wfn.org | ACNS - Anglican Arthur Rank Centre Responds to Foot and Mouth Disease

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 2997 - ENGLAND - 27 May 2002

Churches help with Foot and Mouth

[Royal Agricultural Society of England] When Foot and Mouth Disease was
discovered in the Essex slaughterhouse it was already too late to contain
it. Masked in sheep it was already incubating across many of the British
livestock farms, although this only became clear when the disease ran amok.
Farming was already in serious difficulty, recovering from the earlier BSE
and Swine Fever Disease in East Anglia; the effect of trading with a strong
#Sterling against cheaper imports and working with high animal welfare
standards against imports from some countries that have less stringent
standards. Farm incomes were already low and FMD reduced them to zero.

Those whose stock were culled were perhaps the fortunate ones, for they
received - later -compensation at good rates. Those whose livestock were
trapped on farm because of movement restrictions were seriously damaged.
Young stock were born, old stock became too fat, little was able to be sold,
animals couldn't be moved from field to field. There was an animal welfare
disaster as lambs were born outdoors in deep mud.

The Arthur Rank Centre, the Churches Rural Resource Centre was well placed
to act. Located in the middle of the Royal Agricultural Society of Englands
Show site at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire it knew what was happening. In the
first week of the outbreak the Church of Englands National Rural Officer
and his ecumenical colleagues proposed a Day of Prayer. The Archbishop of
Canterburys response was to suggest a Fund could be needed. Drawing on an
earlier fund set up by the Agricultural Chaplain and others in Suffolk, the
ARC Addington Fund came to be. The Prince of Wales announced he would
support it, the Daily Mail followed suit and the money poured in. Staff from
other organisations at Stoneleigh, temporarily unable to do their normal
work because of movement restrictions, came as volunteers or as secondees.
Volunteers from local churches manned donation help lines. Such was the
corporate response that of the #15m that came in from churches, individuals,
charities, Government matching funds that less than 1% has been spent on the
administration of this practical project. The RASE made separate offices
available and the frenetic activity at the Arthur Rank Centre moved 200
yards away.

Thank God for the steady build up over previous years in response to
existing stress in UK farming households of what proved to be vital
organisational systems. Farm Crisis Network was born out of the Arthur Rank
Centre and the Agricultural Christian Fellowship. Rural Stress Information
Network out of the ARC and a range of partners including Dept of Health,
MAFF, NFU, Samaritans and others, Agricultural Chaplains Association is made
up of knowledgeable staff often employed by local churches. Good contacts
were maintained throughout with the Royal Agricultural Benevolent
Institution, whose remit was initially restricted to helping with farmers'
domestic expenses.

The system worked like this:

Leaflets about the ARC Addington were distributed through Chaplains, Rural
Officers and as many points of connection with farmers as we have. Phone
calls came in, often apologetically, sometimes without the knowledge of the
farmer himself. We promised a rapid contact from one of our network members,
which sometimes meant the local clergy. That third party was responsible
for filling in the one sheet of paper application giving details of the
immediate situation. That was faxed or emailed in for consideration at the
next days panel of local Warwickshire farming people. At the height we had
two panels meeting daily with 200 applications each. In nearly every case a
cheque was sent out next day so that the emergency situation could be
rapidly relieved. Farms were faced with no feed for livestock and sometimes
themselves. Local knowledge with central resources was the key to an
efficient delivery system. Each cheque (sometimes cash if the bank had
frozen the account) went with an assurance of the prayers of the Church. The
'thank you' letters show that the value of the personal contact with someone
local was the key to the success of this operation.

The National Rural Officer was invited to be on the Governments Rural Task
Force as one recognition that the Church, with all its fragility, has a
network that can work wonders in a way that no Government, however well
resourced, can do.

The ARC Addington Fund was also able to help non-farming businesses. Many
sub-contractors lost their earning capacity and were eligible for support,
and the modest grants from the Fund assured them someone cared, but did not
lift from them the need to find alternative income. Tourism businesses were
even more damaged financially than the farming industry, partly because of
media coverage of burning pyres of animals and partly because of the need to
keep visitors away from livestock contact. The National Rural Officers
contact with Government gave opportunity to develop a concept of church led
community based tourism which is now being tested in Cumbria with grant
support under the rural recovery fund of the Department of Trade and
Industry. Called Hidden Britain Centres we shall learn the lessons of this
innovative approach before rolling it out across other rural areas.

The Arthur Rank Centre is a centre for innovation and good practice across
the wide range of rural issues. A problem it faces is that while its
projects attract funding it must find a way of ensuring the continuity of
its own core creative Christian endeavour. A Royal Charity Gala Concert was
held at the Royal Festival Hall in March and fundraising continues. Readers
are invited to contact the Arthur Rank Centre at Stoneleigh Park,
Warwickshire CV8 2LZ or look at www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk for more
information about our work.

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