Bath City Farm, which is celebrating its 25th birthday later this year, is launching its largest fundraising appeal to date in a bid to secure its future.
Photo © Jennifer Kelly Photography
Set up 1995 as a City Farm after a campaign to save the much-loved green space, the Farm is now looking to raise £50,000 before its birthday in October.
Helen Fisher, the Farm Manager, said: “Like many small charities across the UK we have been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak.
“The spring and summer are normally our busiest time of the year when thanks to the generosity of our visitors and supporters we generate most of our income.
“This appeal will play a vital role in securing our future into our 26th year. Bath City Farm is so much more than a Farm, providing education, training and therapeutic activities to support people in the local community; from youth volunteering to our Feathered Friends project, a chicken-keeping and chicken-cuddling project for the over 60s and for people living with dementia.
“I’m so passionate about the role that the Farm plays at the heart of our local community and across our beautiful city.”
Since the lockdown came into effect, thousands of people from as far away as Australia have been tuning into the weekly live animal feeding via Facebook, to keep in touch with the hens, rabbits, pigs, ponies, goats, cows and sheep.
Members of staff have also been cooking and delivering hundreds of meals to its volunteers and members of the local community.
Its costs around £850 per day to look after Bath City Farm, from feeding the animals to supporting a wider variety of volunteer groups and making sure that the animal enclosures are safe and sound for the animals.
Funding for the project, which is a charity, comes from trusts, foundations, business supporters and income generated on-site.
Jo Soutwell, Chair of trustees at the farm, said: “I’ve been so proud of everything that the Farms team is doing – to keep our visitors in touch with the animals and to provide much-needed support to our volunteers and vulnerable members of the local community.
“We have risen to the challenges of coronavirus and we want to be there for the families, volunteers and people across Bath for the next 25 years.
“That is why this appeal matters so much and every pound donated will make such a difference.”
You can support Bath City Farm’s appeal via www.bathcityfarm.org.uk/bcf25 and share what the Farm means to you via social media using the hashtag #bcf25.
