Visit by HRH The Prince of Wales to see Derbyshire farmers affected by last month’s floods

HRH The Prince of Wales, Patron, The Prince’s Countryside Fund today visited Congreave Farm, Stanton-in-the-Peak, to meet with farmers affected by the flooding of the River Derwent in November 2019.

Bill Young, Addington Fund CEO and Forage Aid’s Andrew Ward meet with HRH The Prince of Wales and some of the members of The PCF team in Derbyshire

Farms in the Matlock valley were damaged by flood water up to seventeen foot higher than usual, losing stock and forage. HRH met with local families who had been affected, including Peter and Deborah Bettney, Michael and Ellie Wynne, Dean Greatorex, Ken and Kimberley Trickett, and Stuart Fairfax. HRH held a conversation with the farmers about the flooding, and the impact that it has had on their families, their livestock and their business.

Also round the table were Lord Edward Manners who owns the Haddon Estate, Claire Saunders and Diane Spark of The Prince’s Countryside Fund, Bill Young from the Addington Fund, and Andrew Ward from Forage Aid, who had assisted some of the flooded farms. In response to the flooding in October, The Prince’s Countryside Fund released £50,000 from their Emergency Fund to support farming families whose livelihoods and farms had been affected.

Michael Wynn, who farms in Snitterton, said, “We lost 350 bales of silage in the worst floods I have ever seen. It was marvellous that the Prince of Wales took the time to visit us with all his other commitments and we are now getting sorted with the help of Forage Aid.”