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We had a small but interested and engaged group of members at our annual Isle of Wight H&S day in early June. 

Thank you to the Knox family at New Wolverton Farm, Yafford for hosting.

Thanks also to our seminar speakers, Thrings Solicitors, NFU transport safety and SSE Power Networks. I hope everyone who attended enjoyed the day and took something home from the day. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Please Take 5 To Stay Alive this summer – keep yourselves and your teams safe.

As island members you have been extremely lucky to have been represented so passionately by Robyn Munt, who makes sure that island farming has a strong voice, locally and nationally. 

Due to NFU constitutional rules, Robyn cannot continue as chair of the Isle of Wight for too much longer, as a result we are in urgent need of somebody to step up and take on the role of chair, or even as vice chair initially. 

If you feel you could fill the role as chair please contact Robyn, Tom Peters or Group Secretary John Heather for an informal chat.

On 26 June we hosted our annual health and safety day, where we had over 100 people in attendance.  

A wholehearted thank you to Tom Coleman and his team at Lower Norton Farm, near Sutton Scotney, for providing such an excellent venue and being such accommodating hosts.   

Thank you to our seminar speakers, Vue CCTV, Thrings Solicitors, Hampshire Fire & Rescue, BK Grain, NFU transport safety and SSE Power networks.  Also in attendance were the Farm Community Network, Hampshire Police and the Thames & Kennet machinery ring. I hope everyone who attended enjoyed the day and took something home from the day.  

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Next year, we plan to hold multiple days across different parts of the county and we already have ideas for new seminars.

Please Take 5 To Stay Alive this summer – keep yourselves and your teams safe.
 

In mid-June the first rural engagement forum was held at Jamie Butler's, Whitewool Farm, East Meon.  

This was a meeting held in conjunction with another membership organisation, local farmers and estates and the Police and Crime Commissioner, the rural crime team and the Assistant Chief Constable.  Thank you to those who participated, we were able to feedback directly to the high-level policing team present our views of current policing strategies.

From early June I am pleased to say that the Hampshire & IOW Constabulary now has a dedicated rural crime task force, solely focussing on rural crime. This is a great step which we as a community need to utilise.

I cannot stress enough the importance of reporting crime, if crime isn’t reported, rural issues will drop off the policing priority list.  Rural communities and the police need to have a two way partnership, which we are working on building.

If you are not on the DISC system please contact me for more information, this is an easy way to log crimes or suspicious activity, it also helps build a picture of crime across the county. 

The next meeting is scheduled for late October, if you want to feedback please contact me or we still have space for a few other members to join.