouth/Honiton/Whimple area. The group also plan to diversify into timber recycling and a re-use workshop. The service covers 15,000 households and, as well as being environmentally sound, it has created numerous opportunities for local employment and training.
Fundraising
In March 2005 we launched an "on-line, after-show auction" where we offered you the chance to bid for some unique experiences connected with the Beyond River Cottage TV series. These included a private dinner party cooked by Hugh and Gill, and a day’s filming with the River Cottage film crew. We raised a total of £8,970.
At Christmas we held an on-line Christmas raffle, in which the first prize was Hugh’s lovely red, soft-top Landrover, as seen in the last two series. It did need a serious amount of work to get it back on the road, but that didn’t deter the many hundreds of River Cottage fans who joined in the auction. The raffle raised just over £6,000.
Fundraising 2006
Let it Grow CD. At the end of 2005 we released the River Cottage compilation CD, ‘Let it Grow’. This was a collection of tracks chosen by Hugh and inspired by the River Cottage experience. It featured Eric Clapton, Paul Weller, Lemon Jelly, Snow Patrol, Jack Johnson, Turin Brakes, JJ Cale, The Clash, The Who and many more. All royalties were divided between Rural Revival and Care International, an independent humanitarian organisation working to end world poverty.
Badger Beer. In 2006, in partnership with Badger Brewery, we launched the first River Cottage beer: Stinger. A premium bottled beer that includes organic Dorset nettles, it is a delicious and refreshing beer which is slightly spicy with a light bitterness and a subtle tingle that comes from the nettles. A proportion of the profit of each bottle sold goes to Rural Revival.
Boat auction. In April 2006, Hugh put his boat ‘Sea Fox’ up for auction, the proceeds of which went to Rural Revival. The auction was run by our friends at Essex Boatyards and the successful bid raised £4,100.
Bath and West Show. At this year’s Bath & West Show in late May, River Cottage teamed up with Rural Revival to promote our ongoing relationship. River Cottage also took charge of the show’s cookery theatre, running a large programme of events and courses all on the theme of seasonal cooking.
We have several other exciting projects planned with Rural Revival which we’ll keep you updated on here and through the newsletter.